I've seen another suggestion that freelance editors should be willing to take payment in the form of % of royalties. Settle in, folks, for just a few of the reasons I don't like this model. Buckle up. It's a long thread. 1/?

Reason #1: I've never had this model proposed to me the way a business investment is proposed, even though that's what it is. (Usually) the author has no sales record in publishing, they don't have a concrete business/marketing plan, their timelines are unrealistic, 2/?

and they aren't offering the editor any vote or say in publishing decisions other than editing. Even in the editing, editors leave final decisions up to the writers--editors never ask for creative control over the work, or schedule, or pricing models, etc. Most of us already 3/?

spend a lot of time marketing and business-building our editing businesses, and we don't actually want to take on that sort of work for someone else too. Most indie authors offering this pricing model don't actually want a business partner and the accountability that entails. 4/?

If I had to analyze each request I get (or even most of them) in terms of a business investment like this, that would be a huge chunk of what I spent my working hours doing. If you want someone who does that, you're not looking for an editor: you're looking for an agent. 5/?

Literary agents get paid a percentage of what authors get paid. They spend huge chunks of their time reading submissions and evaluating manuscripts and authors as business investments and business partners. They provide ongoing value as a business partner. 6/?

Which brings me to reason #2: As an editor, I do not provide ongoing value to an author's book, so I really wouldn't feel right about receiving ongoing payment beyond my typical fee. I provide advice. The author gets to decide which advice is right for their book. 7/?

Once the editing is done, it's done! I'm not a creator on the project. The author is! I help them polish their creation and make it more of what they wanted it to be, but it's a one-and-done kind of thing. When you start a business, you rarely ask your accounting firm 8/?

to be a business partner or investor. They provide a single service (or maybe several: maybe you need payroll, auditing, and taxes) that helps your business run, but doesn't actually build your business. Also, that accounting firm has their own business to run, 9/?

so they don't necessarily have the free cycles to promote YOUR business and add ongoing value to you. There may be rare occasions when this sort of thing happens, but this essentially means the firm is taking on a side project outside the scope of accounting. 10/?

Reason #3: People who propose this model point to some audiobook narrators who are willing to be paid this way. But you know what? Audiobook narrators have fans. When they're good, listeners will follow them around to different authors, bringing new readers to new authors. 11/?

The value of that audiobook significantly depends on the narrator. They provide a significant interpretation of the work. A crappy narrator can ruin a good book, and a really good narrator can elevate a mediocre book. Narration is transformative and creates value independent 12/?

of the author's work. Audiobook narration opens a new market and allows authors to reach a whole bunch of readers who otherwise invest time in those authors' books. Narrators are also keen to plug books they've worked on, so they're invested in promoting, 13/?

marketing, and otherwise hyping your book. As an editor, I do hardly any of those things. My work is best when nobody notices I've touched your stuff. My fans are clients. No matter how good I get at my job, I'm not going to have a flock of people who love how I tweak 14/?

a climax that isn't resonating, how I rearrange your sentences for a smoother flow, or how I adjust your commas and keep your continuity tidy. I will never add more fans because of my skill--I remove barriers to you earning fans of your own. 15/?

The market you're targeting with your work--people who read your genre or niche in print and ebooks--does not expand because I touch your work. (Agents can expand your markets significantly with foreign sales and media rights, which, again, is why they take a percentage.) 16/?

Comparing me to an audiobook narrator does not accurately reflect how visible narrators are. There are some I will follow wherever they go, regardless of author or genre. I have editors I'd totally fangirl over and whose taste I trust, but I'm in the industry. 17/?

Outside the industry, we have no fans--not even editors who work at big publishing houses. So why pay us with a model that assumes we're adding a bunch of marketing value? It doesn't make financial sense for you. 18/?

Reason #4: I want authors to retain control over their books as much as possible. I want authors to have the freedom to reject what I say if it doesn't fit their vision of the book. But if I'm only getting paid if the book sells well and the author insists on something 19/?

that limits its market or makes it a hard sell in the present day, I'm going to have a lot harder time letting that book remain the author's. Maybe that choice makes the book achingly beautiful, but no one will know for decades. But I have bills to pay between now and then. 20/?

So part of what an author buys when they pay for editorial services outright instead of with a percentage model is the right to retain creative and business control. They retain the equity they need to share among other creators who will boost their book's visibility. 21/?

They pay me to give them every last bit of advice and guidance I think might help them AND for me to get the heck out of their way so they can be the creative geniuses they are and have the control that is one of the main perks of self-publishing. I like that arrangement. /end

If you read all this and want to know some guidelines for what an editor "should" cost, @EFAFreelancers has a decent chart of rates on their website. But it's going to vary depending on editor experience, genre, etc. Get quotes from multiple editors. Pick the right fit.