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!

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…
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…
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…
Join the Club!
New to story editing? Begin at the beginning.