I finally got my act together and became a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association, through which I intend to do lots and lots of professional development (i.e sign up to some developmental editing related courses and improve my knowledge). I’ve already done a book mapping course with them and was very impressed with the level of content, plus I got a lot out of it. I intend to study their three developmental editing courses (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) when they become available again.

So, I get to display this banner on my website: EFA_logomem_85T

In other news, and in a moment of severe procrastination despite my heavy schedule, I went through all the log sheets I keep and worked out just how many books I have either edited or beta read since being hired as an intern for an independent publishing company (the experience of which set me on the path to becoming a developmental editor). As a quick summary to those who haven’t had the time to marvel in the endeavours on my about [me] page, I was accepted as an intern for Hawkins Publishing Group back in 2013, midway through studying for my BA in English Literature. I was an intern for three semesters (American company), and upon leaving, I decided to see if editing was something I wanted to do as a career. I have a short attention span and get bored easily, plus I go through phases of wanting to do something then change my mind a couple of months down the line. But no, four years on, I am still editing (and love what I do).

I started out with free beta reads — very detailed beta reads — and did this pretty much for the remainder of my degree (a year and a bit). There was no definite moment when I became a developmental editor. (I still think of myself as a [very fussy and particular] beta reader, but I have been lead to believe (by some clients) that the advice I offer is way beyond a beta read and in realms of developmental editing.

I started charging for my services when an author I’d done a freebie beta read for insisted on paying for my time with the next book in their series.

Am I boring you yet?

Probably.

Anyway, back to the end result of an hour of procrastination. I bought a cute little reading log book a while back and used that to write in all the book titles I’ve done (I’ll add more details to the logs when I have time):

Editing log

Editing log

The photograph on the right will be my next entry, which means I’ve either edited or beta read eighty-two books in total. That’s around twenty-six books a year since I undertook those first few beta reads. Not all of the books are published yet, although having gone through this list, I can see I’ve been slacking in adding some to the published projects page. I keep forgetting to ask for testimonials as well.

[divider]There are changes on the horizon as I need to free up some time for studying so I can improve the services I offer. I also need to finish my own novel as I’m getting nagged encouragement from all directions now (from clients as well as friends). I need to learn to say the words ‘I don’t have any bookings left for this month or the next’ more than I do, instead of overloading myself by squeezing edits into an already packed schedule. So, if you are a client, or are thinking of hiring me, please do book as soon as you have a rough idea when you might need me for an edit. I don’t charge booking fees (as you know) and I’m happy to reschedule if delays occur.

At present, I am taking bookings for: September, the first two weeks of October, and December. I don’t edit in November as that is reserved for Nanowrimo. So I have eight editing slots available in all.

September (3)

October (2) (First two weeks)

November (0) (Reserved for Nanowrimo writing frenzy)

December (3)

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