I have an editing package that includes two rounds of copyedits & line edits, plus a free proofreading of the formatted final copy when the book is in its last stage before publishing. I have a base rate on my website (currently 1.3 cents per word), but that applies to an average edit (which I can determine when I do a free sample edit of <1000 words for the client). If the sample shows a heavier edit, the price per word increases accordingly, and I’ve charged double my base rate on a few occasions for the really rough writing.

So many of the less-skilled authors don’t understand the scope of the work, nor the value of what they’re getting. They’ll try to pay a rate that’s not even enough to make minimum wage per hour, thinking that editing is simply reading through a manuscript for typos and misspelled words. For a book of 50K words, an average edit can take me about 25 hours, but I’ve had heavy edits of that same length take as long as 80 hours. And those who edit will be quick to tell you that it’s not really possible (or a good idea) to edit more than five hours in a workday. Eye strain and brain fatigue will contribute to errors.

I’m sorry the author you worked with didn’t appreciate the skill level and time the work entailed. If they want a quicker edit, the burden is on them to write a cleaner MS for the editor to work with.