What to charge for academic proofreading?

[warmleatherette]

I've been asked to proof a friend's PhD thesis. Pre-kids I was a professional writer and editor but I haven't done academic proofreading before so I'm not sure how to charge for it. She's a native speaker so I'm imagining it's just a final check-through rather than a big copy edit. The thesis is 80,000 words and I'll have about 12 days to do it in. Is this possible? And how does one normally charge - per 1000 words? My old work was done on an hourly or day rate but I believe this kind of thing is different.

Hope someone can help - thank you in advance!

First of all - and this may be too late - have only just seen this message -is she allowed to have someone proofread her thesis? Universities have all sorts of different rules for editorial intervention.

Assuming it's well written you should be able to proofread at about 2500 words per hour. I'd price it per hour. But make sure you read a sample first to check how much work it needs.

80,000 words should equate to 40 hours' work - perfectly possible in 12 days!

Thanks cocktailqueen. I went for charging £10 per 100 words, but that would have worked out at £800 which she can't afford. Based on your input I'll go back to her with an hourly rate instead. Thank you!

FWIW, £10 per 100 words is incredibly high for academic proofreading, which is usually done at lower rates simply because students/uni departments are not known for their high budgets.

Sorry - £10 per 1000 words, not per 100! Clearly I should begin by learning to proofread my own posts.

£10 for 1000 words is still on the high side, I'm afraid...

Many foreign students pay well to have their work proofread. But academic publishers' editing/proofreading rates are generally low.