|
Yolanda is a self-published author who wants to build a fiction proofreading and copyediting business. In this Q&A I consider the steps she should take to get her editorial business off the ground and fit for purpose.
Says Yolanda:
I am a fiction author located in U.S. and I've been self-publishing for almost 6 years under various pen names. I still work full-time (over 20 years in the administrative field), however I would like to start a freelance career as a fiction proofreader/copy-editor. I am a certified legal proofreader but outside of my day job & my own books I don't have experience proofing. I intend to use freelance job sites & my connections with self-published authors to build my portfolio. As far as blogging, I'm not sure what I would discuss since my focus is fiction & I'm not an expert yet to give other proofreaders advice. What would be my next steps to transition from fiction author to fiction proofreader/ copy-editor for self-published authors as far as getting my business up & running, classes (if any), pricing, etc? Hi, Yolanda! Thanks for your question. I’ve broken down my advice as follows:
Training I think you’re wise to consider training. It’s essential that your knowledge of grammar, spelling and punctuation conventions is top-notch. If it’s not, you won’t be able to correct your clients’ files to industry standards. I'd recommend that you search for a grammar brush-up course as a first step. That will enable you to discover whether your technical knowledge is on point and if there are any weaknesses that you need to attend to. Here are a couple of options for you to consider:
Fiction work does require an empathetic hand because editors and proofreaders are often faced with the dilemma of how to amend such that we remove errors and improve readability but respect narrative voice and flow. However, it’s only when you know what a problem is that you can decide whether to fix it! Training is absolutely the right place to discover your weak points. Better that than via a disgruntled client. Your second step should be to undertake professional editorial skills training. This will be of particular use to you because it'll move you into the editing mindset and away from the authorial one that you're used to. I appreciate that you've self-edited, but editing one's own work is a very different proposition to offering professional services to paying customers, as you clearly realize. Professional training will also enable you to determine the level of intervention that each type of editing requires. In turn, that will help you avoid scope-creep and undercharging. Especially when proofreading, knowing when to leave well enough alone is an art in itself! Here are some reputable US-based programmes to consider:
Services
You’ll need to develop a service model that differentiates between the different levels of editing. Many self-publishing authors don’t know the differences between proofreading, copyediting, line editing, and developmental editing. Many editors' definitions vary too. And so while the lines are often blurred, especially when we compare different independent editors’ service descriptions, professional training will help you clarify how you'll describe your services so that your clients understand exactly what’s on offer. You can see some examples of how I’ve tackled definitional issues here:
I’d advise taking a look at a range of editors’ websites to familiarize yourself with the breadth of services on offer and the way your future colleagues describe these. There’s no right or wrong. Rather, it’s all about clear communication and helping the client understand how you can solve their problems. 
Visibility
Blogging needn't necessarily be your primary content platform, though I think it works well for editors and proofreaders because our wordy clients are comfortable with wordy information! Even if you don't concentrate on vlogging or podcasting, at least think about how you can introduce audio-visual material into your marketing mix in order to stand out and offer your audience alternative ways to get what you're offering. You don’t need to focus on colleagues either. Far from it. Fifty per cent of my content is created for beginner authors. I’d recommend you consider using your experience as a self-published author of fiction to guide potential clients on how to navigate their own publishing journeys. Think about what their problems and questions might be. Think about what your own problems and questions were! For example, you mentioned having used a pen name; that would be an interesting topic to any beginner author wondering whether they should publish under their own name. Great content marketing solves problems. If you decide to blog, offer fantastic value by helping other writers solve their conundruns using all your knowledge and experience ... the rough and the smooth. Everything you’ve learned on your own journey has the potential to help others. Don’t forget that your experience of self-publishing can be used as a unique selling point that makes you stand out. Combine that with high-quality training and you’ll be on the way to building a compelling online presence. Consider how you might make your content visible beyond the blog (or vlog or podcast) by creating a resource hub that makes what you’ve created accessible via different pages on your website. It’s my belief that having an individual, standout online fingerprint is essential for those entering the editorial freelancing market. There’s too much competition out there to create a website that looks just like everyone else’s. So do focus on your marketing so that over time you can be as discoverable as possible. Here are a few examples:
