NUJ Rate for the Job:
Shifts / books

Updated: 20 December 2017

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" 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
Tell us what you've been paid for Shifts / books		Freelance Fees Guide
Publication / Programme - details & terms	Group	Year		Basic fee	Extras	GR	XXXX
Blossom Spring Publishing flat fee per 100k words, £20 per 1k thereafter, non-negotiable; (offer refused)		2015		100			X
Insider's Guide (Langenscheidt) rewrite existing book - abt 35 hours all in		2003		750
Law Business Research freelance copy editor day: setting text on the page, making author proofs, liaising with in-house editorial assistants, taking in emendations and corrections, and sending artwork to press		2017		120	0	GR	XX
Louis Vuitton Travel Guides copy editing rate per hour		2014		40			O
Louis Vuitton Travel Guides copy editing rate per hour		2014		40			O
Louis Vuitton Travel Guides copy editing rate per hour		2014		40			O
Penguin Atlas (packaged by Veneta Butler) picture research, rush job	_Pearson	2001		200
The Juice (Mitchell Beazley) subbing day		2009		140
Time Out updating guide chapter, ca. 1000 words	_TOut	2006		175
Time Out guidebook proofing short book	_TOut	2006		400
Time Out guidebook per day	_TOut	2006		110			X
Academic publicaiton (unnamed) copy-editing day - 12 essays		2014		500
Academic publicaiton (unnamed) copy-editing day - 12 essays		2014		500
Aldridge Press (packager) editorial day		2004		135
Book ghosting and editing per day	_BlackPr	2013		400
Book publisher editing day (specialist)		2006		175
Book publishers proofreading or editing, per hour, up to		2006		25
Book: Offshore Company Law 2nd edn per day per job - hours unspecified but set fee 20 chapters plus annexes (forms)	_Thomson	2007		800		GR
British Council Guides (Hotcourses Ltd) 7.5 hour day subbing spreads on-screen		2007		130			X
Cadogans Travel Guides subbing day		1995		75	-
Carlton Books editing for UK edition (offered £100 a day for 2 days, bargained £250 for job long day)	_Carlton	2002		250			X
Children's books per editorial hour		2009		15			X
Children's dictionary (Bender White - packager) editing day		2005		140
City of London finance house per day editing a report viz an agency, no expenses incurred, so flat fee to me		2006		250
college text book commissioning cover, approx 100 hours	_Pearson	2010		3000
Collins Harvill Proofread a book (size unspecified)		1992		333	-
Dorling Kindersley book editing day	_DK	1995		100	-
Educational Publisher day editing		2004		400			O
English Language Teaching (ELT) coursebook editing and proofreading substantial book for secondary schools	_Holtzb	2009		3500
General books picture research, basic and creative, per day UK rights only	other	2007		126
Gollancz copy-editing per hour	_Hach	2013		16.50		GR	X
Guidebook per day subbing a guide from home	_Hach	2005		140			XX
Hachette books - general editing, copyediting, proofreading per day	_Hach	2007		125
HarperCollins Copy-editing per hour - member quoted Fees Guide rate and got it	_NI	2015		24
Hodder educational book subbing day	_Hach	2008		150
Hodder Headline reading material for schools, per day	_Hach	2007		350			O
Illustrated books editing day	_DK	2013		130		GR
ILO (International Labour Organization?) per day book editing - CHF 5000 =		2016		3500
Insight Guides per day editing/subbing travel books at home paid gross		2006		140
Japanese publisher edit 80,000-word book		2012		4000			O
Jaqui Small Publishing fixed fee for project editor - US edition		2014		385			XXX
Jaqui Small Publishing fixed fee for project editor		2014		3800			XX
Lars Wagner design a book (8 hours)		2017		500
Legal/academic textbook editing day, pays approx £1.50 per page exes £25 for printing	_OUP	2013		750
MBC subbing day		1993		120	-
Morgan-Grampian subbing day (taxed at source)	_MG	1995		110	-
museum guide German copy-editing per hour		2001		20
Natural History Museum subbing, per hour	_HMG	2001		14		GR	X
Octopus Americanization, per book		1998		350	-		XXXX
Octopus subbing day		1996		112	-
Orion Publishing Group copy-editing per hour	_Hach	2013		16		GR	XX
Pearson Education subbing/writing	_Pearson	2003		135
Pearson Education (Books) commissioning + developmental editing, per hour	_Pearson	2010		30
Privately published recipe book per day editorial "not a lot, but for a friend"		2017		800			X
Publishing Business (that's the company name) subbing day	_PubBiz	2014		150
Publishing Business (that's the company name) subbing day	_PubBiz	2014		150
QED book proofing and editing day	_Quarto	2009		105			X
Quercus books copy-editing per hour		2013		17.50		GR	X
Reviewing as-yet-unpublished scientific pamphlet per day - paid in advance		2017		480		GR
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
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
Taschen books per day picture research lunch and travel - paid		2011		50			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			O
Time Out Guide Book editing new edition of city guide book - straight fee. Four months nearly full time work.	_TOut	2004		7000
University careers guides per day flat rate non-negotiable fee regardless of whether a publication is being redesigned, or how many hours worked	_Ziff	2017		800	0		X
Unnamed Nambian publisher unspecified activity, per day "OK as Namibian rate!"		2016		60
Various book publishers book editing per hour		2013		20
Vocational qualifications text books commissioning, text development, project mgmnt, approx 3 days a week for 6 months: per hour	_Pearson	2010		30
Zed books subbing day		1996		104	-
The above are the rates for Shifts / books notified by members up to 20 December 2017.
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
5 Amount paid for basic licence - e.g. first use in print:				Basic fee
6 Paid for extra licences - web use, database resale... (no data pre Jun 2000)				...	Extras
7 "Going Rate" according to experienced NUJ members - do try to better it:				...	...	GR
or Minimum rate set out in NUJ House Agreement (more will be made soon):				...	...	HA
8 Underpaid, in the fallible opinion of the Freelance editor:				50	0		X
or Just sometimes we're pleasantly surprised:				1500	300		O

Other rates:

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