How long do jobs take? Can I speed up the process?

First, note that Wordy’s delivery times are estimates. They are not fixed deadlines. Our editors will strive to meet them but within reason.

As a very rough rule of thumb, editors can do about 1000 words an hour for a reasonably well-written document. The speed varies by editor and also depends on how much work is needed, how easy the text is to follow, the style guide and so on. If there are special requirements, like paraphrasing, the job may take much longer. If not much work is needed, it may take much less time.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that a 5000-word document will be done in 5 hours. First, the 5 hours doesn’t start until an editor has claimed the job. Wordy is, however, competitive, so jobs raised during working hours are usually claimed quickly. It may take longer for technical material to be claimed, as such material requires the right editor. Second, your editor will probably want at least one break in that time, so the 5 hours could easily become 6. Without breaks, the quality of their output will tail off as they become tired and hungry. Third, if the editor starts the job mid-afternoon, it is possible that they will stop at the end of their working day and complete it in the morning. Fourth, your editor may get stuck and raise a query with the author via Wordy’s messaging system. They may not be able to complete the job until the query is answered. Finally, shit happens. Our editors are human, and unfortunately, life sometimes get in the way of work.

Regarding author queries, be careful when using fire-and-forget. Say you have an urgent and important report that needs to be submitted 9am tomorrow morning. You stay up late, finishing it at midnight before submitting it to Wordy. Then you fall into bed, with the expectation that a well-edited document will have been uploaded to Wordy when you get up in the morning. In most cases, that will happen, especially if you’ve used Wordy before and know what to expect. At other times, there may be a problem. Say you’ve asked for US English but when the editor looks at the document, it’s in UK English. They might just change “centre” and “colour” to “center” and “color”, or they might leave it as UK English. (In such cases, if the editor gets it wrong, ask for a re-edit with an explanation of why a re-edit is needed.) A good editor, however, will ask first and then wait for a reply, which means your job will be left hanging until you respond.

If a job is urgent, choose the express option. This puts the job at the top of the queue so it will get claimed sooner. Also, the express option tells the editor that the job is urgent so that they will expedite it, taking fewer breaks and working beyond the end of their day. But note the trade-off between speed and quality.

One option for a long and urgent document is to split it into chapters or sections and post each individually. This allows different editors to claim each section, and if they work in parallel, the whole document will be done much more quickly. The downside is that each editor may make slightly different choices regarding things like style and hyphenation, which could affect consistency. There is no overarching organisation responsible for prescribing the rules for grammar and spelling in English. Different authorities suggest different things. Dictionaries suggest different things, especially with regard to hyphenation. So, one editor may allow split infinitives; another may edit them out. One editor may allow sentences to start with “but” or “and”; another will edit them out. That said, there is general agreement on what constitutes good English and what constitutes correct spelling. So, such differences between editors will, generally, be few and far between.

One way to achieve consistency is to have a style guide. This can take different forms. It could just be a few sentences in the brief to the editor regarding things that editors may make different decisions about. It could be a longer document that describes, for example, what lists should look like. Note, though, that a 100-page style guide for a job that will take only an hour may deter some editors.

Also note that one editor may claim all the jobs.