Jobs For Schizoids

CityMouse wrote:I've decided to pursue a career as a proofreader. I have an English degree, so I enjoy reading, writing, and editing. It's the path of least resistance and the pay is decent. It's solitary work too. Plus I have some entry-level experience.

Full time or part time?

I've done it before and it's not a bad gig. Something to keep in mind though that most self-employed jobs are feast and famine. Sometimes you won't be able to get your hands on a manuscript for quite a while. This is coming from a woman who's mom has connections due to her being an author.

Oh, and 1) don't plan on the books being good, 2) don't plan on writers being mature people who can handle constructive criticism, and 3) DO NOT edit for anyone you see in your personal life.

Thanks for the tips. I appreciate it.

Do you think, in your experience as a proofreader, that it's realistic to expect to land a job that's:

1. Work from home
2. Either full time or part time
3. For a company (steady paycheck)
4. Permanent

?

You can absolutely work from home. I can't see why anyone would not let you for proofreading.

When I did the job it was for passive income. I took what I could get. I wouldn't expect it to be fulltime. Even if you have a good number of writers who go through you that should put plenty of food on the table with a nice nest egg on the side...90% of them are flakey.

If you go with a company you will be less likely to get as many flakes. I can't say whether more go through publishing houses vs self publishing and how that affects income in regards to clients for proofreaders. If you go through a company you'll have to deal with things by their terms. I've done it through a publishing company and through sites online that offer advertising freelance work. I got more through the company but my mom used them for her books so preferential treatment likely swung in my favor.

Any tips on how to get my foot in the door? I really appreciate all your help.

No problem!

I'll see if I can remember the online sources I used. It was almost a decade though so I'm not even sure how those sites will do for you.

I'd start there. It sucks but it can be harder to get hired at a company without experience outside of degrees. My mom was writing and I was her daughter so they assumed quite a bit through wanting to keep her happy and nepotism.

I'll see if I can come up with answers from folks I know who've gotten hired. I know a lot of them were writers but maybe they know something.

Online nobody knew who I was other than someone who claimed to have experience and a degree. I did of course but just sayn'...

I'm a copy-editor, proof-reader and editorial assistant. I work from home. I've been doing this for 20 years. I fell into the work when I was working on a temporary contract as a research assistant at a local university. The publisher we were working with back then, was pleased with my work and gave me the name of someone at a much larger publisher, to contact about doing freelance work for them. They sent me some work to do, liked it and I've had a steady stream of work from them since (this was in 2003). I'm still a freelancer. The work and the conditions suit me down to the ground.

I wish you the best of luck finding work. I have the impression it's a hard field to break into if you don't know anyone. Also, the large publisher I work for is using freelance editors less and less, and outsourcing more work to people in India who run automated editing programs instead. So quality suffers. Pity.

my most recent job was freelance writer. it was still hard to deal with the people but we only ever communicated via internet messaging and so it was manageable. it was nice to write, which is what i've always wanted to do...but it wasn't a great job in my opinion. it involved a lot of job searching (online) and sometimes ending up with jobs that were a real pain in the ass. if you can find some long term clients it's nice.

i do best in jobs with the most autonomy. even when it has involved dealing with customers (such as a store manager). the worst job i had was office work. if you are a weak link for whatever reason (age, experience, personality) they will target you as a scapegoat to blame all their problems on.

Sending you a pm CityMouse.

I used to work as an office admin for about 7 years, changing jobs every 1-1.5 year.
My last boss was a fully blown narc and I couldn't stand his everyday BS, so I quit and started working for myself. I was surprised to find a creative bone inside my body, as I was always told by my egg donor, I have none.

I have been freelancing for about a decade and as someone here stated, as long as I focus on my assignment, not people behind it, I do just fine. It also gives me total freedom when it comes to dealing with assholes, I can tell them to go to hell and don't have to deal with any of their nonsense.

I recommend it 100%.
I would drink myself to death if I had to go back to a regular 9-5.