Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor
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The Proofreader’s Parlour 

A BLOG FOR EDITORS, PROOFREADERS AND WRITERS

Happy holidays from the Proofreader's Parlour

13/12/2016

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Ho-ho-honestly, I couldn't quite manage to put a festive jumper on the logo, so a hat will have to do!
Happy holidays from Louise Harnby | Proofreader
I wish my colleagues from all over the globe a wonderful holiday season. Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm!

I look forward to welcoming you back to the Proofreader's Parlour in 2017!


Louise
xxx

Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and the curator of The Proofreader's Parlour. She is also the author of Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers, Marketing Your Editing & Proofreading Business, and Omnibus: Editorial Business Planning & Marketing Plus.

​Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, follow her on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

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How to never forget you’ve switched off Track Changes!

11/12/2016

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If you’re an editor or proofreader who’s never once switched off Track Changes (TC) in the middle of an edit and then forgotten to toggle it back on again, congratulations – you’re a rare creature indeed!
Editing with Track Changes
​I’m not rare. I’ve done it several times. If you’re like me, you know that sinking feeling – that you’re going to have to go back to where you stopped tracking and redo the work. I've come close to weeping when this has happened. It’s a waste of  precious, precious time, pure and simple!

​
Until recently, my solution consisted of frequently double-checking whether TC was on or off. No big deal, you might think. After all, it’s easy enough to take your eye up to the TC button on the Review tab and see whether it’s greyed out – only a tenth of a second. But those tenths add up.

Furthermore, I’m not billing my clients for my attention to the TC button; I’m billing them for proofreading and editing. I should be focusing on the text, not distracting myself with checking that TC is on.

I could work with ‘All Markup’ (or ‘Final Showing Markup’ in earlier versions of Word) showing, but that’s just another distraction. I want my eyes and brain to focus on what my client has written, not what I’ve amended.

Paul Beverley, naturally, has the solution. It’s a macro called VisibleTrackOff4 and it’s amazing!

Even if you don’t like macros, don’t use macros, are wary of macros, this is one macro that you should consider installing anyway. Trust me. It's a lifesaver.

By the end of this article, you’ll know how to ensure you never forget you’ve switched off Track Changes. I’ll show you the following:
  • How it works
  • How to install it
  • How to run it efficiently
  • Alternative versions with different formatting options

How it works 
In brief, VisibleTrackOff4 is an alternative TC on/off switch. You run this macro instead of using Word’s TC button.
​
I work in Windows 10 with Word 2016. On my screen, the TC button is accessible via the ribbon in the Review tab. Your view may be slightly different.
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When you use VisibleTrackOff4 (rather than the TC button shown above) to switch on TC, your page appears white, as usual. However, when you use it to switch off TC, your page turns yellow. As you toggle TC on and off, your page colour toggles too. If the page is yellow, you know TC is off. That’s something you can’t miss, and that’s why it’s foolproof.
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View with Track Changes ON
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View with Track Changes OFF
To use the macro efficiently, you can do one of the following:
  • Create a shortcut key
  • Add the macro to your Quick Access Toolbar
  • Create a custom button in your ribbon (Word version 2010 onwards)
I’ll show you how to do all three in the ‘How to run it efficiently’ section below.

How to install it
Here’s how to install the macro:
  • Download Paul’s book from his website, Archive Publications
  • Open TheMacros.doc
  • Search for VisibleTrackOff4
  • Select and copy the script, including the title ‘Sub VisibleTrackOff4()’, right down to and including ‘End Sub’
  • Open the ‘View’ tab on Word’s ribbon
  • Click on the ‘Macros’ button
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  • A window will open (with the header ‘Macros’). Click on the ‘Step Into’ button
  • This will open Visual Basic. In this will be another window (with the header ‘Normal – NewMacros (Code)’. Use the scroll bar on the right to go to the bottom. If you need help installing a macro for the first time, see ‘Another useful proofreading/editing macro: Paul Beverley’s MultiSwitch’
  • Click under the last line of text
  • Paste the macro script that you copied earlier
  • Close Visual Basic using the ‘X’ in the top right-hand corner
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  • Click ‘OK’ if you get the message ‘This command will stop the debugger’

How to run it efficiently
To switch TC on and off efficiently using VisibleTrackOff4, you can do one of the following:
  • Create a shortcut key
  • Add the macro to your Quick Access Toolbar
  • Create a custom button in your ribbon (Word version 2010 onwards)

Create a shortcut key
  • Right-click anywhere on the ribbon
  • Select ‘Customize the Ribbon’, or ‘Customize Quick Access Toolbar’, depending on your software
  • Click on the ‘Customize…’ button at the bottom 
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  • Under ‘Categories’, select ‘Macros’
  • Go to the right-hand ‘Macros’ column. Scroll down and select VisibleTrackOff4
  • Type in your preferred shortcut key
  • Click on the ‘Assign’ button followed by the ‘Close’ button
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Add the macro to your Quick Access Toolbar
  • Right-click anywhere on the ribbon
  • Select ‘Customize Quick Access Toolbar’
  • From the drop-down ‘Choose commands from:’ box, choose ‘Macros’
  • Scroll down to find the macro and click on it
  • Click on the ‘Add’ button followed by the ‘OK’ button
​This is what your new button will look like:
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Create a custom button in your ribbon (Word version 2010 onwards) 
  • Right-click anywhere on the ribbon
  • Select ‘Customize the Ribbon’
  • Look to the right-hand column
  • Scroll down and click on ‘Review’
  • Click on the subentry ‘Tracking’
  • Click the ‘New Group’ button
  • Now look to the left-hand column
  • From the drop-down ‘Choose commands from:’ box, choose ‘Macros’
  • Scroll down to find the macro and click on it to select it
  • Go back to the right-hand column and click on ‘New Group (Custom)’
  • Click the ‘Add’ button followed by the ‘OK’ button
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This is what your new button will look like:
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Other versions
You don’t have to go for the yellow-page effect. Paul’s provided other options. The installation and quick-access instructions are the same; only the script you’ll need to copy and paste is different:
  • VisibleTrackOff – embossed effect
  • VisibleTrackOff2 – blue dotted underline
  • VisibleTrackOff3 – wiggly lines
  • TrackOnOffAudible – beeps
​
Summing up
I prefer the yellow-page effect because it’s so obvious, and because it doesn’t interfere with my view of the text while I’m amending with TC off.

I also prefer to run the macro with a custom ribbon-based button because it’s right up there alongside Word’s TC button, which is what I’m used to. I’ve created a shortcut key so that I have choice in the matter. This comes in handy when I need regular access to the Styles tab and don’t want to keep switching the tabs on the ribbon.

I urge you to try this macro. Remember, you need never again endure the frustration of having forgotten to switch on Track Changes! 

P.S. My colleague Adrienne Montgomerie was single-handedly responsible for showing me how easy it is to customize the ribbon so that you can easily and quickly access any command. Her article ‘Make a Custom Tab on Word’s Ribbon’ is a must-read if you want to increase your onscreen efficiency.

And, as always, thanks to Paul Beverley for creating some brilliant macros, and for giving me permission to bang on about them via my blog!

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.

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Busting 12 myths about being a proofreader (Part 2)

5/12/2016

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Here's the second part in my series on busting myths about the business of professional proofreading.
Myths about freelance proofreading
In Part 1, I stated: ‘none of the following statements is an absolute truth’ and I investigated myths 1–6.​
  1. You can't get work unless you have contacts in the publishing industry
  2. The market is shrinking
  3. Training courses are a waste of time and money
  4. Training, by itself, is enough to get you work
  5. All work goes to former editors and former workmates of publishers
  6. All proofreading work is poorly paid
  7. It's easy to run a proofreading business
  8. There'll be times when you have no work, no matter how experienced you are
  9. There's no demand for professional proofreaders because of grammar- and spell-checking technology
  10. All proofreading work is done in-house
  11. Proofreading means the same thing to all client types
  12. Word of mouth is a good enough promotion strategy

​Here in Part 2, I cover myths 7–12.

Myth 7: It's easy to run a proofreading business 
The key to busting this myth is the word ‘business’. 

Running a business isn’t easy – in our case, we have to be so much more than proofreaders. We are the CEOs, accountants, marketing directors, secretaries, training managers, and human resource executives.
 
The work also demands extremely high levels of concentration, which is tiring. It can be stressful too. Proofreaders who don’t meet their deadlines or don’t fulfil their existing clients’ briefs don’t retain those clients. And if you can’t keep your clients, you must either continually source new income streams or become an ex-proofreader.

Myth 8: There'll be times when you have no work, no matter how experienced you are
This myth states that feast or famine is the name of the game and always will be. I’m not convinced that it has to be like that in the medium and long terms.

If you make yourself interesting and discoverable online and off, you can market yourself into a position where you have as much work as you want. And if your work is of excellent quality, you'll be offered repeat projects from satisfied clients, meaning you need to do less of the ‘being-found’ work.
 
In other words, it's about acquisition and retention.
 
Myth 9: There's no demand for professional proofreaders because of grammar- and spell-checking technology 
This is a bizarre myth. It’s like saying that trains, bicycles, planes and legs are redundant because someone invented the car. 

First, proofreading isn't about only grammar and spelling. There's no software on the market that can run through a piece of text such that, by the time it’s finished, that text is publishable. Why? Because software can't spot a widow or an orphan, or a heading at the wrong level, or non-aligned decimal points, missing page numbers, and repeated text in chapters.

Software won’t spot the fact that the thriller you're reading has three characters called Stan; that Stan 1 went to Portsmouth University in Chapter 3 but Plymouth by Chapter 10; or that a family with two daughters and two sons in Chapter 5 has three daughters and one son by Chapter 48.

These are problems that I and other professional proofreaders frequently encounter – and I’m not just making up examples for effect! 

Furthermore, technology doesn't always get the spelling and grammar right. What software can do is flag up potential issues so that a human can make logical editorial decisions based on skill, knowledge, style preferences and industry-recognized best practice.

There are some great tools out there, and many professional proofreaders and editors use them, but using them is about complementing the work done by the brain and eyes, not replacing it.

Myth 10: All proofreading work is done in-house
The problem with this myth is that it shows a misunderstanding of the market. Here’s the reality:
  • Larger mainstream publishers rarely employ in-house proofreaders these days, though they do employ in-house commissioning editors, editorial production managers and sometimes project managers. Smaller presses often have to do more in-house. In other words, it varies from press to press.
  • ‘In-house’ for the self-publisher means a friend, partner or sibling sitting in a kitchen or a home office. Thousands of independent writers have recognized that this just isn’t cutting the mustard, and that’s where we come in.
  • Most businesses, charities, school, NGOs, marketing and communications agencies, packagers and public-sector bodies do not have in-house professional proofreading departments. This fact presents professional self-employed proofreaders with opportunities, providing we are visible to those clients.

If you’re not convinced, join the member-discussion forums hosted by the likes of the SfEP (UK), AFEPI (Ireland), EFA (USA) and Editors Canada or your own national editorial society. We can't all be making it up!

Myth 11: Proofreading means the same thing to all client types 
This myth fails to recognize that proofreading isn’t just about spotting typos – see (9) above. It's about sense and artistry too. It's about knowing when to intervene as well as when to leave well enough alone.

A publisher’s proofreading remit rarely looks the same as an indie author’s; and what I do with a PhD thesis, an annual business report, a journal article and a crime thriller will be four very, very different things.

In reality, the definition of proofreading is actually rather tangled (see, for example, Not all proofreading is the same: Part I – Working with page proofs,Not all proofreading is the same: Part II – Working directly in Word, and Untangling proofreading).

