Using partnerships to expand your reach is a successful way to grow your freelance editing business with a high ROI. My Best Ideas for Using Partnerships to Expand Your Reach One way to broaden your marketing reach is to work with other freelancers to mutually market your work. In other words, you can create a…
As we learn the craft, we go through stages of learning how to edit—I’ve decided there are four stages. When you’re first learning how to edit, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the learning curve and to wonder when it would be realistic to start charging for your services. The answer is at Stage #3….
Both editors and authors need to learn query letter basics to help with the best possible chance of book publication. Query Letter Basics For Editors & Authors If your author-client is interested in trying to have their novel published by a traditional publisher, you may be asked to look at the author’s query letter (also…
Here are my top tips for an effective manuscript assessment without having to read the entire manuscript to provide a quote. Use these questions to help you assess a manuscript in order to provide an editing quote—without having to read the entire manuscript first. In general, a developmental editor may be able to edit five-to-ten…
Here’s a rundown of basic editorial terms and their meanings to help you understand editing terminology. When I talk about the author’s work of addressing areas of concern, I call it revision to distinguish it from what an editor does, which is editing. Most people writing and speaking on the subject don’t distinguish between the two but since…
How to end a story is an important skill for writers to master. Tips for How to End a Story When authors fail to create successful story resolutions, it’s often because of one of three reasons. Resolution doesn’t reflect story goal The first is a resolution that does not reflect the protagonist’s efforts to reach…
There are several different types of editing, and it’s very common for authors to be confused about what type of editing their manuscript needs. They’ll ask you to “edit” their ms. You think they mean development but they mean copyediting and they’re disappointed in your work. Or they’ll say they need someone to fix the…
A question I’m often asked by writers is if moving from nonfiction to fiction is even possible. As a story development editor, I have had a number of coaching clients over the years and almost all of them have been established nonfiction writers who are honing their fiction-writing skills. So, you can imagine their most…
As editors, we need to understand the connection between character and plot and how to support authors in developing this relationship effectively. How to Build the Connection Between Character and Plot A common problem you’ll come across when editing fiction is a situation where characters are shoved around like chess pieces. Margie the protagonist winds…
One of the challenges writers often face without realizing they’re facing it is the challenge of trying to write a story without understanding your framework for writers to evaluate the success of that story. By this I mean, how do you know if you’re on the right track? How do you know if your work…