Careers in Freelance Editing—Publishing CareerBuilder

Freelance editors provide a wide range of editorial services to authors and clients. In this Publishing CareerBuilder, we will discuss key stages in the editorial process, and explore services including developmental editing; book coaching; working with graduate students, international authors, and corporate clients; line editing, copyediting, indexing, and proofreading. Our panelists—authors and editors of The Art of Academic Editing and The Freelance Editor’s Handbook—will share their insights into how you can find clients, price your services, and build and maintain a profitable and enjoyable business as a freelance editor.

Cover: Freelance Editor's Handbook by Suzy Bills
Cover: Art of Academic Editing: A Guide for Authors and Editors

RSVP for this CareerBuilder (Free) – Virtual

Panelists

Suzy Bills, Assistant Teaching Professor of Editing and Publishing, Brigham Young University; author of The Freelance Editor’s Handbook 

Leslie Castro-Woodhouse, Ph.D., founder, Origami Editorial; co-editor, The Art of Academic Editing: A Guide for Authors and Editors 

Cara Jordan, Ph.D., Co-founder, Flatpage; co-editor, The Art of Academic Editing: A Guide for Authors and Editors 

Maria Snyder, Ph.D., editor and translator, chapter author in The Art of Academic Editing

Bios

Suzy Bills

Suzy Bills is an editor, author, and faculty member in the editing and publishing program at BYU. She’s owned a writing and editing business since 2006, working with clients to publish everything from books to dissertations to technical manuals. She loves sharing her skills with others, whether through teaching and coaching editors and authors, helping authors get their thoughts on paper, or fine-tuning their writing. Her book The Freelance Editor’s Handbook: A Complete Guide to Making Your Business Thrive was published by the University of California Press in 2021.

Leslie Castro-Woodhouse

Leslie Castro-Woodhouse, Ph.D., runs Origami Editorial, which offers developmental editing services and book coaching for academic authors. She holds a PhD in History from the University of California, Berkeley and is the author of Woman between Two Kingdoms: Dara Rasami and the Making of Modern Thailand (Cornell U Press, 2021), based on her doctoral dissertation. She has extensive experience as a journal editor and peer reviewer, including a former post at the University of San Francisco as managing editor of the journal Asia Pacific Perspectives. Before becoming a developmental editor, Leslie taught courses in Asian studies at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of San Francisco.

Cara Jordan

Cara Jordan, Ph.D., worked as a freelance academic editor before cofounding Flatpage, an editorial agency and publishing house. She earned a PhD from the City University of New York Graduate Center. She works on journal articles and book manuscripts across the humanities and social sciences. As chief editor at Flatpage, she oversees a team of editors and manages all projects. She has a certificate in editing from the University of California San Diego Extended Studies—where she currently teaches advanced copyediting—and is a professional member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading, and a full member of the Editorial Freelancers Association and ACES: The Society for Editing. Cara coedited The Art of Academic Editing: A Guide for Authors and Editors

Maria Snyder

Maria Snyder, Ph.D., is an editor who also translates from French and German to English. She wrote the chapter “Working with International Authors” in The Art of Academic Editing. She has translated and edited texts ranging from literary to technical and early modern to contemporary. Previously, as a tenured professor, she taught translation and media studies.

Co-Moderated by Nicole Mintz, Career Services Director, College of Professional Studies, and John W. Warre, Director and Associate Professor, Graduate Program in Publishing, George Washington University

Navigating Publishing Careers in a Stable Landscape of Continuous Change

Podcast episode on the Professionals Podcast

Listen on Apple Podcasts • Listen on Spotify

The publishing landscape has many contractions: a stable, mature industry, publishing has traditions and practices forged over decades and even centuries, yet publishing is also ever-evolving. Like the two faces of Janus, publishing faces its past while looking toward its vibrant future. From the transition from print to electronic journals and eBooks, significant growth in audiobooks and podcasting, and the integration of AI technologies, the industry continues to undergo a metamorphosis. Over my three decades in the field, I’ve witnessed and written about these shifts, and strive to continuously adapt our approach to reflect trends and best practices in our curriculum.

