Tag: editing

“What have you done lately?”

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Freelancers are often asked that. Our family and friends know that our workflow is not steady (and neither is our income), and so they want to know what kind of work we have done recently.

I actually accomplished a few big things this past spring. More happy clients, more satisfaction on my part, more money. You can’t argue with that. So what exactly did I accomplish?

First and foremost, I completed a project for a new client who was recommended to me by a good friend. This friend knew well about my skill and excellence as a copyeditor. The new client owned a small business and had a website. He was an ESL (English as a Second Language) client, and so the English on his site needed some assistance. I not only fixed the grammar and capitalization on the site, but improved the wording and flow of the language. Once the changes were made on the website, it read much better. The client told me that on a scale of one to ten, my editing was an eleven. Editors don’t get that kind of compliment every day.

I also worked with my longtime client, my friend’s company, which had recently revamped the product description pages on its website. It turned out that on some of the pages, certain links were not displayed properly and were confusing to customers who needed to click on them. It was my job to find which pages had erroneous links and record them on a Word document. This meant that I had to go over some 1,700 product pages. Thankfully, I only had to spend roughly 30 to 60 seconds on each page. I did this for a reduced rate, since it didn’t directly involve editing.

Finally, I edited marketing emails for the same company, most of which did not need any changes. I always enjoy these at least somewhat, because they have gorgeous photos on them.

Here’s to more projects coming my way. What did you accomplish this spring?

Have you written a research manuscript you want to publish?

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Have a professional editor go over it.

Manuscripts that have been scrutinized by an outside professional editor have a better chance of being accepted for publication. Let’s look at why.

A research author will spend countless hours writing their manuscript, and this can make anyone’s brain numb. After a while, the author, having gone over the same words and paragraphs over and over again, might become oblivious to things like errors in spelling and grammar. A professional editor will examine the manuscript with a fresh pair of eyes and see issues that may have slipped past the author.

Editors are also very sensitive to accessibility in a manuscript. For example, a graph of data may have a beautiful palette of colors, but these colors may be difficult to discern for a reader who has color blindness. An editor can suggest to the author that using crosshatching and dark and light shading instead is the way to go.

Authors who are writing in English when they are not accustomed to it definitely need an editor. There are languages which do not use articles, for example. An editor can fill in the “a,” “an,” and “the” where they are omitted in English by an author whose native language does not use them. (This should preferably be done with the Word macro ArticleChanger, which was programmed by Paul Beverley and saves editors countless amounts of time.) Also, the sentence structure of several non-English languages differs significantly from that of English, so whole sentences often need to be rewritten to make them flow more smoothly in English.

Let us not forget the author’s references. A professional editor will always make sure that each reference on the reference list is cited in the text (whether in Harvard, Vancouver, AMA, or any other prescribed style). Without the help of an editor, it is possible that the author may miss citing one or more of the references—which is a big problem. An editor will also make sure that the reference list is in the format required by the target journal.

What other reasons why a researcher should employ a professional editor for their manuscripts can you think of?

Freebies? Sure…in moderation.

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How did I get my first editing experience? By volunteering.

I began by editing for the church my husband and I belong to. I had been doing some menial tasks there, such as cleaning, when the church staff discovered that I was extremely good at writing and copyediting. I don’t exactly recall how this happened, but I was soon put in charge of copyediting the church’s weekly programs—a task I really enjoyed. BibleGateway.com soon became my best friend.

Soon afterwards, I began copyediting larger documents for the church. I edited booklets describing the small groups available for each season, the staff handbook, the safety manual for child care workers, and other material. I loved doing all of them. The church eventually became my first client and remained so for years, until I resumed working for them pro bono due to their need to save money.

Around the same time that I began editing for the church, I approached our local chapter of Habitat for Humanity and asked about writing for them on a volunteer basis. I eventually began editing their website, going over it every month and compiling a list of changes to be sent to the webmaster. For several years I did this until my paid work began to take off and my time became more limited. Then I connected with another editor, who was looking for pro bono experience as I had been, and handed her the reins. (It was important to find someone else to replace me so that Habitat for Humanity would not be left high and dry.)

Currently, I am on the Board of Directors for our homeowners’ association. Last fall, the Board began making a periodic newsletter, which is sent to each homeowner in our condo community. Guess who writes it? A homeowner who sees how well the newsletter is written and edited is likely to refer me to a potential client they know. Win-win.

Have you done any volunteer editing? What was it like for you?

NOTE: Next Sunday is a holiday that holds deep spiritual significance for me and which I will be celebrating with my husband and family. I will be back on the blog in two weeks. Until then, please keep well.

Getting a hand up

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Have you ever obtained an advanced degree?

Specifically, a PhD or an MA/MS (although I know there are other kinds of advanced degrees)?

If you are a freelance editor trying to get more work, you have a possible avenue in your graduate school alma mater.

And if you wrote a thesis or dissertation, you are obviously an expert in your field.

Therefore, as long as you are an impeccable editor, you are qualified to edit research manuscripts (prior to publication) in the field that you studied.

It took me two years after hanging out my shingle as a freelance editor to realize this. At that time, the idea came to me that I was able to edit research papers in biochemistry, since I have an MS in that subject. So where was the most logical place to turn? My graduate school alma mater.

I began by contacting a number of professors I knew from my department, whom I knew would remember me. One of them responded and put me in touch with a faculty member who was in charge of an editor pool that the university was assembling. The faculty member interviewed me via Zoom, and an editing relationship was born.

To date, I have edited research manuscripts for faculty from the university on topics from biochemistry to medicine to neurobiology. I have been honored and privileged to work on these papers and to get to know different authors in the school. I have been given several accolades from them and from the faculty liaisons (there are now two) who decided to take me on as a freelancer.

Prior to my contacting my alma mater, I was randomly contacting biochemistry departments at different universities and selling myself as a thesis/dissertation editor. I did get to edit one very interesting biochemistry master’s thesis as a result, but that is the only success story for this endeavor. Most of my efforts were met with silence, and silence is the new “no.”

It feels good to hear “yes,” doesn’t it?

If you are an editor with an advanced degree, in what subject is your degree?

Friends in client places

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When some freelance editors launch a new business, their first clients are their friends because they need work and their friends know this. This was the case with me five years ago when I first hung out my shingle as an editor. My first client was the spouse of one of my friends, and the project went very well—in fact, this person has had me edit other things for them since.

Following this, the friend whose spouse employed my editing services began using me for editing a short time later. Years have passed, and I have done a lot of work as a contractor for the company for whom my friend works. It has been highly enjoyable and has paid me well, as has the scientific work I have done for clients whom I do not know personally.

Some editors would not dare have friends (or family) as clients. I have read discussion list posts in one of my professional editing organizations in which a poster literally says, “No friends!” when speaking of their client base. Although I respectfully disagree in principle, I can understand why an editor would have this policy.

Would you want to have one of your good friends as your boss? Although a freelancer’s boss is not the client (a freelancer is their own boss), they want to make the client happy, and will do whatever it takes to do so. If the friend/client is unsatisfied with the final product, this undoubtedly puts a strain on the friendship. If the friendship is strong, the subpar result can be forgotten, at least eventually. But if the friendship is not strong enough…you get the idea. Personally, I am choosy about which of my friends I would take on as clients. I must ask myself, “How would this person act if they were a traditional boss?” The friend I mentioned earlier in this post has been a wonderful “boss,” so to speak, but other friends I have, while being great people, I would not want as clients.

If you are a freelance editor, do you have any of your friends as clients?