Myth 12: Word of mouth is a good enough promotion strategy 
The problem with this argument is that it presupposes that word of mouth is a marketing strategy – it’s not. It’s certainly one way that clients may come to you, and I’m not knocking it (referral networks can be brilliant for professional proofreaders, and can even earn income for the referrer in certain cases).

However, relying on word of mouth when you’re a grown-up business owner is akin to waiting for your mum to say, ‘Open your mouth, darling. Here comes the choo-choo train,’ as she artfully sneaks a spoonful of baby rice into your mouth. Josh Hoffman’s Freelancers: Word-of-Mouth Is Not a Marketing Strategy is a must-read.

If you’re offered work via word of mouth, congratulations – it proves you’ve instilled competence-based trust in your referring client or colleague. Just bear in mind that an effective marketing strategy should be active, not passive.

If you want to have choice with regard to whom you work for, when you work, and what you earn, such that your proofreading business is economically viable (for you, not for anyone else), I’d advise you to have a comprehensive and proactive marketing strategy encompassing a range of tools that are appropriate to your business. In that way, you can be discoverable to multiple clients across multiple channels.

Summing up …
If you’re considering becoming a freelance proofreader, think carefully about the blend of skill and visibility required. 
  • If you’re invisible, no one will be able to hire you.
  • If you’re incompetent, no one will want to hire you (or retain you).

Being a professional proofreader means being a professional business owner. Professional business owners start with a business plan:
  • Identify your target clients (market research)
  • Identify their problems (market research)
  • Identify the skills required to solve those problems (training)
  • Identify the tools required to do the job (relevant equipment and software)
  • Plan how you will make your problem-solving skills visible (marketing)
  • Work out what you want/need to earn (accounting)
  • Set your service fees accordingly (pricing)

Your business plan, not business myths, will show you whether proofreading is the right career for you.

More related reading
  • Debunking some myths about copyediting and proofreading (Suzanne Gilad, author of Copyediting and Proofreading For Dummies)
  • FAQs: Working freelance (Society for Editors and Proofreaders)
  • Proofreaders-to-be: Loving books isn’t enough (Proofreader's Parlour)

Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in helping self-publishing writers prepare their novels for market.
​
She is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors, and runs online courses from within the Craft Your Editorial Fingerprint series. She is also an Advanced Professional Member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders. Louise loves books, coffee and craft gin, though not always in that order.

​Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you're an author, take a look at Louise’s Writing Library and access her latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly.
Sign up to Louise's blog

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Busting 12 myths about being a proofreader (Part 1)

14/11/2016

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Regular readers who’ve been running their professional editorial businesses for some time will not be surprised by any of what follows.

​If you fall into that category, make yourself a cuppa instead of reading this!


If you're a new entrant to the field, however, or you're considering becoming a freelance editorial professional, read on.
Myths about freelance proofreading
Let’s be clear: none of the following statements is an absolute truth. 
  1. You can't get work unless you have contacts in the publishing industry
  2. The market is shrinking
  3. Training courses are a waste of time and money
  4. Training, by itself, is enough to get you work
  5. All work goes to former editors and former workmates of publishers
  6. All proofreading work is poorly paid
  7. It's easy to run a proofreading business
  8. There'll be times when you have no work, no matter how experienced you are
  9. There's no demand for professional proofreaders because of grammar- and spell-checking technology
  10. All proofreading work is done in-house
  11. Proofreading means the same thing to all client types
  12. Word of mouth is a good enough promotion strategy

In this article, I look at Myths 1–6; in Part 2, I’ll cover Myths 7–12.

Myth 1: You can't get work unless you have contacts in the publishing industry
If you want to proofread for the publishing-industry, it can help if you have a contact. A contact will give you a foot in the door. That’s all it will do, though. Publishers won’t just hand you a book; you’ll most likely have to do a test to prove your competence.

Of course, if you don’t have a contact, you’ll have to make one – you can pick up the phone, write a letter and enclose a CV, or send an email. If you have the skills that publishers are looking for, and you contact them and tell them this, there’s no reason why you can’t acquire work from this sector even if you have no existing in-house friends or colleagues.

Ten years ago, I had one contact in the publishing industry. The rest I acquired through targeted direct marketing – letters, emails and phone calls.

A more significant problem with this myth is its presumption that all self-employed business proofreaders and editors work for publishers, and only for publishers. Publishers are only one type of client.

Ten years ago, 90% of my clients were publishers; these days, 90% of my clients aren’t publishers.

Myth 2: The market is shrinking
The market is not shrinking; it’s changing. It's even expanding in some sectors. Increasing numbers of people are recognizing the benefits of ensuring that their text is professionally presented.

Our world is more public than ever. Anyone with an online presence (e.g. a website, a blog, an online report, an ebook) has a public presence. And if that public presence is represented by words, those words need to be polished. That’s where the editorial professional comes in.

The independent-publishing market is booming, with self-publishers uploading fiction and commercial non-fiction to public spaces on a daily basis. Many of those writers are commissioning proofreaders. So are NGOs, businesses, marketing and communications agencies, packagers, schools, public-sector organizations, students, charities, poets, musicians and traditional publishers.

The challenge lies not in the myth that the market is shrinking, but in the myth that it's easy to be visible in that market. 

Myth 3: Training courses are a waste of time and money
This myth argues that editorial training isn’t worth investing in because the work isn't well paid enough to give you a return on that investment. Some proponents of this myth also state that no one pays attention to editorial qualifications.
  • First, it’s not all about the money. Rather, it’s about learning to do the job so that you’re fit for purpose. If you haven’t had any training, you could struggle to fulfil some clients’ requirements (see, for example, Does Training Matter? What Publishers Say about Proofreading & Editing Courses).
  • Qualifications are one way (though not the only way) of building trust. I wouldn’t let my hairdresser anywhere near me if she hadn’t learned how to do her job properly. I’d rather pay a decent rate and trust my barnet to a professional. Proofreading’s no different.
  • Actually, training to be a professional proofreader is a lot cheaper than training to be a doctor, dentist or electrician. Landing a few book-sized jobs will cover the cost of your initial training, so the no-return-on-investment argument is nonsense.

Myth 4: Training, by itself, is enough to get you work
Having espoused the benefits of training, it’s equally important to debunk the myth that training alone will get you work. It doesn’t matter whether you have distinctions and accreditations coming out of your ears, and lots of real-world experience – if no one knows you exist, they won't be able to be impressed by all your training!

To get work, you must put yourself in front of your clients – that means being visible, which means marketing.

Myth 5: All publisher-based proofreading work goes to former editors and former workmates of publishers
This myth is similar to (1). Yes, it can be an advantage initially, but plenty of people without a publishing background who’ve made the effort to market themselves using a chunky box of promotion tools have been able to secure work.

The governor of the Bank of England knows that you need more than one instrument to stabilize an economy; the business of proofreading is not so different. Proofreaders, too, need more than one instrument to generate a stable client base and income stream.
  • You can contact publishers and packagers direct, via email, via letter or via the phone.
  • Target those whose publication lists reflect your own knowledge base (e.g. your educational or career background).
  • Find out what their requirements are and learn those skills (e.g. use of proof-correction language; familiarity with industry-recognized style guides; ability to mark up PDFs or paper proofs).

Myth 6: All proofreading work is poorly paid
This myth has several problems:
  • What you consider poorly paid may be rather well paid by someone else’s standards. See Rich Adin's discussion of relative success in The Order of Things (An Occasional Series) I.
  • Not all clients pay the same rate. Some publishers pay higher rates than others, and many expect quite different levels of intervention for the fee they're paying. Then there are other clients types, such as businesses, students and independent authors. These non-publisher clients don't set the rate – I do: publishers offer me rates and I accept or decline the job; non-publishers are offered my rates after they've asked for a quote, and they accept or decline. In other words, I make sure that I’m earning a rate that I want to earn and that meets my needs.
  • Some organizations will pay premium rates for fast-turnaround work. For example, one of my clients is a greeting-card business who always needs a fast turnaround. Each print run involves printing thousands of sheets, each with 32 cards per sheet. Each print run costs them tens of thousands of pounds. One error on just one of those 32 cards means the entire print run must be junked. It’s not like a miss on a website, which can be amended easily – in this business’s case, there are no second chances. Quibbling over a few hundred quid isn’t what they’re about. It’s all about quality – every time.
  • Having a few higher-paying clients gives you the freedom to accept lower-paid work from others, simply because you want to do it.
  • Ask yourself what you’re comparing proofreading rates with. Cleaning, stacking shelves in a supermarket, hairdressing, plumbing, farming, carrying out plastic surgery, or being the CEO of Microsoft?
  • ‘Poorly paid’ means nothing unless you know what you need to earn in the first place, i.e. it's subjective. If I need to earn £50K per annum as soon as I set up my proofreading business, I’ll be in trouble, but if I need to earn £20K per annum in year 3 and my current job is paying me £12K a year, I could well be in great shape, provided I do what’s necessary to ensure my target clients can find me. 
  • It always takes time to set up a new business, and you might decide to accept work from lower-paying clients while you are building your client portfolio (seeI’m a Newbie Proofreader – Should I Charge a Lower Fee? for a discussion of this issue).

​Don't get me wrong – success won't happen overnight. As is the case for any new business owner, it will take time and hard work to build a decent income stream and client base. Work won't just fall into your lap. But if you behave like a professional business owner in terms of quality and visibility, the concept of low pay (however you’re defining it) doesn’t have to define your editorial business.

In Part 2, I’ll bust Myths 7–12 …

Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.

Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you're an author, take a look at Louise’s Writing Library and access her latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly.
Sign up to Louise's blog

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Students: 17 practical proofreading tips for better documents

14/11/2016

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My Student Proofreading Toolkit includes 17 handy Word find/replace strings and wildcard searches that will help you tidy up your PhD thesis or Master’s dissertation before you hand it over to a third-party professional proofreader or submit it to your university’s assessors.

The toolkit includes:​
  • 17 self-editing tasks
  • advice on using Word’s ‘Styles’ function
  • a brief discussion of stylistic preferences
  • links to 17 popular academic style summaries (e.g. CMOS, APA and OSCOLA)
  • guidance on choosing a professional proofreader

These DIY tips are designed to complement, not replace, a rigorous proofread. You can polish your document at any stage, but, for the sake of efficiency, I recommend carrying out the tasks after you've finished writing your thesis or dissertation and reviewed its purpose, content and structure.

No advanced technical knowledge is required – even the novice Word user will be able to implement these tasks by following the step-by-step instructions (and associated screenshots). You can even select and copy some of the longer find/replace and wildcard search strings from the PDF.

A word of caution – always save a backup copy of your file first, just in case you implement changes incorrectly. It's easier to revert to a fallback document than to repair a damaged one. I always test complex find/replace and wildcard search strings beforehand.

The self-editing tips I’ve chosen are some of my personal favourites. I hope you find them as useful as I do!

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.

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Business tools for editors and proofreaders

6/11/2016

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Useful editorial software, resources and templates
I've expanded my Resources page to provide fellow editors and proofreaders – particularly new entrants to the field – with a one-stop shop for some of the business tools I've created.
Editorial business resource tools
I'll keep adding to this editor resource hub as new tools become available. In the meantime, this is a flavour of what's on offer:
  • An editorial invoice template (UK version; if you live outside the UK, your tax authority might require the inclusion of different information). The template includes dropdown boxes to speed up invoice-building for regular clients (Excel)
  • PDF proofreading stamps
  • An editorial accounts-and-scheduling template (Excel)
  • An editorial style-sheet template (Word)
  • An editorial progressive-pricing-array template (Excel)
  • A list of national editing and proofreading societies
Where appropriate, I've included the raw Excel or Word files, rather than PDFs, so that you can amend for your own needs.

