NUJ Rate for the Job: Shifts / books

Rates archived as at 2025-07-09

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.

Shifts / books These are archived rates. The current rates are here.
Tell us what you've been paid for Shifts / books		Freelance Fees Guide
Publication / Programme - details & terms	Group	Year		Total paid	GR	XXXX
Insider's Guide (Langenscheidt) rewrite existing book - abt 35 hours all in		2003		750.00
Louis Vuitton Travel Guides copy editing rate per hour		2014		40.00		O
Penguin Atlas (packaged by Veneta Butler) picture research, rush job	_Pearson	2001		200.00
The Juice (Mitchell Beazley) subbing day		2009		140.00
Time Out updating guide chapter, ca. 1000 words	_TOut	2006		175.00
Time Out guidebook proofing short book	_TOut	2006		400.00
Time Out guidebook per day	_TOut	2006		110.00		X
Aldridge Press (packager) editorial day		2004		135.00
Book ghosting and editing per day	_BlackPr	2013		400.00
Book publisher editing day (specialist)		2006		175.00
Book publishers proofreading or editing, per hour, up to		2006		25.00
Book: Offshore Company Law 2nd edn per day per job - hours unspecified but set fee 20 chapters plus annexes (forms)	_Thomson	2007		800.00	GR
British Council Guides (Hotcourses Ltd) 7.5 hour day subbing spreads on-screen		2007		130.00		X
Cadogans Travel Guides subbing day		1995		75.00
Carlton Books editing for UK edition (offered £100 a day for 2 days, bargained £250 for job long day)	_Carlton	2002		250.00		X
Children's books per editorial hour		2009		15.00		X
Children's dictionary (Bender White - packager) editing day		2005		140.00
City of London finance house per day editing a report viz an agency, no expenses incurred, so flat fee to me		2006		250.00
college text book commissioning cover, approx 100 hours	_Pearson	2010		3000.00
Collins Harvill Proofread a book (size unspecified)		1992		333.00
Dorling Kindersley book editing day	_DK	1995		100.00
Educational Publisher day editing		2004		400.00		O
English Language Teaching (ELT) coursebook editing and proofreading substantial book for secondary schools	_Holtzb	2009		3500.00
General books picture research, basic and creative, per day UK rights only	other	2007		126.00
Gollancz copy-editing per hour	_Hach	2013		16.50	GR	X
Guidebook per day subbing a guide from home	_Hach	2005		140.00		XX
Hachette books - general editing, copyediting, proofreading per day	_Hach	2007		125.00
Hodder educational book subbing day	_Hach	2008		150.00
Hodder Headline reading material for schools, per day	_Hach	2007		350.00		O
Illustrated books editing day	_DK	2013		130.00	GR
Insight Guides per day editing/subbing travel books at home paid gross		2006		140.00
Japanese publisher edit 80,000-word book		2012		4000.00		O
Legal/academic textbook editing day, pays approx £1.50 per page exes £25 for printing	_OUP	2013		750.00
MBC subbing day		1993		120.00
Morgan-Grampian subbing day (taxed at source)	_MG	1995		110.00
museum guide German copy-editing per hour		2001		20.00
Natural History Museum subbing, per hour	_HMG	2001		14.00	GR	X
Octopus Americanization, per book		1998		350.00		XXXX
Octopus subbing day		1996		112.00
Orion Publishing Group copy-editing per hour	_Hach	2013		16.00	GR	XX
Pearson Education subbing/writing	_Pearson	2003		135.00
Pearson Education (Books) commissioning + developmental editing, per hour	_Pearson	2010		30.00
QED book proofing and editing day	_Quarto	2009		105.00		X
Quercus books copy-editing per hour		2013		17.50	GR	X
Rising Stars Educational Publishing development editing of ten 48pp school readers - flat fee, payment on publication (4 months after start of project, 2 months after completion of the work, publication now delayed so payment now also being postponed for a further 3 months)		2011		2000.00
Routledge (Academic) per day copyediting books per page	_Informa	2009		1.35		X
Routledge / Taylor & Francis copy editing, per double-spaced A4 page	_Informa	2006		1.35
Schoolbooks (Pearson) project managment, editing per hour (Pay on publication of product - could be 6 months or more!)	_Pearson	2010		30.00
Taschen books per day picture research lunch and travel - paid		2011		50.00		XXXX
Taylor & Francis manuscript editing, on screen, per A4 page	_Informa	2006		1.30		X
Taylor + Francis STM (scientific, technical and medical) journal copyediting, per ds A4 ms page	_Informa	2006		1.90
Teacher-training CD-ROM series - high-profile DfES project per day	_HMG	2006		500.00		O
Time Out Guide Book editing new edition of city guide book - straight fee. Four months nearly full time work.	_TOut	2004		7000.00
Various book publishers book editing per hour		2013		20.00
Vocational qualifications text books commissioning, text development, project mgmnt, approx 3 days a week for 6 months: per hour	_Pearson	2010		30.00
Zed books subbing day		1996		104.00
Key to the rates, by column:
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
4 Currency: either or or (US)
5 Amount paid (total of basic licence and extra licences for web use, database resale...)				Amount
7 "Going Rate" according to experienced NUJ members - do try to better it:					GR
or Minimum rate set out in NUJ House Agreement:					HA
8 Underpaid, in the fallible opinion of the Freelance editor:				50.00		X
or Just sometimes we're pleasantly surprised:				1500.00		O

Other rates:

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