Why word of mouth (WOM) is often misunderstood
‘But my colleague said that all her work is via word of mouth.’

I don’t doubt it. But if she’s been running her business for 20 years and has a portfolio and client list as long as your arm, she’s not in the same position as the new entrant to the field.

She’s benefiting from 1, 2 and 3 because she invested in A, B and C.

New starters should indeed commit to WOM marketing. What they shouldn’t do is assume that it’s a passive approach that requires no effort. Nor will there be short-term results. Top-notch WOM marketing requires an intense level of commitment to action and an acceptance of slow-burn impact.

Awareness and trust aren’t built overnight, especially in our field. Editorial freelancers aren’t selling a product that promises something that swathes of people have wanted forever – an anti-aging cream, a painless leg-waxing treatment, a broadband connection that never, ever buffers even if you live out in the sticks and there’s more chance of getting a wi-fi signal on Mars. Our services have to prove their worth.

For the editorial business owner, WOM marketing is like creating a garden from scratch. If you’re proactive, it will take many months to knock it into shape. If you hold back, it’ll take years. If you’re passive, the garden will remain barren.

WOM and colleagues
There are a lot of us, and many have already developed niche networks of friends and colleagues to whom we refer work.

When an editor or proofreader ends up on my radar, it’s because they’ve instilled trust in me.

• Perhaps they blog regularly about, offer training on, or deliver presentations about specific aspects of editorial work that I don’t offer.
• Perhaps they’re visible on social media and professional forums, often sharing valuable knowledge that answers questions, solves problems, and demonstrates their skills, experience and expertise.
• Perhaps they’ve helped me solve a problem.

Only then am I likely to add them to my referral network.

WOM and clients
As for client A telling client B about you, you’ll need a lot of mouths to share the good news if you want to have a full schedule! That’s not where you’ll be if you’re a new entrant to the field, not because you’re not an effective editor or proofreader but because you don’t yet have a large enough bank of clients.

Effective WOM
Find out which networks (online and offline) your clients and colleagues recommend and join in the discussion. There’s nothing wrong with asking questions but be prepared to offer solutions too. Even new editorial freelancers have specialist skills and background experience that are relevant and valuable to the debate.

In 'Why word of mouth marketing is the most important social media', Kimberly A. Whitler, Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, breaks down WOM marketing into the three Es:

• Engage – talk to your colleagues and clients via social media, online forums and local networking groups.
• Equip – give your colleagues and clients a reason to engage with you and your business – advice, knowledge, tools, support, great-quality proofreading ... whatever helps them and solves their problems.
• Empower – enable your colleagues and clients to engage with you in ways that work for them. What’s useful for one person will not be useful to another. Not all of my colleagues want to trawl through a dense blog with hundreds of articles about editorial business planning and marketing, so I offer them books, too. Not all of my potential clients want to fill in a contact form on my website, so I provide my phone number, too. Not all of my readers want to read long articles, so I sometimes produce infographics, booklets, checklists, podcasts and videos (though, admittedly, the latter is a work in progress!).

​Action first, passivity later
Clients can come via active and passive marketing strategies. It’s not a case of the right strategy but the right order.

If you’re a new starter, make active editorial business promotion a standard part of your working life, just like copyediting or proofreading, invoicing and updating your software. Assign space for it every week so that it becomes commonplace rather than a chore or, worse, something to be feared.

Be active. Be committed. Be the ham!

Once your business is established, you’ll be able to take advantage of the passive benefits that result from your effort. Just take care not to hand over the chill space to your Labrador!

Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and copyeditor. 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, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

Using Word more efficiently
In the past 18 months, two editorial colleagues have written blogs that have had a significant impact on how I use Word.

• Hazel Bird taught me how to create drop-down boxes in Word (read ‘Using combo boxes in style sheets’ if you want to take advantage of her excellent advice). I used this information to redesign my style sheets so that I don’t have to retype recurring options every time I create a sheet for a new client (e.g. -is- or -iz- spelling; full points or not after Mr, Mrs, etc.). Invoice elements (e.g. settlement terms and repeat-client names and addresses) could benefit from the same treatment.
• Adrienne Montgomerie taught me how to customize Word’s ribbon so that it works more efficiently for me (see ‘Make a custom tab on Word’s ribbon’). I used this to easily run the new macro I’d learned from Gordon (see above).

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Quoting mechanisms and publicizing rates
Pricing issues affect every editorial freelancer, and although fee setting needs to be done using a deeper level of analysis than just following what colleagues are doing, there’s still a lot a colleague can bring to the table.

• I’d long used a per-hour method to determine my prices, but I was open to new ideas. Kate Haigh talked with me at length about her preferred approach (quoting per 1,000 words) on several occasions over a two-year period (including a camping weekend where we met face-to-face for the first time despite being professional buddies for years!) and encouraged me to test it. It had a dramatic effect on my business. Not only did it become quicker to quote, I also boosted my earnings, increasing my average hourly rate by £8 per hour.
• John Espirian blogged about being transparent about prices (see ‘Pricing: a question of trust’). His article convinced me that a test was in order, where I would publish my prices on my website. I wasn’t entirely happy with the results of my test and unpublished my prices (though I don’t yet have enough data to be sure that transparency was actually the wrong decision for my business). Regardless, what’s important is not the result. What’s important is that I tried something new. I consider the test a success because I have confidence in my current decision to not publish my prices online.

These two examples proved to be excellent reminders that testing is essential for the editorial freelancer who wants to learn whether a colleague’s way of doing things is appropriate for their own business.

Making friends
My colleagues can do something a book or a course can’t. They can become friends. I’ve made so many edi-buddies that I can't even begin to list them all.

​What I can say is that Kate Haigh's campsite spag bol borders on legendary; the AFEPI crew at last year's SfEP meeting almost made me want to emigrate.​ I wish Sophie Playle still lived in Norwich because I miss having coffee with her. I wish Rich Adin lived in the same country so that I could have just one coffee with him. Nick Jones has made me laugh via Facebook Messenger too many times. Janet MacMillan's soup ... 

You get the point.

Sourcing professional help
I decided to hire a couple of proofreaders for my blog in 2016. When I’m writing, I don’t behave like a proofreader. I have my authorial head on. That means I’m too close to my own words to spot all my errors.

I bit the bullet and decided to work with some fellow professional proofreaders. Whom to pick though? I needed some recommendations. John Espirian, in his capacity as guardian of the SfEP directory, had a couple of names up his sleeve and they haven’t disappointed.

Cally Worden and Anna Black are my go-tos. They’ve done a fantastic job for me and I wish I’d sourced them years ago. Of course, I still have to upload their gently edited work to the Parlour, and, I’ll be honest, sometimes I just can’t help making a little tweak here and there, post proofreading (I know, I know!). So if a typo has slipped through, it’s my fault.

Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and copyeditor. 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, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

My new Content Marketing Primer for Editors & Proofreaders is now available to order.

The Primer costs only £3.99, so grab yourself a bargain! 

Simply click on the button below to go to the book's dedicated page and order form.
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I'll email your book within 24 hours (though probably a lot sooner if I'm not asleep!)

Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and copyeditor. 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, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

I'm delighted to announce the forthcoming launch of a new editorial freelancing tool for February 2017: Content Marketing Primer for Editors & Proofreaders.

The Primer shows you how to create and deliver value-adding content that embraces engagement with colleagues and clients and enhances your editorial business's visibility.

This 40-page book includes guidance on the following:

• Content marketing in relation to your business goals
• Defining content marketing
• Focusing on value
• Working out what’s useful
• Top of Google, top of mind and being human
• Different types of content marketing
• Underlying principles: value, visibility, memorability, usability, identifiability and credibility
• Content marketing in action: a selection of real-world examples
• How to build great content – including two case studies and a template
• Using visual media – including a quick guide to help you choose the best tool
• When to do content marketing
• Content marketing and other strategies compared

You can read more about it, and register your interest, on the book's dedicated webpage: Content Marketing Primer for Editors & Proofreaders.

Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and copyeditor. 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, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

Freelance pricing, marketing, testing/tracking and terminology
This article is a summary of what I learned along the way: the effects on my own business and how I responded.

For some of you, what follows will chime with your own experiences. If that's not the case, perhaps you'll be inspired to test some of the issues I discuss.

What I learned

1. Pricing: the debate around making one’s prices public is lively. For me, trialling going public has proved interesting but I still don’t have an answer
2. Marketing #1: good content marketing can happen in a bar or a pizzeria
3. Marketing #2: a hard-grafted marketing strategy can be time and money out the window if one’s schedule can’t accommodate the results
4. Testing/tracking: Data is good; more data is better
5. Terminology: I’m known as a specialist proofreader. I am one of those but I’m also a copyeditor and line editor

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1. Prices – to show or not to show
I went public with my pricing structure for one month in November. The results were interesting; my explanation was uncertain; my response, however, was unequivocal.

I’ve been tracking my new-client contact data for over a year, so I could compare some numbers. In November 2015, I received 25 requests from new clients to quote. In November 2016, it dropped to 14.
Of those who did get in contact, the number who became paying clients increased by 50%.

On the surface, that’s good news – lower contact numbers but a higher rate of conversions. Dig a little deeper, though, and there are a couple of problems:

• Some of the people who were put off by the headline ballpark figure might have converted to excellent repeat clients if I’d had a chance to communicate with them and demonstrate the value of what I offer.
• Some of the people would still have been put off by my price even if I’d had the opportunity to communicate with them. However, I would have been able to refer at least some of them to colleagues.

So why did the number drop? Sure, it could’ve been that the price was too high. And, yes, I have comparative data, but not much – comparing one month in 2015 with one in 2016 is interesting but hardly conclusive. November 2015 might just have been a fluke. And, anyway, the numbers aren’t exactly huge so it’s difficult to make any statistically significant deductions.

At the end of December 2016, I compared the new-client contact data with that from December 2015. This time, the figures were similar – two more in 2016. At first sight, this might imply that the public prices were an issue. But, again, I only have one year-on-year figure for comparison, which I don’t believe is enough to warrant anything more than a ‘Hmm, interesting. That’s worth keeping an eye on.’

