Contract Editing. . . . how do I get started??

Hi obededom,

I just started editing, and while I don't know if my experience is typical, this is how I got into it:

First, it turned out to be important to have writing samples. Many of the editing positions I applied for wanted a writing sample, I guess as the shortest way to seeing if you would be a good editor. (Presumably someone with a lousy writing sample would make a lousy editor, as well.) For the first job that I got, having a published writing sample is what made the difference. Luckily, I had one from another, more writing-based job I was applying for.

However, you may be able to bypass this step because the importance for me is that it allowed me to put "editor" at the top of my resume. If you ease into an editing position for your company, that will serve the same purpose. Your pizza money jobs may help, too. The single thing that potential employers seem most interested in is experience; the second is your rate. Keep it low, at least at the beginning. (Browse through lots of job listings to get an idea of what "low" means.)

There are lots of freelance online resources; two of the best are elance and craigslist. The former charges money but has some especially good leads -- I have bypassed it so far but once I get enough experience to land larger/ higher-paying jobs, that's where I'll go. So far I've gotten everything off of craigslist, which is free.

Good luck!

Thank you for the advice!! I have a piece of poetry that is going to be published in a collection with other authors (which i don't know if that will help my cause, but it's still cool, lol) and i have an idea for a book that i'm going to be working on. It will probably be a while before anything happens with that. Anyway, I'll definitely check out those sites and browse around for competitive rates. Again, I greatly appreciate the advice.