Leaving Academia: Becoming a Freelance Editor9 Jan 2025

A Deep Dive into Developmental Editing: How to Find Academic Clients, Set Your Rates, and Deliver the Final Product

In this episode I talk with developmental and line editor Ellen Tilton-Cantrell, PhD.

After serving as a visiting assistant professor at a local college for a year, Ellen decided that she wanted a more flexible career that would allow her to be at home with and available for her children. A mentor recommended that she try editing, so she enrolled in an editing certificate program and some other editing courses and got to work.

But the meat of this episode centers on Ellen’s process for developmental editing. We cover:

⚡ How clients find her and hire her

⚡ Two services she offers–a manuscript assessment and a structural edit–and what’s included in each

⚡ How she prices each service and the several project tiers she offers clients to accommodate their diverse needs and budgets

⚡ The deliverables she provides clients that keep them coming back and referring her to their colleagues

Ellen also shares information about the book development workshop she ran this summer, and her plans for a repeat in 2025. This 8-week course and group coaching program helps academic authors to finish their book manuscripts during their summer “down time” by helping them stay focused and accountable.

Watch this episode on YouTube or listen on your favorite podcast app.

Ready to take the leap into freelance academic editing? Get my free video series on academic editing and coaching:

https://AcadiaEditing.com/BecomeAnEditor

Want to work with Ellen? You can get in touch here:

https://tiliaeditorial.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellen-tilton-cantrell/

To learn more about Ellen's book development and other workshops, go here: https://tiliaeditorial.com/writing-workshops. You can sign up for her workshop interest list (https://tiliaeditorial.com/interest-list) to receive an email when enrollment opens and to schedule a 20-minute Q&A call with Ellen to learn more about the workshops.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(91)

Group Coaching or 1:1? How to Choose the Right Path Out of Academia

You know you're ready to leave academia. What you don't know is whether you need a program with a syllabus and a group cohort, or one person in your corner helping you move at your own speed.Here's th...

2 Jul 53min

$10k Months as an Editor? The Exact Homepage Structure I Used to Hit This Major Revenue Goal

Your website is losing you clients before they even scroll down.If your editing or coaching website leads with your credentials, your degree, your publications—you're doing it backwards. And it's prob...

25 Jun 1h 3min

"I Can't Leave, I Need the Insurance": How to Leave Academia and Freelance With a Chronic Illness

Is the fear of losing your health insurance keeping you trapped in academia? This worry keeps a lot of chronically ill academics stuck in jobs that are making them sicker—and the premise is worth ques...

18 Jun 46min

7 Clients in 12 Weeks: How Annie Left a 20-Year Teaching Career and Launched Her Editing Business

You've been doing everything right—teaching, advising, serving on committees, even organizing a union—and still hitting a wall.Annie Brubaker did all of that for 20 years, watched her salary get froze...

4 Jun 58min

The AI Editing Backlash Nobody's Talking About (And Why It's Good News for You)

You're worried AI is going to kill academic editing and coaching. Here's what's actually happening—and why it might be the best news you've heard all year.If you've asked yourself, "Should I even both...

28 Mai 46min

The 1 Thing Killing Your Academic Business Before You Even Start

You spent months preparing to launch your editing or coaching business, and you still haven't started.Or maybe you launched, got crickets, and shelved the whole idea. Here's the truth: it's not your i...

21 Mai 45min

The Academic Skills You're Giving Away for Free (and What They're Actually Worth)

⏱️ Stop doing this academic work for free.Every Tuesday, you wake up, drink your coffee, read a dissertation chapter, meet with a struggling grad student, teach a seminar, peer review an article, and ...

14 Mai 45min

The Identity Shift Every Academic Needs Before Becoming a Paid Editor or Coach

Does selling your editing or coaching services make you feel gross, salesy, or like a fraud?You're not alone, and there's a reason behind that discomfort, but it has nothing to do with selling itself....

7 Mai 44min