Pricing
Many national editorial societies have guidelines or suggested minimums for what editors should charge. I look at these but don’t use them to determine my own rates because they distract me from the important things than any pricing model needs to take account of. These are:
In relation to your needs, it matters little if the Editorial Freelancers Association thinks that $30–50 per hour is a common and acceptable rate for copyediting if you need $70 per hour to keep the bailiffs from the door. With that in mind, when you start to think about pricing, work out first what you need to earn as a minimum to make your business viable. That’s your baseline. From there you can work upwards to what you want to earn and what your clients will bear. Self-publishing authors aren’t a homogeneous market when it comes to writing skill, genre or budget. Some will be shopping for an editor whose fees are lower than that which you need to earn. Others will be prepared to pay more than you want to earn. Yet others will sit somewhere in the middle. It’s not only the budget that will vary; your authors' locations will too. And so if your potential client is based in Sweden, it’s likely that what $40 will buy in Sweden is not the same as what it will buy in the US. Since the cost of living varies from country to country, what an American client thinks is a high rate might seem an absolute steal to the Swede. And that’s another problem with professional association pricing tables – they focus on the domestic market whereas your potential market lies well beyond the sovereign state in which you reside. That’s why it makes more sense to build your pricing model on your own needs rather than some notion that there’s one universally applicable rate (or range) for editing or proofreading. There isn’t. There’s some excellent detailed guidance on editorial rate-setting from Rich Adin on the American Editor blog. Start with the following: Sign-off I hope all that gives you a few ideas for how to move forward, Yolanda, and I wish you well on your editorial business-building journey! There’s plenty more information on my blog in the following archives: Money Matters, Marketing, Starting Out and Training. Dig into that and start connecting with other editorial pros online. There are lots of us on Facebook (the Editors’ Association of Earth is a good place to start), Twitter and LinkedIn ... and beyond! See you there!
Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in helping self-publishing writers prepare their novels for market.
She is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors, and runs online courses from within the Craft Your Editorial Fingerprint series. She is also an Advanced Professional Member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders. Louise loves books, coffee and craft gin, though not always in that order. Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn. If you're an author, take a look at Louise’s Writing Library and access her latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly.
0 Comments
In this video tutorial, I show you how to set up automatic scheduling of your blog content to subscribers via MailChimp.
MailChimp frequently updates its settings. If you find this video no longer works for you, feel free to give me a nudge so I can create a revised tutorial. If you prefer to read the instructions, here they are: Assumptions
Step 1 (as of December 2017)
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 6
Step 7
Step 8
Step 9
Step 10
Step 11
That's it! You're done!
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), a member of ACES, a Partner Member of The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and co-hosts The Editing Podcast. Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Fiction Editor & Proofreader, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, connect via Facebook and LinkedIn, and check out her books and courses.
Sharon is a self-published author who’s improving her self-editing skills with professional editorial training. However, she’s worried that her chosen course isn’t worth the money she’s paying.
Says Sharon:
Dear Louise, I am a self published author. I am trying to improve my skills on proof reading and copy editing. I am doing a course for [training provider redacted]. Can you give me any advice, are courses a waste of time and money. What do you advise me to do please help, many thanks Sharon
Hi, Sharon! Thanks for your question. I’m more than happy to guide you. My view is that there are several issues to consider:
After I’ve discussed these issues, I’ll offer you my recommendation on how best to proceed. Pro courses: what they do I believe that professional editors and proofreaders should undertake professional training to ensure that they’re fit for purpose ... just as an engineer, a plumber, a teacher or a doctor does. And while the course you mention isn’t one that I’ve done, the provider is recognized and respected by many UK editors and proofreaders and publishers. Let’s have a quick look at some of the key modules:
Here’s a brief summary of the differences between copyediting and proofreading as defined by the UK publishing industry. The two skills are different (though the terminology does tend to blur outside the mainstream). Says the Society for Editors and Proofreaders: Copy-editing is to ensure that whatever appears in public is accurate, easy to follow, fit for purpose and free of error, omission, inconsistency and repetition. This process picks up embarrassing mistakes, ambiguities and anomalies, alerts the client to possible legal problems and analyses the document structure for the typesetter/designer. 
