The new freelance editor’s guide to getting started

By Erin Brenner

You’ve decided to become a freelance editor. Hooray! Now what? Can you just hang out your shingle and go?

You could, but you might soon find yourself scrambling to prepare a client for working with you, taking too much time to do what should be quick tasks, or panicking because your computer crashed, taking all your client work with it.

Invest in your new business by spending time upfront planning and preparing. You may change your plans or process later—that’s normal in any business. But you’ll be improving rather than creating, which is not only more efficient but also less stressful.

What follows are some of the first concerns of your new business.

Basic business decisions

Starting a business is a little like building your own house: you need a blueprint for what you’ll build and you need to make a lot of decisions, even for the basic structure. Will it be a ranch-style house? Colonial? Where will the kitchen go? Will you have a large bathroom? How many bedrooms will you have?

The fundamental freelance editing decisions include:

• Services. What kind of editing will you offer? Just copyediting? Developmental and structural editing? Will you offer related services, such as project management, writing, or design? It’s OK to start with one service and expand as you go.
• Topics. Will you edit memoir? Romance? How about medical or business writing?
• Media. Will you edit books? Self-published or traditionally published? Magazines or journals? How about websites or reports?
• Fee structure. Will you charge by the hour, the word or page, or the project? See my previous ACES article “What Type of Pricing Structure Should Freelance Editors Use?” for more.
• Clients. Who will you edit for? Be as specific as you can: the industry they work in, their job title, their publishing goal, and so on. For example, one of my ideal clients is a midcareer business professional who is writing and self-publishing a business book to position themselves as a subject matter expert.
• Business structure. In the United States you have several options for how to formally structure your business, including sole proprietorships, limited liability companies (LLCs), and S corporations (S corps). The Small Business Administration (SBA) outlines the options.

You can download the “Define Your Editing Business” worksheet to help you work through and record all these decisions.

Once you’ve got a basic structure for your business, start thinking about your next steps:

• Get an employer identification number (EIN). Depending on your business structure, you may need an EIN. It’s a good idea for sole proprietors as well, because your clients won’t have access to your social security number and you’ll be eligible for benefits like a business bank account.
• Create a brand. Your brand is your company’s identity. It’s the filter through which people will understand not just what you do but also how you do it. Louise Harnby has a fantastic branding course for editors that can help.
• Choose a business name. Part of branding is naming your business; it helps create that identity clients and leads will remember. (And, yes, you can use your personal name as your business name.)
• Create an online presence. Even if your clients are in your geographic area, they will research you online. Be findable and control what people find. A website is a must: it’s the best place to talk about how clients benefit from working with you. Directory listings such as the ACES Editors for Hire directory, help leads find you. Social media accounts, such as LinkedIn and Instagram, allow you to chat with leads and point them to your website.

Basic tools

Editors don’t need to rent office space, purchase a lot of equipment or materials, or hire a lot of staff. But you do need a few things, including the following:

• A reliable computer. If your computer breaks down, so does your business.
• Word processing software. Microsoft Word is pretty much industry standard, though being familiar with Google Docs doesn’t hurt.
• PDF reader or editor. If you’ll frequently mark up PDFs for correcting, Adobe Acrobat DC is worth the price. Otherwise, Adobe Acrobat Reader will usually do.
• Spreadsheet software. This is mostly for tracking your business (see the list below), so find one you’re comfortable with. Excel is part of Microsoft Office, but Google Sheets is a good free option.
• Email address. Ideally, you should set up a website and create an email address with your domain name. But if a website is on your “next steps” list, create a professional-looking email address with a free email provider, using your name or company name. Avoid numbers and nicknames in your professional address.

Next steps:

• Purchase efficiency tools. Increase your editing speed by working more efficiently. Macro packages, such as the Editor’s Toolkit, and consistency checker PerfectIt are great places to start.
• Upgrade your workspace. Plan to be comfortable working all day, every day, in your space. Purchase a second (or third!) monitor, a more comfortable chair or desk, or a brighter work light.
• Create a filing system. You can’t use files you can’t find. Start organized, and you’re more likely to stay organized.
• Create a backup system for your files. Don’t risk losing your most important files! Adrienne Montgomerie has some ideas for you.

Basic materials

Taking a little time at the start to create templates and files you’ll use most often will help you stay on top of administrative work later. If you’ll use a file more than twice, it’s worth creating a template for, as with:

• Invoices
• Style sheets
• Project tracker
• Time tracker
• Invoice tracker
• Tax tracker
• Expense tracker

Save yourself time and work by downloading templates from my New Freelancer’s Business Pack and customizing them to your heart’s content.

Other materials you’ll need:

• Résumé. Some clients and directories will still want your résumé. It’s a good idea to have it in several formats, such as plain text, Word, and PDF.
• Dictionary. Which dictionary you use will depend on your clients and the style guide you follow, but you want them easily accessible in the moment. Merriam-Webster, Webster’s New World (through AP Stylebook), and many others are available online.
• Style guide. Your choice of style guide will depend on your clients, as well. You’ll want a working familiarity of at least one style guide when you get started. Chicago Manual of Style, AP Stylebook, APA Style, and AMA Manual of Style are among the most common guides.

Next steps:

• Order business cards. Hand them out to family, friends, and close colleagues to start.
• Create legal document templates. You don’t want to write a fresh contract with each new client. Write up a template contract; The Paper It’s Written On is an excellent guide written by editors. Create a template nondisclosure agreement (NDA) as well, for those clients that request one and don’t have their own.
• Create a transmittal letter template. Whether you put the transmittal letter in the body of an email or create a separate file, having standard wording and an outline will help you work more efficiently and consistently.
• Prep a W-9. For US citizens, if you’ll earn $600 or more per year with a client, you’ll want to fill out a W-9 for them, which will help them complete the 1099 for you later.
• Create email templates. Freelance editors send the same few emails to their clients, such as when you receive or return files, send invoices, and receive payment. Write these up in advance and send as needed.

Feeling overwhelmed by these lists? You don’t need all the answers or all the tools and materials when you’re starting out. Making any move will get you started and you can grow from there. Use this as a guide to keep you moving forward. Good luck!

Header photo by Trent Erwin on Unsplash.