I would like to work as an editor

Kalyke

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Hi, I have a BA In Professional Writing, an M.Ed in Education, and am getting an MA in English. I had about a year's worth of editing experience working for defense contractors back when I got my BA. I also have worked on some HTML documents and other basic computer website design. Although I have not done any professional editing for a long time, I would like to start an editorial service, and eventually find work as an editor whether it is part-time or full time.

If possible, I would like any insights into how to move forward in my job search. Should I just put my shingle out, and offer this service? Should I get more experience? Should I look for an internship?

I live in a small town where there is no work. My plan is to move to a much larger town, but it will not be New York or Los Angeles.

Thank you in advance for any ideas you pass on to me.

K.
 
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Which area of editing? Do you want to move into editing fiction? It's vastly different from other forms. I have a BA hons in linguistics, but it's my internship with a publishing company that gave me the raw experience I needed to content edit fiction. I worked (and still mostly work) with a publisher, and have only recently (five years in) moved into having my own editing business. But that's all taken time. I'd definitely recommend an internship, and tie it into specific qualifications in what you're doing: starting with proofing and working your way up through the courses if you've not done fiction editing before. It's not just that, though, if you get qualifications with the likes of SfEP (Society for Editors and Proofreaders), it opens so many doors for you too.

Or are you thinking of academic editing etc?
 

Kalyke

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Which area of editing? Do you want to move into editing fiction? It's vastly different from other forms. I have a BA hons in linguistics, but it's my internship with a publishing company that gave me the raw experience I needed to content edit fiction. I worked (and still mostly work) with a publisher, and have only recently (five years in) moved into having my own editing business. But that's all taken time. I'd definitely recommend an internship, and tie it into specific qualifications in what you're doing: starting with proofing and working your way up through the courses if you've not done fiction editing before. It's not just that, though, if you get qualifications with the likes of SfEP (Society for Editors and Proofreaders), it opens so many doors for you too.

Or are you thinking of academic editing etc?

Thanks for your response,

I am open to all kinds of writing. I was a pretty good fiction writer in the past, and would try that. For some reason, I feel there are many more technical writing jobs out there. I will look into a student membership with the SfEP this year.

As far as acedemic editing, I am also planning to work part time English instructor at the community college (and online) level.
 

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Nothing in the credentials you list suggest to me that you've got the experience required to edit creative works.

As you don't specify which area of editing you'd like to work in (structural editing? copy editing? proofing?) or which genre you plan to specialise in (fiction? non-fiction? romance? SF? contemporary?) I'm concerned that you don't realise the scope or intricacy of the work.

I am open to all kinds of writing. I was a pretty good fiction writer in the past, and would try that. For some reason, I feel there are many more technical writing jobs out there.

If you've had a lot of fiction published, and the editors who worked with you commented on how clean your work was, then that might well suggest you're qualified to edit the work of others.

If you've not published much, then I am not sure how you'd be qualified to edit the work of others.

I will look into a student membership with the SfEP this year.

Don't join the SfEP and think you're done. Take their courses. Take a lot of their courses. Meanwhile, spend a lot of time giving free crits to writers in our SYW, and on other sites where writers ask for feedback. Once you've done that you'll have the basics down for starting work as an editor.

As far as acedemic editing, I am also planning to work part time English instructor at the community college (and online) level.

Remember that teaching English does not qualify you to edit anyone's work.

I'm sorry to be so negative. It's just that I've seen so many people set themselves up as editors when they have no idea of what the work really involves, and when they're clearly not qualified to do the work. And I've seen writers who have had their books completely mangled by the editors concerned.

Editing is not something you can do without training, talent and time. Not if you want to do it well, at least.
 

WeaselFire

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Don't join the SfEP and think you're done. Take their courses. Take a lot of their courses.

Absolutely! Take the opportunity to get everything you can, while you can.

I know two sets of good professional editors, those who fell into their jobs and those who interned and were offered positions, then worked their way up. You can't plan to fall into an editing job, the Gods have to pass fortune on you and the stars have to align. These people worked hard at somewhat parallel lines to editing, writers, teachers and so on and their talents were honed in those environments. They moved into editing positions that opened as a matter of chance and others who knew their talents brought them in. I don't know any of these editors under the age of forty, maybe even fifty.

Internships during and after college have generated the younger editors. Many went into editorial work in periodicals or electronic media, some into fiction houses, and not all necessarily ended up at the place they interned. They also didn't start overnight, interning, getting hired to do the grunt work, fetching coffee for years and eventually getting into the editing side as a full-time task. Every editor I know in their 20's and 30's started this way.

A job as an editor is available if you make it your goal and make the sacrifices needed to work toward that goal. Pretty much like any other occupation. :)

Jeff
 

Kalyke

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What I gather from these contradictory answers is that editing, like writing is a field which cannot be planned for, or relied upon for future work or income. In that case, what would be the use of being more specific? Make sacrifices for any other occupation, Jeff? Most jobs do not require much "sacrifice." You just apply for them. You are right, I probably should not be working toward the occupation of editor. I'll just finish my MFA and leave it at that.
 

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I don't think people are suggesting that you should give up the idea of being an editor - just to point out that it's a bit different in reality from what people often think it's going to be like (there's a clumsy sentence if ever there was one!).

