In last month’s blog post, I shared a detailed account of how I found my first few clients as a freelance book editor. I mentioned in that post that certain elements were down to timing and luck, but I made it easy for those clients to understand what I did by having a clear and active profile on my social media and website. There was so much more I wanted to say about the work that goes into finding those first few clients, so I’m sharing it here: what’s worked for me to pro

How I found my first 4 clients as a self-employed copyeditor and proofreader I’ve had a few editors and proofreaders in the early stages of their editorial business (or perhaps thinking about going freelance in the future) ask if they can chat to me about how I managed to find work as a self-employed book editor and proofreader. Of course, I’m delighted to share my own experience from (nearly) 2 years running my own editorial business, but thought it would also be helpful to

On Saturday 27 April 2024 I gave my first presentation as a business owner (in fact, probably my first presentation since being a postgraduate student about 15 years ago!) at Socially Shared’s first ever Author Networking event. This book lovers event was the brain child of Shelley Wilson. I first met Shelley just 4 months after launching my book editing business. It was November 2022, and I attended a Meet the Author event, hosted by Socially Shared. At this point in my busi

I launched my proofreading and book editing business from our local Aldi car park on 19 July 2022. By that I mean I published an Instagram post which told everyone I was officially open for business. Launch day! 19 July 2022, from my local Aldi car park. Photo credit: Siân Smith Here’s a recap of my clients and projects from July 2022 to July 2023: First-time author, Lisa Towers, who felt her original book edits could be improved. (Simply Anxious, 30,000 words). First-time au

Running your own business is empowering, creative, and is meant to afford you the all-time flexibility many of us crave for family life or other aspirations (such as travelling). It’s also incredibly stressful, time-consuming, and nerve-racking. Although I have periods of feeling overwhelmed and stressed out by the admin and marketing side of my proofreading and book editing business, overall I’ve been able to protect my mental health since setting up my own business nearly a

When I finished my first two proofreading qualifications with the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) I thought I had a pretty good grounding in how to discuss a potential author’s book so that we’d both know what the project would involve. But when I started creating my template of questions and wanted to check if I’d missed anything, the only posts that came back when I searched ‘questions an editor should ask an author’ were ‘questions an author should a

I have had a natural talent for proofreading for as long as I can remember. My first paid job was when I was a teenager and my mum asked me to proofread the end-of-year school reports. The original plan It was around this time that I decided I would go to the University of St Andrews to ‘read English’ (whatever that meant) and after completing my degree I'd either proceed to stage school or ‘get a job in publishing’. Teenage Siân dreams of working in publishing I did, indeed