Author: Christine Abrams
Date:   05-08-05 14:47

I'm a very good writer and editor. I've had high praise for my writing and editing skills throughout my career, and colleagues often ask me to edit their writing. I now want to be self-employed and have the freedom to set my own hours and work from anywhere.

I've been looking at web sites that offer to find work for freelance editors. Can anyone help me find legitimate ones? Are there any I should avoid?

I could also use some help from experienced freelancers with regard to how you set your fees.

Thanks!

Author: Jeanne Gassman
Date:   05-08-05 15:38

Christine,

You should take a look at the freelance forum at writersweekly.com. There are a lot of freelance writers over there who make a living from freelance work. You may be able to get some good advice from some of the participants. Also, writers weekly posts job listings for freelance editing positions. Go to:

http://www.writersweekly.com
You will find job lisitings at the bottom of the home page. Click on the freelance forum link to get to the discussions on freelance writing.

Other sites that list freelance jobs include:

http://www.freelancewriting.com

http://www.craigslist.org

Don't waste your time with jobs that offer "great exposure" on their site but no pay. Clips will not pay your utility bills, and many of these "great exposure" jobs are simply scams trying to get free editing services or free text. Do spend some time perusing the threads at writersweekly.com to get a sense of what is legit and what is not.

There are some other freelance writing job sites, but I don't have them at my fingertips at the moment. If I find them, I'll post them here for you.

Author: Jeanne Gassman
Date:   05-08-05 15:45

Two more resources:

http://www.writing-world.com
There is a section called "Writers Wanted" that lists paying and nonpaying jobs.

http://fundsforwriters.com
This site has some great links for job opportunities. Click on the "links" thread on the left of the home page to get to the list.

That should be enough to get you started.

Author: Donna Eastman
Date:   05-08-05 15:56

Have you tried contacting publishing companies with your background and experience. They all use freelance copyeditors. If you are a line/story/content editor, those jobs, as a rule are done in-house or by professional editing services. I've never dealt with them.

Author: Greg Bailey
Date:   05-09-05 13:17

Donna:

Just curious--how do you approach publishing houses about freelance copyediting work? Do you first find out who to contact? If so, how do you find that information? I am interested in doing just what you propose here, but have always been daunted by the difficulty of determining who hires freelancers for the publishing houses.

Author: Anthony Ravenscroft
Date:   05-09-05 17:31

I wish that I could outright hire an editor to assist me (a part-time indexer'd be nice, too...). I want to go off on an extended complaint about all the different jobs that get stuck under the "editor" label, but I'll refrain for the moment.

In an ideal world, I'd have proof that an editor was actually capable of editing, before I tossed something their way. Because, if I toss something their way, that means I need to have it done to a high polish within a certain time-frame... & how do I know they can fit either need, much less both?

I'm trying to come up with a few things for this. First is a test-piece, where someone will have maybe a week to edit 10,000 words. But the most important tool will be a "mutual understanding" checklist.

If I want someone to go over an ms. & make sure the idiomatic Spanish is spelled correctly, I don't want that editor rearranging paragraphs. Am I expecting a low- or high-level edit? How many incidences of allowing "their"/"they're"/"there" errors to go by will result in termination of our relationship?

In an ideal world, an editor would send me maybe 10 rough ms. pages (maybe from a friend's ms.), & at least 2 versions of editing, one where it's assumed the writer's a friend of the publisher & therefore it just needs some cleaning up, & the other more extensive, with word-choice improvements, reparagraphing, & the occasional sentence removal.

Ah, crap, more stuff to write....

Anyway, try eLance.com (you can get there through the eBay home page, too). It costs like $40/month, but I've heard from editors who I would never hire who are making a decent living editing for people who are even less literate! As you build a reputation, you can raise your rates &/or get a lot more picky about your contracts.

And the best way to work for publishers? Drop a letter (in the mail, even!) that doesn't look like a form-letter. Say "hi", say, "I saw one of your company's books at Borders & it's really great because...", say "when I edited this book, it was a struggle but I am still proud of it because...". Don't go on for thousands of words, but make it clear that you know your trade, that you're aware it's an industry, & that you would improve their effectiveness & profitability.

After that, all you have to do is prove you're not talking through your... er, hat.

;)

Author: Christine Abrams
Date:   05-09-05 19:12

Thanks so much for your advice!

Author: Greg Bailey
Date:   05-10-05 07:30

Anthony:

As a fledgling freelance copyeditor, I applaud a lot of what you said here. I firmly believe writers and editors need to take great pains to be sure they are on the same page as far as what exactly is to be done to a manuscript. I also believe an editor should be willing to do a free sample edit, both so that the editor can evaluate the amount of work the manuscript needs and so that the client can judge whether the editor is competent. After that, a contract or letter of understanding is essential.

I would say, however, that it would be excessive to expect an editor to edit 10,000 words with no payment. I usually offer to do 5 doublespaced pages, which is approximately 1,500 words. Except in very unique circumstances, I simply cannot afford to donate any more time than that.

Author: Anthony Ravenscroft
Date:   05-11-05 03:58

Depends much on whether it's a one-shot contract, or probable to be "external staff" doing multiple book-length projects over at least a few years.

A freelancer who takes whatever comes over the transom with a down-payment check has to face turning scribbling into something resembling English. Working for a publisher, the mss. are likely in some passable form already -- there's less hammer-&-tongs work to do & more fine-tuning. Getting a position like that requires demonstrable skill.