Data from at least five previous years would have given me the confidence to make a statement one way or another. As it is, based on my experiment and limited data, I’m not prepared to conclude that public pricing is either beneficial or damaging.

My response for my business: I removed my prices from my website. This is the approach I feel comfortable with at present, and I’ll continue as such until I have enough information to make an informed decision. I’ll continue to track my new contacts so that I can better understand the patterns of enquiry throughout the year.

2. Content marketing over gin and pizza
I plan to write more about content marketing (or adding value, as I prefer to call it) this year. There’s a section about it in Marketing Your Editing & Proofreading Business if you want to dig deeper. Here’s the thing – many of us think of content marketing in terms of blogs, booklets, tutorials and templates. In other words, stuff that can be read, watched and touched. In 2016, I was reminded that great content marketing – great value – is sometimes as simple as a conversation.

At the 2016 Society for Editors and Proofreaders’ annual conference in Aston, I made a new friend (Victoria Woodside) and caught up with an old one (Sophie Playle). I’d already spent several months thinking about what it is I actually do (see Section 5 below) and how I present it to potential clients. The language used to define editorial services is tangled. Editorial professionals don’t define proofreading, copyediting and line editing similarly, so why should our clients?

I was comfortable blogging about the confusion but I hadn’t managed to solve the conundrum for my own business. I was going round in circles. Victoria and Sophie came to my rescue – not in any kind of formal consultative manner, but just by giving me their time and sharing their expertise over gin and Fiorentinas. They told me how they defined their services and helped me to unpick my own. From those conversations, I found a way forward.

I doubt either woman would define her conversation with me as content marketing – yet it was. Both had valuable, useful stuff (knowledge, time and expertise) and shared it with me. Later it would put them both top of my mind when I was in need of people to refer specific clients to. One of those referrals turned into paid work.

And that’s really what good content marketing is – sharing useful, valuable stuff so that it puts you top of mind (or top of Google) when there’s a client in need of a solution. That client might come via a colleague, which means your fellow editorial pros are your customers too. Meeting and talking to colleagues, online and face-to-face, is great content marketing. Many of us do it without even realizing. And it costs nowt but time and effort. You just need to be a nice human being.

My response for my business: This experience was a great lesson in just how far content marketing stretches. It was also a strong reminder that learning takes place in a range of environments. I already attend my Norfolk SfEP group meeting on a regular basis. I’m now committed to attending the annual meetings too – to speak (if I’m asked) and to listen to others speaking.
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Two conversations helped me align my business in action with my business in words. That alone made it worth the registration fee.

3. The hard graft and the full schedule
I’ve had an active marketing strategy in place since I set up my business back in 2006. It’s worked well for me. I have as much work as I can handle and am often booked up several months in advance … And there’s the rub.

Some clients will wait, but many won’t. To put so much time into marketing – all those booklets and guidelines and other bits and pieces of valuable stuff that I hope my indie authors will find useful – only to hear, ‘Sorry, I can’t wait that long,’ is frustrating. It feels like wasted effort.

I’m all for a referral – I can put a client in touch with the perfect specialist. Legal editor? I know one of those. Fluent French speaker or Italian translator? I’m friends with the former and related to the latter. How about a proofreader who also has experience of scientific indexing? Yep, I have a phone number.

The thing is this – it’s a busy week and I’m up to my neck in deadlines. I don’t have the capacity to be thinking about who would be the best person in my extensive network of experienced colleagues for this or that bit of proofreading or light editing. That’s time I should be using to earn a crust for me, not someone else.

As a result, from early 2015 I’d stopped actively recommending named colleagues for general proofreading or light-editing work. If an enquirer actively asked for a recommendation, I’d point them to a directory. If they asked for specialist help (e.g. legal, medical, scientific), only then would I recommend a named colleague.

All in all, I felt that a lot of hard-graft was generating a lot of missed opportunities and missed income.

My response for my business: A trusted colleague whose company subs to experienced editors and proofreaders offered me a referral deal. I get a cut of any converted leads. This hasn’t replaced my specialist referral network; rather, it’s a two-pronged approach. Named specialist referrals earn me nothing, whereas more generalist referrals earn me a small passive income. Now I feel like my marketing’s working for me again, and for others too.

4. Data, data and more data
I talked above about the problem I encountered with not having enough data to make an informed decision on whether public pricing is good or bad for my business. Data limitations also became apparent when I introduced several contact forms on my website early in 2016. I was interested to learn whether clients preferred contact forms, email, texts or phone, and whether it was necessary to provide all of these options.
My initial observations were as follows:

• Contact forms were far more popular than the other options. The results appeared striking: over 73%. Even direct email made up only 10% of all enquires in my test period. Hurrah for contact forms. Bah for email.
• All of the options were used, though, so I cautioned about removing choice, even though there are experts who claim that publishing your email can lead to problems with privacy and spamming.

I was also concerned about the quantity of the data I was looking at. Hurrah for contact forms and bah for email? Really?

My response for my business: I committed to continue my monitoring of new-client contact methods. I’m nearly a year down the line now so I have more data. Good job too. Now, my observations are as follows:

• My contact forms are still popular, but I’m glad I was cautious about removing choice based on the initial test-period results. The numbers have changed because the short-term skew has been smoothed out. With more data, I can now say that contact forms are used by 52% of new enquirers and the direct-email option accounts for 35%. Hurrah for contact forms! And hurrah for email!
• If I’d removed my email address based on a small amount of data, I’d have been responding incorrectly to my customers’ preferences.

5. More than a proofreader
Well into 2016, a couple of things had become blindingly obvious:

• My client base had shifted dramatically in 10 years of freelancing. Back in the early days, I was almost exclusively a publisher’s proofreader (working mainly on social science monographs). A decade on, I’m almost exclusively an author’s proofreader (working mainly on fiction).
• It’s not just who I do it for that’s changed, it’s also what I do. In fact, sometimes I’m proofreading. Often, though, I’m copyediting. Sometimes I’m line editing, too.

The above raised several issues:

• My website text didn’t reflect my current business model clearly enough.
• My pricing structure was off-kilter, too.
• The definitions of proofreading, copyediting and line editing differ depending on whom you speak to. That makes things tricky for professionals, never mind clients.

I needed to rethink and tweak. I needed to find a way of defining my business such that it made sense to my primary client-base but didn’t harm my existing SEO. I didn’t want to damage the ‘proofreaderiness’ of my brand but I did want to reflect the breadth of my service.

My response for my business: I wrote, I pondered, I talked to myself. Then I had a conversation with two friends (see Section 2 above). Clarity emerged from confusion. I redefined (and repriced) my service packages so that they reflect the reality of what I’m providing. I’m confident and clear about how my services are differentiated. More importantly, I’m no longer worrying about what my colleagues are doing, or what definitions they’re using. My friends gave me the confidence to carve out my own way of doing things.

Summing up
I hope you’ve enjoyed this personal review. I’m sure you’ve had many of your own ‘Hmm, that’s interesting’ moments over the past 12 months. Perhaps you’ve shared some of the same experiences but responded differently. No matter – there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to any of these issues. The important thing is that we use the review process as an opportunity to see not what we’ve done badly but what we can do better.

Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and copyeditor. 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, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

A note from Louise: In 2013, I published my first book – an introductory editorial business-planning guide entitled Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers. I wanted to provide readers with a real-world view of what it’s like to enter the world of editorial freelancing.

Three of my colleagues were kind enough to act as case studies, sharing insights into their experiences of building an editorial business: Johanna Robinson, Mary McCauley and Grace Wilson. At the time of publication, all three were relatively new to the field (their start-ups were under two years old). Each of them created vibrant, successful editorial businesses, working with a range of clients across the UK and Ireland. Their candid accounts illustrated the challenges of editorial freelancing – but also suggested how the path to success could be achieved through determination, skills acquisition, strategic planning and targeted marketing.

Here we are three years later in 2016. My colleagues left behind their new-starter status a long time ago. They’re now established editorial business owners who are not only working for paying clients but also helping less experienced colleagues navigate their way through the world of editorial freelancing via training programmes and conference presentations.

It’s therefore with great pleasure that I hand now you over to Mary McCauley of Mary McCauley Proofreading. Below, Mary tells us what’s changed and what’s stayed the same; how her business has developed; what she’s learned; and what her plans are for the future …

It’s nearly four years since I first wrote a guest article for The Proofreader’s Parlour on how I set up my editorial business, and subsequently appeared as a case study in Louise’s debut book Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers. It feels like a lifetime ago; back in December 2012, I never imagined how my editorial journey would continue. Thankfully, it has been a good four years for me.
 
What has and hasn’t changed since I started out in 2012
Business hours
I have moved to full-time hours and my work schedule has been more or less fully booked up for the past two years. However, I no longer regularly work weekends unless I have agreed a premium rate with my client. As for most people setting up a business, the early years involved long hours of work and weeks without a break. This worked for a while, but I learned that I cannot work that way indefinitely; I need regular time away from my desk or I can’t do my best work. And as my turnover has increased year on year as my business grows, I’m now able to take proper holidays at Christmas and during the summer.
 
Services offered
When I started out in 2012, my main service offering was proofreading and a little copy-editing; now copy-editing work has overtaken proofreading. I also offer some project management services (including liaison with typesetters, designers and illustrators; picture research; and artwork coordination), as well as e-book conversion review services.
 
Additionally, I’ve become involved in training delivery. In June 2014, I was invited to present an editing masterclass for fiction authors at our local Wexford Literary Festival. Not long after, I presented a Marketing Tools for the Freelance Editor seminar at the 2014 SfEP conference and, while it was a daunting but exhilarating experience, I learned a lot from it. Last year I was approached by Irish writer and lecturer Claire Keegan to teach a two-day course on grammar, punctuation and style to her students. It went well and we ran the course again earlier this year. The Wexford Literary Festival invited me back this summer as a panel member for an Industry Experts Q&A discussion and I’m also a regular guest speaker on my Local Enterprise Office’s Start Your Own Business course. More recently, I’m signed up as a speed mentor at this year’s SfEP conference. So through contacts and referrals I’ve slowly gained experience in editorial and editorial-business training, and I’m interested in how I might further develop it as a business offering.
 
