Publishing - advice needed

[flock]

Can anyone advise on freelance rates in academic publishing? My old employer might have some text development work for me, and wants to know my hourly rate. We never used to use freelancers, so I'm not sure what to suggest. It would involve quite specialist knowledge, but I know costs are tight. Anyone with experience of this? Thanks!

The NUJ website (last time I looked) said £15 - £20 per hour. Suggest you ask for whatever you think you can get away with!
I have to admit I'm envious - I do freelance proofreading but there's so much competition for jobs, especially working from home, that work for me is few & far between. If you hear of anything...

I do freelance academic editing and it's usually for about £15 or £17 per hour for straight proofing/editing/fact-checking/styling. Sometimes it's on a job rate so can work out more/less. For a more in-depth edit or real specialist knowledge I'd ask more. You've nothing to lose by saying something like 'my usual rate is...' and starting at a high figure.

Thanks tearinghairout and thinkstoomuch - really good to have these ballpark figures. This gig is just until Christmas; I suspect there won't be much around from them after then! But if I do hear of more...