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NUJ Rate for the Job:
recent rates for Shifts / books
Updated: 2025-09-27
These rates have been reported by members of the National Union of Journalists and others, and printed in the Freelance, newsletter of London Freelance Branch. They are sorted by publisher/publication, then by date (most recent first). TIP: Use the "Find in page" command under your browser's "Edit" or "Search" menu to be sure of finding all occurrences of a publication/publisher. AND do note the year in which the rate was reported! See also the Freelance Fees Guide, which gives general recommendations. And read the disclaimer and the key to exactly what the entries mean.
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If you are interested, the archived rates are here. | ||||||
Tell us what you've been paid for Shifts / books |
Freelance Fees Guide
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| Publication / Programme - details & terms | Group | Year |  |
Total paid | GR |
XXXX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book publisher proofreading, per hour | 2023 |  |
29.00 | |||
| Book publisher offered to be consultant on a 128-page book | 2022 | |
400.00 | |||
| Book publisher offered to be consultant on a 32-page book | 2022 | |
150.00 | |||
| Book publishers proofreading per hour | 2023 | |
28.65 | |||
| Courier graphic designer day (via #FreelancerPayGap) | 2020 | |
300.00 | |||
| Ink Global editor day (via #FreelancerPayGap) | 2020 | |
235.00 | |||
| Proofreading - recommended minima Copyediting per hour | 2022 | |
31.30 | |||
| Proofreading - recommended minima Substantial editing, rewriting, development editing per hour | 2022 | |
36.00 | |||
| Proofreading and editing - recommended minima basic proofreading - as if there were any basic jobs | 2022 | |
26.90 | |||
| Publisher for professional body proofreading (remote) for fixed fee (approx. 20 hrs) | 2023 | |
600.00 | GR | ||
| Publishing editor day (via #FreelancerPayGap) | 2020 |  |
320.00 | |||
| Publishing graphic design day (via #FreelancerPayGap) | 2020 | |
250.00 | GR | ||
| Publishing/arts & heritage graphic designer day (via #FreelancerPayGap) | 2020 | |
250.00 | |||
| Routledge books editing a book - whole book | _Informa | 2022 | |
1000.00 | ||
| School visit as book author full day in Book Week - plus expenses | 2024 | |
420.00 | |||
| School visit as book author one hour online session | 2024 | |
125.00 | |||
| School visit as book author one day by in-demand author, reported in 2013 - plus expenses | 2024 | |
1000.00 | |||
| School visit as book author full day | 2024 | |
400.00 | |||
| US book publishers copy-editing, fiction, per hour | 2022 | |
35.00 | |||
| US book publishers copy-editing, factual books, per hour | 2022 | |
45.00 | |||
| Key to the rates, by column: |
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| 1 Publication / Programme, any details of work and licence | ||||||
| 2 Owner at the time the rate was reported, where known | Group | |||||
| 3 The year in which the rate was reported | Year |
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4 Currency: either or  or (US) | |
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| 5 Amount paid (total of basic licence and extra licences for web use, database resale...) | Amount |
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| 7 "Going Rate" according to experienced NUJ members - do try to better it: | GR |
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| or Minimum rate set out in NUJ House Agreement: | HA |
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| 8 Underpaid, in the fallible opinion of the Freelance editor: | | 50.00 | X |
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| or Just sometimes we're pleasantly surprised: | | 1500.00 | O |
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Other recent rates:
| Type of work: | In the "sector": (click or tap below!) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Words, per 1000 | News | Local | Mag | online | Book | PR | Other |
| Words, other | News | Local | Mag | online | Book | PR | Other |
| Photography | News | Local | Mag | online | Book | PR | Other |
| Broadcasting | News | Local | Other including podcasting | ||||
| Shifts | News | Local | Mag | online | Book | PR | Other |
| Other: | Cartoons | Crosswords | Illustration | Punditry | Retainer | Teaching | Tip-off | Translation | ||||||
| Recently reported rates | all from the past few months |
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Have better rates? Submit them (we won't tell it was you)
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