Building Your Editing Business
Building your editing business requires finding clients. As a newer editor, this can be challenging, so where do you start? I suggest you begin by asking yourself a few questions.
Building Your Editing Business: Decide Who You Are as an Editor
- What is your purpose? Mine is to help women find a way to tell their stories.
- What kinds of clients does your purpose suggest you should target? I target women who are transitioning from nonfiction to fiction or creative nonfiction.
- What do you want from your business? I want to work on interesting manuscripts written by professionals who can pay professional fees.
- What kinds of clients does your “what I want from my business” answer suggest you should target? For me, people who are already professionals and who see the value of editorial help.
- What is your area of specialization, and why? I specialize in teaching women nonfiction writers to write romance because this is where my skills and experience lie, and it is what people ask me to do.
Inventory What You Already Know
- What is your overall business goal?
- What are some overall marketing strategies you could use to get clients?
- What are some skills and experiences you have that might help potential clients solve a problem?
- What are five or ten things you can do in the next two months to gain additional editing experience?
- Who are some people you could get to know who could help you build your business?
- What types of services are you offering/planning to offer potential clients?
Put It Together
- Who are your target clients, and where are they likely to be found?
- What is one thing you can do this week to network with colleagues and/or potential clients?
- Identify an indirect way of finding clients (such as teaching a class) that appeals to you. What are some steps you need to take to get the ball rolling?
Tips for Editors & Writers
The Fine Art of Copyediting Fiction
When copyediting fiction, it’s common to run up against issues that pit author preference against standard editing approaches. For example, in a story I wrote some years ago, the main character’s neighbor is referred to as “3-B” as that is her apartment number and the MC doesn’t know her name. Fine. She can be referred…
Let the manuscript teach you how to edit it
One of the lessons I’ve learned over many years of editing is that you have to let the manuscript teach you how to edit it. Every manuscript is different and every manuscript needs a different touch. Even when an author does something I’ve seen many times before, I have to edit for that particular manuscript,…
Helping Authors Strengthen Story Settings
The setting of a novel consists of multiple elements, big and small, that nest inside each other like those little Russian dolls. We might show this hierarchy of settings like so: If you think about it, the micro setting of “the living room of 601 San Mateo Road Apartment 16” implies the existence of all…
