Proofreading/editing, $0.75 per page

[bishop]

I know that forums typically frown upon a first post being an advertisement. I haven't yet established myself here so I will understand if many questions are asked.

In short, my wife & I are full-time educators looking to do some freelance editing on the side. I'm mainly doing this myself right now, but she has agreed to make herself available when she can. We both have undergraduate degrees in English literature. She has her MA in English and I have my M.Ed. in school counseling. I've been published once and did a lot of work with web design and editing in college. She's been published once and has done copy editing for a major university publication.

I'm currently advertising locally because it's easier to do business that way, but we can do long-distance work. So I thought this would be a good place to advertise. From what I can tell, our rate is pretty low for this sort of work.

I cooked up this idea because we have credit card debt (under $10k, but nagging at me) to pay down. We put a good bit towards it every month out of our budget, but every extra little bit helps.

I'm just discovering the personal finance blogs/forums after having discovered Clark Howard several months ago. I wish I'd been this smart about my finances when I was younger. Our financial advisor says we're doing great and making very good decisions for folks our age (25-35 range), but I know I could have done a little better.

At any rate, if you have proofreading or editing work to be done and would like to help out a fellow finance-minder, contact me. Any questions you have that would be helpful to others should be asked within the thread.

[bishop]

bump.

I've successfully edited for two clients at this point, one of which is across the country. I'm doing business through Revolution MoneyExchange...the client gets $25 (essentially subtracted from the total editing cost) and I get a $10 bonus. Not bad.

[wwstewart]

Do you have a website by any chance? If you do, perhaps I could give you a link or something to help you out.

[bishop]

Originally Posted by wwstewart

Do you have a website by any chance? If you do, perhaps I could give you a link or something to help you out.

I don't have a dedicated website for myself or this little venture. Inquiries can go directly to secondlookediting@charter.net, though.

[beren]

Is there a reason why you limit yourself to editing? How about ghostwriting or blogging?

[bishop]

Originally Posted by beren

Is there a reason why you limit yourself to editing? How about ghostwriting or blogging?

I suppose it's a question of time and energy. Having edited so many papers through college and grad school, it's pretty easy to me. I have a blog but don't update it very much, and ghostwriting seems like a pretty big time investment. Maybe in the future, but right now I am settling into my job as an elementary school counselor and it takes a lot of my time and energy.

Good question, though. Has anyone here done ghostwriting?

[wwstewart]

No, I'm not a fan of horror.

*snicker*

[hermione]

I already mentioned this book in the "What book are you currently reading thread," but coincidentally, I just read a book called The Ghost by Robert Harris who also wrote Enigma, Fatherland, and several other bestsellers. The Ghost is about a ghostwriter hired to write the memoirs of a fictitious ex-British PM. It was the first time I'd ever read about a ghostwriter, and there are snippets at the beginning of each chapter from a book on ghostwriting and sounds really interesting.

[bishop]

Originally Posted by wwstewart

No, I'm not a fan of horror.

*snicker*

Giggity giggity!

...or wokka wokka wokka, depending on one's generation.

[purplefdu]

Originally Posted by bishop

Giggity giggity!

...or wokka wokka wokka, depending on one's generation.

I'm not sure which you want too attribute those to, but I can't say I'd use either....

As for editing, I know I've done some online work through a company that is working on digitizing publications. They pay way less than that so I imagine while you service is likely better than their average (its not too hard to get hired and the amount that gets flagged or passed on is disgusting) I'm sure there are people who charge less, or a great majority of authors abuse friends and family to help instead.

I've always thought ghostwriting sounded like a thankless job myself, although I imagine it pays well.