eaglei Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Does anyone do editing? Not for content, but for the mechanical component - spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. How did you *break into* it? How does one get started? What are any details you are free to share? TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglei Posted July 7, 2009 Author Share Posted July 7, 2009 I have a dear friend who was an English Major. She started editing by posting flyers about her services at the university she graduated from. letting her former professors know she would do editing for students and posting on the online student forum. She still lives within 2 hours of the university but most of her work was done via e-mail. The professors knew her and so they knew she did quality work. Her goal was to get a Doctrinal thesis. She did some lower level stuff but never got the Doc before too many kids and not enough time found their way into her life. :D She edited for grammar and spelling and structure for a specific style guide used by that university. If I ever go back to school she will be editing my papers! Thank You! I appreciate you taking the time to respond! I hadn't thought of editing for college students - a good idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 I used to do this while I was working my way through graduate school. The "industry" has changed so much, I wonder what it is like by now ! In the "Dark Ages" of "pre-personal computers", there were [now obsolete] companies called "typing services." Students would take their papers to these places to be typed in submissible form. Sometimes they would pay extra for editing of the type you describe. (I did not like to do that part, because I felt, and still do feel, that the student should flunk or pass on his own effort.) Kinko's was one company which included "typing services" as one of their offerings. I free-lanced for them some. Mostly I worked for a stand-alone (meaning not part of a chain) company, typing papers, editing some, and even one of my favorite jobs I have had -- proof editor for the official English-language translation of a [soviet, back then] chemical engineering magazine. Back to the typing/editing. . . Both of these are "piece work", so one is paid by the page. I made more money with the straight typing, since I typed over 100 wpm. Sometimes customers would "bid me under the table" to work freelance for them (outside of the company). (There were no restrictions on my doing this.) I even ended up with somebody's German M.A. thesis, because I can type in foreign languages. You might increase your earnings if you were to combine editing with the typing (word processing). I'm rambling with this post. A college or university is your best bet for this kind of work. Do you live near one? I still think this is a great type of supplemental income to pursue. Very great ethics puzzle for myself, nonetheless. I don't know how well I would do with editing anymore. My personal standards don't allow me to edit somebody's work into so superior a product that the professor can't tell that the student does not know what he or she ought to know about writing. For me this is a truly difficult riddle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avila Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 I actually did this professionally in a Corporate Communications department before I "retired" to have my kids. I did free-lance for them and a few other places until the market here tanked. I am signed up with a placement agency, but I haven't had a placement because they all want you to work on site, and I don't want to do it now. ` The biggest advice I have is to make very clear what standard you are using to edit. Big companies will often have a style guide. Smaller may use Associated Press or another manual. Following the style guide is as important as any of the mechanics, since consistency is a huge reason why some edited pieces still look wonky. Best wishes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMA Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Are you talking about copyediting and not substantive editing? If you are interested in copyediting, I would recommend a (non-credit) course on copyediting. There is more to it than just grammar. You need to be familiar with the various styles. I also have to make up a style sheet just for the particular project on which I am working (hyphens, headings, etc.). Training on how to do it is invaluable. Catching small things such as italicized words are important. You also have to train yourself not to mess with the sentence too much and also how to query the author without seeming better than than author. There are a lot of nuances to copyediting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nlmullen Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Having a check list of what to edit for is a good idea. Have the child use the check list to edit material first. Start with a short list of 2 or 3 items...spelling and capitalization. Then keep building on it as the child gets used to looking for those types of errors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisasaysto Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Not to be a downer, but jobs in editing are very hard to find right now. I work for a large newspaper chain that will see its third round of layoffs tomorrow. There are a lot of journalists nationwide out of work and looking for jobs, and there are plenty working journalists looking to get out of the newspaper business and into editing and writing for a different kind of company. You certainly may have better luck with freelancing, but I imagine there's a good bit of experienced competition in the marketplace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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