As part of the series on the RPG Publishing business I am trying to describe what the different stages are in making a game book. At each stage I want to present what different people contribute to the book. One of those people is hopefully going to be an Editor, and to help you understand the difference between different kinds of editors and what they might charge, here are some helpful links.

From a post that came up up on The RPG Brain Trust facebook group about getting your book edited, someone posted this breakdown of what each kind of  editor does;

https://www.louiseharnbyproofreader.com/blog/the-different-levels-of-editing-proofreading-and-beyond

TL:DR you pay less when people are simply checking your English, you pay more for people to evaluate the entire manuscript as a coherent whole.

A list of rates from the Editorial Freelancer’s Association were also posted.

Editorial Rates

Now a lot of folks in the RPG world throw things around at per word rates and I’ve heard 2 cents a word quoted a lot for basic editing. In a world where people are arguing their writing rates up from 5 cents a word, is 2 cents for editors unfair? I’ve heard from editors say its not, your pages might be 500-600 words each and so you’re looking at $10-12 per page and the prices from the  Editorial rates link seem to make more sense in that context.

If you are looking for something more than just proofreading, someone familiar with RPG manuscripts that might notice mechanical issues you should look for someone with RPG editing experience and be prepared to pay for higher developmental editor rates. We had a pass from one of our editors catch a mechanical issue that was alluded to in the manuscript that hadn’t been addressed yet, it was a good catch and the kind of thing you want to find long before it goes to print.

If you have any feedback about this post or our books please feel free to contact us.

Paul

Evilrobotgames at Gmail.com