Visit the Editor Resources page to access the links.

Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.

Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you're an author, you might like to join Louise’s Writing Library. Members receive monthly updates featuring self-publishing news and resources.

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Another useful proofreading/editing macro: Paul Beverley’s MultiSwitch

2/11/2016

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Macro for editors and proofreaders
MultiSwitch is another gem of a macro created by my colleague Paul Beverley.

It’s available in his free book, Computer Tools for Editors.
 
In a nutshell, it allows you to switch around a word (or words) with a single keyboard shortcut. I use it to save time with every single Word-based project I work on.

​So imagine that you’re editing or proofreading a Word file in which the author repeatedly uses ‘which’ for restrictive relative clauses. You want to change it to ‘that’. This means carrying out three small actions: select, delete and retype.
That’s not a problem if the issue occurs twice in a file, but if it occurs tens or hundreds of times, those seconds are going to add up and eat into your hourly rate. And let’s not get started on the ache in your wrist!
 
Naturally, you might notice that a particular job has a number of similar niggles that you want to attend to, in which case this macro will be even more of a productivity-enhancer.

I’m currently working on an 85K+ academic book in Word – multiple authors, some whose first language isn’t English. The publisher is a stickler for the which/that and last/past prescriptions, even though many in the UK are a little more forgiving. There are hundreds of instances, and MultiSwitch is saving me soooo much time!
 
Give it a whirl!

MultiSwitch in action
To run MultiSwitch, you simply place your cursor before or in the word you want to change (in our example here, ‘which’), and hit your keyboard shortcut (I’ve assigned Ctrl Q, but you can choose whatever you like). Then, bingo, the macro amends ‘which’ to ‘that’.

Here's a teeny-tiny video of me using MultiSwitch. This demo aims merely to show you where to place the cursor prior to hitting your assigned shortcut key command, and what you will see on your screen (a little flickering as the macro makes the switch). 

​If you don’t know how to assign a keyboard shortcut, don’t worry – I’ll show you how later in the article. 

The beauty of MultiSwitch is that you need only one keyboard shortcut for a ton of different word switches. My list currently includes the following switch options: 
  • that – which
  • which – that
  • last – past
  • like – such as
  • less – fewer
  • Less – Fewer
However, I’ll be adding more as and when I need to. Again, further down, I explain how to create your list – it’s a doddle.

Installing MultiSwitch
Go to Paul’s website and download Computer Tools for Editors.

Save the zipped folder to your computer and extract three files: one is an overview of the macros – what they are, what they do, how to store them and so on – plus all the programs themselves; another contains just the actual macro programs; a third is called ‘Beginners Start Here’; and the final file is a style sheet. The file you need to open in Word is ‘The Macros’.

Use Word’s navigation menu on a Mac (or Ctrl F on a PC) to open the Find function. Type ‘Sub MultiSwitch’ into the search field and hit ‘Return’ twice. That will take you to the start of the relevant script.

Select and copy the script from ‘Sub MultiSwitch()’ down to ‘End Sub’.

Still working in Word, open the ‘View’ tab and click on the ‘Macros’ icon on the ribbon:  
Picture
A new window will open.

If you don’t have any macros already loaded:
  • Create a test macro that you can delete later.
  • First, make sure the ‘Normal.dotm’ template is showing in the ‘Macros in:’ box.
  • Type ‘TEST’ into the ‘Macro name:’ box.
  • Click on the ‘Create’ button.
  • Your TEST macro will now show up. From now on, it’ll be easy as pie to add additional macros.
Picture

If you already have macros loaded (your TEST macro or any other):
  • Click on ‘Edit’.
Picture
​​
This will open up another window:
Picture
  • If necessary, use the scroll bar to take you to the bottom of the text.
  • Paste the MultiSwitch script at the end, under ‘End Sub’.
Don’t close this Visual Basic window quite yet – there’s something else you need to do first!

Creating your MultiSwitch list
Now head over to Word. Open a new document and call it something meaningful (mine’s called LHSwitchList). 

Create your list using the following style:

that
which

which
that

last
past

like
such as

less
fewer

Less
Fewer

Save it somewhere just as meaningful! (Mine’s in my Macros folder, but you can save it wherever it suits you.) Now close the document.

You can amend this list any time you want to – just add or delete as you see fit.

Changing the MultiSwitch script
Now you're going to make two small amendments to the macro script so that it's personalized for you, so go back to the window into which you pasted the MultiSwitch script.

At the top of the script, you’ll see the following:

Sub MultiSwitch ()
‘ Version 11.05.16
‘ Scripted word/phrase switching

maxWords = 4
listName = “LHSwitchList”
' Set min number of chars for an abbreviation
minChars = 2

myDir = “C:\Users\Louise\Dropbox\Macros\”

The text in red shows how I’ve customized the script to suit my needs – you need to put in your own switch-list file name and location.

Now you can close the window by clicking on the ‘X’ in the top right-hand corner. Do the same with the general Visual Basic window too. Don’t worry if you get a message about a debugger – just press ‘OK’.

Creating the keyboard shortcut for running MultiSwitch
If you don't know how to create keyboard shortcuts, this section's for you. If you do know how to do this, you don't need to read any further!

I'm working in Word 2016 on a PC. If you are too, the instructions are as follows:
  • In Word, select ‘File’, ‘Options’, ‘Customize Ribbon’ (1). 
  • Click on ‘Customize’ (2). A new box will open up entitled ‘Customize Keyboard’.
  • In the ‘Categories:’ window (3), scroll down and select ‘Macros’.
  • In the ‘Macros’ window (4), select ‘MultiSwitch’.
  • Finally, choose your preferred keyboard combination by typing it into the ‘Press New Shortcut Key’ window (5).
  • Select ‘Assign’ and ‘Close’.
(If you are working in a different version of Word, see pp. 14–15 of the ‘ComputerTools4Eds’ file in the Macros folder that you've downloaded from Paul’s site in order to install this macro. There, he provides details of the process for different versions of the software.)

The image below shows how I assigned a keyboard shortcut to another macro called ‘UndoHighlight’. The steps are exactly the same.
Picture
That's it! I hope this macro saves you as much time as it's saving me!

Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in helping self-publishing writers prepare their novels for market.
​
She is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors, and runs online courses from within the Craft Your Editorial Fingerprint series. She is also an Advanced Professional Member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders. Louise loves books, coffee and craft gin, though not always in that order.

​Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you're an author, take a look at Louise’s Writing Library and access her latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly.
Sign up to Louise's blog

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Checking your website’s mobile display: Lessons from a proofreader

18/10/2016

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Today's article is all about optimizing your proofreading or editing business website so that it works for clients using different device types.

My website is the single biggest driver of my proofreading and copyediting work. It’s therefore essential that it shows potential clients my best face.
Website optimization for editors and proofreaders
​I’ve spent years tinkering – tweaking current content, adding new information and removing text and images that have outgrown their usefulness.

Weebly, like many web-hosting services, allows me to optimize my website for mobile devices.* ​

​
It takes my chosen desktop theme and adapts the design for optimal viewing on a smaller device such as a tablet or mobile phone. This function has been available for several years. I can’t remember when I became aware of it, but I figured it made sense to switch it on because I couldn't imagine anyone with a smart phone having the patience to navigate through my content if it wasn’t mobile friendly. I congratulated myself on being so forward-thinking, and carried on as normal.

Note: If you're unsure whether your website is mobile friendly, it's easy to find out. My colleague Averill Buchanan alerted me to Google's Mobile-Friendly Test site.

Is it pretty, or pretty awful?
Most website-hosting services help non-designers like me to make our websites look pretty. They give us dividers, shaded boxes, spacers, columns, textboxes and image placers to enable us to put our content exactly where we want it. The result is that on the desktop version, at least, everything looks just so.

You might be the kind of person who likes to keep things simple – you might have opted for minimal text on your site, and the text you have placed might not be broken into separate textbox elements. To date, I’ve not been this kind of person. I’ve overly complicated things, and, I might add, it hasn’t done me any favours. Here’s just one example.
​
This is the contact information on my site:
Picture
Now, back in 2011, when I first typed this information into my contact page, I didn’t like the vertical alignment of the information after the colons. Weebly doesn’t allow tabbing, so I created two textboxes (below, outlined in red) and placed them next to each other in two columns.
Picture
Okay, so it was never going to win a design award, but I’d achieved my goal. However, there was a problem – it looked perfect in the desktop view, but the mobile layout was a disaster:
Picture
This wasn’t Weebly’s fault, it was mine. Weebly’s mobile optimization tool was working perfectly logically – finding content in a single textbox and ensuring that said content remained unbroken.

The solution was simple – I had to restore my original layout, putting all the text back into a single box – but the impact was huge.
​
It did mean sacrificing the alignment issue that I’d had a bee in my bonnet about, but it was worth it. Now my mobile display looks like this (on iPhone 6):
Picture
It’s not perfect (there are unsightly end-of-line breaks on smaller mobile screens), but it’s a far more sensible and logical design for my mobile visitors. I’ll shortly be making decisions about how to reword this information so that I can remove the unwanted wordbreaks – it needs some care because I don’t want to compromise the design of the desktop view.

What devices are my visitors using?
The crux of the matter here is that I want to put myself in my customers’ shoes. I need to bear in mind the following:
  • Different customers will use a variety of different devices to access my content. For example, not all customers have a smart phone; and even if they do have one, they might prefer to access web content on a larger screen.
  • One customer might use multiple devices to access the same content. For example, I tend to access web content using my tablet at home during the evening, my phone when I’m out and about, and my desktop during working hours.
A webpage that looks perfect on a mobile might be less pleasing to the eye on a desktop screen, and vice versa.

I’m under no illusion that I can optimize my design for every potential client all of the time. But paying attention to the mobile display has been a learning experience for me.

​I’ve discovered that I’ve not been showing my best face, and that’s simply not an option in the current market. I know this because my data tells me so.

Looking at the data
Honestly, I’ve only recently started looking at data about which devices my visitors are using. The following was taken from one of the analytics programs I use, StatCounter.
Picture
​The above image shows two days’ worth of data (8–10 October 2016). A whopping 30% of my visitors used mobile phones and tablets to access my content.

Some tablet screens are big enough to make browsing my website in desktop view perfectly palatable, so some of the visitors using these devices may not be looking at a mobile view.

Here’s the thing, though – I don’t know which view they’re seeing and it’s not under my control. It’s therefore important that I do what I can to put my best face forward, just in case.

​Even one lost customer who searched and found me via their mobile, and then dismissed my services because my content was illogically presented, is something I want to avoid.


The view from an expert
My friend Andy McNair, who’s forgotten more about website analytics than I’ll ever know, pointed out that two days’ worth of data could be horribly skewed by a range of factors. He prompted me to dig a little deeper using my Google Analytics historical data.

Says Andy in relation to industry at large:
In 2016, 1 in 5 visits to corporate communication sites are made on smartphones. Tablet has been static at 1 in 20 for the last 3 years. Desktop is still the most important group so don't cripple your user experience there.
 
The crucial thing is to look at your audience in analytics and then work out how vital a mobile-friendly site is to your audience.
​
If you're using Google Analytics, it's easy to compare this quarter with the same quarter last year – a couple of days can be horribly distorted by a handful of users on a small-traffic site.
 
Another thing to consider is that (in general) mobile visitors have shorter attention spans. They visit fewer pages for less time and they are more than 50% likely to "bounce" after a single page.

