How to Budget for Editing (Without Cutting Corners)
Editing is part of production, not an optional extra
If you plan to query agents or self-publish, editing sits alongside cover design, formatting, and marketing in your book’s production budget. Treating it as “nice to have” often leads to spending more later: rushed fixes, poor reviews, or a rewrite after rejections. A clear plan keeps costs predictable and your draft moving.
At Ink Editorial, I help writers scope what kind of editing they actually need now, and what should wait until later. That sequencing is where the savings live.
The editing stages (and what they’re for)
Think of editing as a staircase. You don’t need every step every time, but you should climb in order:
Manuscript assessment — a strategic, big-picture read. You get a written report outlining strengths, weaknesses, and revision priorities. Use when you’ve completed a draft and want direction before deep surgery.
Developmental editing — story architecture. Detailed margin notes + a covering letter on structure, pacing, character, point of view, and theme. Use after you’ve acted on assessment notes or if you already know the shape is close but needs targeted work.
Line editing — sentence-level clarity, rhythm, and voice. Tightens overwriting, smooths flow, and improves readability while preserving style.
Copy editing — correctness and consistency. Style sheet, grammar, usage, continuity, and house style alignment.
Proofreading — final quality check on laid-out proofs or the formatted file. Typos, spacing, headings, pagination, and small layout slips.
Skipping ahead (e.g., straight to proofreading) rarely saves money. It just moves costs to bad outcomes: poor first impressions with agents, negative reviews, or having to pay again for earlier stages you avoided.
A smart budget split (principles you can adapt)
Every manuscript is different, but here’s a practical way to think about allocation:
Discovery & strategy (Manuscript assessment): ~15–25%
The report prevents scope creep later. If your assessment gives you a clear to-do list, you may reduce or even skip some developmental time.Structure & story (Developmental editing): ~30–45%
Most of the heavy lifting happens here. A stronger structure makes line/copy edits faster — and cheaper.Prose quality (Line editing): ~15–25%
This is where your writing starts to feel “publishable”. If your voice is already crisp, you can tilt budget from line to copy editing.Correctness (Copy editing): ~10–20%
The quieter the line edit, the faster the copy edit. A robust style sheet trims hours.Final polish (Proofreading): ~5–10%
Small line items; big peace of mind.
Rather than fixating on absolute prices, decide the proportion you’ll commit at each stage, then scale to your word count and timeline.
Where authors overspend (and how to avoid it)
Paying for deep edits before you’ve revised yourself: If you can already see fixable issues (repeated beats, timeline tangles), revise first. Your developmental editor then spends time solving new problems, not pointing at the obvious.
Copy-editing a wobbly draft: A pristine, error-free chapter with a broken scene goal is still a broken chapter. Put the money into structure first; you’ll copy-edit fewer words after cuts.
Over-editing: Two substantive passes when one would do is common. If you’ve done an assessment and a targeted dev edit, you often don’t need another big macro pass. Move on to line/copy.
Under-specifying scope: Editors quote to what they understand. Share word count, genre, a brief (what worries you, what success looks like), and a short sample. Clear inputs prevent padded contingencies.
A budget example you can scale
Imagine an 85,000-word novel aiming for agent submission:
Manuscript assessment (strategy): 15–20%
A focused report and a call. You redraft accordingly.Developmental editing (targeted): 30–35%
Concentrated on act structure, pacing in the middle, and POV distance.Line editing: 20%
Sharpen voice and rhythm across the redrafted manuscript.Copy editing: 15%
Style sheet, continuity, grammar.Proofreading: 10%
Final sweep on the formatted doc.
Because you actioned the assessment, the developmental phase is targeted rather than sprawling, and the line/copy edits are quicker — total spend falls, quality rises.
Agent path vs self-publishing: shifting the emphasis
Getting Published (agent/publisher route): Front-load budget into manuscript assessment + developmental editing to ensure your opening chapters are bulletproof and the pitch is strong. Copy edit and light proofread the sample.
Self-Publishing: Plan for the full staircase. After structural work, invest properly in line + copy editing and don’t skimp on proofreading of the final, formatted file. Readers (and algorithms) respond to quality.
Red flags when comparing quotes
Vague deliverables. Ask exactly what you’ll receive (report length, margin comments, call time, style sheet).
Unclear timelines. Editing is deep work; implausibly fast turnarounds often mean surface-level notes.
One-size-fits-all packages. Good editors tailor to the manuscript.
No sample or discovery chat. A brief look at pages + a conversation protects both sides.
How to stretch your budget ethically
Do the free fixes first. Search-and-destroy filter words, duplicated scenes, timeline confusions.
Use a style sheet early. Names, hyphenation, capitalisation, numbers — you’ll save hours at copy edit.
Beta readers with a brief. Ask targeted questions (pacing, clarity, character decisions) so feedback is usable.
Stage your spend. Assessment → redraft → targeted dev edit beats one amorphous mega-edit.
Quick checklist before you book
Do I know my goal (agents or self-pub)?
Have I done an honest self-revision?
Do I want big-picture direction (assessment) or hands-on intervention (dev/line)?
Is my timeline realistic for the work?
Have I set expectations on deliverables and communication?
