The Concierge (Blog)

Line editing for parallelism sometimes requires being a line editor detective—finding the sentence-level issues to take a manuscript to the next level. Editing Detective: Line Editing for Parallelism As a line editor, sometimes the problems I catch are obvious (“Roy laghed at the joke”) but sometimes they’re not. Sometimes being a line editor is a…

Editors, may I offer some suggestions on growing a developmental editing mindset? Beginning developmental editors sometimes ask me how “awful” books make it onto the New York Times bestseller list, and how can we worry about what makes a story “good” when obviously quality doesn’t matter to readers? How do “bad” books make it through…

I think it’s important for editors to understand the differences in editing for indie authors and publisher clients in order to make a thoughtful decision on which type of cient to pursie, or perhaps to attain both types of clients. Here are some of the most helpful tips I’ve gathered in my experience to help…

Developing a story editor attitude is not about being right or wrong, but more of a subjective approach to helping authors create their best writing. In story development/developmental editing, there’s really no such thing as being “right” about an issue. When you’re doing copyediting at least you can say, “Chicago recommends the use of the…

What are the secrets to finding clients as a newer editor? Here is my top tip and a few thoughts. Ways to Find Clients as a Newer Editor Established freelancers often describe a formula they think newer freelancers should follow to get more clients: “Apply to every freelance gig you see! That’s all you need…

What’s the secret to making time for potential clients, especially if you’re time and energy are already maxed out? Businesses do many things to reduce friction for customers, such as building automations, writing FAQs, offering a wide variety of payment options, and so on. The idea is that if I want to buy a widget…

One thing new editors often ask me is how to find their niche(s), and my short answer is to let your niche find you. How to Let Your Niche Find You I don’t want to be all zen and say your niches will find you, but that’s kind of true, or at least it has…

Let’s talk about when to raise rates for book editors.  How do you know when it’s the right time? I have a few tips for this. Is it Time to Raise Your Rates?  It’s common for freelancers to get stuck on a low-paying treadmill. They take a few poorly paying gigs to get some experience…

In the Club Ed membership group, we were discussing a (published) how-to book aimed at writers. One of the editors mentioned how the information was presented in a confusing way and that this made it difficult for her to continue reading. Then she remarked, “My mind is generally in a state of burden.” I don’t…