Korean Job Discussion Forums

RobbJK9 · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Location: Seoul, KR

What is the standard salary for proofreading? I saw an ad for a proofreader and the rate was 20 won per word, but they said it was negotiable (I always take that as someone saying, "we realize we're probably lowballing you"), but I have absolutely no frame of reference on it. They obviously need more proofreaders in this country, so I decided to be part of the solution and emailed them.

Can you guys give me some help?

(Also, I apologize, the Search function isn't working, but I did search for this the other night and couldn't find much).

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

Do a word count on a document. Most editors charge between 10 and 15K per page (A4/double spaced/1 in. margins) for business/academic proofreading. For kid's books, 3-10K per page is decent, depending on the content quality.

RobbJK9 · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Location: Seoul, KR

Thanks a lot for the response.

I asked them for a sample to see how many words each one of their copies has. They said that their workers tend to do around four pages of copy a day and it's mostly PR or Tourism ads, so it seems like those might not have a lot of words. A sample will definitely help me with some calculations. It certainly doesn't seem like a lot of money, but it also doesn't seem like very much work, which is all right by me.

blackjack · Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Location: anyang

an essay tends to have approx 500 words a page. so thats about 10,000 per page

Leslie Cheswyck · Joined: 31 May 2003 Location: University of Western Chile

I charge 10,000 just to look at it. Twisted Evil

Then --- should I decide that what they handed me is not indecipherable garbage --- I charge 10,000 a page.

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

I honestly don't think you should be proofing PR and ad work for a by-the-word fee. Those are big money projects, and usually demand a bit of cross-cultural English to English translation to make them work. Go by the project (e.g. 50-100K for an ad, and 20K/page for PR script materials).

Like anything else, the cost is not always evenly distributed by bulk; the more important the target audience and investment, the more it costs to get it right. Many people make 50-100K per hour recording basic educational material, for example, but PR or ad work runs about 300K per ten minutes or real time.

In a nut shell, sounds like they are trying to take advantage of you.