I get this question a lot. “Hey, I heard you edit books from home. I’m really good at seeing typos in restaurant menus. How can I do your sort of job?” Yikes. That’s like asking somebody who knows how to change a flat tire to change a carburetor. There’s a lot more to making a living as an editor than being able to spot typos in menus, though that skill is commendable. The fact is, not just anybody can do this job, just like not everybody can listen to your heart and tell you whether you need heart surgery. So let me break down what being an editor means and what type of education and experience are expected to make a living at this. 1. To be taken seriously and be effective in the trenches, let’s get to the foundation—you need to be really good at English. Ugh, English? Yes,…
The summer of 2006 is one I’ll never forget. Fresh off a layoff, I was working FedEx and editing a few projects, hoping to find enough work to stay home and not have to sell our circa. 1926 house and move. At the same time, my parents and my wife’s parents came alongside and decided to help. And help they did. We had an eyesore of an old basement rec room that needed a complete overhaul for me to claim it as “home office” and location for my freelance writing. lt was a very hot summer, and I set up my editing and writing workstation on the dining room table. I worked there after FedEx and between projects tackling that old rec room and converting it into a home office. Frankly, it’s not a a summer I’d want to do over again, but God sustained us. In fact, He provided everything…
Wednesday was one of those days. I had a comprehensive copyedit of a 120,000-plus-word novel due by 8:00 p.m. With evening prayer meeting scheduled, I knew I had even less time than usual. By 3:00 p.m., I was doing a reread of the last fifty pages on my Kindle, just double-checking my work. By suppertime at 5:15, I was still at it—and feeling pressured and getting hot and bothered. Ask my family. I literally devoured my wife’s wonderful salmon pie, flew upstairs to get dressed for church, and dashed back to my basement office to wrap up the last few details and e-mail the file . . . just ten minutes before we had to leave for church. And on top of that, I was in charge of leading worship. Gasp! Quality Suffers Yes, I met my deadline. Barely. But by cutting it so close, I wasn’t a happy camper. Why?…
Oops. I guess it’s not so secret anymore, is it? But I couldn’t help writing a piece about a whole new way of novel writing/editing. An out-of-the-box approach, if you will. And it all started when I purchased my Kindle Touch in the fall of 2011. (Note: Everything I share here will work with the newer Paperwhite and Kindle Fire—really, any of the models that feature a touch screen.) Anybody who knows me well knows that I love my Kindle. At first, of course, I loved it only for reading books, mostly novels. But soon I realized it’s features were especially helpful in other realms. Some may not know that my day job is book editing. Some days I literally sit at my desk for eight to ten hours. Literally. Yes, I do take standing breaks, but I can’t always avoid the occasional back or neck ache. Well, one day I got a…
