By Kristy S. Gilbert
This month is business month on the Utah Freelance Editors blog, so we’re tackling some of the most common questions editors have when they’re starting or expanding their businesses. Today we answer that sprawling question: How do you find work?
I polled the Utah Freelance Editors Facebook group for data points. Twenty-seven people responded to the survey, all of them UFE members. For most questions, respondents could choose more than one answer. Keep that sample size and group in mind when looking at the results. They provide a snapshot of UFE, not of all freelance editors at large. But the strategies and comments below should help editors discover some new ways of finding clients for their business, and each section ends with some key takeaways.
The first question I asked was where UFE editors find work. The chart below maps their responses (remember that folks could choose multiple options).
TAKEAWAYS: The biggest takeaways from this chart art how important personal referrals are—only 7 percent of editors who responded didn’t get work from personal referrals.
The rest of this article will look at each source of work individually to examine how each source works, what’s good about it, what the pitfalls are, and how to get the best results.
This is a long post. Please use these links to jump to the section that interests you most:
- Personal Referrals
- Online Marketplaces
- Job Lists
- Social Media
- Conferences
- Subcontracting for Editing Companies
- Other Words of Wisdom
Personal Referrals (93 Percent)
Personal referrals come from many sources and in many forms. Here are some of the sources from which UFE editors receive referrals.
TAKEAWAYS: The biggest takeaways from this chart are (1) your friends and family want to help you out, so make sure they know what you do, and (2) clients and fellow editors are big sources of business. There simply is no substitute for being known as someone who does good work by people who have worked with you.
So how do you get referrals? I asked if editors ask for referrals explicitly, let it happen organically, or use a mix of both strategies depending on the situation. Most of the responding editors (70 percent) never explicitly ask for referrals and a minority (30 percent) use a mix. No one who responded had a strategy to explicitly ask for referrals on a regular basis. (That isn’t to say it’s a bad strategy, just not one that UFE editors use.)
But testimonials function in much the same way as referrals. Testimonials from clients (or writing group members) serve as a sort of social proof of an editor’s skills and professionalism. And testimonials are a lot easier to ask for. Many editors (35 percent) have a system to ask for referrals, 40 percent sometimes ask for referrals, and only about 25 percent don’t ask for testimonials at all.
TAKEAWAY: Word-of-mouth referrals often happen organically, but you can build similar social proof by building a collection of testimonials to display on your website or share with potential clients.
Online Marketplaces (11 Percent)
Online marketplaces are sites where clients go to find professionals for certain types of work. Some examples are Reedsy (for book publishing), Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr, FlexJobs, TaskRabbit, and Guru.
Online marketplaces are less popular among UFE members than some other means to get work. There are several reasons for this, but the most common reasons are that clients using these sites tend to be less serious (or less willing to pay professional rates) and that the marketplace platform takes a percentage of the fee you charge the client.
The people who took the survey marked Reedsy and Upwork as the marketplaces that had the most professionally minded clients on average, but every marketplace will hold a mix of professional and casual clients.
Although marketplaces aren’t usually the best option to get the majority of your work, they can still be useful. Many editors use them to fill unexpected gaps in their schedules or to increase their visibility to broader audiences. Some new editors start on marketplaces to build their portfolios. Others charge higher prices on the marketplaces to make up for the platform fees.
TAKEAWAYS: Use marketplaces judiciously. Find ones that attract a higher percentage of serious clients in your niche, and use them as only one piece in your overall business strategy. Make sure to charge enough that the platform fee doesn’t take too much of your profit.
Online Job Lists (15 Percent)
Online job lists are similar to marketplaces, but the lists tend to be more targeted. If the job list charges any fees, those fees are paid by the client posting the job (not the freelancer) or are bundled into a membership fee for a professional organization. The editors who responded to the survey have found work on the following job lists:
Job lists take a little more effort—you have to go to them and search for relevant jobs on a regular basis—but they can be a good way to fill your schedule or find jobs outside your regular network. You already know the client needs your services—no need to cold-contact them—and you can see all the requirements (and usually the pay) up front to decide if it’s a good fit for you.
TAKEAWAYS: If you have the time to peruse job boards, they can be a good place to build your client list and grow your referral network. If you’re pressed for time, cruising a large number of job boards will provide diminishing returns on your time investment.
