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Writing and Editing Skills: How do you hyphenate your career?

How can someone effectively combine writing and editing skills? By establishing what I call a “hyphenated career,” precisely that of a Writer-Editor!

class image for book doctoring and ghostwriting.

Combine Writing and Editing Skills – Become a Writer-Editor

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.

If you’re considering extending your editing (or your writing) career in a new direction, you might enjoy exploring book doctoring and ghostwriting, and I have just the class for that starting October 7: Editorial Toolkit: Book Doctoring and Ghostwriting!


Tips for Editors & Writers

  • Solving a Common Coaching Problem

    In my inbox: “I’ve coached a first time writer from outline to first draft completion. Along the way, I explained concepts like show vs. tell and point of view. Last month, I helped him to draft questions to solicit objective feedback about his story and recommended some beta readers. Now he has lots of feedback…

    Read more…

  • Tell your clients what coaching is

    Define your coaching services When I first began offering coaching to writer clients, I had copy on my website that said something like, “I offer coaching services for all aspects of writing and publishing.” If a potential client got in touch to ask me what coaching was, I would say something like, “Anything that is…

    Read more…

  • Editing for a Satisfying Story Resolution

    I’m not talking about those resolutions we all make on January 1. I mean the way a story ends: how the plot comes together, and the character arcs are ended. Authors often struggle to end their stories in a way that readers will find satisfying. As a developmental editor, you can help. What is a…

    Read more…

Join the Club!

how to become an editor

New to story editing? Begin at the beginning.

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