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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When You Don’t Have the “Right” Background
Many students at Club Ed have an English or journalism background, and it makes logical sense that editing is a potential career path for them. But I do have students with a variety of other backgrounds: some are (or were) lawyers, or psychology majors, or history majors. And they sometimes wonder if this is a
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What to Do When an Edit Turns Into Book Doctoring
As a developmental editor, you’ll occasionally (maybe even frequently) encounter clients who need more than what you can offer in a developmental edit. Sometimes they don’t have the skill to do the necessary revision or they simply don’t have the time to do the writing. Seize the Opportunities In these cases, rather than sending the
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What Does a Freelance Book Editor Do?
If you’re interested in being a book editor, you’d probably like to have a clear idea of what a book editor does! Freelance book editing covers several different types of editing, which are discussed below. What Are the Different Types of Editing? Since I’m a freelance book editor and I teach freelance book editing, I’m