My clients
At the start, I cast my net wide in search of clients – anything to get experience. I have since narrowed down my client base. On the fiction side, the majority of my work is for independent authors. Not all of these wish to self-publish; some are preparing their manuscript for submission to an agent, publisher or competition. On the non-fiction side, while I also work with independent authors, the majority of my clients are businesses, public sector bodies and publishers. Due to schedule constraints and short turnaround times, for the moment I no longer work for students.
 
Continuing professional development (CPD)
Investing in quality training has been a priority for me over the past four years and my short-term aim is to continue to invest in learning new skills in a bid to expand the range of services I offer. I’ve completed six editorial courses (SfEP/PTC/Publishing Ireland) since 2012. Each has directly helped pay for itself; for example, the SfEP’s On-screen Editing 1 helped me work more efficiently and thus earn a better rate, while the Publishing Training Centre’s (PTC) Rewriting and Substantive Editing course gave me the confidence to take on an well-paid editing project I otherwise wouldn’t have.
 
Recently, AFEPI Ireland members have been able to take advantage of the PTC courses now running at the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin. Ireland-based editors can now avail themselves of these without travelling to the UK as many would have done in the past. The courses also have the added benefit of presenting an opportunity for freelance and in-house editors to meet.
 
I regularly learn new ideas and tips from the AFEPI Ireland/SfEP/EAE forums and save shared links for future reference. I find these forums an invaluable source of CPD.
 
Professional membership and networking
Though it is one of my larger yearly expenses, I value my membership of both AFEPI Ireland and SfEP. The support of Irish and UK colleagues, and colleagues further afield, has been one of the most warming experiences of setting up my business. Catching up with AFEPI Ireland friends and colleagues at meetings and training courses in Ireland has been wonderful and energising, and I always come away having learned something. Attending the 2014 SfEP conference in London was an unforgettable experience and I finally understood what ‘finding your tribe’ means.

Marketing
I joined Twitter in 2012 and continue to find it a useful learning platform that has helped me meet and interact with publishing professionals in Ireland and abroad.

When I receive business enquiries I always ask how the person found me, as I need to know which of my marketing efforts are working. The majority of my enquiries come via my website, which enquirers say they found following a Google search. My website’s probably due an overhaul but I’m pleased with how it has worked for me. I also started my own blog, Letters from an Irish Editor, at the start of 2014. I admit I really struggle to find the time to post regularly (it takes me several hours to write a single article!) but as there is always increased traffic to my website when I do, I’ll battle on.
 
When I upgraded to Professional Member status, I took out an entry in the SfEP Directory and I’ve seen some enquiries and work from this direction. After my website, most enquiries come via my AFEPI Ireland Directory entry and from referrals from colleagues. I think my AFEPI Ireland entry is more successful than my SfEP one due to my location, both in terms of my Irish clients preferring an Ireland-based service, but also from a currency point of view.
 
I have had a listing on Find A Proofreader since 2012; as well as receiving the regular job postings I’ve also had direct enquiries and work from it. While a lot of the jobs have too short a turnaround time for my schedule, my entry helps with my website SEO, so at the current advertising rate I find it’s worth the cost.
 
What I’ve learned since 2012
While I’ve continued to work extremely hard to grow my business and client base, the most important thing I’ve learned is to recognise valuable clients and to pursue a client base that offers me the best rates and projects. As I’ve gained experience and undertaken additional training, I’ve become more confident in my editorial and business abilities and in the worth of my service offering when quoting to clients. I’ve come to realise that some clients cannot afford or are unwilling to pay for my services and that if I clog up my schedule with low-paying projects, I won’t have the capacity to work on a more desirable project when it presents itself.
 
Keys to success
The following are key ideas/values that I believed in and tried to pursue from the start and which have proven invaluable to my business during the past four years:

1. Good customer service and reputation are essential for business success.
2. Training pays for itself in the long run and facilitates the introduction of new services.
3. Interacting with trusted colleagues is a valuable source of support and work.
4. It is important to trust your business instinct.
5. Recognising and seizing an opportunity when it presents itself is essential for business growth.
6. Extensive use of macros has a direct positive impact on your profitability.

 
Personal highlights of the past four years

1. Starting my blog in January 2014
2. Upgrading to Professional Membership of the SfEP in February 2014
3. Making some wonderful friendships in the editing community
4. Attending the 2014 SfEP conference and presenting a seminar
5. Helping to establish and initially run the AFEPI Ireland Twitter account
6. Expanding my range of services
7. Being able to take holidays from work
8. Being invited back as a speed mentor at the 2016 SfEP conference

 
Plans for the future

1. Upgrade to Advanced Professional Member of the SfEP
2. Continue to market my business to gain more valuable clients and to safeguard against client attrition
3. Complete a Train The Trainer course​

Mary McCauley runs an editorial business providing project management, copy-editing and proofreading services to authors, publishers, corporate clients and public sector bodies. She is a Full Member of the Association of Freelance Editors, Proofreaders and Indexers (AFEPI Ireland) and a Professional Member of SfEP.

She has taught self-editing courses as part of the Claire Keegan Fiction Clinic series, and has presented seminars at the Wexford Literary Festival and the SfEP’s 2014 conference. She is a regular guest speaker on her Local Enterprise Office’s Start Your Own Business course.

Mary lives near Wexford in the south-east of Ireland. You can contact Mary at info@marymccauleyproofreading.com, through her website Mary McCauley Proofreading, or via LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

My latest contribution to "The Proofreader's Corner" column of Rich Adin's An American Editor blog is now available. 

In it, I look consider the following:

• Why working for yourself is different
  
• 4 truths about editorial business ownership
  
• Why business owners need to take ownership of their businesses
  
• Effective advice-seeking vs inertia-inducing thinking
  
• How too much advice and an inability to assess advice can be a stumbling block
  
• Furnishing your own house: moving from learning to doing
  

You can read the article in full here: The Proofreader’s Corner: Starting a Proofreading Business — Action vs. Inertia

About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and the curator of The Proofreader's Parlour. She is the author of Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers and Marketing Your Editing & Proofreading Business. Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, follow her on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or find her on LinkedIn.

Although much-maligned by social media marketers, in the main Google’s own social network – Google+ – is in fact a very powerful tool to promote your own brand and authority if used correctly. Google+'s strength comes from its integration with other Google products such as Google Search, and this is where Google Authorship can help authors, journalists and other individuals make their mark on the web.

In layperson’s terms, Google Authorship couples content hosted on the internet with its actual author. This connection is then displayed within Google Search results in the form of an image and byline next to the relevant search result. For example:

The byline links back to the author’s profile on Google+ so that people interested in the article can find out more about the person cited. 

In addition, the byline displays the number of Google+ "Circles" that author has been added to. In brief, Google+ Circles is analogous to Connections on LinkedIn, Friends on Facebook or Followers on Twitter; it demonstrates the following that the author has on Google+ itself. The more Circles an author has been added to on Google+, the more influential or trusted as a source they may appear to be, or be judged to be.

The benefits of Google Authorship
There are numerous benefits to embracing Google Authorship, not all of which are immediately apparent. Here are just some of them:

• Having your next image next to a search result increases the chances of people clicking through to your content

• It helps brand your content across multiple websites within Google Search

• It highlights your presence on Google+

• Google+ Profiles can highlight your other work

• Google+ Profiles can highlight your presence on other social networks

• It could possibly help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of your websites

• It can quickly demonstrate your authority and influence at a glance within Google Search Results
  

• It ties in with your Google+ activity as well

How to implement your own Google Authorship
Even though Google has attempted a degree of automation with Google Authorship, it is a feature you really have to take manual ownership of if you want it work correctly with your online content. To activate it, take the following steps:

• Sign up with Google+

• Populate your Google+ Profile

• Indicate in your Google+ Profile which websites you currently contribute to, and to which websites you have contributed to in the past

• Insert HTML code in your online web articles and websites

• List all your articles in your Google+ profile

Drawbacks with Google Authorship
In itself, I can’t think of there being too many drawbacks to activating Google Authorship, although, like all things, it is far from perfect. Here are some things to bear in mind once you have decided to implement Google Authorship for yourself:

• The benefits only apply to Google users

• Articles can wrongly be attributed

• You are occasionally reliant on others to make it work

• Only individuals, and not companies or organizations, can benefit from Google Authorship

• It requires your ongoing support of your presence on Google+

Summary
On balance, I would argue that the Google Authorship is worth investing your time and energy with, particularly if you are looking to build up a personal brand or if your company or organization is built around a set of strong, identifiable individuals.

As I have already argued, Google is and will remain the biggest player in the internet search for the foreseeable future, and it is therefore foolish to dismiss any of Google’s products out of hand, especially if you are looking to curate a coherent, professional internet presence.

Google Authorship is therefore a vital tool for authors and content writers looking to establish their authority in the internet age.

About Nick Lewis
Nick is a communications professional with over 15 years’ experience of working in both the private and public sector. As Nick Lewis Communications, he’s now using his wealth of knowledge to help small businesses and organizations adapt to the modern online age. A graduate from the University of Wales Swansea, he worked in various marketing roles prior to launching Nick Lewis Communications in 2012. Nick can be found on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.

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I'm delighted to announce that Marketing Your Editing & Proofreading Business is now available in print.

Full information is available on the book's dedicated page here on my website.

You can buy it direct from CreateSpace and Amazon. (Do check which option suits you best in terms of postage.) 

At 300+ pages, it's well over twice the size of its companion volume Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers, so there's plenty for the reluctant or nervous marketer to get their teeth into. Enjoy!

About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and the curator of The Proofreader's Parlour. She is the author of Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers and Marketing Your Editing and Proofreading Business. Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, follow her on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or find her on LinkedIn.

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I'm delighted to announce that Marketing Your Editing & Proofreading Business is now available as an ebook via Smashwords & Amazon.

