But what if you know for a fact that you have the talent, along with the writing and grammatical skills, necessary to do great work for someone as an editor and are fresh out of university or are trying to change careers, what are you to do? Even entry-level editing job openings can seem to slam the door in your face, with the all-too-frustrating two-years’-experience requirement.
Then there is the fact that you may not want just the standard editing job. You seek great success and have a burning desire to really make talented writers’ work even better, or business or copy writing work read like real writing so that a business comes across as full of knowledgeable experts in the field, not a collection of people who failed high school English classes.
Well, the advent of the Internet has made possible, or at least more feasible, an opportunity for those who have the talent to start off their editing careers as freelancers. As a freelancer, one can make one’s own editing job openings and can maybe even carve out that more-than-average editing career for oneself, rather than trudging through the traditional attempts at finding the usual copy editing jobs.
To seek out freelance editing jobs and get your career going, you will need to be both technically skilled in the field and excellent at building relationships. Of course, it could be tough at first, and for at least a little while you may have to work an undesirable day job or delay quitting the job you are trying to change out of. However, the advent of the Internet has given you vast outreach and created an ever-growing demand for telecommuters and freelancers to work by way of the virtual office. Furthermore, there has been a noticeable decay, generally speaking, in people’s writing skills, which has come from several sources including lower educational standards, too much attempt at snappy communications, and too much use of abbreviations and jargon.
Depending on your current situation and who you are, you will need to know how to position yourself to start getting freelance editing business or finding companies who are willing to pay you to work for them by telecommuting and by contractual agreement, rather than hiring you as an in-house or even virtually in-house employee. You need to present yourself as someone who can do any and all editing jobs.
However, if you have been working in another field and have only recently discovered your calling as an editor, you might not have the college degree in writing, English, journalism, or communications that many employers will be looking for. If you have this desire, though, it must be based on some kind of experience. If you are transitioning from another career into editing, make that clear. Let potential hirers know what you have done to prove you are editor material. Have you been wearing more than one hat in your current position, helping to make sure that all of the I’s are dotted, T’s crossed, commas properly put in or taken out, spelling checked, and the grammar and flow of written material has been correct, smooth, and clear for your company’s written communications? Put that on your resume. It will also be helpful if you can show a couple of examples of this work, but you may not have thought of printing copies, or your company may forbid it. If that is the case, offer to edit a couple of documents for a prospect for free to prove how good you are.
If you are fresh out of school you can prove that you have your degree and get your foot in through many virtual doors as long as you are willing to take entry-level editing job openings--in other words, willing to start off working for relatively low pay, with the promise that you can get paid more once you are more experienced. If you are going to work purely as a freelancer and have multiple clients, this could mean getting in with lower-than-average bids, then raising your rates once you have established your reputation and relationships.
In this Web world, the best way to present yourself now is by blogging. Maintain a blog about editing and writing. Needless to say, this blog had better be perfect in its use of written words. This is one way you can introduce yourself to the world and make an online presence for yourself. Blogs are now seen by more employers as about the same thing as a traditional resume, and some employers actually prefer it, as they find it gives a more authentic picture of a person.
Even if you end up working full-time for one company as an editor later on, by establishing yourself in this way you can have far more control over your own editing career destiny. Publishing houses want to see a lot of credentials before they will hire someone, and if you want to be with one of those hired, you should create those credentials for yourself.
Freelance and telecommuting editors are making an average of $50,000 a year, as compared to an average of $44,000 for those who have the standard editing jobs. Keep in mind these numbers average together senior editors as well as first-timers.
