Mostly my editing experience has been a lot of fun, but also some awful jobs and days wanting to rip my hair out and scream (hence my plan to switch to scoping exclusively if possible). There are a million would-be novelists and screenplay writers out there who have not a lick of talent or knowledge of what constitutes good writing and how to go about being getting published. Most of them submit their manuscripts and hope to hear raves and praise and I'm sure are very disappointed when they receive their works back from me with a great many corrections needing to be made.
If you ever decide to pursue this type of editing, whatever you do don't put an ad in any of the writers' magazines. It seems all the bored inmates in countless prisons read these ads to find an editor for their work. You will get requests for your services, but a large percentage of the work you get will be horrid, nauseating and bordering on pornography without even the redeeming quality of being well written and possibly a salable manuscript. When I get those, a quick scan is enough to let me know to just send them back.
Eventually you may acquire some intelligent and talented clients, and then the fun starts. It is extremely gratifying to work with successful authors and can be quite lucrative, as well.
Then there is the transcription and editing of medical reports, which also has paid well, but the stress involved now with all the ESL dictators can make you crazy, so I'm also avoiding that type of work.
Kelli Combs (admin)
Jun 16, 2011
Lily
Hi Audrey,
Mostly my editing experience has been a lot of fun, but also some awful jobs and days wanting to rip my hair out and scream (hence my plan to switch to scoping exclusively if possible). There are a million would-be novelists and screenplay writers out there who have not a lick of talent or knowledge of what constitutes good writing and how to go about being getting published. Most of them submit their manuscripts and hope to hear raves and praise and I'm sure are very disappointed when they receive their works back from me with a great many corrections needing to be made.
If you ever decide to pursue this type of editing, whatever you do don't put an ad in any of the writers' magazines. It seems all the bored inmates in countless prisons read these ads to find an editor for their work. You will get requests for your services, but a large percentage of the work you get will be horrid, nauseating and bordering on pornography without even the redeeming quality of being well written and possibly a salable manuscript. When I get those, a quick scan is enough to let me know to just send them back.
Eventually you may acquire some intelligent and talented clients, and then the fun starts. It is extremely gratifying to work with successful authors and can be quite lucrative, as well.
Then there is the transcription and editing of medical reports, which also has paid well, but the stress involved now with all the ESL dictators can make you crazy, so I'm also avoiding that type of work.
Nov 1, 2012