Assumed prior knowledge
The most important thing to recognize is that professional proofreading and editing training providers assume a level of proficiency in regard to the student’s existing sentence-level language skills. The courses are not designed to teach people standard spelling, grammar and punctuation (SPaG). Rather, they’re designed to help those who already have a solid grasp of SPaG to mark up, or directly amend, written materials in a manner that respects professional publishing conventions and the client’s brief and style. And while your course does include a module to help students assess whether their language skills are up to scratch, comprehensive grammar and punctuation training is not its focus. Your needs and the course’s intention: Is the fit good? There’s nothing wrong with your course’s syllabus. For someone who wishes to build an editorial business, and has an existing appreciation of conventional SPaG, the training is right on track. For that person, the course is not a waste of time or money. It’s a wise investment that will ensure they’re fit for purpose when they begin copyediting and proofreading for clients. However, I don’t think that course is the right fit for you. It’s teaching you skills that are not, for the most part, relevant to your immediate requirements. Instead, I think you should focus on strengthening your grammar and punctuation. See more below in ‘My recommendation’. 
The limits of self-editing for pro self-publishers
A word of caution! I’m a professional copyeditor and proofreader. I blog regularly and know as well as anyone that self-editing has its limitations. Most of us, no matter how strong our language skills, cannot self-edit our own work as effectively as we’d edit another’s. That’s because we’re too close to our own writing; we see what we want to see on the page rather than what’s actually there. Carrying out several checks at intervals can help eradicate most errors but perfection is unlikely. It’s for that reason that I pay a colleague to proofread my blog posts before I publish them (with the exception of these Q&As, which I publish quickly because a reader’s asked for help and I don’t wish to keep them waiting). And even if my pro editor doesn’t find any literal errors, it’s unusual for them not to offer several improvements to the sentence flow for the purposes of clarity and engagement. And so once you’ve developed your SPaG skills, you’ll be able to remove many of the errors in your books, but not all of them. And it’s likely that a professional line or copyeditor will be able to help you smooth the text in a way that improves the flow of your narrative and dialogue. I realize that budget is an issue for some self-publishing authors. Nevertheless, I recommend commissioning professional editorial services if the author can afford it. Professional editors hire pros; so should pro authors if they want to mimic the standards that traditionally published authors strive for. Not doing so will mean that errors, inconsistencies and structural problems might still be evident to the paying reader. At the end of the post, I’ve included links to some resources that discuss the different levels of editing and the order of play, in case you (or other readers) need some additional guidance. 
My recommendation
I commend you for seeking to develop your editing skills, Sharon. Self-editing is vital; the more you can do, the more money you’ll save when it comes to investing in professional editing! However, I think you’d be far better off investing in training that’s dedicated to teaching English-language grammar and punctuation standards. Start by searching online for grammar courses run by your local college or university. Before you enrol, speak to the course supervisor and explain what your problems are. That way you can ensure that the course is a good fit. Developing these skills will really help to drive your sentence-level editing forward. If your budget allows for it, consider seeking the assistance of a developmental or story editor before you start worrying about the detail. A manuscript evaluation or critique will help you deal with any big-picture issues before you spend time on the nitty-gritty. Sentence-level editing (by you or a pro) without prior structural assessment can be rather like trying to build a house on boggy ground – even if the walls look pretty at the outset, it won’t be long before cracks appear! Now it may be that you’re already attending to story craft. In which case, my apologies. Still, the advice will serve other indie authors who are wondering about the order of play. I hope my response helps you decide on where to go next. Thanks again for your question. Feel free to drop me a line in the comments if you want to follow up on anything I’ve mentioned. Resources
Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.
Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn. If you're an author, take a look at Louise’s Writing Library and access her latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly. Q&A with Louise: Is blogging dead or can I still use it to make my editing business visible?11/12/2017
This latest Q&A is for Eloise, who is right at the beginning of her proofreading and editing business journey and is keen to get her content marketing underway. Here's her conundrum: should she blog, vlog or podcast?
Hi, Louise! I’m based in the US and am in the process of setting up a new proofreading and editing business. I’ve been reading your blog and searching online elsewhere for guidance on getting seen.