Social Media (52 Percent)
Social media present many ways of finding and interacting with potential clients, and each platform has its own quirks and personality. The sheer number of platforms and all the advice on what you should and shouldn’t be doing on them can get overwhelming. So here are the platforms and strategies that work for UFE members.
Common Platforms
The most commonly used platforms are the following:
- Facebook (90 percent of respondents)
- LinkedIn (56 percent)
- Twitter (28 percent)
- Instagram (28 percent)
- Pinterest (5 percent)
None of the respondents use Reddit or TikTok. That may mean they aren’t useful for marketing editing services … or it might mean there’s a gap there that you can fill if you’re ambitious enough.
Common Uses
But using a social media site effectively doesn’t mean you have to be a social media maven. Sometimes it’s just another way to find job listings. About 72 percent of respondents use social media to respond to calls for editors.
About 67 percent use social media to engage with specific groups or communities relevant to their industry. This usually means joining and being active in relevant Facebook or LinkedIn groups or checking and engaging with certain hashtags on Twitter and Instagram. Look for Facebook groups organized around certain genres, writing conferences, or locations. Some good general-purpose hashtags to start with are #AmWriting, #AmEditing, and #edibuddies.
About 61 percent use social media to develop relationships with potential clients, 3 percent use social media to advertise openings in their schedules, and 7 percent engage in content marketing.
Content marketing is probably what most people think they need to do on social media: create useful, funny, or engaging posts about a certain topic (or use social media to drive traffic to a website where you create useful content). This can be an effective strategy, though you usually need to be in it for the long haul (one viral post won’t make a career), to develop strategies to repurpose content, and to enjoy social media for its own sake and not purely for ROI metrics.
Different Purposes
Most respondents use different social media sites for different things.
Editor Natalie Phister says, “I use LinkedIn to find both freelancing and non-freelancing work, mostly. I use Facebook as a space to interact as a freelancer with others, with the goal to build up a follower base.” Eanna Webb of Penmanship Editing keeps her professional social media to Facebook: “I don’t find the others have the same community engagement.”
Crystal Shelly of Rabbit with a Red Pen explained, “I mostly use Twitter because the editing community has a large presence there. Most of my success on Twitter is through professional networking rather than interacting directly with writers.” Other respondents also mentioned networking with other editors on Twitter; few mentioned it as a place to snag clients directly. (Personally, I’ve snagged one writer client through Twitter DMs, but most jobs I get through Twitter by responding to gigs posted by other editors.)
Instagram provides a good place to have a tidy, curated brand presence, and it is a good option for folks who like to create visually appealing posts or work in a highly visual niche.
TAKEAWAYS: Use the social media platforms that are the most comfortable for you are have the highest incidence of your target clients—social media gets thoroughly exhausting otherwise. If content marketing interests you, it can definitely pay off, but it can also be profitable to casually network with groups and communities and to respond to calls for editors that get posted on these sites. Start with what you can manage.
Conferences (41 Percent)
Conferences provide excellent opportunities to create genuine personal connections with potential clients. If you edit fiction, memoirs, or other books, you’ve probably heard about writing conferences already (check out this list of local-to-Utah writing conferences!). Non-book industries also have industry-specific conferences where a specialist editor could network.
There are many ways to work a conference effectively. Some strategies UFE survey respondents used included the following:
- Chatting informally with other conference attendees (79 percent)
- Participating in panels (50 percent)
- Creating and giving presentations or workshops (43 percent)
- Offering on-site critiques (43 percent)
- Having a table in the vendor’s room (36 percent)
- Advertising in the conference program (14 percent)
Several respondents mentioned that you don’t have to be pushy to be effective (and being pushy or too focused on making a sale will turn off most conference contacts). An anonymous respondent said, “Just talking to people and being friendly is pretty effective.” Natalie Phister and an editor from Better Than Spell Check both mentioned that having business cards makes handing out your information easy and low risk. Conferences are full of people asking, “What do you write?” and “What do you do?” Editors can answer those questions briefly and hand out their business cards. Then the contact point is made and potential clients will ask you more questions. Conference attendees who aren’t interested won’t push things further.
For the Introverts
Especially introverted or shy folks may have a difficult time striking up conversations with new people. My first bit of advice is to just psych yourself up and do it. Make one or two connections that were uncomfortable to make. (Then spend a day or two recovering.) It gets easier with practice.
But it can also be easier if you give a presentation, participate in a panel, or have a vendor’s table. Then conference participants can get to know you a bit and approach you if they’re interested in learning more. That can take the pressure off.
