Why I changed my editorial rate: Per hour vs. per project

I recently wrote a post explaining how I chose my editorial rate as a newbie freelance editor. I described how I calculated the pace at which I edit (manuscript pages/hour), finding an average over the past few projects I’ve worked on, and used the Editorial Freelancers Association’s (EFA) rate chart to determine what my rate should be. Turns out this is a common way to choose a rate, but not the greatest way.

After posting, I received valuable feedback from experienced editors. Considering their comments, I took away two things: (1) the EFA’s rate chart is outdated (I don’t see a date on the page, though, so I can’t say for certain how outdated it is) and (2) charging per hour is not the right way to go (of course, this is an opinion but a well-reasoned one from what I later learned … keep reading). Therefore, I felt it was my duty to write a follow-up post about why I decided to change my editorial rate.

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Before this, I thought I had it all figured out-I had numbers and a chart to tell me what I should charge for my services. Easy as pie! But the kicker was that I wasn’t thinking like a businessperson. I wasn’t accounting for non-billable hours-a crucial piece of the puzzle for freelancers-or the overhead costs of operating a freelance business from home. I learned this from reading Richard…