A lot of people are talking about how video and podcasting are the big things. Would I be better off carving my niche with one of those, or is a blog still viable? I’ve read articles saying that blogging is on the way out but it’s still my preferred option. Your advice, please!
Hi, Eloise. That’s a great question! And congratulations on embracing a content marketing strategy early on. The sooner you start, the quicker you’ll see results.
I’m going to break down your question into three sections.
What does your audience prefer? I think this is the key issue. How you and I would prefer to carve out a niche is less important than what our target audiences want. I know a lot of pro marketers who have podcasts and vlogs and blogs. However, they still tend to focus on one channel and repurpose the content for others because: (a) they need to appeal to broad audiences with multiple preferences, but (b) they still only have 24 hours in a day. The situation for the editor is, I think, less demanding. I’m not for a minute suggesting that authors, students, charities, businesses and academics don’t consume audio-visual content. They do. I’m suggesting that since they’re looking for editors and proofreaders to help them with their writing, our providing content in written form makes sense. Blogging is therefore a good fit – a natural solution – because people with wordy problems are more likely to feel at home on wordy platforms. Think, too, about search. An academic looking for guidance on how to style her citations according to Chicago is more likely to search on Google than on YouTube, and unlikely to search on Pinterest. Now, of course, the search engines don’t link only to written content – not at all – and the more audio-visual content there is, the more it will show up in the search engines. However, highly ranked content holds its position because the search engine algorithms have deemed it interesting and valuable, based on the extent to which it’s linked to, shared, liked, commented on, and for how long people are engaging with it. We’re more likely to get positive responses to our content if we’re using channels that are suitable. And this is where I worry that the podcast and the vlog are not ideal primary platforms for editorial content ... Which channel best communicates what you’re offering? What works best will be determined by the nature of your content and what your audience wants to do with it. Here are a couple of examples:
Creating great content is about value, but also about accessibility. We need to ensure that our audience can get the help they need as quickly as possible and in a way that makes it usable. Otherwise they’ll become frustrated and go elsewhere. The beauty of the blog is that our audience can scan, grab, like and share quickly. That’s what marketers call a ‘good user experience’. I call it making people happy. Why blogging isn’t dead I’ve read those articles too. I’m flummoxed by them. They seem to assume that there’s only one market and that it’s full of people with the same problems, and that those people want to access solutions in the same format. That’s not the case. It can’t possibly be so for the reasons I’ve already discussed. I have evidence too. In 2017, my website received 343,302 page views (green column below). Google Analytics tells me that my blog content was the primary driver. I create content not only for authors but also for proofreaders and editors (it’s how you found me) and it shows that I’m ranking in the search engines for the questions people are asking and that I’m providing answers for. 
Of course, that didn’t happen overnight; it’s taken me seven years to generate that level of discoverability. I believe that the increase this year's page views can be accounted for by a more purposeful approach to branding, scheduling, social media sharing, and content scope.
And while most of those visitors are colleagues (or people thinking about entering the industry), my being discoverable in Google for keyword search terms such as proofreading drives clients my way. You might also be interested in technical writer John Espirian's analysis. John started posting regularly on his blog several years ago and he's been purposeful about branding, scheduling, sharing and scope right from the get-go. He's found a significant correlation between his page views and his blogging. I think his results are superb and demonstrate how powerful blogging still is in terms of visitors to one's website.
You can see the full discussion on LinkedIn here.
Some of the objections raised in regard to blogging are as follows:
I believe there are solutions to these potential problems and I’d therefore recommend paying attention to the following: Mobile-friendly Make sure your website is responsive. That way, all the content – from your blog to your home page – will be readable on a mobile device. Try to keep your paragraphs short – anything more than two to three sentences on your laptop or desktop screen will appear as a wall of text on a smart phone. Multiple formats There’s nothing to stop you repurposing your blog content and introducing other media into the mix. For example, you could include short introductory videos about the blog post that could be used on social media to drive readers to your site. You could also introduce video tutorials into the mix, if and when they're relevant. I've done this with the installation instructions for my digital proofreading marks. Some of my colleagues have created excellent tutorials on macros and using Word's styles function. Or you might also create PDF versions of your blog posts so that readers can download the content to their preferred devices and read it at their leisure. Here’s an example of something I created to alongside my article Should a writer hire a freelance editor before submitting to an agent? And should editors accept the work? 
