The Importance of Client Testimonials and References

Anyone can say, “Hire me, I’m great!” But not everyone has the kind of testimonials and references that can help prove it.

As a freelance editor, you may think, “Hey, I’m not asking for a staff job, why do I need references?” The answer is that you need to provide context for people to make a hiring decision. This is especially true when you’re trying to get work from publishers. Publishers (and the people who work for them) are all, at heart, sure that this entire industry is going to collapse at any time, and probably in the next fifteen minutes. This makes them wary of taking risks. You have to make them believe that farming freelance work out to you is not a risk but in fact a very smart thing to do.

So, it goes without saying that it should be a very smart thing to do. If you don’t have the skills yet, then postpone working for publishers until you do have them. If you don’t have the flexibility to deal with schedule fluctuations, this is not the market for you. If you don’t like editing under time pressure, then working with publishers will be a nightmare for you, not a dream come true.

There is nothing wrong with any of this! It is perfectly fine to be inexperienced or to want to have more control over your schedule or to prefer longer periods to reflect on your edits. It’s just that you need to be aware that this can create a mismatch.

That said, there’s nothing wrong with testing the waters and seeing how it goes. If you don’t like it, you can always say no to the next project.

Getting Testimonials

So, if hiring you would be a smart thing to do, then you just have to take some steps to create that context. Ask former clients for testimonials. These are just small blurbs that say, “Jane did a great job!” You can quote them in your letters of introduction, add them to your LinkedIn profile, and put them on your website.

The more specific the testimonial is, the better (“Jane helped me find and develop the central conflict in my story after I spent two frustrating years trying to figure it out myself” is better than “Jane did a great job!”) These testimonials can come from indie clients or anyone whose ms you’ve worked on. They don’t have to be from publishers—although if you have any of those, include them. Or if you have an indie author who went on to be published, point that out in the attribution.

Testimonials also help indie authors trust that you will do the work they want to hire you to do. This kind of social proof is important in an online world where people don’t really know each other, and don’t always know who to trust.

Asking Someone to Be a Reference

In addition to testimonials, ask two or three former clients or colleagues if you can use them as references. This is someone who will be willing to answer a phone call or respond to an email asking for more information about their experience with you.

The more professional these references are, the better. In other words, a reference who paid you to edit her novel trumps your college roommate for whom you did a critique as a favor.

Ideally, the references will be able to speak to your editorial skill, but in a pinch, someone who can say that you’re a good team player and know how to take direction will also work.

I’ve only had publishers call references once or twice but they’ve often asked if I have them.

Again, the idea isn’t that a publisher (or an indie author) is going to hire you based on a testimonial or a reference. The idea is that it creates a reassuring context for you: you do your job well, you meet deadlines, you’re the kind of person who isn’t a risk.