I have come to love Zoom ever since the COVID-19 crisis hit our country. Who hasn’t?

I learned how to use it in April, when my church decided to conduct some small group Bible studies using the platform. I joined one of the studies, and when I signed up, I was emailed instructions on how to use Zoom. I learned rather quickly. I use it on my iPhone and, amusingly, I find it a lot like watching The Brady Bunch, with everyone in their own square.

My husband will soon start using Zoom on his phone (Android platform) to participate in a different Bible study. I plan to be around to help him as much as I can, as he has never used Zoom before.

In two days I have a Zoom interview with a woman from my grad school alma mater who helps scientific investigators with their grant applications. It seems that I did an impressive enough job on the one grant proposal that I edited in March for a researcher in their Biochemistry department that the school would like me to edit more of them.

I am preparing for the interview, or rather, I have already prepared, and have only to look over the notes I made for it. I am very excited about this opportunity, and I hope to let you all know next week how it went.

I was recently inspired by God to search for more clients using existing clients, rather than just reaching out to people whom I don’t know from Adam.

In other words, last week I began sending “warm emails” rather than “cold emails.” I believe a “warm email” is one that you send to someone who knows someone whom you know.

When I was trying to get work from graduate students in research universities, I sent “cold emails” to various biochemistry department chairs and graduate program directors whose names and email addresses I lifted from the department website. This sparked interest maybe 1 percent of the time. But last week, I began using PubMed to find researchers who had collaborated with each of two investigators for whom I had edited a manuscript and a grant proposal. I found their email addresses (this was the hardest part) and sent “warm emails” introducing myself and saying, “I saw on PubMed that you collaborated with Dr. X in the past. I edited ABC for him last winter,” before talking about my editorial services. Out of ten researchers, I have already had two who are interested. That’s 20 percent…much better than the return for the “cold emails.”

Never underestimate the power of PubMed and sleuthing.

 

A big “thank you” goes out to my friend whose work-related papers I edited earlier this month and late last month.

She suggested that my business become a contractor for her employer, and right now the cogs are turning to make that happen.

Being a contractor means that her employer (and not her personally) will pay me for the papers I edit for her that are work-related (which all of them are).

The best part about this is that it will open the door to the possibility of getting new clients. Yay!

Onward and upward…

I’ve found that one of the first things you have to do when you decide to become a freelance editor (please don’t make me say “hang out your shingle”; I strongly dislike that expression) is tell your friends.

Your friends can often become your first clients. One of my first clients was the husband of one of my best friends. He and a colleague needed to make some corrections to a paper they wrote in order to make it compliant with APA style. Since he disliked doing something so tedious, my friend recommended that he have me do it. I love making corrections to anything, no matter how tedious, so I accepted the job.

Another of my best friends also needed something of hers edited, and immediately thought of me. I edited her paper as well.

Yet another good friend has hired me for personal projects, as well as material for the church which she pastors.

Of course, you can’t count on your friends to be your only clients–you definitely need to reach out! But they can be a good starting point.

In my year and a half as a freelance editor, one of the many things I have learned is that freelance editing is not a nine-to-five job.

When you are given a project with a tight deadline, you often find yourself burning the midnight oil.

I pride myself on meeting deadlines consistently. So how to I manage my time when I am editing?

When I first get the project, I look at how long it is and divide the number of pages by the number of days I have to work on it. This breaks the work into manageable chunks.

A daily planner is key. I write in it what I am going to do on the project, i.e., which pages on which I will work, for every day that I am going to work on the project.

I never forget to eat and rarely forget to exercise. My body is a machine, and a machine that is not properly maintained cannot do its work well.

I know when to say “no” to other commitments.

How about you? How do you manage your time when you are editing?

If you are an editor and you are like me, most of your business comes from word of mouth and networking.

Ah, but one has to start somewhere.

That is where the cold email came in for me.

I periodically send out cold emails to biochemistry department chairs and/or graduate program directors at research universities to let them know of the service I can provide to their graduate students who are working on their theses or dissertations. I have gotten a few bites of interest doing this. Most of the time I hear crickets, even after following up two weeks later.

As for negative responses…I can count on the fingers of one hand the number that I have gotten. But, of course, it never feels good to get one. I count it as a blow to my editing business as well as my self-confidence. Today one university warned me that it has a no-solicitation policy. Oh great, so I’m in legal trouble now, too?

*sigh*

How about you? If you are an editor and you wrote a cold email to a person or organization, did you ever receive a negative reply? What did you do about it?

When I first started out as a freelance editor in the fall of 2018, I charged by the page. It made sense, right? I did a number of jobs that way. I later learned that many editors charge by the hour, not the page, but that seemed so daunting to me.

Then, one year later, came the company for which my good friend from high school worked.

When they hired me to edit and check some trade and retail catalogs for them, they wanted to pay me a flat fee for X hours and then pay me by the hour for each additional hour. I graciously accepted. Thank Heaven for timekeeping software! I used Toggl to keep track of the hours I spent working, and in the end I made a lot more money than I had ever made for a project.

I now belong to the camp of editors who charge by the hour. Is it challenging? Yes. But does it help my business? Definitely.

Fellow editor, how do you charge for your work, and why do you prefer that method? I’m just curious.

 

I am currently in three editors’ associations and I would be lost without them. If you are a freelance editor, I highly recommend that you at least join one and try it out for a year.

One fellow member of one of my associations recently posted on our message board about an editing opportunity of which she had learned recently. I made contact with the person whose name she had included on the post, and now I am going to have a phone interview with this person at 5:00 pm today (it is 3:39 pm as I type these words). Needless to say I am very excited.

I would have not found this opportunity had I not been a member of this particular association.

Need I mention how much associations convey a feeling of community for those of us who work alone and would feel very isolated otherwise?

I say again: Please, for your sake, spend the dues money and join at least one.

I know one cannot quote song lyrics without permission, but I am not certain about song titles. Therefore, I will say that the title of today’s blog post should be the title of the most famous song by the 1980s band Loverboy. If you grew up in the 1980s, you should know it. 🙂

Since I have begun freelancing as an editor, I have found that some clients will give me a project and want it in a very short amount of time. These tight deadlines then require me to work on the weekend, often burning the midnight oil on a Saturday night. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not complaining about my work–I love editing. I guess it’s just that I mistakenly (naively?) thought of it as a weekday, 9-to-5 gig when I started out.

Could I not be managing my time well? Or am I just having bad luck with timing?

My freelance editor friends, do you often find yourself having to work on the weekends? Please comment on this post and let me know.

One of the things that got me interested in full-time freelance editing was my involvement with a nonprofit organization here in the city where I live. I initially became involved with them when I saw a job announcement for writers for them on Indeed.com while hunting for work. I had an interview with their leadership, who could not give me a job but were interested in having me write for them as a volunteer.

I ended up doing only a little writing for the organization, but after less than a year, their leadership saw how excellent my writing was and asked me to edit the organization’s website. Six years later, I am still doing this pro bono, combing over the entire site once a month and compiling a list of corrections to be sent to the webmaster.

So why do I keep doing this work for no pay?

One reason is that it helps the organization by making their website look smart and professional. Another reason is that it keeps my editing skills sharp. Still another reason is that I really like the people who work there, and they are recommending me to others.

Don’t turn up your nose at pro bono work, my friends, especially if you are just starting out as an editor. It really does pay off in ways other than money.