Making the switch from in-house to freelance

Niiicola · Mar 22, 2015

Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this question or if it's been asked already, but I'm having a hard time finding this exact situation in search.

I've been an in-house copyeditor for almost 15 years now, mostly dealing with technology research and B2B stuff. I'm thinking about going freelance, but I'm not even sure where to start. Yes, I should Google this, but I'm wondering if anybody'd be willing to share their own experiences with this kind of transition. I have a million questions.

Where did you start off finding work? Is it possible to transition from nonfiction to fiction? Can you do both? How did you determine your pricing? Any sites you'd recommend that can help with all this stuff?

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

(Of course now that I've mentioned being a copyeditor, I've probably made a zillion typos in this post.)

Old Hack · Mar 23, 2015

When I went freelance I just told a few people I'd worked with in the past, and the work came in. In my experience, good editing is always in demand. I think it depends on how many contacts you already have, and the sorts of things you've worked on. I haven't crossed over to a different genre: I still only edit non-fiction, and wouldn't attempt to edit fiction. Copy editing is different to editing, so you might be ok--but still. I'd expect there to be enough work in non-fic to keep you busy, and as so many people focus on fiction. Good luck!

Debbie V · Mar 24, 2015

When copy editing non-fiction, you don't have to deal with grammatical errors that may be on purpose. These come up in fiction, often in dialog. Sentence fragments are also more common in fiction. These are stylistic choices that you won't find in a style guide. I think they are the biggest differences in copy editing fiction vs. non-fiction.

Marta · Apr 4, 2015

Look at joining a professional organization, then networking. The Editorial Freelancers Association, for example, has several resources that you'd likely find useful, including booklets on topics like getting started: http://www.the-efa.org/res/resources.php. Good luck.

infinitefrank · Apr 29, 2015

I've done a few freelance editor jobs on online websites. You really should Google it - the first six results for "freelance editor work" are all great resources for exactly what you're trying to do. They're all real writers who need real work done and are willing to pay.

Making the switch from in-house to freelance

Niiicola

Twitchy

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

Debbie V

Mentoring Myself and Others

Marta

infinitefrank

Padawan