I—a profoundly introverted person averse to sales—have also found great success tailing my extroverted writer friends or placing my very friendly husband at my vendor table. So if you can attend a conference with other people who help you get outside your shell or introduce you to new people, take advantage of the opportunity.
TAKEAWAYS: Attend conferences where your ideal clients are likely to be (it may take some trial and error to find the right conferences). Find a balance between using your existing network and getting outside your comfort zone. Make sure you have business cards with your website and/or other contact information on them.
Cold Contacting (15 Percent)
Cold contacting is when you reach out to a potential client when that client hasn’t posted a specific call for editors and you have no prior contact with that client. (A not-so-cold contact would be someone you met at a conference or through social media.) For editing, these are rarely actual cold calls (usually made over the phone) and more likely happen over email.
An important part of cold contacting is setting your expectations. Only a third (33 percent) of UFE respondents who make cold contacts get a positive response most of the time. Another third receive a positive response less than half the time, while another third receive positive responses very rarely.
One of the biggest hurdles for cold contacting is finding contact information for the right person at a company. Most UFE cold contactors (75 percent) found the contact information through personal networking—a lot of it boils down to who you know. Sixty-three percent also found contact information on a company’s website, while 25 percent found it on LinkedIn. At least one respondent mentioned that finding the information can be difficult, especially in high-demand industries.
Successful UFE cold contactors had a few tips for anyone exploring this avenue for finding work:
“Always be professional, and have curated samples ready to send on request.” Curated samples of your work will show your skills and expertise in an area relevant to the company you’re contacting. They also help you show what an anonymous respondent called “a good fit between my experience and the potential client’s needs.”
When you can demonstrate that you understand a client’s industry and needs and can quickly fit into their workflow, they’re more likely to hire you when the need arises—even if that’s months down the road. You can demonstrate that through previous work, testimonials, and referrals.
TAKEAWAYS: It can’t hurt to try, especially if you have a system to quickly create emails to introduce yourself and a readily adaptable set of samples or previous projects. But don’t get too emotionally invested in any one cold contact. Because you’re introducing yourself to people who either don’t know they need your services or who aren’t looking for your services right now, fewer of these potentials will convert to clients.
Professional Associations (22 Percent)
Professional associations can provide opportunities to expand your network and clientele. However, that outcome is usually less direct than some of us might like.
Most of the survey respondents who get work through professional associations find the jobs because they’ve networked with other editors in the group who then refer clients (62 percent). Editors often get job requests from clients outside their niche or who need work completed when the editors are already booked. In these instances, we pass the work along to editors we know—and professional associations can be a great place to get to know each other.
Some professional associations also have database listings (like the EFA, ACES, and UFE databases), and 31 percent of those who get work through an association had clients find them through these databases. About 23 percent land gigs by responding to a professional association’s job list (UFE doesn’t have one, but the EFA and ACES do).
UFE members often join more than one professional association. Here are some of the others they currently belong to:
- Editorial Freelancers Association (32 percent)
- ACES: The Society for Editing (18 percent)
- LDS Publishing and Media Association (14 percent)
- League of Utah Writers, ANWA, IBPA, and others (9 percent)
TAKEAWAYS: Membership in a professional association won’t have you immediately rolling in clients, but they can expand your network with fellow editors (who provide referrals), and you may occasionally get work through their job list or member database.
Content Marketing (19 Percent)
Content marketing includes many different types of writing and content development: blog posts, social media posts, videos, podcasts, downloadable tools, and more. Material developed for content marketing is usually given away for free (or in return for a potential client’s email address) and is used to build an editor’s audience and network. Even though only a portion of that audience will convert to paying clients, with a big enough audience, that portion is enough.
Currently no UFE respondents regularly produce audio-only content (like podcasts). One respondent develops videos, nine write blog articles, nine create helpful social media posts, and 5 develop helpful products or freebies (like guides, toolkits, or printables).
Content marketing isn’t a golden ticket. It takes time and effort to develop a voice, approach, and audience. But it can have a powerful snowball effect. Crystal Shelley says, “I used to write a new blog post every other week. While I don’t blog as frequently anymore, my previous blog posts continue to generate visits. I had little to no audience at first, but as I started to make a name for myself in the editing community, people started reading my content. This helped my SEO (I assume), and I now get visits to my blog from internet searches, social media, and elsewhere. I blog about a mix of topics, some of which are geared toward writers and some toward editors. Professional networking has supplemented the success of my content marketing.”