You can see these stats for your own site in Google Analytics in Audience>Mobile>Overview.

Check your mobile 'bounce' against your desktop – if it’s much higher, then it suggests people are finding you on mobile devices but your site is putting them off.
​
The final thing to bear in mind is that the tasks people perform on mobile devices tend to be different to big-screen devices. I would suggest making your contact details very easy and simple to find – they should always be front and centre on any marketing site but if your client is looking for you on their phone there is a possibility they might be, you know, thinking about phoning you!
I followed Andy’s advice and compared data in four quarters (August–October) from 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Picture
  • The percentage of mobile-user visitors has more than doubled. In 2013 it was 1 in 10. In 2016 it's 1 in 5.
  • Tablet use has remained relatively static.
  • The desktop view still easily dominates.
This rather basic analysis supports Andy’s industry view and has encouraged me to continue to work on my mobile optimization to ensure that it’s user-friendly, while respecting the fact that desktop visitors are still the most important group. Therefore, mobile responsiveness mustn't come at the expense of the desktop-user experience.

When thinking like a editor isn’t enough
This exercise has shown me how, until recently, my website design was dominated by two modes of thinking:
  1. I think like a desktop user, as I’ve primarily used a desktop or tablet to view content, and I’ve accessed that content in desktop view.
  2. I tend to consider the design of a webpage from a human visual point of view, rather than from the point of view of an automated tool. I’ve failed to consider the logic of automation – for example, what is the widget looking for when it ‘decides’ to move several horizontally displayed elements into a vertical layout?
I now know that I need to think less like an editor and more like a designer and a potential client when I’m building webpages.

Taking the long view
Keeping an eye on user behaviour is a work in progress, but I'm on the case. Four years ago, mobile usage mattered less. Now, to me, it matters twice as much (though the desktop-user group is still by far the most important). 

So, take a look at your analytics to assess what devices your visitors are using.

If mobile has become more important and your website host allows you to easily optimize your design for mobile devices, without compromising your core visitor group, do use the function. But check that the results are showing your best face. 

​A few small tweaks could make a very big difference.

​More importantly, they could turn a closed page into a closed deal.

* If you’re a Weebly user, and you’re not sure whether you’ve optimized your website for mobile devices, open up your dashboard, go to your site, click on the Settings tab on the ribbon, scroll down to Mobile, and make sure the ‘Display the mobile-optimized version of this website when someone visits from a mobile device’ box is ticked.

To take a quick look at how your content is being displayed on mobile devices, choose the Build or Pages tabs from the ribbon, and click on the Device Switcher icon (also on the ribbon).

A word of caution: I’ve found that after toggling back and forth between the desktop and mobile views in Device Switcher, I have problems making some types of amendments to my content (for example creating bullet points, italicizing and moving textboxes). Don’t worry if this happens to you. Simply exit Weebly and reopen; you’ll be able to amend as required.

Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.

Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you're an author, you might like to join Louise’s Writing Library. Members receive monthly updates featuring self-publishing news and resources.
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Link of the week: The Chicago Manual of Style Online

6/10/2016

4 Comments

 
Chicago Manual of Style Online
I can't quite fathom how I've curated this blog for so long and never featured The Chicago Manual of Style Online.

Here are just three reasons why I love it:
  1. I work with a lot of independent fiction authors. And although I'm based in the UK, around half of my clients live in the USA. CMOS Online is my go-to style guide unless they ask me to use something else.
  2. It's sooooo easy to search, and really comprehensive! On the very few occasions that I haven't been able to find the answer I'm looking for in the main directory, the Q&As have come up trumps.
  3. At US$35 per year, it's superb value. (Yes, of course I wish it was free, but let's not be greedy!) That's a worthwhile investment because I can justify the stylistic decisions I make to fledgling authors in the knowledge that those choices are industry-recognized. And, anyway, you don't have to stump up the cash immediately; there's a 30-day free trial.
None of the above will be news to readers whose editorial businesses are well established. But if your proofreading or editing business is fairly new, and you're thinking about which style guides to invest in, CMOS Online is definitely one to consider, especially if you want to feel comfortable working with international authors who write fiction and commercial non-fiction.

CMOS Online isn't the only tiger in my tank, of course. New Hart's Rules and the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association are two more resources that I often refer to.

There are many other style manuals that a client might ask you to follow, depending on the material and the intended audience. ​Ultimately, what you invest in will be determined by your target clients' preferences.

Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.

Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you're an author, you might like to visit Louise’s Writing Library to access my latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly.
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Why you MUST market your editorial business. Part II

1/10/2016

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Here's Part 2 of my series on why you must market your editing and proofreading business.
Marketing advice for editors and proofreaders
In Part I, I considered the problem of low rates and some potential solutions:
  • negotiating efficiency increases
  • changing industry policy
  • feeling aggrieved
  • and an alternative – saying no in the knowledge that there are better-paying clients in the offing

The alternative is premised on the idea that you can market yourself into a position of choice.

Here in Part II, I take a closer look at the benefits of proactive marketing. I position this within a framework of business ownership that takes responsibility and shuns entitlement.

Generating interest and discoverability
Marketing is about being interesting and discoverable. If enough potential clients can find you (i.e. you’re discoverable) and are persuaded to contact you (i.e. you’re interesting), you can, over time, put yourself in a position whereby you can turn down the work that doesn’t fit (because of the fee or otherwise), and accept the work that does – and have a full schedule to boot.

One fictive example, with a bit of maths!
The following is based loosely on my particular situation – I’m a proofreader who works on relatively uncomplicated book-length projects that take around a week to complete.

I do take on shorter pieces of work and fit them around my larger projects, but, for the most part, it’s a project-in/project-out workflow. I specialize in working for independent authors, academics, students and publishers. I do a little bit of work for businesses and marketing agencies on occasion, but these clients don’t make up the bulk of my working week.

Let’s say that 90% of the new clients who contact me want to pay less than I want to earn. That means that only one in ten jobs will pan out. For simplicity, let’s give each month twenty-two working days (I like to take weekends off). Let’s also say that I can fit in roughly one book-length job in five working days, plus perhaps one or two smaller jobs if required.

The reactive marketer
Let’s imagine that I’m not as interesting and discoverable as I could be, and am not being found by potential new clients on a regular basis. I receive ten offers of work every two months.

Given that 10% of the jobs will pan out into work that pays what I want it to pay, that’s one hit in that two-month period. I consider the remaining nine jobs to be poorly paying. However, because I’m not being found and asked to quote as often as I might be, I don’t have any other hits in the bag.

I don’t want to be without work for the bulk of those two months, so I accept the nine lower paying job offers, and feel a bit sorry for myself, consoling myself with the thought that at least I’m being paid something. Then I go and get myself that extra-big hug from my partner and wait for my sympathetic friend to say ‘poor you’.

The proactive marketer
Now let’s imagine that I actively market my business on a regular basis. I receive an average of thirty offers from new clients every month.

As before, only 10% pan out into confirmed work that pays what I want it to pay. That’s fine, though, because that 10% is enough to fill my schedule when taking into account offers from existing well-paying clients.

Those existing clients are paying us what we want to earn – they’re people who have already discovered us and considered us interesting enough to hire and rehire. They provide an additional safety net that enables us to make choices.

The point is that the more offers you receive, the stronger your position. You can afford to say no. Any percentage of a big number is a very different proposition from that same percentage of a small number.

Proactive marketing gives you the numbers. Bigger numbers mean you have a higher chance of more hits (confirmed work that fits your financial needs). If you’re in a situation where you’re being forced to accept work that doesn’t pay what you want to earn, you need to increase your discoverability, or improve your interestingness, or both.

My colleague Rich Adin sums it up rather nicely: 'The primary difference between proactive and reactive marketing is that proactive marketing makes sure you can say no while enjoying the higher rewards when you say yes, whereas reactive marketing ensures that you will never be able to say no and will always “enjoy” low rewards that force you to constantly say yes when you want to say no. No is empowering and proactive is empowerment​' (Adin, personal correspondence, 2016).

‘But my work is different to yours’
I acknowledge that some editors’ workflows will look very different to mine. You may be someone who works on complex long-term projects that take weeks or months to complete.

The project fees will run into thousands rather than hundreds of pounds. This kind of specialist work may mean you are always going to be dealing with a smaller pot of hits and misses than a proofreader with a more straightforward workflow. For you, the numbers will look different, and negotiation may play a larger role when considering how to handle fee issues.

The principle stands, though – however different your business model is to mine, if you aren’t getting enough hits, then you will still benefit from marketing yourself so that you increase the size of your pot and, thus, the proportion of confirmed jobs that pay what you want to earn.

Who’s responsible?
Expecting others to take responsibility for the success of my self-owned editorial business is a path to failure. My colleagues are obliged to look after their interests. My clients (and potential clients) are obliged to look after their interests. I’m obliged to look after mine.

Even established editorial business owners should be actively promoting because they can’t predict how the market will shift over time. A profitable client today could be a loss-making client tomorrow. 

Ultimately, expecting clients to fall in our laps because we’ve decided to go freelance is employee-like thinking, not business-owner thinking.

Considering rates in terms of what’s fair, and what’s respectful is unhelpful. It shifts the freelancer’s focus from one of professional business-ownership to one of entitlement. When you’re self-employed there’s no room for entitlement.

Big-brand practice
If you’re still not convinced about the value of marketing, think about some of the TV, radio and direct-mail advertisements by well-known brands that you’ve recently encountered.

They haven’t stopped marketing their products and services because they already have lots of buyers. Rather, they’re still looking for new customers who value what they offer. So should we.

Looking forward rather than feeling aggrieved
Sometimes the potential client and I will find a place where we’re a good fit, but often we won’t. That’s fine. I don’t begrudge those potential clients who offer me jobs with fees that I think are too low, or those who ask me to quote but choose to go elsewhere (perhaps they like someone else’s price better, or they think someone’s a better project fit) because that’s their informed choice.

If I market my business effectively, their choices won’t affect me because I’ll have enough offers of work that are a good fit from elsewhere.

Being discoverable to a bank of potential clients who are prepared to pay you what you feel you are worth enables you to take a positive and forward-looking view of your business, rather than expending negative mental energy on how you’re worse off in real terms than you were X number of years ago.

Summing up
Being the owner of an editorial business means building regular marketing into the foundations of running that business. When we do things to maximize our discoverability and interestingness, we work towards choice.

Regular, proactive marketing gives you a bigger pot from which to pick a smaller number of well-paying, schedule-filling hits, some of which will turn into repeat clients.

​No choice, on the other hand, means settling for what’s on offer. Just remember that those extra-big hugs and sympathetic ‘poor you’s aren’t billable.

Recommended related reading
  • ‘The Business of Editing: The Agony & the Ecstasy of “No”’ (Rich Adin, An American Editor, May 2016)
  • ‘The Business of Editing: Fee Negotiations’ (Part I, Part II and Part III) (Rich Adin, An American Editor, October 2014)
  • ‘Editing rates and negotiating’ (Jake Poinier, Dr. Freelance, November 2015)
  • ‘You need to watch your own tail’ (Jake Poinier, Dr. Freelance, October 2015)
  • ‘What Low Editing Rates Teach Us’ (Erin Brenner, Copyediting, February 2016)

Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.

Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you're an author, take a look at Louise’s Writing Library and access her latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly.
Sign up to Louise's blog

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Using a progressive-pricing array formula in Excel to create proofreading project fees

23/9/2016

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Here's how to create ballpark prices for proofreading and copyediting using Excel.
Pricing array formula for proofreaders
There have been some interesting discussions about pricing models in the online editorial community recently.
  • My colleague John Espirian, a specialist technical writer, prefers per-project fees for long jobs (‘How do technical writers charge?’).
  • One of my own specialisms is proofreading for independent fiction authors. I prefer to build my quotations based on a word count.
  • Then again, I know copy-editors who prefer to build their quotations based on the total number of hours a project will take.

