Time-saving marketing tip for freelance editors
If you’re a freelance editor trying to drum up business, then stay tuned for a big time-saving marketing tip.
One of the challenges when you’re starting out as a freelance editor is that there is SO MUCH you could be doing to market your services.
There’s Facebook and Instagram and TikTok and YouTube (not to mention LinkedIn!). Then Threads or Bluesky or maybe Mastodon (or maybe all three).
Also, press releases, conferences, talks at conferences, webinars (paid and unpaid), blogging, guest blogging, podcasting, and that’s just what I can think of in the first ten seconds.
I have seen a lot of people never get any traction because they are trying to fill too many bottomless pits. So they spend fifteen minutes once a week on each social media outlet, an hour writing a blog post, half an hour writing a note to a conference organizer, an hour designing a logo for their podcast. In the end it feels like they’re doing a lot of marketing work but it doesn’t amount to anything.
The best time-saving marketing tip
Pick one or two social media outlets where your clients are likely to hang out and focus on those.
If you’re going to use content marketing to establish your expertise, then write good, meaty posts that will get shared and will establish your credentials. Don’t just write what everyone else is writing; find and share your unique spin.
If you’re going to give talks, get really good at giving talks and at pitching them. You get the idea: not everything, just a few things, but give them a meaningful chunk of your attention.
Successful marketing requires persistence, let me emphasize that. But flitting from one thing to the next is worse than doing nothing because it wastes your energy. At least doing nothing gives you a chance to rest up.
Other Helpful Content
Introducing: Editing Horror
I’ve edited a fair amount of fiction over the years, but I’ve never edited horror. I’m not a horror reader and I don’t understand the genre. But ever since I started teaching at Club Ed, I’ve wanted to add a horror class because I know it’s a hugely popular genre and it feels like a…
More Powerful than AI
AI is going to kill routine jobs. But it won’t kill jobs that require expertise and human judgment. That’s why it’s important for editors to move beyond basic skills like proofreading. It’s not enough to say, “But homophones!” Most people will accept a small error rate if it means they can save three thousand dollars….
Book Editing Tip: Less Is More
My best book editing tip is just three words: Less is more. The deliverables for a developmental edit are (1) an edited manuscript and (2) a revision letter. It doesn’t get any more basic than that! A Simple Book Editing Tip – Less is More That’s it. Sometimes newer editors also add charts, spreadsheets, color…
Join the Club!
New to story editing? Begin at the beginning.