Proofreaders are typically paid by the hour. So what happens when you're asked to quote a price for a job? How long should you allow for a proofreading task, or expect to claim from your client?

Unfortunately there is no simple answer to this question. How long a proofreading job will take depends on at least three factors:

1. The nature of the text -- complex scientific material will clearly take longer to proofread than a popular novel.

2. The number of errors -- text that is full of mistakes will take longer to proofread than a book that has almost nothing wrong with it.

3. Your skills and experience -- Different people work at different speeds, and experienced proofreaders can obviously work a bit faster than those new to the field. In addition, you are likely to work faster when proofreading text on a subject you know well rather than a subject you know nothing about.

As a rough guide, you should expect to be able to proofread between 2 and 5 pages in an hour. The actual figure will depend on the 3 factors listed above, plus the number of words to a page.

It follows that you should be wary of quoting a price without seeing at least a sample of the text first. You will need to assess its complexity, how many corrections are likely to be required, and (in the case of non-fiction books) how familiar you are with the subject matter. Once you have assessed this -- and only then -- you should be able to estimate the number of pages you can proofread in an hour, and multiply that by your normal hourly rate to work out a price you can quote.

As a new proofreader, it's tempting to assume you can work faster than average, so that you can quote a competitive fee. It's almost always a mistake to do this, however. Proofreading is painstaking work, and your client will not -- or should not -- expect you to rush through it. And if you quote a fee that is unrealistically low, the client is just as likely to be put off as by a quote that is unreasonably high.

When starting out, it's better to keep your estimate of the number of pages you can read in an hour on the low side, and maybe reduce your target rates a little to keep your fee competitive. As you gain experience you will undoubtedly become faster, and with experience you will also develop a 'feel' for each job and how long it is likely to take you.

Finally, if you are still in doubt, you can always try asking your client if they have a budget in mind for the job, or even roughly how long they expect it to take. Some clients may take the view that it is not their job to tell you this, but most will not mind giving you a ball-park figure, if only to avoid any awkwardness later on.