How I started freelance book editing
How I started freelance book editing
The number one question I get on TikTok, and often in life, is…
"How did you get started freelancing?"
Or specifically…
“How did you become a book editor?”
Let me break the timeline down for you. While reading, just know that there's no one right way to do this, but this was my journey. If you're not interested in my personal journey, you can skip down below to my tips and tricks:
✍🏻 2013-2016: I worked toward my undergraduate degree in English - Creative Writing at DePaul University in Chicago. I minored in French and Philosophy. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but did very well in school and enjoyed that my liberal arts school valued critical thinking and deep inquiry. I loved reading, writing research papers and writing poetry.
✍🏻 2014: I took a research assistantship working for a literary journal housed at DePaul and worked under the editor who was also a professor. This was my first step into literary publishing. In that role, I learned a lot about how an editor selects work, and did a lot of copy editing and proofreading. I also worked as a barista.
✍🏻 2016: I graduated from DePaul Summa Cum Laude with distinction in English and my professors encouraged me to apply to MFA programs to pursue poetry writing. At this point, I thought my only option for careers if I wanted to write poetry was to be a professor or to work in publishing, both careers that were interesting to me but low-paying.
✍🏻 2017-2019: I got into Emerson College in Boston, MA on a full fellowship to receive my MFA in Creative Writing - Poetry. I moved to Boston and began my program at Emerson. I wrote a ton, and was in a lot of writing workshops where I developed my already natural ability to provide other writers with concrete developmental feedback. I also worked as a barista. During this entire time, even though I was on full fellowship, I struggled with finances and the extreme living expenses in Boston.
✍🏻 2017: I worked as an adjunct professor teaching intro to college writing to freshman. I loved the students, but quickly realized being a professor was not for me because I am an introvert, and that working in academia could be a real ripoff. What I did love about it was being able to concretely advise students on improving their essays–this skill translates beautifully into editing work.
✍🏻 2017: I got a job as an editorial assistant at Ploughshares Literary Journal, one of the most well renowned literary journals and media outlets in the country. I worked with the editors, authors, and guest judges. I learned the ins and outs of editorial, and did a lot of project management, volunteer management, and copy editing/proofreading of forthcoming issues. I loved it and it paid very poorly, but I learned a ton about the literary world and what editors and famous authors are looking for when they read submissions. I also honed my proofreading skills.
✍🏻 2018: I became the Editor-in-Chief for Redivider Literary Journal, the journal housed at Emerson College. I selected work to be in the magazine, and ran and executed the operations of the organization from beginning to end. It was a volunteer position. Here I recognized a lot about why I was selecting certain pieces and what drew me to them. I bring this into my work with authors by advising them on how to stand out from the slush piles.
✍🏻 2019: I realized that literary publishing was low paying and did not challenge me enough. The part of the organization I was most interested in was administration, fundraising and grant writing, so I took unpaid internships at two local nonprofits to get fundraising experience.
✍🏻 Late 2019: I graduated from my MFA in December 2019 with about 50k in debt just from living expenses. I loved my program and gained so much from it, and do not regret it.
✍🏻 2020: I got a 9-5 job working as a fundraiser for an art and design college. I still have this job today. I love it -- I work from home, I am paid well, I set good boundaries, and my work is creative and meaningful.
✍🏻 2020: When I was done with grad school, I had more time on my hands, and let my colleagues know that I was open for editing projects. This is how I began informally freelancing. I would edit books or advise on poetry of friends, or friends of friends.
✍🏻 Late 2020: I had settled into my 9-5, the quarantine had happened, and I was started making vlogs on TikTok. The gravity of my debt settled in. My wedding was coming up in 2021 and I wanted to be more proactive about increasing my income and decreasing my debt. I started to see videos about various freelancing platforms and signed up on all of them, including Fiverr and Upwork. I opened services such as book editing, beta reading, and reviewing poetry. I also threw in fundraising writing since I do that as my 9-5.
✍🏻 2021: The orders started pouring in for my book editing gig on Fiverr. I got one 5 star review after another. I expanded onto more freelancing sites and continued getting organic business. I signed up on Contra as well, a platform which doesn’t take any of your money (Fiverr, Upwork, etc. take 20%)
✍🏻 2022: In early 2022, I was recruited to become a Fiverr Pro Seller – meaning I was top in the search results and was attracting higher paying clients. My business really took off at this point. I was constantly turning away work for lack of time and was able to raise my prices multiple times. I also began focusing more on organic client funnels, seeking clients through my own website and social media instead of relying fully on freelancing platforms. I shifted to getting about 30-40% of my client base organically.
✍🏻Today, I work about 10 hours per week (evenings and Saturdays) on my freelancing business. I have paid off $30k of debt and saving much more. I am launching a brand new website and continuing to scale the organic reach of my business. I am also turning some of my focus to teaching others how to do what I’m doing through social media and my blog! 2023 has been my best year of freelancing yet, and I’m headed toward potentially making it a full time gig.