​If you prefer a per-word model, then you may like to consider using a progressive-pricing array formula. It’s not the only way of doing things, certainly, but it’s something I’ve tested and am currently working with. I like this model because it incorporates economies of scale.
 
Before I explain how the progressive-pricing array works, a very quick word on price presentation versus determination.

Price presentation versus determination
Price presentation and determination are two different things.
  • How we present our quotations to clients should be determined by what our clients have asked for. If the client has asked for an estimated bottom-line project fee in euros and I respond with a £ per 1,000 words figure, I’m not going to instil confidence in them that I can follow a brief.
  • How we determine a price should be based on our own needs and requirements. Once we’ve determined what the price will be, we can present it in the way that our client has requested.

Economies of scale
When a proofreader is working on larger projects, there are economies of scale. I’m currently working with an independent fiction author on nine books (which I’m proofreading over a five-month period).

Most of the projects are between 70,000 and 80,000 words in length; a couple are around the 50,000-word mark; and one is a short story with just over 10,000 words. All of the books feature the same central protagonist and a small cast of supporting characters.
 
The serial nature of the content, the reappearance of key characters, and the concentration of action in predominantly one fictitious location all serve to save me time as I move through each book. This means:
  • I don’t have to build a style sheet from scratch.
  • The author’s preferences are stable.
  • I’m getting to ‘know’ the characters so I spot inconsistencies more quickly and easily as time goes on.
  • I’m increasingly familiar with the author’s writing style, so there’s less head-scratching time.

Even so, the average number of words proofread per hour was fewer for the 10K-word short story than for the previous 70K-word novel. And in the first few hours of working on the the 70K-word novel, I proofread fewer words per hour than was the case in the hours that followed.
 
That’s because, even with all the benefits of working on a series, each book still needs a certain amount of ‘stuff’ done to it in its own right:
  • Overall layout and consistency checks.
  • Wildcard searches and macro runs that help me spot and solve global problems efficiently.
  • Plus, of course, the actual word-by-word proofread for grammar, spelling and punctuation issues.

If we take the series element out of the equation, and compare the proofreading of two books in a similar genre for two separate authors, the impact of project length for the proofreader can become even more stark.
 
Consequently, I want to price the 30K-word novella differently from the 100K-word tome. It’s for this reason that while I like to build my quotations on a per-word basis, I don’t want something as straightforward as a £6, £8 or £10 per 1,000 words model. Instead, I want something that respects the economies of scale that come with larger projects. This is where the array comes into its own.

How does a progressive-pricing array formula work?
An array formula can look at a number (a word count, in our case) and then, based on a set of ranges that we’ve provided, price those ranges accordingly. Here’s a very basic example. You might set up your array such that the following are true:
  • First 5,000 words are priced at £25 per 1,000 words.
  • The next 10,000 words are priced at £10 per 1,000 words.
  • The next 20,000 words after that are priced at £7 per 1,000 words.
  • The next 50,000 words after that are priced at £6 per 1,000 words.

This would result in the following quotes:

(1) If you were asked to provide a quotation for proofreading a 2,000-word article, the price would be £50 (£25 per 1000 words).

(2) If you were asked to quote for a 10,000-word short story, the price would be £175. This is based on:
  • £25 per 1,000 words for the first 5,000 words (£125)
  • plus £10 per 1,000 words for the remaining 5,000 words (£50)

The average price per 1,000 words works out at £17.50.
 
(3) If you were asked to quote for a 70,000-word book, the price would be £575. This is based on:
  • £25 per 1,000 words for the first 5,000 words (£125)
  • plus £10 per 1,000 words for the next 10,000 words (£100)
  • plus £7 per 1,000 words for the next 20,000 words (£140)
  • plus £6 per 1,000 words for the next 35,000 words (£210)

​The average price per 1,000 words works out at £8.21 and reflects the economies of scale that the proofreader will be able to benefit from because of the size of the book.

A progressive-pricing array formula in action
I’ll admit that it did take some fiddling to get the actual formula working for me. I used this as my template: ‘Progressive Pricing Formulas For Excel’ (www.cpearson.com).

The example given is similar to the setup I wanted for my own quotation tool, and it provides a formula that I was able to tweak for my own data. See also my downloadable sample below.

Here's a screen shot of what a progressive-pricing array formula might look like in Excel.
Picture
And here's an Excel template you can download and adapt to suit your own preferences. Note that you'll need to look carefully at, and amend, the array-formula box to ensure that the cell descriptions are correct for your data (that's the fiddly bit!).
progressive_pricing_array_sample.xlsx
File Size: 11 kb
File Type: xlsx
Download File

One size doesn’t fit all
The usual caveat applies – my way certainly isn’t the best way or the only way! It’s just one approach of several. I wanted to share my experience with you so that if you fancy testing a progressive-pricing array, you have a framework to get you started.

In practice, you might want to build more ranges into your array formula to provide increased flexibility. The numbers I’ve used above are just for illustrative purposes.

I find the array formula useful for ballpark quotations because I want to provide a quick quote based on a word count. Obviously, any professional proofreading project needs to be evaluated on more than just a word count before terms are agreed and confirmed.

Those editorial professionals working with complex projects that require varying levels of intervention might find a progressive-pricing array formula far too limiting. It functions well for me as a proofreader because of the nature of my work.

I do, however, have different arrays set up for different client types (e.g. students for whom English is a second language; independent authors whose first language is English) and for different levels of proofreading service.

​The prices I assign to the various ranges are different in order to reflect the variances in how I work with the text and the speed at which I am able to proofread.

How do you build a price for editorial work?
How do you build your quotations? Per hour, per word, per day, per project? Have you tested different approaches for building your fees? And do you find that different models work better for different types of editorial work?
 
I think that, at the very least, we should test our pricing models. I’ve written about this in more detail on the An American Editor blog: ‘The Proofreader’s Corner: Testing Editorial Pricing Models’.
 
I’m always interested in learning how others go about pricing editorial work so please do leave a comment if you have something to share. 

Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.

Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you're an author, take a look at Louise’s Writing Library and access her latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly.
Sign up to Louise's blog

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Norfolk Writers’ Resources

15/9/2016

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Here's an overview of just some of the resources available to writers in Norfolk (and East Anglia more broadly). It's quite a treasure trove, but perhaps that's not a surprise given that in 2012 Norwich became England's first UNESCO City of Literature.

Festivals and events
  • East Anglian Book Awards – this annual event celebrates literature either set in East Anglia or written by authors living in the region. Entry for 2016 is now closed, but keep an eye out for 2017 submission details.
  • FLY Festival of Literature for Young People – hosted by the University of East Anglia, FLY is an annual programme of activities, readings, workshops and entertainment for 11–18-year-olds. The 2016 event has now finished, but FLY will be back from 10–14 July 2017
  • Jarrold, one of Norwich’s oldest independent departments stores, Jarrold hosts regular author readings, signings and book launches. This year’s autumn programme includes the East Anglian Book Awards, Alan Partridge, and Elizabeth Haynes.
  • King's Lynn Literature Festivals – this year’s event is the King’s Lynn Poetry Festival, taking place from 30 September–2 October 2016.
  • Noirwich – Norwich’s annual crime-writing festival always includes some top names in the noir genre. This year’s author events include Ian Rankin, Sophie Hannah and Peter James, and there are also writing workshops and a number of fringe events. Noirwich 2016 kicks off on 15 September. Definitely one to put in your calendar!
  • The Book Hive hosts regular literary events in Norwich, including An Evening with Tommy Wieringa (6 October 2016), The Making of the British Landscape with Nicholas Crane (4 November 2016), and An Evening with Carol Ann Duffy (1 December 2016) 
  • UEA Literary Festival – the University of East Anglia has a super programme of ‘in conversation’ events lined up for this autumn, including David Lodge, Bernard Hill, Paddy Ashdown and Rose Tremain. The events start on 5 October and run through to 23 November 2016.
  • Waterstones, Castle Street, Norwich – fabulous author signings and readings including Natasha Pulley (The Watchmaker of Filigree Street: 5 October 2016), The Magpie Murders – an evening with Anthony Horowitz (20 October 2016), and Garth Nix – Goldenhand (22 October)

Groups and organizations 
  • East Anglian Writers – affiliated with the Society of Authors, East Anglian Writers welcomes applications from professional writers based in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk  
  • Norwich Writers’ Circle – the group meets twice a month in Norwich, and runs an annual programme of events including writing workshops, competitions, guest-speaking sessions and social meet-ups
  • The Book Hive – hosts regular literary events in Norwich
  • Writers’ Centre Norwich (WCN) – a must-visit site featuring events, interviews, courses and workshops

Courses 
  • Norwich Arts Centre periodically offers writing courses. Keep an eye on the calendar to see what’s available
  • Unthank School of Writing – offers a range of onsite and online writing courses
  • Creative Writing Online ­– partnership between the WCN and University of East Anglia
  • Creative writing courses at the UEA – undergraduate and postgraduate courses
  • Creative Writing with Norfolk Adult Education – this is a link to the group’s Facebook page. Here you’ll find information about what’s currently on offer from a range of regional providers. Past events include self-publishing workshops as well as novel- and script-writing courses
  • Writers’ Centre Norwich – annual programme of writing workshops

Editorial support: proofreading, editing and indexing
If you are looking for an editorial professional in Norfolk, you can find a qualified member by visiting the Norfolk Proofreaders and Editors Network (NPEN).

Members offer a wide range of services including proofreading, copy-editing, structural and developmental editing, manuscript critique and evaluation, indexing, formatting, translation, and publishing consultancy.

Independent publishers ​
  • Black Dog Books 
  • Full Circle Editions
  • Poppyland Publishing
  • Salt – this vibrant independent publisher accepts unsolicited manuscripts and has had two books nominated for the Man Booker Prize in four years.

Louise's Writing Library for Self-Publishers
For more self-publishing resources, visit the library on my Self-publishers page. 

Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.

Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you're an author, you might like to visit Louise’s Writing Library to access my latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly.
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Link of the Week: New editorial freelancing start-up guide – Going Solo

15/9/2016

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Picture
Going Solo: Creating your freelance editorial business is a new 52-page guide to building a proofreading or copy-editing business from the ground up.
 
Written by my colleague Sue Littleford, owner of Apt Words and an Advanced Professional Member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP), the guide covers business planning, editorial knowledge acquisition, financial issues, client sourcing, and time management. (Note that the tax info is specific to the UK market.)
 
At only £6 for a hardcopy (£5 for a PDF), the guide is a must-have for anyone considering making a career transition to editorial freelancing.


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.

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Testing Editorial Pricing Models

5/9/2016

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The latest on my column for Rich Adin's An American Editor blog is available now at: 'The Proofreader’s Corner: Testing Editorial Pricing Models'.

In this article, I focus on how even experienced editorial freelancers should regularly evaluate what they are charging and how they are determining the price for a job, and whether they should introduce new pricing models that could increase their income. We’re back in the world of testing.

News ...
Sadly, this is my final article for Rich. I've been writing my monthly column for An American Editor for three years and I've loved it. It's been an honour to contribute to such a well-regarded resource, and I've learned a huge amount from Rich (who thoroughly critiques and edits every article prior to publication).

