editing from home online
April 3, 2011 5:11 PM Subscribe
Can you make money online doing copy editing? If so, how? What is the best website for it, how much money do you make, and is it enough to count as a full time job?
sorry, that first sentence should be What do you mean by "find work make money online"? /ironic need to edit my own comment
posted by scody at 6:10 PM on April 3, 2011
posted by scody at 6:10 PM on April 3, 2011
A data point: when I needed a copyeditor for my book I found a freelancer via copyediting-l and paid $800 for 35 hours of light copyediting. I hired my copy editor because of her decade of experience as an in-house editor at a major university press, and her long list of happy clients including, as it turned out, some people I know. She certainly was busy as a freelancer: I was lucky she was able to fit my job in between other larger projects. So it is possible to do this full time if you have a well-developed network.
posted by philokalia at 6:38 PM on April 3, 2011
posted by philokalia at 6:38 PM on April 3, 2011
Response by poster: Rebent's fiancée here, for whom he asked the question.
Thank you for the responses. I hadn't read the other threads, which have proved to be very informative with good resources for me to investigate.
As far as experience is concerned, the answer is minimal. I had a semester-long internship with an academic English journal published by my university, and had an honors thesis overseeing the publication of a creative writing journal. While valuable experiences in their own right, I do not feel they were particularly indicative of the field, if the other threads are any evidence. I've also done a bit of light proofreading for a professional resume writer, but it has been casual enough that I do not feel it has prepared me for the kind of stringent standards I expect elsewhere.
My concern is largely starting out in the field and gaining initial experience. One of the previous threads mentioned putting up signs on campus, advertising my services; since my university hires students (which I am not, anymore) to offer consulting and editing services free-of-charge, I doubt I would have much luck on that front.
There is a workshop offered by the university for formatting dissertations, master's theses, and the like, which is required of those who wish to offer their editing services to graduate students and be listed on the graduate college website as an independent contractor. I do intend to explore that option, when the workshop is next available.
I am fully prepared (and entirely expect) to have to hold a regular, day job in addition to whatever I can make proofreading/copy editing, at least at first. At this point, as I've said, I'm more concerned with taking preliminary steps, learning more about the field, and gaining confidence in my abilities.
posted by rebent at 7:43 PM on April 3, 2011
Thank you for the responses. I hadn't read the other threads, which have proved to be very informative with good resources for me to investigate.
As far as experience is concerned, the answer is minimal. I had a semester-long internship with an academic English journal published by my university, and had an honors thesis overseeing the publication of a creative writing journal. While valuable experiences in their own right, I do not feel they were particularly indicative of the field, if the other threads are any evidence. I've also done a bit of light proofreading for a professional resume writer, but it has been casual enough that I do not feel it has prepared me for the kind of stringent standards I expect elsewhere.
My concern is largely starting out in the field and gaining initial experience. One of the previous threads mentioned putting up signs on campus, advertising my services; since my university hires students (which I am not, anymore) to offer consulting and editing services free-of-charge, I doubt I would have much luck on that front.
There is a workshop offered by the university for formatting dissertations, master's theses, and the like, which is required of those who wish to offer their editing services to graduate students and be listed on the graduate college website as an independent contractor. I do intend to explore that option, when the workshop is next available.
I am fully prepared (and entirely expect) to have to hold a regular, day job in addition to whatever I can make proofreading/copy editing, at least at first. At this point, as I've said, I'm more concerned with taking preliminary steps, learning more about the field, and gaining confidence in my abilities.
posted by rebent at 7:43 PM on April 3, 2011
If you're interested in getting experience, it might be worth looking at some epublishers to see if anyone's hiring. (Disclaimer: I work for Ellora's Cave, though I don't believe that we're currently hiring.)
Many of the larger epubs hire freelance copyeditors. The pay varies, depending on where you're looking--some of the smaller places pay you in copies of books; the larger ones pay per word. How much you make depends heavily on how much you're willing to do, but I know some people who are bringing in a decent part-time income with this work. I don't believe that I know anyone who's making enough to live on, but many of them make enough that they wouldn't be getting by without the copyediting income.
This won't make you wealthy, but it will give you some experience and, in many cases, a decent introduction to how to copyedit.
Feel free to MeMail me if I might be able to answer questions for you.
posted by MeghanC at 8:58 PM on April 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
Many of the larger epubs hire freelance copyeditors. The pay varies, depending on where you're looking--some of the smaller places pay you in copies of books; the larger ones pay per word. How much you make depends heavily on how much you're willing to do, but I know some people who are bringing in a decent part-time income with this work. I don't believe that I know anyone who's making enough to live on, but many of them make enough that they wouldn't be getting by without the copyediting income.
This won't make you wealthy, but it will give you some experience and, in many cases, a decent introduction to how to copyedit.
Feel free to MeMail me if I might be able to answer questions for you.
posted by MeghanC at 8:58 PM on April 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
I would suggest doing the University course; I started out working for students and you get strings of recommendations which carry on year after year, if you're good and please the first few. You also need the relevant reference books for your language (i.e. American English / British English). I'm afraid I started off working for free/for references and I would recommend backing things up by having a day job too. Start a web page, start a blog, work out your charges in advance and also have a basic contract you issue to people, esp if you're working with students and will have to take account of authorship/plagiarism.
Good luck though!
posted by LyzzyBee at 3:46 AM on April 4, 2011 [1 favorite]
Good luck though!
posted by LyzzyBee at 3:46 AM on April 4, 2011 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
It is certainly possible to work full-time as a freelance editor, but it requires experience and a lot of work building a clientele (I've freelanced off and on for 15 years in addition to working full-time as an editor, and the majority of my work has actually come through word-of-mouth, with only a little from jobs that have been posted online). As for rates, it can range from $20 to $75 an hour (I usually charge in the $30-40/hr. range) depending on the type of material, the experience of the editor, etc. But there's no single online job source for this sort of thing, and the market is extremely tight these days (as it has been for several years).
(Sorry if this answer seems a little nebulous, but I'm not clear from your question how much you actually know about copy editing in the first place. A little more info from you might yield some more concrete advice.)
posted by scody at 6:07 PM on April 3, 2011 [1 favorite]