When eBooks burst onto the scene in the late ’90s and early 2000s, pundits speculated about print’s ultimate demise. The enduring pleasure of holding a well-made book, however, ensures that printed books remain the dominant format in book publishing, while eBooks hover around 20% of the market (with large variations dependent on the genre, audience, publisher, and market). Electronic journals dominate scholarly publishing. Audiobooks have grown by double digits for a dozen straight years, due to the proliferation of smartphones, platforms such as Audible and Spotify, and efforts by public libraries to make audiobooks more accessible.

Often overlooked by entrants considering careers in publishing are the fields of scholarly, academic, education, and professional publishing, including careers in scholarly journals, which provide numerous opportunities. Prominent associations and societies in STEM as well as the humanities and social sciences have significant publishing operations, which often serve as significant drivers of the association, and provide numerous, diverse, and rewarding careers. Our students also find opportunities with university presses and for-profit scholarly publishers. Other students find opportunities in trade (general interest) publishing with the Big 5 or with independent presses. A significant and increasing number of students launch their own ventures or find opportunities in publishing startups, services, audio, and more, or find jobs that involve publishing activities at organizations that are not predominantly publishers, but where publishing is nevertheless essential to their business.

Our curriculum has always included a commitment to developing ethical leadership in publishing, a theme that has become increasingly pertinent in today’s landscape. Our annual GW Ethics in Publishing Conference, in its 14th year in 2024,, encompasses a broader range of topics, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, the ethical implications of emerging technologies like AI, workplace equity, multilingual publishing, and more.

AI represents the most transformative change in publishing since the advent of computers and desktop publishing in the 1980s and 1990s. The integration of AI into publishing workflows presents both opportunities and challenges. While it has the potential to streamline processes and enhance efficiency, AI raises numerous concerns around authorship, research integrity, disinformation, job displacement and many other ethical considerations. As publishers, and educators, we must navigate these complexities while equipping students with the skills to harness AI responsibly.

My own experience with AI is cautious and optimistic. We must ensure that a human is in the loop at the beginning and at the end. We must ensure that AI makes our jobs more efficient, creative, and strategic, and not replace our jobs. For my presentation at a publishing conference in Guadalajara, Mexico, I utilized the AI-powered translation tools of DeepL to translate my presentation and tools I’d created to share in Excel. I subsequently verified and refined the translation before presenting in Spanish; still, using AI saved valuable time without compromising quality.

Maintaining a stance of cautious optimism, we can recognize the potential of new technologies to make publishing more agile and efficient, while remaining mindful of their ethical implications, including the very real dangers of bias and disinformation. As our graduates become leaders in the field and shape the future of publishing, they will be embracing innovation mindfully, upholding the principles of integrity and inclusivity that underpin our industry.

Publishing CareerBuilder: Success Stories – Strategies that Work

Mon, September 27, 2021 – 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT

Calling all publishing professionals — aspiring and experienced! Let us help you prepare for that next opportunity!

After many organizations instituted hiring freezes in 2020 due to the pandemic, the pace of hiring in the publishing field is heating up and many GW Publishing students and alumni have found new opportunities.

Join this Publishing CareerBuilder to hear how students and alumni have leveraged networking, resume building, goal setting, and perseverance to succeed in their job search. Learn how they utilized CPS Career Services, Publishing courses, other GW Publishing opportunities, and other resources to help them reach their career goals.

We will be joined by MPS in Publishing students Aimar Galarza and Anna Miller (both with Pubvendo) and recent MPS in Publishing graduates Komal Ganjoo (Penn State University Press) and Gabrielle Bethancourt-Hughes (Wiley).

The CareerBuilder Series is designed to provide training and discussion on areas that are somewhat out of course goals, but may be important to your career or interests.

RSVP (Free and open to all): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/publishing-careerbuilder-success-stories-strategies-that-work-tickets-173602207877

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MODERATORS:

  • Nicole Mintz is a Career Coach who specializes in executive leadership development coaching. She currently serves as the Director of Career Services for GW’s College of Professional Studies.
  • John W. Warren is Director and Professor of the MPS in Publishing program, College of Professional Studies. He has 30 years of senior management experience in publishing, having led groundbreaking initiatives in digital content development and distribution, including eBooks and enhanced eBooks, short-form digital content, open access journals, and open educational resources. Prior to leading GW’s publishing program, he launched a new university press and library publishing program at George Mason University, and directed marketing and ebook development efforts at Georgetown University Press, the RAND Corporation, and Fondo de Cultura Económica USA.