However, all good things have to come to an end. I've always been a stickler for work/life balance. My proofreading business is busier than ever (all that marketing I'm always banging on about really does work!), so it's important to me that I manage my down-time accordingly. I've therefore decided to hang up my An American Editor hat.

This doesn't mean that I'm going to stop writing, though. I'll continue to keep posting regularly here on my own blog, The Proofreader's Parlour, and I hope you'll continue to read, enjoy and comment on my thoughts about the business of editorial freelancing.

Finally, I want to thank Rich, and wish him and his other contributors continued success. Even though I'll no longer be writing for An American Editor, I'll be reading the blog avidly, sharing the valuable content that's posted there, and commenting when I think I have something to add.

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.

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Career-development spotlight: Mary McCauley

5/9/2016

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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+.

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Why you MUST market your editorial business. Part I

2/9/2016

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​Why marketing is just worth it!

In this two-part series, I take a look at how regular business promotion can put us in a position to decline work that doesn't meet our expectations and aspirations ... ​
Marketing for editors and proofreaders
So you’re a copy-editor, and one of the clients you’ve been working for over the past seven years has, yet again, failed to increase their hourly rate. You’re worse off in real terms than you were last year, let alone in 2009. Ugh.

​
Or perhaps you’re a proofreader who’s paid on a flat-fee basis by another publisher. The fee is based on the number of pages per book. Over the past six months, you’ve noticed that the typesetter has been squeezing another 100 words on a page by reducing the font size.

Over the course of a 250-page book, this amounts to you having to proofread an additional 25,000 words for no extra cash. Given that you proofread for this client at a speed of around 5,000 words per hour, that’s an extra five hours of work that you’re no longer being paid for. Ouch.

A self-publishing romance writer tries to haggle you down to £4 per 1,000 words for a 100,000-word book. She wants the fee to include a copy-edit AND a ‘quick follow-up proofread’.

She feels that your fee of £9 per 1,000 words is way too high and out of line with what other editors are charging. You thought you were giving her a fabulous deal, given that she’s getting two different and separate editorial passes from you for £900! Headdesk.

A PM agency with whom you’ve worked in the past asks you to do a top and tail of a PDF with some Q&As. They also want a basic howler check and a layout review. It’s a sort of semi-proofread.

There will be other similar jobs over the forthcoming weeks. They estimate that each job will take two hours. They offer you a flat fee of thirty quid for each job. £15 an hour for your level of experience? Sob.

So what can you do?
  • Negotiate?
  • Work more efficiently?
  • Lobby the industry via a union or professional society?
  • Talk a lot about how unfair these clients are being, how disrespectful it is considering the value you bring to the table, how they’re taking the biscuit and making a mockery of professional editorial work?

Holy moly, you say, this editorial freelancing lark is becoming a joke.

Negotiating
If you have regular clients who are offering, say, complex projects worth several thousands of pounds, it may, indeed, be well worth your while to enter into extensive negotiations so that it’s clear to the client why what they’re offering is unrealistic and unacceptable.

The time you spend on these negotiations could turn out to be worth the investment if you can find some acceptable middle ground. If, however, you’re dealing with projects worth a couple of hundred quid or less, negotiating may not necessarily be the best use of your time. Instead, you could use it to find new, better-paying clients.

Speed
How about working more efficiently, using tools such as macros? If you’re not already using these tools, then introducing them into your workflow could help tip the situation back in your favour.

If the client is offering a fixed fee, but with more words per project, speeding up could even increase the amount you earn per hour, never mind maintaining the rate you used to earn.

If, however, you’re already macro-magnificent, ReferenceChecker-resplendent, PerfectIt-pretty and wildcard-wonderful, this isn’t going to provide you with a solution.

Changing industry policy
How about lobbying the industry? You could ask your professional editorial society or freelancing union to step in.

But let’s be honest – the mainstream publishing industry is global and consists of hundreds of separate businesses operating under capitalism. It would be a tricky job for the society/union in a command economy, but in a capitalist one? Don’t hold your breath!

As for all the other clients – independent authors, businesses, students, charities and schools, for example – they don’t make up a unified industry. Who are you going to lobby?

Getting emotional
So how about feeling upset, disgruntled, undervalued and disrespected? By all means, go ahead. It won’t change anything, though you might get an extra-big hug from your partner and some sympathetic ‘poor you’s from your best mate.

An alternative – wave goodbye
What if there was another option, though? How about if you just politely waved goodbye to the project offer that doesn’t meet your financial requirements, confident that you can fill that job slot with something else – something that pays you the rate that you want to earn? After all, you’re not obliged to accept the work.

Self-employment obligations and responsibilities
Not being obliged to do a particular piece of work for a price set by someone else is one of the joys of successful freelancing and a key element of being self-employed.

If you work for a publisher, magazine, charity or school (or any other business you care to name), part of the deal is that you may well have to undertake types of work at times and places that you don’t like and that aren’t convenient, things that are not written into your contract and that, officially, you’re not being paid to do.

But you’re an employee and you don’t get to bargain over your salary every time something comes up that requires you to give a little extra for the sake of goodwill and a comfortable appraisal. Your employer is in charge and in control. 

Perhaps your efforts will be rewarded further down the line – you might be promoted or given a bonus. It’s not guaranteed, though, and you’ll rarely be in a position to force the issue.

Being employed often means making do – the benefit is that, unless you’re on some dreadful zero-hours contract, you get paid even on a slow day, or when you’re ill or on holiday. Importantly, your employer will take responsibility for sourcing customers.

But me and you? We’re the owners of our businesses and so it’s up to us to do the work we like, at the times we like, for the pay we want. Holidays and sick days don’t pay. We do, however, have the right to decline a job.

And because we own our own businesses, it’s not X University Press’s responsibility to pay us a fee that’s good for each of our business models. XUP’s responsibility is to pay us a fee that’s good for its business model.

We, and only we, have responsibility for deciding whom we work for and which projects we accept or decline. Importantly, we have to take responsibility for sourcing customers – there’s no one else to do it for us. We’re in charge and in control.

That’s where marketing comes in … and in Part II, I take a closer look at the benefits of proactive promotion.

Related reading
  • ‘The Business of Editing: The Agony & the Ecstasy of “No”’ (Rich Adin, An American Editor, May 2016)
  • ‘The Business of Editing: Fee Negotiations’ (Part I, Part II and Part III) (Rich Adin, An American Editor, October 2014)
  • ‘Editing rates and negotiating’ (Jake Poinier, Dr. Freelance, November 2015)
  • ‘You need to watch your own tail’ (Jake Poinier, Dr. Freelance, October 2015)
  • ‘What Low Editing Rates Teach Us’ (Erin Brenner, Copyediting, February 2016)

Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.

Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you're an author, take a look at Louise’s Writing Library and access her latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly.
Sign up to Louise's blog

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How to edit fiction with confidence (by Sophie Playle)

26/7/2016

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Do you ever wish you could edit novels? No matter whether it's a good old-fashioned romance, a high-octane thriller or a sci-fi romp – you just want to get your teeth into some fiction.
 
But instead, here you are – editing user manuals. Or textbooks. Scientific papers. Cook books. Dissertations. CVs. All because you can't edit fiction. You don't know how. Your skills don't transfer. You can't handle the creative nuances. You just know you'd mess up the author's vision. You're simply not cut out for this.
 
Or so you keep telling yourself. But what if I told you that you don't need some innate kind of creative instinct to be able to do this? That editing fiction is a skill you can learn?
 
Well, it is – and it's easier than you might think. Here's what you need to know:
 
The different types of fiction editing
In an ideal world, a fiction manuscript will go through three stages of editing: macro, sentence, and proofreading.
 
A macro edit will look at the big-picture components of a manuscript and assess how good the story is and how well it’s been told. Manuscript critique and development editing fall into this category.
 
Sentence-level editing addresses issues at, well, the sentence level. This category includes line editing (sometimes called substantive editing) and copy-editing. Line or substantive editing looks more closely at the artistry of the sentences with the aim of improving the writing; copy-editing looks more at the mechanics of the writing, with the aim of correcting the punctuation, grammar and spelling and addressing inconsistencies in style.
 
Proofreading is the last level of quality control, designed to make sure no errors have slipped through after the previous stages. It's the final polish.

How to break into fiction editing

Copy-editing and proofreading are the easiest gateways to fiction editing because they focus more on addressing the mechanical issues rather than the stylistic ones. If you’re an experienced editor in another field, you’ll find that it’s fairly simple to transfer your technical editing skills to fiction editing.
 
The main thing to keep in mind when copy-editing or proofreading fiction is that there’s more scope for ‘rule breaking’. It’s important to remember that style guides and conventions of grammar and punctuation are guidelines rather than hard-and-fast rules that must be obeyed.
 
Use your judgement to decide whether the author hasn't followed convention for effect or because they simply didn’t know a particular guideline. And if the author writes in a slightly unconventional but consistent way (which doesn’t impede the reading experience), unless you’ve been asked to address the issue, you can let it slide.
 
Special issues to address when editing fiction
Novels contain long narratives, so when editing fiction it’s critical that you keep track of not only technical details (such as whether the author prefers the serial comma), but certain story details too – those of consistency, logic, time and point of view.
 
Consistency: Using a style sheet that includes lists of each main character’s details will help you spot that David has blue eyes in chapter three but green eyes in chapter seventeen.
 
Logic: Be alert to plot details as you edit. How has Jasmine just switched on the television when she’d stormed out of the room three paragraphs ago? How is it that Zach knows what clouds are when he’s lived his whole life in a dystopian underground city?
 
Time: Create a basic timeline of events as you edit. This way you’ll be able to spot whether a two-hour drive accidently takes all day, or whether a week accidently has two Mondays in it (God forbid).
 
Point of view: All novels have a narrator in one form or another, and the perspective through which the narrator is experiencing the fictional world is known as the point of view. Good novels use point of view consistently and for effect. If the point of view jumps from one place to another in a jarring or illogical way, this is called ‘head hopping’ – usually a result of an author not fully understanding (or slipping up with) point of view. As a fiction editor, you should keep an eye out for this issue and correct it (or flag it up for the author to address) where necessary.
 
How to become an informal expert (and why this helps)
Perhaps you don’t feel fiction is your expertise. However, I bet you love reading novels. You probably have a favourite genre, too, and have devoured hundreds of books. Your love of a good story might seem like just a hobby – but it’s likely you’ve subconsciously absorbed a lot of knowledge.
 
To become a better fiction editor, you simply need to go one step further: read more books slowly and analytically. Pay attention to the nuances of language, the rhythms of sentences. Why did the author choose to put that comma there? What effect did it have? Why did they use this verb over another? You’d be surprised how much you can learn by observing and thinking.
 
And you can go another step further than this, too: read books about novel writing. That way, your editorial decisions will be grounded in the same guidance and information as the writer’s decisions. I recommend Write to be Published by Nicola Morgan to start.
 
Why you should specialize in fiction editing
I don’t recommend that you add fiction editing to your existing editing business. If you target vastly different types of client – such as fiction authors and technical writers – you’ll find it difficult to build a cohesive brand and focus your marketing. (Though I do think the exception to this rule is if you want to offer proofreading to multiple types of client, since the skill is so transferable – just look at Louise’s awesome brand!)
 
Choosing a niche will help you be seen as a specialist – and that's important. Being a specialist means you’ll attract more clients and be able to charge them more. You might think you’re excluding a huge number of potential clients, but in fact the opposite is true. Instead of competing against every other editor, you’ll stand out to your target client – who is presumably searching for things like 'science fiction editor' or whatever your chosen niche is. If you want to work with novelists and fiction publishers, who do you think they will be more likely to hire? The editor who edits anything for anyone, or the specialist fiction editor?
 
