The Concierge (Blog)

Editors with some experience often come to me with concerns about sustaining their business. They’re usually in a particular niche, such as copyediting mystery fiction, and they’ve stalled in some way – they don’t have quite enough clients and they’re not making quite enough money. But we know that niches are a great way to…

I’m on LinkedIn quite a bit because it’s a good place to talk about Club Ed. Sometimes on LI people share stories about why they want to quit their jobs. While I am well accustomed to bad boss behavior, this recent one made my jaw drop: “I’m at a funeral and my boss is texting…

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,…

If you’re interested in editing – whether copyediting or developmental editing – it pays to become used to a few basic editing resouces. What’s Your Style? Most of my clients have wanted me to follow The Chicago Manual of Style with some variations, and that is standard for book publishing, so it pays to become…

As a developmental editor, you’ll occasionally (maybe even frequently) encounter clients who need more than what you can offer in a developmental edit. Sometimes they don’t have the skill to do the necessary revision or they simply don’t have the time to do the writing. In these cases, instead of sending the client off to…

Occasionally I hear from editors who’ve gotten stiffed by a new client (and sometimes by a returning client!) and want to know how to avoid it. Because my publisher clients are all reliable, the main thing I do to prevent problems is to expect full payment in advance from indie authors. Not everyone can do…

Some years ago, I taught copyediting for the University of California San Diego (long before I ever moved to sunny California myself) and often I would get students who asked, “So, does this apply to copyediting fiction, too?” And the answer was, “Yes, but no.” Yes, you need to apply consistent standards throughout the manuscript….

Newer freelancers sometimes come to me in a panic because a client has approached them to do work that’s outside their typical scope. Commonly this is something like the freelancer offers copyediting and developmental editing but the client wants coaching. What should they do? They don’t know how to coach, they don’t offer coaching services,…

If you’ve been a developmental editor for any length of time, you’ve likely encountered an author who just wants you to write the book for them. Or, you’ve encountered a ms that was in such disrepair that it required a herculean effort to fix it, dropping your hourly rate down to pocket change. As a…