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The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors

How to Take Care of Your Business, Your Clients, and Yourself from Start-Up to Sustainability

The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors

How to Take Care of Your Business, Your Clients, and Yourself from Start-Up to Sustainability

The definitive guide to starting and running a freelance editing business.

You’ve been thinking about shifting into the world of freelance editing, but you don’t know where to start. In a time when editors are seeking greater flexibility in their work arrangements and schedules, freelancing is an increasingly common career option. But deciding to go it alone means balancing the risks with the rewards. From the publisher of The Chicago Manual of Style comes The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors, the definitive guide to running your business and finding greater control and freedom in your work life.

In this book, Erin Brenner—an industry leader and expert on the business of editorial freelancing—gathers everything you need to know into a single resource. Brenner has run her own successful editing business for over two decades and has helped hundreds of editors launch or improve their businesses through her teaching, blog writing, and coaching.

The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors will walk you through the entire process of conceiving, launching, and working in a freelance editing business, from deciding on services and rates to choosing the best business structure to thinking through branding and marketing strategies and beyond. This book is ideal for beginning freelancers looking to get set up and land their first clients, but it’s equally valuable to those who have already been freelancing, with detailed coverage of such issues as handling difficult clients and continuing professional development. You’ll find a collection of advice from other successful freelance editors in this guide, as well as an extensive list of resources and tools. In the final and perhaps most important chapter, Brenner teaches you how to care for the key component of the business: yourself.

336 pages | 6 halftones, 3 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2024

Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing

Library Science and Publishing: Publishing

Reference and Bibliography

Reviews

The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors is an amazing resource for all of us, whether we’re new to the business of freelancing or have years of experience. Brenner brings her deep knowledge of smart marketing and business practices to the table, backed up with a myriad of examples, anecdotes, and citations from experts in publishing and other fields. The book is loaded with adaptable checklists, suggestions, resources, and inspiration. It belongs in a prominent place on every freelancer’s shelf.”

Amy J. Schneider, author of “The Chicago Guide to Copyediting Fiction”

“Brenner has written the book many of us have wished for and been unable to find. The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors lays out the steps to starting a business from start to finish, including information we haven’t seen elsewhere. Brenner’s voice is personable, professional, and approachable; regardless of one’s editorial bent, the information she presents is accessible and immediately usable.”

Karen Conlin, editor and owner of Grammargeddon

The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors is the book I wish I had when I embarked on my editing journey. Brenner’s wisdom and years of experience are an amazing resource, and her advice is direct and to the point without being cumbersome or intimidating. Regardless of where you live or how far along you are in your freelance editing career, you won’t want to skip this book.”

Alicia Chantal, owner of Fresh Look Editing

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