Starting in editing

If you want to be a full-time editor then find out about internships with good publishers.

If you want to work on a paper then find out about any training courses they offer and start applying for jobs at a junior level.

Be wary of any courses you find: many are of dubious quality and content, and will not help you.

Read Teresa Nielsen Hayden's essay "On Copyediting" which is included in her collection, "Making Book".

Fill out an application, and, if you can, go talk to whoever does the hiring.

Are you looking to get into freelance editing or editing for a publisher? Either way, feel free to e-mail me - I've done both!

You can also subscribe to Publisher's Lunch, as they list publishing jobs in the email newsletter. Might find some leads there.

I did some freelance editing for a few romance ebooks. Did not pay much at all, but it was a VERY amazing experience and gave me some good insight into the profession. I was just an assistant editor so I worked under a head editor.

Experience, experience, experience - that's what counts in this industry! Take any internship you can get - I worked for a literary agency and two publishers before getting my first paying job as an Editorial Assistant. Those first publishers were textbook publishers (not exactly my first choice), but from there I worked my way up to Editor positions and was then able to branch out and become a full-time freelance editor (my goal all along).

IMHO, internships at agencies are the best way to start, and there are so many to choose from.

It's a tough industry right now, and it can be awfully demoralizing to be in charge of the coffee runs at first, but if you work hard and make your mark, it's worth it.

Good luck!