Writing/(copy)editing/proofreading jobs

You could apply for internships where editing might be part of the work you'll be asked to do. Note that most internships are unpaid.

If it's for fiction, you could look on any publishing website and see what internship positions are available. Starting with basic proofreading can help, and there's usually a test you have to take with them to see if you're capable. Not everyone is.

But when you're first starting out, mostly it's just legwork and going around outlets that you want to specialize in.

It's very competitive, at least in the States, to intern in the publishing world. It's certainly possible, but be prepared to hit the ground hard, and be an impressive candidate. For some jobs you can intern at any level, but for most houses and periodical concerns, you need to be able to get credit.

satyesu said:

All righty. Thanks, you two.
edit: reading your sig, Cornflake, what if I freelanced pro bono for unpublished authors?

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Please do NOT do that. You don't have the experience to offer editing services to people. Saying you'd do it for free doesn't help the situation, or help you gain experience.

That's like saying 'well, I've never been to med school, but what if I offered to try operating on the neighbours for free to get some experience? I wouldn't charge them anything.'

Seconding Cornflake's advice here.

I've seen perfectly good books ruined by editors who didn't know what they were doing. If you want to be any good as an editor you need to be trained and mentored very closely. It's not something you can just step into. At least, not if you want to do the job well and be at all ethical about it.

Depending on your location and interest, there's usually a demand for technical writers/editors, esp. for IT companies. Everyone wants to be the developer/coder, but no one wants to write those user manuals, requirements documents, change manuals, server security manuals, etc.. I tend to describe it as translating Engineerese into English.

Ever wonder why so many users manuals are incomprehensible? Probably because they grab two developers who're not doing anything at the moment and make them write it.

I've worked as a Tech Writer/Editor for 14 of the 19 years I've been with my company. I tend to gravitate to new projects every few years to keep things fresh, but every so often, our client drops me to bring on another developer. When that happens, I usually get a frantic call a month or so later asking if I'll come back to the contract, but by then, I'm already on my new job. I've come to the conclusion no one appreciates a tech writer until you don't have one.