Dr. Freelance: I recently acquired a new client who hired me to edit her blog posts, which she writes herself. Let’s just say she’s not the world’s greatest writer, and I did some heavy editing to the first few posts. It was obvious her feelings were hurt, and she chose to return a lot of the copy to the original (including the lead, which was terrible). I saw your post “There’s no crying in freelance editing” and was hoping you could provide some thoughts on how to address my situation. I really want to help her make her blog posts better, but I’m going to lose her as a client if we can’t agree on what “better” is or how we get there.—Better You Bet [Read more…]
Where can I find high paying freelance writing jobs?
It’s Dr. Freelance’s distinct pleasure to play today’s host for Jennifer Mattern’s March Virtual Blog Tour. Here’s her take:
One of the most common questions I receive from new freelance writers is “Where can I find the high paying freelance writing jobs you always talk about?” What they don’t understand at first is that the problem they face is right in their question. They’re looking for the “where,” when there is none. [Read more…]
How to edit a writer’s story you disagree with
Dr. Freelance: I was recently given a freelance editing assignment for a magazine, and it was painful to edit on a couple of levels. First of all, the guy was a terrible writer and therefore the story was a challenge. Second, I had issues with some of the pseudo-science that he used to defend his opinions. (I have a degree in the field in which he’s a so-called expert.) What’s your thought on how to edit a writer’s story you disagree with? — Science Stickler
S.S.: That is ugly, isn’t it? Unfortunately, you may not like my answer: Your job as a freelance editor of a magazine article is a bit like the job of a defense attorney. In other words, your goal needs to be defending the guilty, no matter how egregious the crime, to the best extent of your abilities. You need to make the story as good as you can. If there’s something empirically wrong, you can do your best to suggest an edit that would make it more accurate — but it sounds like your situation came down to irreconcilable differences of opinion. [Read more…]