Full information is available on the book's dedicated page here on my website.

To celebrate its launch, I'm offering an introductory discount (valid until 28 May 2014) that enables you to save 30%. This offer is available when you buy the ebook from Smashwords: enter coupon code ZY96X.

Downloading from Smashwords: Refer to the Smashwords download instructions (NB use the Safari browser for downloading to the iBooks app).

All being well, the print version of the book will be available next week. I'm awaiting a final proof so that I can check the layout of the front cover is in order. After that you'll be able to buy it direct from CreateSpace and Amazon. At 300+ pages, it's well over twice the size of its companion volume Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers, so there's plenty for the reluctant or nervous marketer to get their teeth into.

I hope you enjoy it! 

About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and the curator of The Proofreader's Parlour. She is the author of Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers and Marketing Your Editing and Proofreading Business. Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, follow her on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or find her on LinkedIn.

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One second spent on the positive development of our businesses is more effective than one hour spent slagging off our colleagues in public ...

Many of us use a number of social media platforms to engage with the international community of fellow copy-editors and proofreaders. Sometimes we might disagree with each other, which leads to discussion and differences of opinion. All good so far. There's nothing wrong with differences of opinion – it's healthy when other voices show us different ways of looking at things. 

Sometimes, though, things can take a nastier turn whereby a person uses social media platforms to try to hurt us. And it's not just that being attacked online is hurtful. There's the additional fear that the aggressor's attacks will damage our reputations. So is it true and how should we defend ourselves?

While I was researching my marketing book, I came across this super article that was written back in 2012 by marketing and small-business commentator Ty Kiisel (@tykiisel). It may not be hot off the press but it’s still relevant to any editorial business owner who engages on social media. You can read it here in full: 4 Tips to Manage Your Online Reputation (published on Forbes, 20 November 2012).

A few points really stood out for me in Kiisel’s article:

• “If you argue online you lose: Arguing online is like shouting at your neighbor, standing in the middle of the cul-de-sac. Everyone can hear you and you look like an idiot ... Fighting on social media never goes away. It shows up in a search long after the incident has otherwise been forgotten."
  
• Don't be rude because it hurts your personal brand.
  
• What goes online stays online.

Stepping back before hitting back ...
It’s probable that, at one time or another, every one of us has felt that we’ve been treated unfairly, even monstrously, on a social media platform such as Twitter or Facebook. Certainly I’ve been involved in LinkedIn discussions where I’ve wanted to call out someone on their appalling behaviour because I was convinced that if I’d been communicating with them face to face they’d have found some manners. We're not talking about a difference of opinion in these cases. We're talking about people being rude, sarcastic and spiteful.

If you’ve ever been tempted to engage in an online war with someone who’s publicly attacked you, been rude to you, or tried to harm or undermine your professional reputation, then take a few minutes to step back and think about the best response before you hit back. Note that in Kiisel's view the attacker's vicious behaviour is more likely to damage her own business reputation than yours.

Social media engagement is about communication and sharing. When we try to sell ourselves up by knocking others down – by publicly highlighting their apparent weaknesses or mistakes –we make ourselves appear unprofessional and untrustworthy. Given that many customers won’t buy from people or organizations that appear unprofessional or untrustworthy, it’s not a great game plan. It's more likely to turn into a PR disaster zone.

So if you’re being attacked, think of it in Kiisel’s terms:

• Your online aggressor loses – they look like an idiot.
  
• Your aggressor is hurting her personal brand.
  
• Your aggressor’s unprofessionalism and untrustworthiness will stay online, visible for all to see. Meanwhile you retain your dignity and credibility. Customers like dignity and credibility. It makes them feel that you’ll bring those things to the table when they hire you. 

Online aggressors are boring ...
When I was a kid there was a TV series on the BBC called Why Don’t You? The theme-tune lyric went something on the lines of “... whyyyyy don’t youuuu just switch off your television set and go and do something less boring instead”. That’s what we need to do with social media attackers – just switch them off and go and do something else less boring. Attackers are extremely hurtful, unprofessional, untrustworthy and all the rest of it. But they’re bores, too. They're the most boring bores in the kingdom of boredom [yawn]. 

When we join in their war and feed their aggression, it quickly becomes boring for the others in our community who are witnessing the fight. If we hit back in public, and it goes on too long, there's a risk that the aggressor won't be the only kid on the block who's making everyone else's eyelids droop. Given the volume of "stuff" that we have to trawl through online, and the limited time we have to do it, we're all interested in getting the best bits and ignoring the rubbish. Switching off the online aggressor means we avoid becoming part of the junk.

How aggressors miss a trick ...
Not only are aggressors boring; they're desperate and creatively limited. They're not using their networking time to its best advantage. I'll share a little example. A lot of the articles on this blog are written late at night so that my blogging doesn't interfere in my family time. I'm a proofreader but I'm also a human being. When I'm tired I make the odd mistake. And, anyway, we all know that perfect self-editing is virtually impossible. That's why we all do the jobs we do. Last week I wrote something late at night and posted it live. I made a typo. It's not that my literacy is poor. It's just that I'm human. Anyway, someone in the international editorial community with whom I'd previously been unconnected sent me a private email to alert me to the typo. I thanked him profusely, amended the error, and then sought out this person on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook so that I could connect with him.

He could have used the opportunity to humiliate me and undermine my reputation in the public arena. He could have left a sarcastic comment on my blog about my howler or posted something on LinkedIn: "Hey, look at that Louise Harnby. Credibility alert or what?!!! She calls herself a proofreader but she makes mistakes on her blog. What's that all about?!" But he didn't. He treated me with respect and recognized my human fallibility. He's the kind of person I want to connect with, share business ideas with, learn from, and engage with. He took 30 seconds of his time to tap me, gently and privately, on the shoulder rather than publicly punching me in the face. His delicate handling of my error led to us connecting. Now my network is bigger and richer. I hope that he feels his is, too. And the typo is gone. It's a win–win. 

When the opposite happens, though, there's only one loser: the aggressor. One second spent on the positive development of our businesses is more effective than one hour spent slagging off our colleagues in public.

Turning the aggressor off ...
Perhaps some of you have experienced that really annoying thing children do when they're not interested in what you're saying. They don't even bother to pretend. They just walk away like you're not there; like your voice has failed to make any sound; like your words have no worth or meaning. Like you have no control over them. Without even saying anything they just shut you down. Hmmm ... there's a lesson there.

So the next time someone hurts you online, ignore them. Don’t give them your precious time and your precious space by entering into an unwinnable argument. Instead, just remove them from your online life – unfriend and unfollow them on Facebook; unfollow and block them on Twitter; unlink them on LinkedIn; set up your spam filter so that it junks them when they hit your inbox. Act like they're not there. There are too many fabulous people to connect with, learn from, talk to, engage with, even disagree with, to make energy spent on your online attacker a worthwhile experience. 

Let's finish with a quotation attributed to George Bernard Shaw (hat tip to my colleague Beth Hamer for alerting me to this gem): "I learned long ago never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it." 

Here's to online engagement without the mud!

Here are a few other interesting articles about the psychology of, and ways to deal with, online bullying, aggression and trolling in the business world. 

• Online trolls are psychopaths and sadists, psychologists claim (Kashmira Gander, Telegraph, 2014)
• How to deal with internet trolls – Advice for businesses and bloggers (Malcom McCutcheon, Bossa Nova Interactive, 2013)
• Online disinhibition and the psychology of trolling (Alan Martin, Wired, 2013)
• 12 most sensible ways to deal with online bullies and trolls (Peg Fitzpatrick, 12Most.com, 2012)
• Dealing with trolls: a guide (Tim Downling, The Guardian, 2012)
• You can’t win an argument with a troll (Webroot, nd)

About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and the curator of The Proofreader's Parlour. She is the author of Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers and Marketing Your Editing and Proofreading Business. Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, follow her on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or find her on LinkedIn. 

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A recent discussion with some fellow editorial pros about marketing, in particular networking via local-group meetings, got me thinking about what it is that makes our editorial group meeting (the UK-based Norfolk SfEP group) function so well. I'm always singing its praises so thought it might be worth articulating some of the features that make it so beneficial to attendees.

The facilitator
Paul Beverley, who runs our group (some of you will know of the free macros on his website, Archive Publications), is sensitive to the fact that this type of networking is not always easy for people who are new or shy. He does his best to make sure that a range of voices are heard in group discussions, and that’s important because a good chair can make the difference between whether people feel included or invisible.

On a few occasions he has met with aspiring editorial freelancers prior to their attending one of our group meetings; they found this a useful ice-breaker because when they turned up to the meet-up for the first time there was one familiar face in the room – someone to make a beeline for.

The venue
We meet in a church rather than a pub or cafe. We don’t do this for faith-based reasons but because having a dedicated room for our meeting means we can control the space in a way that’s inclusive. We did talk about meeting in a pub, but were worried that we’d be forced into smaller niche groups that some quieter people might not find inviting. And a cafe might be too small if there's a large attendance. There are also the noise levels to consider – by using a dedicated space for the meeting, we only have to put up with the sounds we create!

Seating for sociability
However many of us attend (and the size of the group can range from five to twenty), we usually place all the tables in a big circle. This means that everyone can see everyone else and niche groups are less likely to form. Even when the evening is based around a more general group discussion, rather than a training-style session run by one speaker, people are less likely to end up chatting with just the people either side of them – there’s space to engage with someone elsewhere in the room without rising from your seat. And if one of us sees someone who has no one to talk to, it’s easy enough to engage them.

What’s your name, again?
We wear name badges if there's a newbie in attendance. That way, they can see what everyone else is called. Paul comes ready with sticky labels and a big, black marker pen. And if a solid day’s worth of editing has left you feeling a bit addled and forgetful of all those names of those people you've met many times before, it’s no problem!

Giving a voice to the newbie
When new people attend, Paul asks everyone around the table to introduce themselves and provide a short summary of their skill sets, specialist subject areas and how long they've been doing the job. Then the newbie can follow suit and let the rest of us know a bit about their background. It’s a good ice-breaker for the new person, and it’s a great reminder to regulars of what the others do (particularly useful when it comes to opportunities for referring work).

