Christian book editing: what it costs and where to find a faith-literate editor

A Christian book editor does the same four edits as any editor and adds four checks. Doctrine is stated accurately for your tradition. Every scripture quotation matches its translation and stays inside the publisher's permission limits. Your terms suit your denomination. And the tone welcomes readers of faith without shutting others out.

Doctrine. A good faith-literate editor flags a claim your own tradition would dispute; they do not swap your theology for theirs. Ask any candidate how they handle a doctrinal point they disagree with.

Scripture citation. Pick one default translation, name it on the copyright page, and tag every exception (NIV, ESV, NLT, KJV). Use one verse format throughout, such as "1 Cor. 13:4–7". Bestsellers vary here. The Anatomy of a Bestseller (47 books; 46 measured, the Bhagavad-gita being unscoreable) found that The Purpose Driven Life tags each of its 1,918 references with one of 15 translations. The Pilgrim's Progress edition it reviewed mixes seven formats across 355 references. More on that in how to write a Christian book.

Permissions. Modern translations are copyrighted, and each publisher sets a free-quotation limit. Past it, you need written permission. Every limit below also requires the publisher's copyright notice in your book.

The King James Version is in the public domain in the United States. For citation style, Zondervan publishes The Christian Writer's Manual of Style (4th edition, 2016), a guide for religious writing keyed to The Chicago Manual of Style.

Audience and tone. A Catholic Bible has 73 books and most Protestant Bibles 66, so a verse from Sirach reads as scripture to one reader and not to the other. If you are writing for a Catholic house, Catholic book publishers covers when a book needs an imprimatur.

Christian editors list themselves in four places: the Christian Editor Connection, a free matching service; The Christian PEN's member listings; the Christian Writers Market Guide; and the Editorial Freelancers Association's directory and job list. Christian book editing services also sell through general marketplaces, where you check credentials yourself.

Editors pay to be listed, not you: The Christian PEN charges editors $30, $60 or $90 a year by tier, and each CEC editing test costs the editor $20.

How to check a Christian editor before you hire

A listing is a starting point, not a reference. Before you sign, ask each candidate for five things:

1. A sample edit of three to five of your own pages, paid or free, so you see their hand on your prose.
2. Two or three books they have edited in your genre, and a client you can contact.
3. Their tradition, and how they handle a doctrinal point they disagree with.
4. The translation and style guide they will hold you to.
5. A written quote with the edit type, the per-word rate and the turnaround.

The Christian Writers Market Guide

The Christian Writers Market Guide is the annual directory of the Christian publishing trade, compiled by literary agent Steve Laube. The 2026 edition came out on 16 December 2025 with "more than 1,000 updated entries about publishers, agents, editors, and other industry professionals". It runs to nearly 500 pages in print, and the online version costs $14.99 a year and is updated during the year. Use it to shortlist editors and to check which houses and agents take your kind of book.

Christian book editing costs the same as general editing. For an 80,000-word non-fiction book at the EFA's 2026 median rates, a developmental edit costs $3,200–4,000, a line edit $2,800–4,000, a copyedit $2,400–3,200 and a proofread $1,600–2,400. Reedsy's published ranges run lower at the bottom.

The 80,000-word figures are our arithmetic on each per-word rate. The EFA's figures are median ranges from a survey of more than 1,100 members, not price caps. Editors report a median of $600 per assessment (EFA, all lengths); for an 80,000-word book, per-word rates come to $1,200–2,000.

There is no faith-market premium in the published data. The Christian Editors Association's own rate chart (2023) lists the rates its members most commonly charge for non-fiction, and for every edit type they sit at or below the EFA bands above. For what each edit does, see the four types of editing; for the full price ladder, see what a book editor costs.

A Christian book proposal is the pitch a publisher reads before your manuscript, and the houses that publish their guidelines ask for much the same parts. Most evangelical houses take proposals only from agents; the Christian publishers guide lists which ones read them directly. Three published lists, checked in October 2026:

• Ave Maria Press: a working title and subtitle, a one-paragraph description, why the book is unique, an annotated table of contents, a writing sample (preferably the introduction or chapter one), a short author bio and links that show your platform.
• Paulist Press: a cover letter with title, subject and intended audience, how the book compares to similar titles, a sample chapter and table of contents, the estimated word count and a summary of your qualifications.
• Ignatius Press: "a summary, a detailed chapter-by-chapter overview, and two full sample chapters".

Put together, a proposal needs seven parts: title, one-paragraph summary, audience, comparable titles, chapter-by-chapter outline, one or two finished sample chapters, and an author bio with platform. Crossway, which reads unagented proposals, takes them through an online form.

Expect a long wait and little feedback. Paulist asks you to allow six to eight weeks. Crossway replies within eight weeks only if it is interested. Ignatius can take up to six months and gives no feedback on rejections. Ave Maria says it receives "hundreds of manuscripts annually" and selects "very few".

A developmental edit is the largest editing bill, at $3,200–4,000 for 80,000 words. Before paying it, a $19 Manuscript AI report reads the whole manuscript, answers eight editorial questions and gives every chapter recommendations and reading measures, usually in under 10 minutes. It does not check doctrine, scripture or permissions. A Christian editor does that part.