Subscription numbers
Just because people aren’t subscribing doesn’t mean they aren’t reading, sharing, liking, commenting and linking to a blog. I began building my subscription list back in 2017. By May 2019 it stood at 900+. Compare that with 398K+ website page views in the past 12 months and it becomes clear that readership doesn’t equal sign-up. 
It’s lovely to see people subscribing and visiting our sites but there’s a limit to how much we should dwell on the numbers. Someone else might have a website with much lower page-view numbers than mine but be targeting their core clients just as effectively and achieving their business goals.
The big issue is whether we’re discoverable by those who need our help and want to commission our services or buy our books, training courses and other products. Do we have a visible online fingerprint? Does that help our potential clients to find us? And are we securing the kind of work we want at the fee we desire? Those are the questions we should be focusing on. Density Current evidence suggests that longer blog posts get more likes and shares (see The Ideal Length for Blog Posts, Tweets, and Everything Else in Your Marketing). That can mean that our content is text-heavy. Two thousand words of waffle won’t do the blogger any favours so quality is always paramount. Focus on solving people’s problems and you won’t go far wrong. And if that means walls of text, break them up – not only with paragraph breaks and headers but also boxes, quotes images (Canva is your friend!), and bites of video or audio. Emotional connection There’s no doubt that when it comes to hearing someone’s voice and seeing their smile audio and video have the edge. That’s another reason why you might decide to add these media into the mix. But written content can be emotive too. When we solve people’s problems we make them feel something – relief, appreciation, a sense that they’re not alone, that they’re being listened to. I’m hoping you feel I’ve listened to you by dedicating this Q&A to your question and that you feel happy as a result. And I hope that you’ll share this post and visit again. That’s a win for both of us. And if you publish consistently useful, emotive stuff on your blog on a regular basis, you’ll build trust. When we’re trusted, our content is more likely to be shared and linked to ... sometimes even before the reader has had time to look at it. You can enhance those trust levels by making your blog posts recognizable, for example by incorporating images with a consistent design and your brand colours. Delivery Getting eyes on your blog is tricky at the beginning. Social media is the most powerful delivery tool available and should be incorporated into any content marketing strategy. Invisible content is of no value to you or your audience so build your network and use it to share what you’re publishing. Even if your blog content is solely focused on clients’ problems, other editors and proofreaders will also be interested because their clients might have similar concerns. Plus, colleagues are advocates. The international editorial community is beyond generous ... unusually so, I think. Engage with it, share your blog content with it, and give back what you get through reciprocation. If you create high-quality posts, your editorial friends will support you, I promise. What should you do? If your target audience wants to receive your content in written format, and that’s something you want to embrace, you should blog. Blogging isn’t on the way out. It’s as vibrant as ever ... as long as the content is giving people what they need, discoverable by those who need it, and readable on the devices they’re using. And to answer the final part of your question, I am absolutely going to continue blogging – I think that for our audience nothing beats it. I’m excited (and nervous!) about incorporating audio and video but the blog will remain my primary channel until further notice! Let me know when yours is live!
Related resources
Eguide: How to Build an Editorial Blog (Business Skills for Editors 2) Multimedia course: Blogging for Business Growth
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), a member of ACES, a Partner Member of The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and co-hosts The Editing Podcast. Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Fiction Editor & Proofreader, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, connect via Facebook and LinkedIn, and check out her books and courses. |
PDF MARKUP
AUTHOR RESOURCES
EDITOR RESOURCES
TESTIMONIALSDare Rogers'Louise uses her expertise to hone a story until it's razor sharp, while still allowing the author’s voice to remain dominant.'Jeff Carson'I wholeheartedly recommend her services ... Just don’t hire her when I need her.'J B Turner'Sincere thanks for a beautiful and elegant piece of work. First class.'Ayshe Gemedzhy'What makes her stand out and shine is her ability to immerse herself in your story.'Salt Publishing'A million thanks – your mark-up is perfect, as always.'CATEGORIES
All
ARCHIVES
January 2025
|
RSS Feed
