The Concierge (Blog)

Once upon a time, I was a magazine editor, and every year the January issue would include some form of “New Year, New You!” article. I probably used that exact title more than once. People often use the beginning of something to start a new habit, such as learning a new skill. The start of…

I’m a daily reader of the ChumpLady website, which is a great resource for people who are dealing with cheaters in their romantic relationships. I read it not because I’ve ever lived with or left a cheater but because it offers incredible insight into narcs and other personality disordered types, which I have had to…

Once upon a time, I would write and publish a blog post and then I would write and publish another blog post, and then another and so on until I had a lot of blog posts. It was a great deal of work, and not always rewarded. Some posts got attention, some didn’t, but in…

A colleague recently mentioned an encounter with a proofreader who’d been hired to proofread a laid-out book (that is, in PDF form). The proofreader asked for the Word file to work from. That’s not how proofreading a laid-out book works. A friend had a client who wanted a developmental editor who could edit in Scribner….

In April, I made $4500 in one day. Ten years ago or so, I made $30,000 in one month. Wouldn’t it be nice if that meant I earned $1.6 million a year? Or even just $360,000 a year? When people throw earnings around to impress you with how much you can make if only you…

I’m reading a fairly popular thriller author’s newest novel, and I’m finding it a slog because while the story holds up, she really needed a line editor to pare back her worst habits. Here’s an example (I’m inventing this but it conveys the general problem): Janet clutched the steering wheel. The rain was pouring down!…

If you’re a copy editor who knows how to copyedit dialogue, a line like this: “I would never let you go.” She said. . . . probably causes you physical pain. So you’d fix it. But as a copy editor, you typically don’t make a lot of content changes, especially in fiction. If you’re tired…

A while back, I wrote a post on LinkedIn about income freelance editors could expect to make, and a bunch of editors responded, and one lone writer asked me to look at his book because he was sure I would love it. I haven’t been in book acquisitions for ten years, and even if I…

Are you thinking about exploring a new career in the new year? If you love books, you might think about editing as a career. But it can be difficult to find out if it’s right for you. What skills and aptitudes do you need? What’s the difference between copyediting and developmental editing? How to Become…