The agenda – eat, work and wash up!
We usually eat together before the discussion or “training” session starts. And all those dishes need to be washed up after the work section of the evening. Preparing food and cleaning up afterwards means we’re forced (in the nicest possible sense) to engage with each other in a way that’s naturally comfortable and conversation-inducing. Even if it’s someone’s first time at the meeting and they’re the shyest person on the planet, it’s pretty difficult for them to disappear into a corner when they’re drying the dishes you've just thrown detergent and water all over! Some say the best parties always end up in the kitchen, and all the things that go into sharing food together really do facilitate easy-going communication.

How do you do it?
Do you attend a local or regional editorial group? What are the benefits and the challenges? How does yours function in a way that helps even the newest or shyest of attendees find their voice? Where do you meet and what makes your venue work for you? And do you think there are things you could tweak to make it work even better? I’d love to hear your ideas – maybe the Norfolk SfEP can borrow some of them!

If you're based in the UK and want to find out more about the SfEP's local groups, information is available on the Society's website: Local Groups.

If you're based elsewhere in the world, contact your national editorial society and ask what's available in your region. There's an international list on this website at Editing & proofreading societies.

About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and the curator of The Proofreader's Parlour. Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, follow her on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or find her on LinkedIn.

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My website attracts a lot of traffic from potential clients looking for proofreading services. I often have to turn down the work because: (a) it’s not actually ready for proofreading – it needs a substantive editor or copy-editor to work on it first, or (b) I don’t have capacity in my schedule and can’t meet the client’s deadline.

The last thing I want to do is just say “thanks, but no” to someone who’s taken the time to contact me. I don’t run a consultancy and I don’t have a bank of editorial freelancers who work for me, but I will do my best to help. This means referring the client to a colleague or helping them access a number of colleagues quickly and efficiently.

If you haven’t worked directly with a colleague, making a direct, if informal, referral can be tricky. Openness and honesty about what’s on offer are key. There are two important points to make clear during the process:

1. Fellow freelancers need to understand that I haven’t vetted the client. I haven’t checked that the client is a genuine, that the work is their own, that they are in a position to pay for the project commissioned, or that they are prepared to work within “reasonable” professional parameters. 
   
2. The clients need to understand that I haven’t always evaluated the freelancers with whom I’m putting them in touch. I can’t necessarily guarantee the quality of service they’ll receive, or that the proofreader will meet the agreed deadline.

I share job opportunities in two ways:

1. I refer the client directly to a specific colleague whom I think will be a good fit for them in terms of experience, subject knowledge and skill set. 
   
2. I post the client’s request (with their permission) on a core online discussion group, in my case usually the member-only forum of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders. This enables the client receive and assess quotations from a number of SfEP members with availability and the required skill set.

Of the many job opportunities I’ve shared in the past twelve months, most have gone swimmingly for both the client and the freelancer who took the work. However, in only a few cases, problems occurred:

• clients agreed to work with a colleague and then moved to another freelancer who came in cheaper
  
• clients were not who they claimed to be and were, I suspect, fronts for essay-writing services attempting to commission proofreaders
  
• the freelancer who secured the work did a job the client felt dissatisfied with 
  

Even though the referrals were informal, I still felt a degree of responsibility. No one wants to share an opportunity only to find out that a colleague’s time has been wasted or that a client is unhappy. However, given the infrequency of the problems, I think that informal referrals are still a valuable element of freelancing life and something we should embrace, even if the outcomes can once in a while be “sticky”.

Despite the huge international network of editorial freelancers that I’m engaged with, I’ve only been able to directly assess the work of a very few colleagues. Following are just a few examples of the ways in which I’ve assessed my colleagues’ competence.

• I proofread for a number of academic publishers. In the main, alas, the copy-editor is usually unknown to me. But every now and then I am given the name of the copy-editing colleague who worked on the manuscript before me. One of my SfEP colleagues (an editor and proofreader) is so good at her job that every time I work on a book that she’s edited I struggle to find a single blip in the proofs, and if I do it’s invariably something introduced at typesetting stage.
  
• I'm also increasingly proofreading for self-publishers who have used fellow members of the SfEP to substantively edit and copy edit their novels. This is a great way for me to evaluate the quality of the work that's taken place at an earlier stage of the process and helps me to build up a list of named individuals whom I can suggest to a client.
• One of my colleagues is a fellow blogger and very experienced in working with students. I’ve seen the quality of her writing and therefore her understanding of the structure of the written word. I’ve referred several clients to her in the past (on an informal basis) and they have contacted me upon completion of her work to say how impressed they were with her service and to thank me for directing them to her. 
  
• Another colleague is an experienced editor and proofreader whom I commissioned to work on my own book. I knew this editor had many years of experience working with publishers (and they’d provided excellent testimonials that she’s posted on her website) so I felt confident that she’d be able to handle something that reached beyond a Word file. She did an outstanding job – and any remaining errors in the title were down to my failure to implement her amendments. 
  
• And yet another colleague is a blogger, copywriter and proofreader who has proofread the articles I’ve written for his website. He also beta read my book and pointed out a number of glitches. He, too, has demonstrated that he can do the job to a high standard, so I’m confident that a client will be in safe hands if I send them his way. 
  

Even if I haven’t worked directly with colleagues, I like to nose around their websites and LinkedIn profiles to see how they present themselves. That way, if a particular project comes my way that’s outside my time frame or my skill set, I have a sense of what their specialist areas are and the levels of editorial service they supply. Hazel Harris’ wonderful blog Editing Mechanics regularly features articles that present the world of editorial freelancing from the project manager’s perspective; her guidance on how we freelancers should present ourselves online is must-read stuff. In a nutshell, if you want to maximize your chances of having work referred to you, consider the following:

• Testimonials: testimonials have a loud voice. If a colleague has excellent testimonials on, for example, their website or LinkedIn profile, which demonstrate prior client satisfaction, these tell others something about their professional competence. 
• Website: a website should be easy to navigate and attractive to look at. It should clearly outline your specialist subject areas, the types of editorial service you offer, your experience, testimonials, and a portfolio (of summary thereof) of works completed.
• Social media networks: colleagues will assess the way you present yourself on Google+, Facebook, Twitter and Facebook, so it’s worth ensuring that your business brand is coherently and professionally articulated across these platforms. 
  

I never charge a finder’s fee because I’m not operating a consultancy service. All I’m doing is sharing the opportunity with a fellow freelancer (or group of freelancers), outlining very briefly the client’s name, what service they want, what their deadline is, and perhaps a summary of the project’s subject matter. Once the job is in the hands of a colleague, it’s up to them to assess the viability of the project from all angles. Since the risk is theirs, I don’t feel they should be paying me a bean.

Furthermore, colleagues who get the chance to quote for jobs I share often return the favour. For me, freelancing is as much about engaging with others in the editorial community as anything else. In the past year I've secured a proofreading contract with a European translation agency, taken on a large fiction proofreading project from an independent author, and been contacted by a major international academic publisher, all on the recommendation of my freelancing colleagues. They didn't charge me a finder’s fee; why would I charge them one?

The editorial freelancing community is a generous network – what goes around, comes around. Informal referrals do pay but, in my case, not with percentage cuts. Instead, they generate return opportunities, and these result in pecuniary rewards far more valuable in the long run.

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Recently, a group of editorial friends and colleagues demonstrated how the power of group support can be harnessed to further the success of their editorial businesses. Let’s call them the Lunchers.

Learning the skills to be a fine editor or proofreader is tough enough. Turning that skill set into a client base is even tougher. For those with no previous marketing experience, this element of small-business building can feel like an overwhelming challenge. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn are a great option in which to explore marketing ideas, and there are books, blogs and professional society forums that are worth their weight in gold. However, when it comes to inspiration, nothing quite beats the act of bouncing ideas around with a group of trusted friends.

Freelancing can be isolating and many editors and proofreaders don’t feel comfortable using professional forums to chat. There are a number of reasons for this, some of the most common being:
 

• a lack of confidence; 
• fear of exposure to strangers who may be watching the discussion without participating; and
• concern about appearing foolish or inexperienced.

For those people, the ideal scenario might be a daily lunch in a local café with trusted colleagues – a sandwich and a coffee to accompany the sharing of ideas. Alas, given the nature of editorial freelancing, it’s likely that your best editorial friends don’t live around the corner. The group of editorial pros featured here, the Lunchers, have therefore taken the challenge online. The sandwiches and drinks are virtual but the daily meetup is very real. The idea started when one editor mailed the following message to a small group of her trusted freelancing friends:

The response was enthusiastic, to say the least. As the emails flew back and forth what transpired was a decision to “meet for lunch” every day and share any activity that would fall into the initial, comfortably loose definition of business promotion.

As the weeks have gone on, each member of the Lunchers has fired off daily emails stating things such as:

• "I have to email one of my clients today so while I'm at it I'll ask her for a reference."
  
• "Today I will contact some clients who I haven't heard from for a while, just to say hello."
• "I will draft an email to clients after I've returned a job, thanking them for their valued custom, and saying “please don't hesitate ...” etc. I'll insert the title of their work, to make it personal. After-sales courtesy might be almost as important as pre-sales. I think people may be inclined to recommend you if you've made them feel special, not just a source of income."
• "I have emailed three clients to ask for permission to use their images on my website, and I have written “cold” emails to two publishers; I'll send those later in the day so that they arrive during normal business hours."
• "I have emailed a potential client to say that I’m happy to review their books from time to time, and asked them if they would consider offering me some proofreading work."
• "I updated my CV yesterday and contacted a client with a query/reminder that I'm available for work."
• I told an adjunct professor whose PhD thesis I'm proofreading that her husband is welcome to pass on my contact details to students."
  
• I’ve updated my LinkedIn profile to include a portfolio of works I’ve completed."
• "Today I’m going to review my SfEP directory entry to make sure it’s up to date."

