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
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Focusing on What You Can Control
Every now and then a topic comes up that gets a fair amount of discussion in freelance editor groups. One of these is the question of authors thanking their editors in the acknowledgments section of their book. And there are a lot of editors out there trying to convince indie authors that they have to
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How Risky Is Freelancing?
In the interest of full disclosure, I have to point out that I’m the kind of person who has an optimistic view of the nature of risk, which is why I’m not a financial advisor and you wouldn’t want me to be. But I also think we are too certain that some actions are “safe”
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How to Get Experience in Order to Freelance Edit for Publishers
I’ll get to the sad truth right away: to be considered for freelance editing work for traditional publishing companies and related organizations (hybrid publishers, book packagers), you need to have experience. And so the age-old conundrum rears its head: how do you get experience if you need experience to get experience? Three things can help
