|
.
Setting and raising rates
 | Editorial Freelancers Association
guide to common rates for editorial services |
| A professional approach to calculating your hourly rate, from the HTML
Writers Guild |
| An article
written by a designer
on how to calculate your hourly rate, with a link to a spreadsheet into
which you can plug numbers to determine your rate |
|
"Putting a Price on Your Capabilities:
How to Set Your Fees as a Freelance Writer" (relevant to all kinds of
freelancers) |
|
Raising
your rates |
| "Name
Your Price," an article for all entrepreneurs, written by a
Guild member
|
Rate
surveys
Other
rate/fee-related issues
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Finding
clients and marketing yourself
Keep in mind that personal contact is generally most effective. People are more likely to
refer work to, or give work to, someone they've actually met in person than
someone whose stellar resume they've received in the mail or e-mail. So put yourself in
as many places as possible where you meet other editors and/or people who might
employ editors (which could be anyone from writers to designers to
businesspeople).
Here are some specific tips:
| Check our Job Board regularly.
|
| Attend Guild meetings.
|
| List yourself in our online Membership
Directory. Many members have gotten clients this way.
|
| Implement the proven ideas offered by our Marketing
on a Shoestring panel.
|
| Check out placement agencies and online job boards
for editors.
|
| Benefit from experienced editors'
wisdom.
|
| Introduce yourself and/or ask for advice on the Guild's listserv. You
might want to be specific about the kinds of editing you do (and where you're
located), so that members can refer appropriate projects to you.
|
| Consider inviting a few members from our Membership
Directory to lunch or tea.
|
| Consider establishing some niches (topics and/or industries) that you
specialize in -- it helps target your marketing and helps you appear unique.
Similarly, think about communities you may be a part of that others are not,
and figure out how to market your services to them. Also, be aware of the
broad range of potential employers of editors; see the list at the bottom of
our Become an Editor page. |
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Contracts & Client Relations
Contracts
We strongly recommend signing a simple contract with your clients. It puts in
writing what you've agreed to, and helps protect both parties from
misunderstandings.
The editor-client relationship
For editors
For clients
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Taxes
and professional services
| Tax advice
for the self-employed from June Walker's Web site: what expenses are deductible,
business travel
expenses, the home
office deduction, and more |
| The Writer's Pocket Tax
Guide (subscription required) |
| Financial planners, lawyers, and disability insurance: recommendations
from members |
Insurance and other issues
Computer issues
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See our Become an Editor
page for other resources--some of which are likely new to even veteran
editors.
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Camaraderie (Other People Who Love Words)
| A Word A Day,
a community of more than 550,000 linguaphiles in at least 200 countries.
Subscribe for free and receive a new word in your e-mailbox every day. |
| copyediting-l, an electronic discussion list for
copyeditors everywhere. To subscribe,
e-mail listserv@listserv.indiana.edu: leave the subject line blank and, as your message, type "subscribe
copyediting-l," followed by your full name. |
| freelance-l, an electronic discussion list for
publishing industry freelancers everywhere. Subscribers include editors,
indexers, proofreaders, writers, typesetters, designers, and researchers.
Anyone starting out in the business is welcome. To subscribe, e-mail listserv@peach.ease.lsoft.com.
Include in the body of your message: subscribe freelance |
| Grammar Lady:
tips,
resources, camaraderie |
|
The Slot: a spot for
copyeditors |
|
Vocabula Review:
an interesting free newsletter about language |
Our Join
the Guild page (about midway down) also lists many other related organizations.
Just
Two of the Many Fabulous Independent Bookstores in the Northwest
Seattle  Portland
Praise for Editors
Salon article: "Let
us now praise editors"
Legendary editors
Eleanor Gould Packard was a copyeditor for The New Yorker
for more than 50 years, starting in 1945, when she was 28, and ending in 1999.
Here is an online article about her from her alma matter, Oberlin
College.
And don't forget the great information given out at the Guild's
many meetings, as well as the tips
on writing offered by our columnists for PNWA's newsletter.
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