There are several points that struck me about what my colleagues are doing:

1. Size: the Lunchers is a small group. This means the contributions are quick to read and easy to digest. Any member can read the daily tip, and implement it themselves if they think it’s appropriate.
   
2. Momentum: the goal isn’t to get into lengthy discussions of marketing strategy. It’s about sharing quick tips and inspiring each other to do one thing, once a day, which will reap benefits further down the line.
   
3. Intimacy: the group is “closed” so there is complete privacy. All the members are friends. Everyone feels comfortable in the virtual company of each other so the confidence and fear factors don’t enter the equation. 
   
4. One rule: and there really is only one – be kind. This is not a space where people critique each other (to put it politely). This exchange is based on professional friendship and it is unthinkable that anyone would be criticized (even politely) for sloppy spelling, poor grammar, a lack of knowledge, a failure to trim their messages, etc.
   

It's not that I see the online lunch as an alternative to professional forums and social media platforms. Far from it. Indeed, I value the formal platforms I participate in. And many of the “rules” associated with larger, more formal forums are absolutely necessary owing to the size of the membership, the resulting number of contributions, and the lack of intimacy between members. Rather, the online lunch is an additional way for freelancers to communicate and inspire each other on a goal-by-goal basis (if desired) to improve their business practice in a safe and kind space.

The daily marketing challenge that our Lunchers set themselves could be applied to any aspect of small business development. If you want to set your own goals and get inspiration from your freelance friends, but feel uncomfortable with a more public forum, why not create your own virtual lunch group? What I've learned from the Lunchers is that success lies in keeping it between friends, keeping it small and keeping it kind.

Thanks to the following professional editorial freelancers for permitting me to share their experiences and advice:

• Miranda Bethell | Translator, Editor, Proofreader
  
• Ruth Durbridge | ProofRed
• Jane Hammett | Copy-editor and Proofreader
  
• Sam Hartburn | Quick Black Fox Proofreading
  
• Jennifer Hinchliffe | An Eye for Perfection
  
• Janet MacMillan, Wordsmith | Editor | Proofreader | Researcher
• Charlotte Norman | Freelance Proofreader
• Johanna Robinson | Ascribe Editing

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Another great blog was recommended to me recently by my colleague Nick Jones of Full Proof.

Nick Lewis is a communications specialist who blogs regularly about social media and online communication. What I love about this blog is that Lewis posts articles that will be of interest to the new user (e.g. "What Does a #/Hashtag/Pound Sign Actually Mean in Social Media?") as well as food for thought for those who have had an online presence for some time (e.g. Does Retweeting or Sharing Commentary & Content Imply Either Consent or Approval?).

If you fancy a gander, visit the Nick Lewis Communications blog.

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Hat tip to my colleagues Averill Buchanan and Wendy Toole for alerting me to about.me. 
This is a sharp little platform that enables you to create a 1-page website in minutes.

If you already have a website then this is just another tool with which to advertise yourself online. If, however, you've not got round to building a website and are a little nervous about taking the plunge, or you're pushed for time, then about.me may be just the ticket. There's enough room to include the key selling points of your business, your social media links and a background image for extra interest. You can play around with the colour scheme and font styles, too, in order to get the look you want.

The screenshot below shows how I designed mine. I decided to include a couple of testimonials, a short summary of my proofreading services and skills, social media buttons, and some key links. I used the same colour-way that I've adopted for my Twitter, Facebook and website profiles. Averill has a fabulous background picture of one of her "business" bookshelves and Wendy has opted for a really attractive nature theme and also embedded favicons next to her core links. 

It takes only minutes to input the basics using the toolboxes, so if you're a little nervous with technology there's no need for concern. It's simpler than setting up a Facebook or LinkedIn profile in my opinion - easy to navigate and edit, and no intrusive adverts or messaging that I can see so far.

A colleague who recently entered the field of editorial freelancing asked me if I thought he should set up a blog. There’s no straightforward answer to this – it really depends on what your business goals are. Here are some questions and follow-up thoughts that aim to offer guidance.

1. Do you want to blog? This is the first and most important question. If the answer is yes, then do it – simple as that! Setting up your own blog provides you with your own space in which to write your thoughts on your terms. This doesn't guarantee your blog will be visited but if you simply want to write online that’s hardly relevant.

If really don’t want to blog, then the answer is equally simple – don’t. Many of us spend enough time working on things we wish we didn't have to, so why add to the pain? However, if you’re still interested in the idea, consider the following:

2. What do you want to say? Before you get going, spend some time sketching out what you want your blog to say. I follow a number of blogs covering a range of subjects including scholarly publishing, grammar tips, life choices and well-being, publishing, book-selling, editing, current affairs, and humour. Despite their diversity, the one thing they all have in common is that the focus is clear-cut. Yes, there’s cross-over between some, but each has its own distinct voice. I've attempted to carve out my own niche with The Proofreader’s Parlour, rather than trying to emulate existing blogs. For example, I never post about grammar or punctuation issues here – there are other bloggers who already do this, and do it far better than I ever could.

Offering something distinctive enables you to develop a network of returning visitors as the following examples demonstrate: In addition to her EditorMom blog, Katherine O’Moore Klopf hosts a website including the excellent Copyeditors’ Knowledge Base. Here on The Proofreader’s Parlour the most important single driver is my free, downloadable set of proofreading stamps. Liz Broomfield’s Resources for Word Users have proved hugely popular on her LibroEditing blog, and Mignon Fogharty's GrammarGirl: Quick and Dirty Tips site is a must-go for grammar chat.

3. What do you want to achieve? Do you want your blog to drive clients or colleagues to your website? If the former, you’ll need to ensure the things you are writing about are interesting to your clients, NOT your colleagues. My blog, for example, is an information-sharing blog aimed at other editorial freelancers. My primary clients, however, are publishers. The Proofreader’s Parlour tends to drive fellow proofreaders and editors, rather the people who hire my proofreading services, to my website. That’s fine and expected, because that’s how I set it up. I think it’s important to have a web presence, but my marketing strategy for getting work with mainstream publishers is not primarily web-based, because that’s not as appropriate to my particular client base at present. 

If you want to drive clients to your website, your blog content needs to feed their interests, no more, no less. A good example is Anna Sharman’s biomedical journal publishing blog. Anna posts content that is of interest to the same people who might buy in her editing services. By writing excellent posts about how to publish in, and navigate the world of, scholarly journals, she’s generated a bank of followers who will be as interested in reading her articles as they will in hiring her to edit their own projects.

Whether your targeted readership is the client or the colleague, think about your network and what they might want to know. People who read blogs are used to finding the content they’re interested in by using the web. If you are not “connected”, how will you let your potential users know that you exist? If you’re not using the likes of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+ you may find it harder to generate the initial interest and “virality” that online social media provide.

Still, if your content isn't interesting to your target group, it doesn't matter how well connected you are; you won’t drive anyone anywhere!

4. Do you want to make money directly from your blog? If you want to seriously monetize your blog from advertising, traffic is everything. Niche blogging about proofreading is probably not going to do it for you unless you have THE blog in the field with a huge and established following. Advertisers want a return on their investment. The profiles of people who visit your website have to fit those your advertisers are targeting, and the advertiser wants to see lots of them! Be realistic about whether your content and the resulting readership are likely to fulfil advertisers’ goals.

5. Do you want to increase your search rankings? Blogging, if done regularly, is an effective way of increasing your online profile in the areas you blog about, or so I’m told. But the key word here is “regularly”. When those search engines send out their bots to crawl all over your site, they’re looking for fresh content. If you don’t post regularly, this strategy won’t work. Remember, however, that it always comes back to the nature of your content and what you aim to achieve from it. If you blog regularly about copy-editing training, you’ll improve your rankings for this type of search; you won’t necessarily improve your chances of being found by potential clients because your content rankings aren't related to your their needs and their search terms.

In a nutshell … If you want to blog, then blog. Be sure about what you want to achieve, who your readers are, how you are going to connect with them, and that your content reflects their interests. Regular blogging takes up a lot of time and requires commitment. Establishing a loyal readership requires patience. However, I think it’s another wonderful way for a home-based freelancer to connect with colleagues and clients from all over the globe.

And don't forget to share you colleagues' blogs, too, assuming you think the content is worth your endorsement. No one likes a greedy blogger!

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My colleague, biomedical editor Anna Sharman, started an interesting discussion on the SfEP's discussion board recently about coworking and workhubs. I'm reposting here with Anna's kind permission. Of particular note is the special London-based event coming up in October (see below) – a free coworking day for writers and editors. If you're curious about what's on offer, and you're based in or near to south-west London (or you're prepared to travel), this is surely worth a visit. 

Over to Anna ...

For the past year I have been using a workhub (or shared office) for most of my work. It works really well for me: I have definitely been getting more done than when I work from home, I've enjoyed having a bit of company in breaks, and I've got some great business tips from other members and from workshops run there. There aren't many workhubs around yet, but I think they are expanding in cities. Mine is Third Door, between Wandsworth and Putney in south London. Third Door is unique in that it combines a nursery with a workspace, so members with small children can get on with work while being near their kids. The workhub is surprisingly good value given that I think it has helped my income go up (I gather the nursery is very good but I don't use it myself).

Every two weeks they have a "coworking day" when it is free for anyone to come and work in the workhub for the day. I'd highly recommend anyone to try it on one of these days if they're within reach of Third Door. They are generally on the second and fourth Friday of the month.

And there is a special event coming up: a free coworking day specifically for writers and editors. There are quite a few members now who write or edit for a living, and the owners would like to attract more. It is on Friday 26th October, and you can see details at Third Door's Writers and Editors Coworking Day. It would be great if you could RSVP there but it isn't essential. You will be able to get on with your own work (bring your laptop) but there should also be a chance to talk to other editors and writers and share tips. If you would like childcare for the day it looks like this will be possible, but I don't yet know how much this will be.

Feel free to ask me more about coworking, Third Door or this event. [Contact Anna direct or leave a comment below.]

