Becoming a Writer-Editor
How can someone effectively combine writing and editing skills to make a good living? By establishing what I call a “hyphenated career”: becoming a writer-editor!
Combine Writing and Editing Skills
In my book The Business of Storytelling, I talk about how to create a writer-editor career, where you use what you learn as a writer to reinforce the editing side of your career and vice versa.
For those of us who enjoy taking on a variety of projects in our work, a hyphenated career can be a source of fulfillment and growth (both personal and career-related). I’ve always said I’m a better editor because I’m a writer, and I’m a better writer because I’m an editor.
The other day, a reader contacted me and said she was a different kind of hyphen: a bookseller-writer. I loved that! Her deep understanding of what readers enjoy reading makes her a better writer, and her understanding of writing and literature makes her a better bookseller.
A friend of mine is a great beta reader/big-picture editor because she’s also a visual artist (“Even painters info-dump,” she says.) I love the idea of there being all kinds of hyphenated careers possible for writers and editors.
In the end, it’s the interplay between your skills that can help you earn more money both as a writer and as an editor.
Tips for Editors & Writers
-
How Setting Can Reflect Character
Authors have a tendency to prefer focusing on character and/or plot at the expense of setting/world-building. (The exception is some SFF writers, who focus on setting and forget about plot and character.) So as editors we will often call that out and say something like, “Add a little description here. Otherwise it’s like Miles and
-
How to Identify Developmental Problems
Noticing a developmental problem (the pacing is slow, the character is inconsistently portrayed) is only the first step in the editing process. The next step is to explain why it’s a problem for this manuscript. This second step is one that most editors skip at first (and many editors skip forever) but it’s crucial for
-
What Do Book Editors Do?
So what do book editors do? If you’re new to editing, you may not be familiar with the various roles different types of editors play. What Do Book Editors Do? If you’re planning to work as a freelancer, it pays to understand who does what at a publishing company. This list is intended to help
