In this series, editors share their experiences, insights, and tips on the practical aspects of working as an editor. For this edition, a nonet of editors answers an open-ended question reminiscent of one that was considered by one of our members back in 2020.
What is one thing you know now that you wish you had known when you were starting out?
Allister Thompson, freelance editor
I wish I’d known when I started in publishing that freelancing would become so viable a business. There’s an assumption you have to spend years of apprenticeship in-house, or some people feel that an in-house job is preferable for various reasons (some of those reasons are a bit snobbish). I understand things like medical benefits and office camaraderie, but in fact it’s possible to make a far better living right now as a freelancer than as a junior or even senior editor at most publishers. This is because self-publishing authors often understand the value of getting good editing done on their work, and they are willing to pay qualified professionals to help them. These fees are usually far more than a publisher offers freelancers. I don’t regret my years working in-house, but if I’d known I could have made a go of it solo all that time (all the while sitting around in my own home wearing VERY comfortable pants), I might have made the move sooner!
The other thing I wish I’d known was how to price my services. I started off by lowballing myself and making far less money than I could have. And I mean really lowballing. It took years for me to learn the value of my own work. So that’s something people starting off as freelancers should think carefully about and seek the appropriate information.
Katharine O’Moore-Klopf, consulting medical editor
I wish I had known that rather than just accepting the low hourly rates that some clients pay, we self-employed editors must create an annual budget to find out what we need to earn to pay all of our bills, put aside some savings, and have money left to live on. There are good sources of information about the subject, including the freelance rate calculator.
John Sweet, freelance editor
I wish I had known that publishers’ schedules are somewhat elastic. If you’re asked to take on a job and the deadline seems unreasonable, it’s okay to ask for a couple of extra days. The fact that you’re asking for more time doesn’t mean you’re a slacker, it means you want to take the time it requires to do a good job. You shouldn’t have to be working at 1:00 am to finish up a job because you were only given a week to proofread a 300-page novel. I did this too many times when I was starting out as a freelancer, fearing I’d never get any more work if I didn’t accept the deadline originally proposed.
Erin Della Mattia, freelance editor and co-author of a forthcoming biography about feminist scientist Ursula Franklin
I wish I had known that anyone who says social media marketing is essential for freelance editors is probably trying to sell you something. When I was first starting out, I wasted a lot of time on social media marketing that got me nothing but a headache. There are better ways of reaching potential clients: cold calls/emails, directory listings, giving presentations at writer/trade conferences, contributing to an influential/well-read niche-related publication, etc. Even a blog connected to your website is better: it keeps people clicking around on your site instead of immediately scrolling away like they would on Instagram or Twitter/X.
Alicia Chantal, copy editor, proofreader, and owner of Fresh Look Editing
I wish I had known just how welcoming the editing community is. Some local editors encouraged me to join X (formerly known as Twitter) when I first started and I did so grudgingly. (I hadn’t been one for social media at that point!) Once I got involved though, it opened the door to some of the most knowledgeable and friendly people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. I have been fortunate to engage with people from around the world and have opportunities for personal and professional growth. We really belong to an incredible group.
Tanya Mykhaylychenko, copy editor and professional résumé writer
For self-employed editors, online visibility is one of the main pillars of a successful and stable business. I wish I hadn’t waited several years to put up my website. It is an excellent tool to help my clients understand my fees, services, and the work process. It is better to start with a clean, minimal website (that you can update as you go) than to have no website. Other tools include a complete LinkedIn profile optimized with keywords, a directory listing in the appropriate associations, and listings in specialized or local groups. Someone is always looking for your services, so keep your profiles updated.
Natalia Iwanek, freelance copy editor, stylistic editor, and proofreader
When I was a new editor, I wish I had known to find a niche. At first, I thought it was sufficient to focus on general editing specializations, in my case, copy editing, stylistic editing, and non-fiction. Then, I attended an Editors Canada webinar with Greg Ioannou, who stressed the importance of niches, and this greatly impacted the trajectory of my editing career. I began focusing on professional development, additional certifications in Plain Language, as well as conscious/inclusive language and accessibility. My advice would be to focus on what you know and what brings you joy—and use that to stand out to clients.
Raya P. Morrison, freelance editor and editor-in-chief of Blood & Bourbon
I wish I knew about the editor’s role earlier in my life. Editing was hiding in plain sight! Knowing that editing can be a career might have saved me a few years of being overly stressed at a job I didn’t really care for. At the same time, I probably wouldn’t have had all the adventures and met all the different people, so there’s a silver lining to my winding path. Of course, there’s an abundance of editing tools and techniques, but I don’t wish I had found out about any of them sooner, as I’m learning at a steady pace.
James Harbeck, freelance book editor
Most of what I know now that I didn’t know 25 years ago comes from years of experience, and you can’t microwave experience. I’ll say it’s “You’re wrong about how much you know.” Partly I was overconfident in my mechanical knowledge, but partly I didn’t realize that I already knew how to do structural and substantive editing—I had learned it in graduate school by writing and grading. There is one other thing I didn’t fully appreciate at first, too: the most important thing in editing is not words on the page, it’s people in the world, writing, and reading.
This article was copy edited by Bethany Lake, a writer and editor from Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has written for numerous publications across Canada, and is a regular contributor to the magazine Rue Morgue.
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