Stages of Learning How to Edit
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.
4 Stages of Learning How to Edit
- You don’t know what you don’t know. (Unconscious incompetence)
- You know you don’t know stuff. (Conscious incompetence)
- You know stuff. (Conscious competence)
- You do stuff. (Unconscious competence)
If you’re not sure what level you’re at, you’re at level 1.
Or, possibly, level 4.
Tips for Editors & Writers
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Time for a Secondary Niche?
Editors with some experience often come to me with concerns about sustaining their business. They’re usually in a particular niche, such as copyediting mystery fiction, and they’ve stalled in some way – they don’t have quite enough clients and they’re not making quite enough money. The Benefits – and Drawbacks – of Niches We know…
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Expand into Book Doctoring and Ghostwriting
If you’ve been a developmental editor for any length of time, you’ve likely encountered an author who just wants you to write the book for them. Or, you’ve encountered a manuscript that was in such disrepair that it required a herculean effort to fix it, dropping your hourly rate down to pocket change. As a…
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Writing Reader Reports
Publishing companies and literary agents often use readers to screen the manuscripts they receive to help them decide if a particular manuscript is worth further consideration. I’ve written a short, one-lesson self-paced class to show you the ins-and-outs of writing reader reports as a first reader or screener. The class covers: The class also includes…
