A Guide to Freelance Editing

There are a variety of freelancing careers available to you and choosing the right one is a very important decision. Freelance editing is one type of career that is becoming increasingly more common and I know a number of people that either do this part time or full time. It can provide an interesting and varied way to work as you could be proof reading a whole range of different types of work.

Proof Reading

One of the most common types of freelance editing available to you is proof reading. Simply put this is the process of reading a proof copy of a text so that any errors or corrections that need to be made can be carried out before the final printing run. You will find that they are many jobs within this field and they often include proof reading manuscripts for books, magazines, articles and journals as well as for a single writer and smaller companies. Some people choose to do this as a full time career whilst others may do a similar job for a company full time and then take on additional freelance work such as this to boost their income.

The amount that you earn for this will depend upon the size of the job and obviously the amount that they are willing to pay. In my experience you may be able to set your own rates but it is important to remember that you should make sure these are reasonable and that you are willing to be flexible if needs be.

Working for a Publishing Firm

You may find that if you have had a career in editing in the past that you could be able to find new work with the company in a freelancing form. I know that many people also take on freelancing work with the company that they already work for if there is an overflow of work. This is quite a common area that you could obtain work in and the amount you will be paid will normally depend upon the size of the project that you take on.

Editing a Magazine

If you have adequate experience in editing then you may find that you can obtain freelance work for a variety of different magazines. I would recommend trying to find magazines in areas that you have a lot of experience in and then writing to the main editor and explaining the experience that you have and what you feel you could offer. It may be that they do not have work available at the time but they may keep you on file for future work.

Once you have found work you will find that this could be either in the form of hiring others to write the actual articles and therefore just managing this side of things. In some cases however you may find that you are asked to actually write then articles themselves and this will depend upon the experience that you have.