Mentoring

Are you new to freelance copyediting and looking for a mentor? E-mail me to inquire about my availability as a mentor. The cost of being mentored? You must agree to mentor others as you gain more experience.

My mentoring method is straightforward. Mentees e-mail as often as they wish, for as long a time period as they wish. Some work with me for only a few weeks; others, for several months. Mentees ask questions on all sorts of topics: education and training, grammar and syntax, starting their own business, office equipment, setting up a work schedule, finding work, setting rates, nurturing editor–client relationships, balancing personal life and work life. . . . I answer to the best of my ability and as quickly as possible, given my full workload and life outside of work. I sympathize, motivate, cheerlead, listen, and advise. I don't provide study exercises or have a syllabus or give out certificates; I don't provide work or project leads. I don't share clients' contact information.

Before you request mentoring, please read this post on the blog FreelanceSwitch.

Also, consider this quote from my colleague Amy Schneider:

I'll never understand the posts I see online that go something like this: "I've just started my editorial services business. Does anyone have any advice on [how to run it]? Any tips greatly appreciated!" Cart before the horse, and in the age of Google especially flummoxing. Sure, we all ask for advice. But to start there? I wish I had had access to the wealth of information that's available now back when I started my business. I did most of my information gathering the old-fashioned way. I was barely using e-mail at the time. If you're going to be a self-employed editor (or, for that matter, self-employed in any field), your number one skill needs to be . . . finding information on your own.

To get an idea of how much work it takes to get into—and stay in—freelance editorial work, please read this post by Cassie Armstrong, one of my mentees, on the blog Deliberate Ink. If you're considering transitioning to editing from another career field, read this post on the blog EditorMom.