Copyright 2012 Anna Sharman

If you know of other workhubs, in the UK or further afield, which offer coworking opportunities for editorial freelancers and writers, please feel free to share the links in the Comments. It would be great to build a list of resources.

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The Editorial Freelancers Association is the largest and oldest US professional association for editors, proofreaders, indexers and related specialists.

There's a wealth of information on their website, some of which will also be of interest to editorial pros from outside the States. One of my favourite resources is the transcripts from the EFA's Twitter Freelance Fridays. If you follow @EFAFreelancers you'll be able to join in with the discussions and see notifications of when the transcripts are published.

Other resources include the training/education catalogue, resource links, society and chapter meeting information, and the EFA searchable membership database.

If you are based outside the US and want to contact your national editorial association, take a look at this international list: Editing & Proofreading Societies.

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Don't forget to shorten your social media URLs, especially when you're rendering them in graphic forms that don't include hypertext links (e.g. your Twitter sidebar, your Facebook/Google+ profile pictures, or a brochure).

Shortened social media addresses reinforce your brand. They allow you to repeat your business name, they take up less space, they are easier to remember, and they look more attractive.

The longer versions are simply unmemorable strings of letters and numbers. When rendered in an image, they can't be copied or clicked on. OK, so it's not the end of the world but if you've bothered to create business profiles on social networking sites, why not make it as easy as possible for colleagues and potential clients to visit them?

Take a look at the following two images from the top of a Twitter sidebar. If you wanted to find out more about me through Facebook or LinkedIn, which link would you feel most inclined to type in to your search engine's address bar? Which one is easier to remember? Which one is easier on the eye? Which one looks more professional?

The LinkedIn example shown above would be much improved if I changed it to linkedin.com/in/louiseharnby and will still get the viewer to the right place. 

You don't usually need to include <http://>, <https://> or <www> in the address either. Note that in the above images I've also rendered my website homepage simply as louiseharnbyproofreader.com, which is much more concise.

To shorten your Facebook page URL click here.
To shorten your LinkedIn profile URL click here.

Making your résumé available online was one of the issues discussed at the recent SfEP Norfolk Group meeting on editorial marketing matters. 

Here are eight reasons to think about when deciding whether to incorporate this into your promotional strategy.

1. Accessibility – the quicker and easier you make it for potential clients to find and assess you, the more likely you are to get work from them. A digital résumé enhances your accessibility.
   
2. It helps to “green” your business – while the complete paperless office isn’t quite here, at least you are giving potential clients the option of whether to hold a digital or print version of your details.
   
3. You can ensure the most up-to-date information is always available – with a few clicks your current skills and portfolio are represented.
   
4. You’re enabling prospective clients to keep something on file – a website is a fantastic way of showing off your skills and experience, but many clients may want to download a brief summary either to place in their company files or to print. At the time of writing, the PDF of my résumé has been downloaded 13 times in the 9 days since it went live on my website. I suspect that some of those can be attributed to curious colleagues, but my stats analysis program shows me that one download took place in the office of a major international publisher. I'll let you know what comes to pass!
   
5. It shows you’re engaged with current ways of communicating – your prospective clients may consider it important that you have a degree of technical know-how.
   
6. You’re aiding the referral process – imagine that one of your clients is chatting with a friend or colleague and mentions what a great job you did. The colleague remembers your name and googles you at the first opportunity. By ensuring your résumé is online you’ve ensured that a summary of your professional skills and experience is available at the prospective client’s convenience. 
   
7. You can choose the format most convenient for you – there are several options including: uploading a PDF onto your website; creating a separate url for your résumé that can be linked to your website and your social media profiles; dedicating a specific page of your website to your résumé; using a free app such as Box to link your résumé to your LinkedIn profile.
   
8. “Shareability” – once you’ve uploaded your résumé, you can easily link to the url from wherever you choose. Consider your free ad listings, entries in professional directories, articles and blog posts that you are planning to write, paid advertisements, emails, etc. Many digital platform can accommodate such a link.

Some of our members raised additional points about online résumés that are worth considering: 

• Keep your résumé to one page. Those who are assessing you want something that is easy and quick to digest. If you want to tell a more in-depth story, you can do that on your website.
  
• The text needs to be punchy and engaging, with a focus on the key selling points of your business that the reader is interested in. Include pictures (perhaps book/journal/magazine jackets that you have worked on) to make the leaflet easier on the eye so that the reader enjoys looking at the page as well as reading it.
  
• Think about the target market. For example, a UK publisher may be interested in the fact that you’re an SfEP member or have trained with the PTC. This may mean less to a non-publisher client. The lesson is to use the text space on your single page with care. Tell the story that is appropriate to the person reading it and create several versions to match your different markets if you think it's necessary.
  

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My search for an easy way to upload my CV to my LinkedIn profile led me to Box. It's basically a file-sharing tool, though you can add details to the free personal account including your picture, name, company name, website, address, telephone numbers. You have up to 5GB of storage with the free account.

It's up to you to decide how best you want to use Box – as a backup, to enable collaboration, as a mobile work platform, or as a means to upload particular files, such as CVs, that you want to make digitally available, perhaps for marketing purposes.

At the recent Norfolk Group meeting of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders, which took place in Norwich on 2 July 2012, the members in attendance jointly agreed to publicize a summary of the discussion that took place on editorial freelancing and marketing. The meeting was extremely productive – we all came away feeling we'd learned something new and wanted to share this with colleagues from within the Society and beyond. We hope the following notes prove as useful to you as they have done to us.

Each member of the group outlined how they got into editorial freelancing, their primary market, and what their preferred tools are for accessing that market. We then shared ideas based on our own experiences or those that we’d heard about second-hand. The following is a summary of the discussion.

Members of the group come from a variety of backgrounds (IT, teaching, publishing, for example) and offer a number of different services (marketing, copy-writing, development editing, copy-editing, proofreading, writing, business consultancy). Most of us in attendance work for mainstream publishers, but businesses, agencies, students and independent authors are also markets that we’ve all had various degrees of experience with.

So what are the tools that we’re using to get noticed, and how are we getting the best out of them? 

Two group members highlighted the importance of the approach you take to your business. If you don’t have the correct approach in your head, you’re less likely to be able to take advantage of marketing tools in a way that will generate the best leads. Think about yourself as a business owner first and foremost. Only then should you focus on what services you have to offer. 

Thinking about yourself as a business owner makes you acknowledge that proofreading, editing, copy-writing etc. in themselves will not be enough to generate work. As a business owner you need to think about how you will get that work – in other words, your marketing strategy. This is as core to your business as sending out invoices or managing the delivery of completed work. If you don’t take proactive action to sell your business, you’ll be self-unemployed not self-employed. Don’t be shy about marketing your business – this is what companies do and editorial freelancers, as small business owners, shouldn’t feel they have to wait for referrals in order to generate leads.

The consensus was that having a website is crucial for several reasons:

• It lends a sense of professional authority to your business.
• It makes you easy to find, particularly when a second- or third-hand referral drives someone your way. This is particularly important with regards to non-publisher clients.
• It shows you are engaging with current technology and ways of communicating.
• It allows to you tell a more in-depth story about your business than can be included on a CV or promotional leaflet.

Several people mentioned the importance of using professional domain names and email addresses. For example, it would be preferable, in order to generate the most professional image, to have <louiseharnbyproofreader.com> (or .co.uk) rather than <louiseharnbyproofreading.weebly.com>. The same thing applies to email address – ideally you do not want to be using your personal email address for your business. <louise@louiseharnbyproofreader.com> is far more professional than <lharnby.jswainston@btinternet.com>. In this example, the email address is used by both partners at home for personal communication and by one partner for her business correspondence. [Note from the Parlour: time to upgrade to my own domain name, methinks!]

During our website/email discussion, and a quick mention of LinkedIn, the issue of placing CVs online came up. Everyone agreed that it made sense to place such a summary online so that potential clients could download something to keep on file. Several points are worth considering:

• Keep your CV or leaflet to one page. Those who are assessing you want something that is easy and quick to digest. If you want to tell a more in-depth story, you can do that on your website.
• A publisher client will understand a CV, but a non-publishing client may not. They might interpret this as a application for a permanent in-house position. Instead, consider creating a one-page promotional leaflet; just as with your CV, the text needs to be punchy and engaging, with a focus on the key selling points of your business that the reader is interested in. Include pictures (perhaps book/journal/magazine jackets that you have worked on) to make the leaflet easier on the eye so that the reader enjoys looking at the page as well as reading it.
• Think about the target market. A publisher may be interested in the fact that you’re an SfEP member or have trained with the PTC. This will probably mean much less to a non-publisher client. The lesson is to use the text space on your single page with care. Tell the story that is appropriate to the person reading it. This may mean that you have to create several versions to match your different markets.

We also discussed the importance of ensuring you don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Some members have found themselves taking the bulk of their work from a very small number of clients. We all agreed that while it’s good to have repeat work from core suppliers, it’s important of protect yourself from future changes in the market. An example that highlighted this was that of Williams and Wilkins and Lippincott. In the early 1990s these were two separate publishers, both of whom bought in editorial services. The companies have since merged, meaning two work streams are now one. We also recalled the experience of an SfEP colleague who lost a core publisher client when all proofreading work was brought in-house as a result of the recession.

The group talked about sharing contact names and email addresses of relevant publishers in a bid to help each other broaden our client portfolios and future proof ourselves from economic shocks and corporate restructures.

We talked about how the business market is far harder to penetrate than, say, the publisher market. Publishers understand us – our services were born in that industry. Businesses are different – they often don’t realise what we do, or the differences between the various roles (copy-writing vs copy-editing vs proofreading). The main points were:

• Networking, often informally, is the most effective way of getting work with businesses – the editorial freelancer speaks to X at a party, at the gym, or on the bus. X later has a conversation with Y, who mentions they need help with such and such. X tells Y about the freelancer. Y goes hunting on the web for the relevant website … Second- or even third-hand leads like these can come weeks or months down the line from the initial contact. The lesson is to tell everyone you know and meet about what you do. One of our members has pursued this kind of informal face-to-face networking thoroughly throughout his freelance career and has generated a steady supply of work from surprising areas.
• It’s important to listen to what business people say about the issues they are struggling with because they may not use the kind of editorial language we are used in our communication with publishers. It’s equally important to be able to communicate to them in kind – use the language they use to describe how you can help them. If they talk about needing a “human spell-check” and “knocking a report into shape”, don’t respond with lengthy discussions of BSI symbols and widows and orphans. Talk about the project’s issues in lay terms. Be sure to identify what’s required. The lines between copy-editing and proofreading are usually very blurred in this market. 
  

