Editing is expensive. At least it is depending on who you ask. As a Book Editor, I know my services are invaluable and that any client lucky enough to have me perform the edits will be quite pleased at how great their writing looks after a good, solid polish. After editing over two hundred books, the whole practice of editing books is just natural.
The same goes for other seasoned editors like me. We edit books well, and we love the work we do. However, there does come a time when an editor may have a slump in sales, a sudden lack of clients coming through the door. It happens in business, of course. What’s interesting is that writers who hire us, or a passerby who doesn’t know the editorial industry, has no idea how we book editors actually get work.
So, you’ll hear it straight from the horse’s mouth—an answer to how editors get work in the first place. Do they go out and advertise in person? Do they turn themselves around and do the hokey-pokey? Who knows? I do.
Sometimes I get this question from someone I meet for the first time, someone who has never met a book editor in person. Innocent enough question, but I would call it loaded. Editors don’t generally have one client or one method of getting work. Book editors are solopreneurs, run their own operations, and find clients through all sorts of means. So, if you ask one in passing, you might hear several different answers. I’ve got five listed here to give you an idea.
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