When asked about their best practices for content marketing, UFE respondents recommend being yourself and staying approachable. Eanna Webb finds success in “being real and human. Being my normal chatty self, rather than putting on a cold, professional persona.” Multiple respondents recommended using humor, while another said says simply answering questions intelligently works wonders.
TAKEAWAYS: Don’t expect a quick return, but a sizeable collection of content can pay off for a long time, especially if it’s on a platform you control (like a blog or other evergreen platform). Find a voice and audience that fits your niche.
Subcontracting for Editing Companies (30 Percent)
Almost a third of those who responded to this survey get work through other editing companies. This means that the company has a pool of editors they hire work out to. Usually the pay is a bit less than you can charge when you work independently, but you get to piggyback off these companies’ marketing and reputation. About 64 percent of respondents worked for companies that are local to Utah; 50 percent work for companies in another US state or region; 14 percent work for an international company.
The paths to working with these companies vary.
- 50 percent of respondents got their first subcontracting gig by responding to a company’s public call for qualified editors.
- 50 percent had a company reach out to them directly (presumably because those editors were visible in editing networks).
- 30 percent joined a company’s roster by cold contacting the company
- 30 percent received a personal referral to the company.
- A small portion of respondents began working for an editing company as an intern and stayed in contact when the internship ended.
Editing companies work in different ways. Many of them try to pair specific projects with editors whose expertise matches the project (over 80 percent of respondents mentioned this setup). But some of them will ask multiple editors for time and price quotes for the same project and then choose an editor (close to 50 percent of respondents mentioned this setup).
TAKEAWAYS: Subcontracting for a company can take some of the pressure off of you for marketing and building a reputation. They can provide access to a more diverse set of projects, especially if you have a limited network. Expect lower pay than when you work independently. Some companies do not allow you to put your full name on project files or have restrictions on listing projects in your portfolio, so read any company’s non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and non-compete clauses carefully before signing anything.
Other Words of Widsom
For the last question on the UFE Finding Work Survey, I asked, “What other advice would you give to a new editor looking for work or an experienced editor who hopes to expand their client base?”
“Get experience with small projects and play to your strengths. Buy a copy of The Chicago Manual of Style (or subscribe to the online version). Get involved with writer groups and advertise as people ask for advice.” —Better Than Spell Check
“Don’t be super picky, do a great job, keep learning.” —Anonymous
“Let people know what you do! It’s okay to do favors for people, but develop boundaries. Charge what you are worth. If you don’t know what your skills are valued at in the market, find out.” —Anonymous
“Engage areas where your clients are going to be. I don’t use other places, like associations or conferences, because I work with exclusively with genre indie authors and indie publishers. And they typically engage in the online writing community. But if you’re going to be working with publishers, then engage areas where they going to be able to see you.” —Eanna Webb
“Develop a good professional relationship with a busy editor who knows the quality of your work and is willing to refer projects to you.” —Anonymous
“Finding my niche really helped me focus my business goals and marketing strategies. I started out with no leads and no clients for the first few months of my business. Even though it was discouraging, I focused on building my skills, figuring out my business processes, networking, and generating content. All of these efforts paid off when I started to book projects because I already had a solid foundation for my business. Being visible within the editing community has also been monumental in my successes, but it’s also not the only way. Test strategies, then assess and adjust as you see what works and what doesn’t. The important thing is to get yourself out there and keep going. It can be hard to see gains in the short-term, but something you’re doing today might pay off down the road.” —Crystal Shelley
“Get to know freelancers who do other work related to the industry, like cover and interior design. They will often have clients looking for editors.” —Anonymous
“Know your genres and your expectations so you know what market you’re good for. At the same time, be open to stepping out of your comfort zone to learn more and expand your horizons. Communicate well with your authors throughout the process so they know you see them as individuals. Having a good relationship with the author makes them feel confident to recommend you to others.” —Lia Huntington
Watch for the next two installments in this business-of-editing series: how to nurture client relationships and how to set pricing.
Kristy S. Gilbert is a book editor and designer specializing in science fiction and fantasy for her company, Looseleaf Editorial & Production. In 2021, she was named the first-ever Editor of the Year for the League of Utah Writers and Utah Freelance Editors. Outside of all things bookish, she enjoys cooking, kayaking, and krav maga.