The Freelance Editor's Handbook

A Complete Guide to Making Your Business Thrive

Suzy Bills

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780520381322
• eBook ISBN: 9780520381346
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

A comprehensive guide to building and maintaining a sustainable, profitable, and enjoyable business as a freelance editor.
 
According to LinkedIn, more than twenty thousand people in the United States list themselves as freelance editors. But many who have the requisite skills to be excellent editors lack the entrepreneurial skills needed to run a thriving, fulfilling business. The few resources available to freelance editors, new and established, are typically limited in scope and lack the strategic thinking needed to make a business flourish.
 
The Freelance Editor’s Handbook provides a complete guide to setting up and running a prosperous freelancing business, from finding clients to increasing productivity, from deciding how to price services to achieving work/life balance, and from paying taxes to saving for retirement. Unlike most other books on freelance editing, this book is founded on a business-success mindset: The goal isn’t simply to eke out a living through freelancing. Rather, the goal is to establish a thriving, rewarding business that allows editors to achieve their career goals, earn a comfortable living, and still have time for family, friends, and personal pursuits. Author Suzy Bills identifies multiple strategies and methods that freelancers can apply, drawing on current research in entrepreneurship, psychology, and well-being. This book is the ultimate resource for editors at all levels: students just starting out, in-house staff looking to transition, and experienced freelancers who want to make their businesses more profitable and enjoyable.

Topics include:

• Deciding Whether You Really Want to Be a Freelance Editor
• Setting Up Your Business
• Finding Clients
• Marketing like a Pro
• Building Your Website
• Contracts and Invoices 
• Becoming Financially Savvy 

... and more!

Table of contents

• Cover
• The Freelance Editor’s Handbook
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Deciding Whether You Really Want to Be a Freelance Editor
• 2 Setting Up Your Business
• 3 Establishing a Strategic Mindset
• 4 Looking for Clients
• 5 Marketing like a Pro
• 6 Creating Your Website
• 7 Maximizing the Benefits of LinkedIn
• 8 Winning at the Pricing Game
• 9 Using Contracts and Invoices to Get Paid and Protect Yourself
• 10 Managing Time like a Pro and Increasing Productivity
• 11 Achieving Work/Life Balance
• 12 Overcoming the Fear of Taxes
• 13 Becoming a Financially Savvy Freelancer
• Conclusion
• Appendix A: Most Important Action Items for Establishing a Freelance Editing Business
• Appendix B: Improving Editing Skills through Using Editing Programs and Other Resources
• Further Reading and Bibliography
• Index