The Freelance Editor's Handbook


Book Description

A comprehensive guide to building and maintaining a sustainable, profitable, and enjoyable business as a freelance editor. According to LinkedIn, more than twenty thousand people in the United States list themselves as freelance editors. But many who have the requisite skills to be excellent editors lack the entrepreneurial skills needed to run a thriving, fulfilling business. The few resources available to freelance editors, new and established, are typically limited in scope and lack the strategic thinking needed to make a business flourish. The Freelance Editor’s Handbook provides a complete guide to setting up and running a prosperous freelancing business, from finding clients to increasing productivity, from deciding how to price services to achieving work/life balance, and from paying taxes to saving for retirement. Unlike most other books on freelance editing, this book is founded on a business-success mindset: The goal isn’t simply to eke out a living through freelancing. Rather, the goal is to establish a thriving, rewarding business that allows editors to achieve their career goals, earn a comfortable living, and still have time for family, friends, and personal pursuits. Author Suzy Bills identifies multiple strategies and methods that freelancers can apply, drawing on current research in entrepreneurship, psychology, and well-being. This book is the ultimate resource for editors at all levels: students just starting out, in-house staff looking to transition, and experienced freelancers who want to make their businesses more profitable and enjoyable.




Starting Your Career as a Freelance Editor


Book Description

If you've ever considered editing as a career, this book will help you on your new path. You’ll learn about the requirements in various fields, how to get started, the step-by-step facets of setting up and conducting your editing services, working with writers and publishers, promoting yourself and your expertise, and determining what to charge. In addition to books there are articles, dissertations, brochures, reports, abstracts, editorials, reviews, ad copy, and much more. There is more to making a living as a freelance editor than correct English usage, sentence structure, and grammatical construction. Here, you’ll learn what you need to know to decide on a specialty and how to manage the business side of your career.




The Copyeditor's Handbook


Book Description

The Copyeditor's Handbook is a lively, practical manual for newcomers to publishing and for experienced editors who want to fine-tune their skills or broaden their understanding of the craft. Addressed to copyeditors in book publishing and corporate communications, this thoughtful handbook explains what copyeditors do, what they look for when they edit a manuscript, and how they develop the editorial judgment needed to make sound decisions. This revised edition reflects the most recent editions of The Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed.), the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.), and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.).




Handbook For Freelance Writing


Book Description

Tells you everything you need to know to build a thriving business as a freelance writer.




Developmental Editing


Book Description

The only guide dedicated solely to developmental editing, now revised and updated with new exercises and a chapter on fiction. Developmental editing—transforming a manuscript into a book that edifies, inspires, and sells—is a special skill, and Scott Norton is one of the best at it. With more than three decades of experience in the field, Norton offers his expert advice on how to approach the task of diagnosing and fixing structural problems with book manuscripts in consultation with authors and publishers. He illustrates these principles through a series of detailed case studies featuring before-and-after tables of contents, samples of edited text, and other materials to make an otherwise invisible process tangible. This revised edition for the first time includes exercises that allow readers to edit sample materials and compare their work with that of an experienced professional as well as a new chapter on the unique challenges of editing fiction. In addition, it features expanded coverage of freelance business arrangements, self-published authors, e-books, content marketing, and more. Whether you are an aspiring or experienced developmental editor or an author who works alongside one, you will benefit from Norton’s accessible, collaborative, and realistic approach and guidance. This handbook offers the concrete and essential tools it takes to help books to find their voice and their audience.




Writer's Digest Handbook of Making Money Freelance Writing


Book Description

More than 40 articles collected from the pages of Writers Digest Magazine answer your business and financial questions about freelance writing. It focuses on all varieties of writing.




The Science Writers' Handbook


Book Description

Popular science writing has exploded in the past decade, both in print and online. Who better to guide writers striving to succeed in the profession than a group of award-winning independent journalists with a combined total of 225 years of experience? From Thomas Hayden's chapter on the perfect pitch to Emma Maris's advice on book proposals to Mark Schrope's essential information on contracts, the members of SciLance give writers of all experience levels the practical information they need to succeed, as either a staffer or a freelancer. Going beyond craft, The Science Writer's Handbook also tackles issues such as creating productive office space, balancing work and family, and finding lasting career satisfaction. It is the ultimate guide for anyone looking to prosper as a science writer in the new era of publishing.




Writing Irresistible Kidlit


Book Description

Captivate the hearts and minds of young adult readers! Writing for young adult (YA) and middle grade (MG) audiences isn't just "kid's stuff" anymore--it's kidlit! The YA and MG book markets are healthier and more robust than ever, and that means the competition is fiercer, too. In Writing Irresistible Kidlit, literary agent Mary Kole shares her expertise on writing novels for young adult and middle grade readers and teaches you how to: • Recognize the differences between middle grade and young adult audiences and how it impacts your writing. • Tailor your manuscript's tone, length, and content to your readership. • Avoid common mistakes and cliches that are prevalent in YA and MG fiction, in respect to characters, story ideas, plot structure and more. • Develop themes and ideas in your novel that will strike emotional chords. Mary Kole's candid commentary and insightful observations, as well as a collection of book excerpts and personal insights from bestselling authors and editors who specialize in the children's book market, are invaluable tools for your kidlit career. If you want the skills, techniques, and know-how you need to craft memorable stories for teens and tweens, Writing Irresistible Kidlit can give them to you.




The Subversive Copy Editor


Book Description

Each year writers and editors submit over three thousand grammar and style questions to the Q&A page at The Chicago Manual of Style Online. Some are arcane, some simply hilarious—and one editor, Carol Fisher Saller, reads every single one of them. All too often she notes a classic author-editor standoff, wherein both parties refuse to compromise on the "rights" and "wrongs" of prose styling: "This author is giving me a fit." "I wish that I could just DEMAND the use of the serial comma at all times." "My author wants his preface to come at the end of the book. This just seems ridiculous to me. I mean, it’s not a post-face." In The Subversive Copy Editor, Saller casts aside this adversarial view and suggests new strategies for keeping the peace. Emphasizing habits of carefulness, transparency, and flexibility, she shows copy editors how to build an environment of trust and cooperation. One chapter takes on the difficult author; another speaks to writers themselves. Throughout, the focus is on serving the reader, even if it means breaking "rules" along the way. Saller’s own foibles and misadventures provide ample material: "I mess up all the time," she confesses. "It’s how I know things." Writers, Saller acknowledges, are only half the challenge, as copy editors can also make trouble for themselves. (Does any other book have an index entry that says "terrorists. See copy editors"?) The book includes helpful sections on e-mail etiquette, work-flow management, prioritizing, and organizing computer files. One chapter even addresses the special concerns of freelance editors. Saller’s emphasis on negotiation and flexibility will surprise many copy editors who have absorbed, along with the dos and don’ts of their stylebooks, an attitude that their way is the right way. In encouraging copy editors to banish their ignorance and disorganization, insecurities and compulsions, the Chicago Q&A presents itself as a kind of alter ego to the comparatively staid Manual of Style. In The Subversive Copy Editor, Saller continues her mission with audacity and good humor.




The Pocket Book of Proofreading


Book Description

This is a guide to freelance proofreading and copy-editing, with examples of proof correction marks and exercises with corrections supplied.