If you’re not satisfied with your existing specialism (or you don’t even have a specialism) and you think fiction editing could be for you … Why not go for it? Try it out. You could even build up a separate brand and test the waters before deciding to become a full-time fiction specialist. You’d be surprised at how deciding to focus your business increases your confidence – and make you see yourself as a specialist, too.
​
How I can help you become a fiction editor
If you like what you've read so far and are interested in venturing into fiction editing, I have just the thing. I run a six-week online course specifically designed to help people build fiction-editing businesses from scratch.
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Each week I provide a new set of information, instructions and assignments (which I give personalized feedback on). By the end of the course you’ll be that much closer to your editing dreams – and may even be ready to go right off the bat!
 
Head on over to StartFictionEditing.com to learn more (and grab your free introductory module!).

Sophie Playle runs Liminal Pages (liminalpages.com), a literary consultancy for authors of fantasy, sci-fi and speculative fiction. She’s a Professional Member of the SfEP and often packs her laptop into a rucksack to run her business while traipsing around Europe.
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Business-planning and marketing omnibus: SfEP conference discount voucher

20/7/2016

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If you're a newbie editorial freelancer and are attending this year's annual Society for Editors and Proofreaders' conference in Birmingham, come and grab one of these little voucher cards from me. The voucher entitles you to a 20% discount on the PDF omnibus edition of my business-planning and marketing books.
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I'll be arriving on Friday 9 September and leaving on Monday 12 September. If we don't run into each other during one of the sessions, you'll be able to find me by the bar or the coffee machine during the conference!

I'll also be co-hosting a speed session for newbies in which Liz Jones (pricing), Sue Littleford (finance) and I (marketing) will focus on talking you through the basics of building, managing and growing your new editorial business with confidence and enthusiasm: Speed start-up: things newbies need to know.

We look forward to meeting you in September and hope you'll join us for our session!

Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and the curator of The Proofreader's Parlour. She is also the author of Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers, Marketing Your Editing & Proofreading Business, and Omnibus: Editorial Business Planning & Marketing Plus.

​Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, follow her on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

Blog home page ● Money matters ● More business tips ● More on marketing ● More on proofreading ● Starting out


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The Business of Proofreading: Taking a Long and Interconnected View

18/7/2016

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Over on my column for Rich Adin's An American Editor blog, I take a look at the business of proofreading – in particular, how new entrants to the field might benefit from visualizing the tasks related to business growth as a wheel rather than the more traditional to-do list.

To read the article in view, go to: ​'The Business of Proofreading: Taking a Long and Interconnected View'.

Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and the curator of The Proofreader's Parlour. She is also the author of Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers, Marketing Your Editing & Proofreading Business, and Omnibus: Editorial Business Planning & Marketing Plus.

​Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, follow her on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

Blog home page ● More business tips ● More on proofreading ● Starting out

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PerfectIt 3 – must-have software for the editorial freelancing pro

1/7/2016

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PerfectIt is my go-to editorial software when I'm copyediting and proofreading in books Microsoft Word. Here's why I think you should use it ...
PerfectIt: must-have tool for editors and proofreaders
Needless to say, this review only scratches the surface – to understand all of the tests and checks that PerfectIt can do for you, you really need to get stuck in and play with it.

I’m not going to use this article to provide an instruction manual for how to use PerfectIt – the developer, Daniel Heuman, has provided plenty of guidance on the Intelligent Editing website and a stack of video tutorials on the Intelligent Editing YouTube channel.

What I will do is highlight the new features that I find most useful when proofreading and copyediting for those clients who want me to work directly in Word. Readers who are specialist copy-editors or who have different client groups may well have different preferences.
​
Disclaimer: I have a PerfectIt licence and am a long-time user of the software. However, the developer has not asked me to write this review, nor have I been remunerated in any way for doing so.

The views expressed herein are mine and based solely on my experience of using PerfectIt on a regular basis.


What is it?
For those readers who are not familiar with this software, PerfectIt 3 is a sophisticated consistency checker. By customizing its built-in style sheets, or creating your own, you can define your preferences and let PerfectIt locate variations and possible errors.

Note: PerfectIt is not compatible with Macs. If you’re a Mac user, you’ll need software that specializes in enabling Windows applications to be run on a Mac (e.g. VMware Fusion or Parallels).

What's so brilliant about PerfectIt 3?
There are two reasons why I fell in love all over again.
  1. I got better at using Word’s find/replace wildcard search function, thanks primarily to Jack Lyon’s free Advanced Find and Replace for Microsoft Word (an updated and expanded version is available from Amazon for US$9.95: Wildcard Cookbook for Microsoft Word) and chin-wagging with my pals from the Society for Editors and Proofreaders’ local group in Norfolk.
  2. Daniel Heuman added some fabulous new or improved features to PerfectIt 3. These enabled me to take what I’d learned about harnessing the power of Word’s wildcard searches and build that into my customization of PerfectIt.

To get the best out of PerfectIt, you must tell it what you want it to do. That does mean launching one of the style sheets and taking the time to look at all the various options (and there are a lot).

In my early days of using PerfectIt, I didn’t do this. The result was that I didn’t get the most out of the software because it was ignoring inconsistencies (or flagging up false positives) that I'd marked as not relevant, when the opposite was true.

It isn’t that PerfectIt wasn’t working properly, but rather that I wasn’t.

Here are two examples:
  1. In some of the files I work on (e.g. fiction texts), I want to spell out most numbers. Before I started paying serious attention to all the options available for customization in PerfectIt’s Style Sheet Editor,

    I would run the program and find that it missed a lot. It’s only when I studied the Settings and Fine-tuning tabs in the Style Sheet Editor that I realized why.

    I was still asking PerfectIt to ignore numerals under certain conditions – conditions that didn’t apply to the type of work I was doing. By customizing the instructions, I was able to enforce my own preference. All those previous misses turned into hits.

  2. PerfectIt is a Word add-on. If you can’t get the best out of Word, you won’t get the best out of PerfectIt. Until a few weeks ago, I wasn’t utilizing the Wildcards function in PerfectIt’s Style Sheet Editor.

    Cannier users of Word will be shocked that I didn’t know how to locate inconsistencies in author/date in-text citations (e.g. (Harnby, 2013) vs (Harnby 2013) using wildcard searching. I could find the problems in Word but I couldn’t automatically fix them – all the replacing was done manually (yeah, I know!).

    And because I couldn’t do the automatic fix in Word, I couldn’t do the fix in PerfectIt. When I did learn how to do it in Word, I made PerfectIt work harder for me and saved myself a tonne of time.

There’s a developer summary of all the new features and improvements of PerfectIt at ‘What’s new in Version 3’. The following is a brief overview of what I love the most.

Wildcard searches
PerfectIt 3 allows you to harness the power of wildcard searches using exactly the same terms that you’d use in Word.

I love this feature because it means I can work more efficiently – I don’t have to run a set of find/replace searches in Word and then go and do a bunch of other stuff in PerfectIt. I can consolidate all my wildcard searches in one place, which saves me time.

Example: one of my clients has a house style that asks for comma separators in four-digit numbers (e.g. 2,999), but fixed spaces in five-digit (and above) numbers, e.g. 12 999 or 112 999. In Word, the wildcard search is:

FIND: ([0-9]{2,3}),([0-9]{3})
REPLACE: \1^s\2

I can add those exact same instructions into a PerfectIt style sheet, customizing it via the Wildcards section in the Style Sheet Editor. Then, every time I use that style sheet, PerfectIt will test for the pattern in red and adjust the comma to a space.

Note that you can tell PerfectIt to always use comma separators (or alternative renderings) but the wildcard search comes into its own when your house style asks for inconsistency (as in this example).

As my colleague Sarah Patey wisely pointed out, wildcard searches in Word can be problematic when Track Changes is switched on. Word doesn’t always behave itself! However, PerfectIt seems to handle wildcard searches with TC rather better.

Missing brackets and quotation marks
This is a gem for those of us who work on academic projects with lots of brackets (e.g. author/date citations or quoted matter) and those of us who proofread and edit fiction (e.g. dialogue).

To take advantage of this function, launch PerfectIt, select your preferred style sheet and click on the Tests in the sidebar to activate the dropdown menu. Then select ‘Tests and Options’, choose ‘Formatting’ and make sure that ‘Brackets and Quotes Left Open’ is checked.

Oxford/serial comma
The debate about whether the Oxford comma is useful or unnecessary rumbles on in the world of words. No matter – editors and proofreaders often find themselves instructed by their client to use it or bin it (except where enforcing the preference would lead to a lack of clarity).

PerfectIt allows you to set a preference either way – just make sure the test is checked (it’s in the ‘Formatting’ section mentioned above, and that you’ve actually set the preference.

To tell PerfectIt what to do, click on ‘Edit Current Style’ on the top ribbon, choose ‘Settings’, scroll down to ‘Oxford (Serial) Commas’ and make your choice.

Italics
If your client has insisted that a particular word is italicized (or not), you’ll love this function. PerfectIt already has a built-in list of words that can be styled, but you can add your own.

Here’s a quick example: some clients want [sic], some want [sic] and some don’t care as long as it’s consistent. In ‘Edit Current Style’ on the top ribbon, select ‘Italics’. Then choose an existing word or add your own.

You can then tell PerfectIt whether it should be italic, Roman, consistent, or italic at first use only. This is one of those functions that really does save time if you work on lengthy academic texts.

Heading format
Here, again, PerfectIt 3 enables us to harness the power of Word’s styles palette. You can set your preferences for several different heading levels, e.g. sentence case, initial caps on significant words, upper case, or all initial capitals.

As with the italics check, this is particularly useful when working on academic books and theses.

Additionally, those who regularly work with clients who have a specific house style that explicitly defines how heading levels should be formatted (e.g. journal article editors) will love this too, regardless of the length of each individual project they’re working on.

Dashes and non-breaking spaces
These searches are my final wow tools! If, like me, you regularly work on documents riddled with hyphens that should be spaced en dashes or closed-up em dashes, or you want to ensure that all those space-separated numbers and measurements are not going to end up falling over the cliff, you’ll adore this function.

Again, these are issues that can be corrected using Word’s find/replace tool, but being able to consolidate the searches within the PerfectIt platform is simply another time-saver.

The fewer programs I have to use to get high-quality consistency within the framework of my client’s brief, the more time I save and the better my hourly rate.

A few final comments
One of the big plusses of PerfectIt is its stability. Despite the fact that it’s often asked to work on very large Word documents and check a tonne of stuff, it doesn’t crash.

This was true for older versions, and PerfectIt 3 is no different. For me, this is important – I feel confident when I’m using it.

​I also think US$99 for a permanent licence that never expires and permits me to upload PerfectIt onto my laptop and desktop for no extra charge is great value for money. However, I do want that US$99 to offer me a product that’s fit for purpose. PerfectIt 3 is.

If you’re someone who’s reluctant to use software to complement your beady eye, I’d urge you to try this. I don’t say this within the framework of one of those human-vs-machine arguments. Rather, it’s about time.

Even if your eyes are so beady that you will spot every single hyphen that should be an en rule, every double space that should be a single, every missing closing quotation mark, every comma in a large number that should be a non-breaking space, every Mrs. that should be a Mrs, every heading with initial capital letters that should be in sentence case, and so on, using a program such as PerfectIt enables you to make all of those hundreds (perhaps even thousands) of changes more quickly.

That’s something that can’t be argued with – it’s a fact that PerfectIt works faster than my hand, so why would I not reduce the likelihood of eyestrain and RSI by getting it to do the donkey work?