Many of us felt it was important to build links with more than one person within an organization that provides a regular supply of work – it’s useful to try to get work with several desk editors in a press or project management agency. That way, when one contact leaves for pastures new, your work stream isn’t threatened.

Most of us stated that we’d never met any of our clients – all communication was done by email or on the phone. However, another member gave us something to think about – he tries to get face-to-face contact whenever possible. He wants to get under the skin of his clients, to make them like him and want to give him work. In that way, he becomes one of their freelancers of choice. 

SfEP members – use your local group! The friendships that one develops in these settings can forge business links that are stronger than in the society at large. The Norfolk group is a good example. By the end of this marketing session, not only had we all learned some valuable tips for how to better promote ourselves, but some of us had promised to share publisher contact details to help each other broaden our client portfolios. And we’re not alone – many people in local groups all over the country offer work opportunities and leads to fellow group members in the first instance.

The lesson is: if you’re not a member of your local group, consider joining. If there isn’t a local group that you feel you can travel to, think about setting one up. If you live in an isolated area, consider setting up a virtual group where you communicate with others in a similar situation by email, conference call or Skype.

While we acknowledged that we do know of people who get a steady supply of work from key directories, none of our group members relied on this as a primary marketing tool. Some key points emerged:

• Directories that we considered to be core were the SfEP Directory of Editorial Services and Associates Available. 
  
• Other online directories that members mentioned they were experimenting with included Find A Proofreader, Freelancers in the UK, and The Professional Copywriters’ Network.
  
• There is a lot of competition in directories – making your entry stand out is important. And in Associates Available, for example, where space is limited, use key words to highlight your skills rather than lengthy text. In any directory, yes, you should mention the areas in which you have experience and expertise (social sciences, for example), but our group members also noted that work leads they’d picked up from their listings often related to more niche subject areas (gothic horror, gaming, cookery, archaeology and photography were mentioned)  where there were fewer competing society members listed. Differentiation is the name of the game.
  
• Avoid stating that you’ll copy-edit or proofread “anything”. This tells the reader nothing about you, your interests or your skills. There’s also a danger that you’ll be viewed as not being serious about what you do, or not having a clear sense of direction. Even if you don’t have much practical experience of editorial freelancing, focus your entry on your career skills (if you were an accountant, IT specialist or lawyer in the past) or your personal interests (gadgets, sewing, gardening and current affairs). “Anything” doesn’t communicate your passion and won’t encourage prospective clients to want to engage with you. 
  
• One member had experimented with advertising locally in a parish magazine. Interestingly, she did derive a strong follow-up lead but it wasn’t in direct response to the advert. Rather, a second-hand referral was generated by a reader who, in conversation with someone else looking for proofreading services, remembered the advert she’d seen. Some months down the line, this materialized into a project that is currently under negotiation. Local/parish magazine ads are usually very cheap and are thus a risk-free way of experimenting with the local market, but you’re advised to take the long view in terms of work flow. 
  
• 
  

Those of us who work for publisher clients felt that cold contact was a very effective strategy for targeting this market, particularly because our services are known and understood by the publishing industry. Members agreed that identifying the name and title of the person responsible for hiring editorial freelancers beforehand was important. All of us had generated strong response rates by making cold contact with publishers. Those of us who had used the same strategy with non-publisher clients had found it ineffective. 

Some of our members were keen to highlight the importance of making sure you are taking advantage of your full skill set. Are you really just an expert proofreader? If you have an IT or accountancy background, for example, there may be add-on skills that you can offer to prospective clients, particularly in the non-publisher sector. If you were once a marketing manager in a previous working life, you could consider offering marketing consultancy services to local companies. If you’re a blogger you may have writing skills that could be utilized in your freelance business, too.

The point is to be confident and broad-minded. Bring what you know to the table and don’t be shy about selling it. Listen to what people say and if you see an opportunity and think you can add value, even if the skills fall outside your editorial remit, put yourself forward. The more you can offer to a client, the more indispensable you become and the more likely they are to bring you in on future projects.

One fascinating idea emerged from one of our members. He suggested targeting overseas clients (west coast United States, Australia and New Zealand for example) where the time difference enables you to offer a fast turnaround because the client is sleeping during your most or all of your working day. You can therefore promise a completion time on an urgent job that local editorial freelancers won’t be able to compete with! 

• The cold cover letter (or email/telephone call)
  
• Face-to-face networking at events: e.g. business networks; writers’ groups; book fairs
  
• Signing up with agencies
  
• Personal website
  
• Online CV: e.g. via website, independent url, LinkedIn/Box.net
  
• Social media profiles: e.g. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook
  
• Online directories: e.g. SfEP Directory of Editorial Services, PTC Freelance Finder, Find A Proofreader; Freelancers in the UK
  
• Free listings: e.g. Hotfrog; Yell.com; FreeIndex; SkillsPages; BusinessList; the resources page on Louise Harnby’s website (Editors’ & Proofreaders’ Websites)
• Vanity publishers’ online editorial listings
  
• Online freelance bidding sites
  
• Paid print advertising: e.g. professional journals and magazines; Yellow Pages; Thompson Local; local magazines and newspapers
  
• Blogging (making sure that your content is relevant to your customers, not your colleagues) 

The following articles offer a few ideas about enhancing your online presence. You never how someone with a work offer might find you. 

• Are You Making the Most of Facebook? Creating a Business Page
  
• Websites for Editorial Freelancers – Why? How? What? 
  
• Eight Reasons Why Every Editor and Proofreader Should Have a Website 
  
• Enhancing Your Editorial Profile: Customize Your Twitter Page 
  
• Eight Reasons to Place Your Résumé Online
  

The following articles feature three editorial freelancers talking about their key markets and how they access their clients.

• Kate Rosengarten on getting noticed by business clients – using the face-to-face networking strategy
  
• Anna Sharman on getting noticed by pre-submission ESL journal authors – using agencies
• Louise Harnby on getting noticed by publishers – using the cold letter strategy

Why not join the Norfolk Group of the SfEP? We’re a very friendly and vibrant group of editorial freelancers who get together in Norwich once every couple of months. We share a meal and chat about different aspects of our business. If you’re already an SfEP member or associate but haven’t had the chance to pop along yet, we'd love to meet you. Contact Paul Beverley for more details paul@archivepub.co.uk.

If you’re not yet affiliated with the SfEP but want to get a flavour of the Society via our local group, you are also welcome to visit us and see what we do. 

For information about the Society more broadly visit the SfEP website. To find out more about local SfEP groups, take a look at the Regional Development section.

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The highly regarded UK-based Publishing Training Centre has a new online forum. The forum is open to anyone, anywhere, whether you’re working or training in publishing, or just thinking about entering the industry. Discussion topics are grouped into: 

If you have a Twitter account, you may want to consider custom designing your background image. The available space on the current Twitter layout is a useful tool with which to consolidate your editorial business brand. Using it won’t cost you a bean, making it a free marketing opportunity. Don’t waste it! 

There’s a gap to the left-hand side of the Twitter stream that is often left unused. Why not take advantage of this available space to create an image that promotes the key features of your business? You could include jackets of some of the projects you’ve worked on, and the urls to your Facebook business page and LinkedIn profile. Or you could feature societies of which you are a member, your business logo, information about your blog or website, or key aspects of your editorial business (such as the services you offer and the subjects in which you specialize) – it’s up to you how you decide to promote yourself.

I’ve chosen to use the left-hand space on my Twitter page to:

●  restate my website name and address
●  summarize my services;
●  direct viewers to my Facebook business page;
●  publicize my blog; and
●  feature jackets of proofreading projects I’ve completed.

And take a look at the Twitter pages of some of our freelance editorial colleagues to see how they are using the background image space to enhance their brand: @KOKEdit ● @thewholeproof ● @ebrenner ● @Copyediting.

Twitter limits the file size to 800k but it’s worth trying to keep your files much smaller than this so that your profile page doesn’t take too long to load. I saved my custom image as a portable network graphics (png) file, which minimized file size without degrading the quality. My image is 173k and many web designers recommend aiming for no more than 200–300k.

The size and resolution of the monitor your viewer is using will determine how much of your image is on view. Smaller screens with lower resolutions force the centred Twitter stream to take up more space, which reduces the size of the left-hand gap. Therefore, if you make the displayed material too wide, key information will be obscured by the Twitter stream. I have a 17 inch monitor and a resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels. However, 80% of people who visit my website have a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and higher so I elected to design the background image with this in mind – the total size of my background image is 1105 x 714 pixels, but the displayed information only uses up 176 x 695 pixels.  Note that you won’t be able to get the aesthetically perfect result for every viewer but it’s worth altering your own screen resolution temporarily, and playing around with your image design, to ensure you are offering the best view to the maximum number of users. 

Feel free to use the template below if you need assistance with measuring your image. This is based on the background image on my own Twitter page so it should offer a work-around for the most-used screen resolutions.

Log in to your Twitter account. Select Edit Your Profile, Design, and then, under the Customize Your Own section, click Choose File followed by Save Changes.

If you want to promote your Facebook business page on your Twitter background, it’s advisable to set up a more user-friendly custom url. I changed mine from "facebook.com/pages/Louise-Harnby-Proofreader/328476347180231?sk=wall" to "facebook.com/LouiseHarnbyProofreader" – a significant improvement!

It’s very easy to do but think carefully about what you want your url to be before you confirm the new user name – you can’t go back and change it later. Click here for Facebook’s simple instructions. You can simplify your Facebook urls for both business/fan and profile pages.