My perspective is a bit different, perhaps. I trained with the SfEP, too. I third the suggestion to do lots of their courses! That's exactly what I did. You might also consider the PTC ones - they're well-regarded and count towards SfEP membership upgrades.

I'm not a writer, nor do I pretend to be one. You obviously need an excellent command of English to be an editor, but I don't agree that you need to be a brilliant creative writer or a published author. (Maybe I could write an amazing novel if I set my mind to it; maybe not; maybe I'll never find out!)

I came at it from a similar place to you except with a far less 'Englishy' background (degree in Fine Art and experience working in admin for non-profits). The only things I had going for me were (a) a good eye for detail, and (b) a love of, and something of a talent for, reading and writing. I hasten to add that although both of those points had been noticed by other people, I'd never done anything about them other than casually thinking in passing, 'Oh, I'm pretty decent at writing' or 'I have a good eye for detail' - I hadn't worked on those skills at all, or attempted to prove myself, or entered any writing competitions, or ... you get the picture. I'd basically checked web copy and dull-as-ditchwater reports for typos.

Fast forward to a few years ago when I was sick of my horrible boss and in a relationship with an entrepreneurial type who thought nothing of setting up his own businesses doing this and that. Would I have the skills to be a proofreader? Hmmm, sounded like something I could turn my hand to. I investigated and found the SfEP.

Taking the SfEP courses really highlighted to me exactly how much I didn't know. Oooooooooh boy, was there a lot I didn't know! It probably took all of a couple of hours for me to realise that 'proofreading' isn't at all what I (and probably 99% of the population) thought it was. Oh. Em. Gee.

Since then I've taken a bunch of their courses and found my niche as a copy-editor. I've worked on both fiction and non-fiction. I've had private clients - individuals and businesses - and worked (as a freelancer) for major publishers. Along the way I've had some lovely feedback from authors and I'm pretty confident in my abilities within certain areas (genres and topics). This was starting from a position of total ignorance, and I have never had any of my own work published.

You need to decide on your specialist areas and pitch in those fields. If you've worked for defence contractors, you've probably got some specific knowledge right there that would be handy for certain types of clients. Knowledge of terminology and industry norms will be a definite advantage. I mean, someone like me, hot as I might be on soft power or Chinese martial arts fiction ;-), would be a poor choice of editor for that kind of work!

It's more difficult to get experience editing fiction, because it's not so likely to be something that ties in with your previous jobs, but if you can pick a couple of genres you like to read and specialise in those, you can target your training and your marketing accordingly. Think about what your USP could be. (For instance, I try to make it clear that I'm happy to edit erotica, pornography, and violence, because many editors don't state that overtly. I'm sure most authors aren't too shy to ask, but it could make the difference that means I get first bite of the cherry.)

You can absolutely plan to become an editor, and you can get into a position where you get enough work to rely on it as your income. Many members of the SfEP do exactly that. I strongly recommend that you join, and take part in the forums there. Sacrifices are required, in a way that they aren't when you just drift into a job, but that's always the way if you decide you want a change of career, especially when going self-employed. You will need to work hard to do your training, to continue your CPD, to promote yourself/your services, and on all manner of things. There is no coasting when you're self-employed, that's for sure. But if you enjoy what you do, it will be worth it!

You obviously do not realise the scope or intricacy of the work - but very few people do until they get started with training or trying to do the work! Don't let that put you off. Find out more, and if you decide it's not for you after all, so be it.

An internship could be a good way to get experience but will probably be very hard to come by. If you take part in some SfEP discussions you will soon notice that they take a dim view of anyone - even the inexperienced, just starting out - undercutting the suggested minimum rates. There is a bit of leeway for newbies, and everyone understands that you might want to do some work free of charge or for a much-reduced rate at first to take your inexperience into account, but this is not expected to be a long-term thing. I think most people there would tell you: get your training first, before you even think about advertising yourself as an editor. Once you have some training under your belt, you will have a fair whack of professional knowledge and should charge accordingly. Essentially ... make sure you can edit to a good standard before you let yourself loose on someone's work. Yes, you'll be inexperienced at first, but the point is that you should be competent to do the job well enough, and as a result you should have confidence in your abilities as well as a willingness to learn and to gain experience.
 

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What I gather from these contradictory answers is that editing, like writing is a field which cannot be planned for, or relied upon for future work or income. In that case, what would be the use of being more specific? Make sacrifices for any other occupation, Jeff? Most jobs do not require much "sacrifice." You just apply for them. You are right, I probably should not be working toward the occupation of editor. I'll just finish my MFA and leave it at that.

You can plan, but plans often go awry.

You can just apply for most jobs but if you don't have the experience, talent, and qualifications required you won't get them. You need to put some real effort into getting a good job, and I think that's the sort of sacrifice Weasel was referring to.

There's a lot of freelance editing work available, because there are so many writers self-publishing their works now. However, it's often not very lucrative, and it's very time-consuming to do well. In addition, good training is relatively expensive and you need a lot of it, so if you wanted to take this route without working for a good trade publisher you'd have to invest a significant amount of your own money into the training required.

Note that if you take this route you'll be up against a lot of editors who have already trained, who have experience with editing for good publishers, and who have great reputations in their field. It's very hard to establish yourself, even if you're experienced and talented and have some track record. You're choosing a hard road, but that doesn't mean it's impossible.