The faster I work to bring high-quality consistency to my clients’ files, the sooner I can get down to the business of actually reading the text word by word and line by line, for sense and context.

​The more efficient I am, the better my hourly rate. Increased efficiency means I can accept more projects from more clients because I have more time.

I want my business to be profitable. I want my clients to be thrilled with the quality of my work, so much so that they retain my services. PerfectIt is one tool that enables those two ‘wants’ to sit at the same table with ease. 

Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.

Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you're an author, take a look at Louise’s Writing Library and access her latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly.
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Link of the week: The middle years – questions and answers

30/6/2016

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In 2013, Kate Haigh (Kateproof) hosted a Q&A with several editorial freelancing colleagues (including me) to find out how things were going, what their goals were and how they envisaged their futures. Now, in 2016, she's revisited those same colleagues to see what's changed and what's stayed the same: The middle years – questions and answers.

You can read the individual freelancers' responses to Kate's questions, but she's also provided a really useful overview of the middle years of editorial business ownership, based on her own thoughts and the insights provided by her colleagues.

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.

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The Ethics of Ballpark Quoting — A Rebuttal

20/6/2016

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In ‘On Ethics: The Ethics of Ballpark Quoting’ (An American Editor, June 2016), Rich Adin posed the following questions:
  1. Is it ethical for copyeditors to ever do ballpark pricing as a way to induce clients to hire them?
  2. Does the editor have an ethical obligation to not give ballpark quotes, because they can mislead a client about the real cost?
  3. If the editor gives a ballpark quote, is there an ethical limit to how much the final bill can exceed the ballpark price?
He concluded that the ballpark pricing mechanism is unethical.

Rich asked me whether I’d like to write a rebuttal, given that we disagree on the matter, and I accepted.

You can read my response in full here: ‘On Ethics: The Ethics of Ballpark Quoting – A Rebuttal’.

Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and the curator of The Proofreader's Parlour. She is also the author of Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers, Marketing Your Editing & Proofreading Business, and Omnibus: Editorial Business Planning & Marketing Plus.

Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, follow her on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

Blog home page ● Money matters ● More business tips ● Editorial tools


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Banishing the marketing heebie-jeebies – conference session preview

16/6/2016

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If you're a new starter attending this year's SfEP conference in Aston, hop over to the SfEP blog for a short preview of my contribution to one of the speed sessions on offer: ​Building your editorial career from the ground up.

I'll be handling marketing, and my co-presenters Liz Jones and Sue Littleford will be discussing pricing and finance. Together, we aim to help you build, manage and grow your business with confidence and enthusiasm.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and the curator of The Proofreader's Parlour. She is also the author of Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers, Marketing Your Editing & Proofreading Business, and Omnibus: Editorial Business Planning & Marketing Plus.

​Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, follow her on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

Blog home page ● More on marketing ● Starting out


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Link of the week: On ballpark pricing for copyeditors

10/6/2016

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If you enjoyed my recent posts on ballpark pricing, I'd recommend you head over to the An American Editor blog and read Rich Adin's ​'The Business of Editing: Ballpark Quoting for Copyediting'.

Rich's analysis was inspired by his concern that the copyeditor doesn't have enough information about what's required such that an accurate ballpark quote can be provided.

Are you a copyeditor? Do you offer ballpark pricing? If so, how to you get round the issues that Rich addresses in his article?

If you'd like a refresher on what I wrote, you can read my articles here:
  • 'Quoting for the customer – ballpark prices and the editorial freelancer: Part 1'
  • 'Quoting for the customer – ballpark prices and the editorial freelancer: Part 2'

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

Blog home page ● Money matters ● More business tips ● More on marketing


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Quoting for the customer – ballpark prices and the editorial freelancer: Part 2

1/6/2016

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Ballpark pricing for editors and proofreaders
In Part 1, I looked at why I, and some of my freelancing colleagues, have embraced ballpark pricing. There are, however, some valid concerns about the ballpark quotation that need to be considered before rushing into offering such a service.

Here in Part 2, I take a look at some of these and share how I tackled these for my own business. 
I do so, however, while respecting the fact that not all of my colleagues have editorial workflows that look like mine. Caution is therefore urged when necessary.

Taking account of project variances …
Wrong focus – money over value …The argument goes that this type of quote focuses on the money rather than the value that editorial professionals bring to the table. When we offer ballpark quotes, it’s just a figure.

Says Celine Roque: ‘It’s incomplete. Your quote is just a number. Your clients can’t surmise all the information they need from that number. Apart from the primary services you provide, you should also give them your advice. Oftentimes, what a client really needs is different from what they think they need. In this case, an assessment of a client’s business and project, followed by a proposal, is the better approach’ (‘Why You Shouldn't Just Give a Quote to Potential Clients’, Gigaom, 2008).

Regarding Roque’s concerns, giving advice takes time (see Part 1). Furthermore, what a customer needs is not always the same thing as what a customer wants. Giving advice to someone who actually just wants a price isn’t good customer service (even if you know that your advice, value, etc. would, in reality, be in their best interests). It’s just aggravating. Personally, I prefer to give my advice later, once I’ve provided what the client asked for – the price.

However, see the section below headed ‘The gap between the ballpark and the actual price – the problem of accuracy’. Adin’s comments are insightful because they remind us that what works for me might not be appropriate for you. If, like him, the kinds of clients you specialize in working for have such complex requirements that a detailed response is the only option, then offering ballpark fees might not be as easy for you to implement as it is for me.

Missing the opportunity to add value …
In ‘Sales 101: Don’t Get to Price Too Early, Even If You’re Asked to “Ballpark”’ (Sexton Group Ltd, 2015), Steve Payne discusses ‘the number one rule of quoting prices’: ‘Don’t quote a price – any price – before you have sold the client on your ability to do the job. If you haven’t convinced the client that it’s you they want to work with, before you quote a price, it’s like you are swinging at a baseball too early. In the case above, you made no effort to tell the client, through testimonials, through photographs, through stories, about your firm. How it operates. What makes it different. How delighted past customers have been with your work. How you have many repeat clients who will never work with another contractor as long as you are in business.’

In other words, you’re potentially shutting the door to negotiation, especially if your price is perceived as too high.

To ameliorate this, consider other ways to emphasize your value at the point where customers are likely to contact you.

I decided to add a list of testimonials to my ‘Get a Quote’ page. You might try this, or make a splash about a particular tool or resource that you offer potential clients.

Furthermore, there’s nothing to stop you responding to ballpark-price requests with not only the estimated fee but also brief information about your relevant unique selling points – imagine you offer a ballpark price to a self-publishing author and that you’ve proofread for many other such clients. You could respond to the ballpark-pricing query with something along the lines of: ‘Thanks so much for getting in touch – a ballpark price for X,000 words is £Y. I’d really appreciate the opportunity to evaluate a sample of your novel and have a more in-depth discussion about how I can help you. I have extensive experience of working with independent writers in your genre – you can see what some of them have said about my work here [link to testimonials page on website]. I do hope we can continue the conversation.’

Payne’s point about using value to make you a more hireable prospect is a good one, but I still believe that when a potential client asks for a price, we need to listen to that request and act on it. No one wants to hire a proofreader who can’t follow a brief. If I can’t listen to a client’s request at the very first point of contact, how can I expect them to trust me to listen further down the line?

The gap between the ballpark and the actual price – the problem of accuracy
Rich Adin (personal correspondence) pointed out that accuracy can be a huge problem for some editorial freelancers when it comes to ballpark pricing. One simply cannot offer anything like a realistic price without seeing at least a sample of the work. For those editors who offer complex services to clients, this is a valid criticism of the ballpark mechanism.

The kinds of projects that Adin is often asked to quote for are very different from my own. I don’t copyedit ‘2,800-page biology text[s] with thousands of references’ and I don’t have the added complication of negotiating based on ‘whether the required level of editing is “light,” “medium,” or “heavy,” the subject matter, and the number of references and reference style’ (‘The Business of Editing: The Standard Editing Workday & Workweek’, An American Editor, 2016).

A client asking for a ballpark figure for editing one of Adin’s ‘13,000-page medical manuscript[s]’ might fail to mention that they need the project completed in an eye-watering ten weeks, or that all 5,000 references are in a mish-mash of citation styles. For that reason, Adin doesn’t offer ballpark quotations because, without knowing the detail of what’s involved, it’s impossible to build a price, or justify it, in ways that make sense to, and can be respected by, the client.

Says Adin: ‘Even if after a detailed explanation I do not get the current project, I do not consider having given the detailed explanation a waste of time because the client can see that I have reasons for my positions and am willing to offer solutions. Clients are also made aware that there needs to be a balance between schedule, fee, and quality. Based on past experience, I will be asked to undertake a future project, perhaps even one where the client has already preapplied my analysis’ (‘The Business of Editing: The Standard Editing Workday & Workweek’).

In my rather less complicated proofreading business, these problems aren’t evident. I’ve tracked my data, and my workflows are relatively straightforward, so I have a pretty good idea of how much time it takes to provide a thorough proofread for a client. I’ve not been stung yet by offering this service. But the maximum number of words I’ve ever worked on was 250,000. And that project had been edited before it came anywhere near my desk.

Would I be able to bring accuracy to the table if I was offering more varied and complex levels of editing? Would I falter if I offered indexing or translation services? I honestly don't know because I don't do those things. My response is therefore to ask you to consider whether there are parts of the editorial service you provide, or particular client types with whom you work, 'where fewer complexities are involved, making them more appropriate for testing ballpark pricing.

Testing ...
You may be enthusiastic or concerned about offering ballpark quotes. You may have fifty colleagues who offer ballpark quotes, seventy who steadfastly refuse to, and twenty more who are thinking about the issue. All of that will be interesting and help to guide your thinking. Ultimately, though, what’s good for you will not necessarily be good for me or any of those 140 colleagues who have already made their own decisions or who are in the process of making those decisions. The only way to know whether ballpark pricing is good for your business is to test it.

You could set up a trial and design the service in a way that, to the best extent possible, you ameliorate some of the concerns you have. Then you would track the results and see how the experience works out for you. You’re in control so you can end the test whenever you wish. Or you could tweak the way in which you present the service. Or you could amend the maths behind the construction of the ballpark quote so that the figures you’re presenting change. It’s up to you.

Other colleagues will have opinions, and those will be useful – not in regard to whether you should or shouldn’t offer ballpark quotes, but in regard to the issues you consider and the challenges you ready yourself for should you decide to undertake the test itself.

Summing up
Think about the types of work you are asked to quote for. Are they complex projects that require an in-depth evaluation in order to even begin working out a price? Or are you generally asked to work on projects whose parameters are more clear-cut? Ballpark pricing may be more applicable to some types of editorial work than others.

Are there questions that you can ask your client to answer as part of the estimation process that would help you to build a ballpark-quotation tool? For example, level of edit required (including links to descriptions), type of work (academic, novel, thesis, webpages etc.), number of words, figures, tables, references.

Are you tracking your data so that you know how long it takes you to carry out a particular level of editorial intervention? It may be that you are a new entrant to the field and so can’t confidently estimate how much time a project will take you. If that’s you, start tracking your data now so that, further down the road, you can use it to help you decide whether ballpark pricing is appropriate for your business (or parts of it) and how you might use this tool to increase customer engagement.
​
If you are curious but nervous, consider testing the use of ballpark quoting with a particular client group or specific type of editorial service.
For some of you, the ballpark price may not be appropriate – ever. For others, it might be a useful tool for some types of editorial work (for example, proofreading for students, businesses or independent authors). For yet others, it may be a mechanism that you can implement universally.


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.

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