Joining a professional editing society
Editing is a great career choice. You can be independent, have variety in your day-to-day routine, use your expertise, and contribute to the development of interesting and useful documents. However, working as an editor can also be isolating and it can make you feel powerless.
Editors often work from home or in small teams where clients can be large companies - who seem to possess all the bargaining power in terms of budgets and scheduling. Although you might be drawn to the job because you have a way with words, there are additional skills that you will need to run your own editing business, including business development, accounting, marketing, and more.
These are common challenges when starting out so don’t feel alone! This is where an editing society can be a great source of information and community. Editing societies exist around the world to inform, promote, market, and educate their members. Whether you specialise in proofreading, development editing, copy-editing, subediting, something else or all of the above, you will be welcomed by an editing society.
Editing societies can help you with:
Training and professional development
Industry news
Online forums
Personal networks
Accreditation and enhancing reputations
Marketing
Discounts
Value for money
Training and professional development
Societies recognise the need for editors to be well trained, and to keep their knowledge and skills up to date through continuing professional development.
Some societies include training provision as part of their remit, whether that is mentoring, regular annual conferences, or individual events such as seminars, workshops, and webinars. Many editors join simply for the training discounts offered to members.
Industry news
Societies keep their members informed of developments in the industry through email, bulletins, magazines, and/or journals.
This is how editors find out what is happening in other sectors of the publishing industry that might come to affect their own sector in the future – helping you adapt and be flexible where necessary. These publications also have articles about particular editing techniques, problems an editor might face, or reviews of useful reference books.
Online forums
You may be a member of the Editors’ Association of Earth who have a Facebook following of over 14,000 members, or part of a LinkedIn editing groups. These are great forums for you to find information, connect with peers, and be part of a community who understand what it is you do.
When it comes to professional networking, there’s nothing like the members-only forums that some editing societies offer. These are private spaces where editors are ‘among friends’ and can share queries and worries. Perhaps there’s a finer point of punctuation that you can’t find in your reference books, or you’re worried that your client’s new contract is unfair, or you’ve been approached by a client you think is not being entirely honest with you. The forums are the place where you can get fast advice and support (away from the very public eyes of social media).
It is perhaps the best way to make sure that being an editor isn’t isolating and that you do not feel powerless.
Personal networks
Local chapters of editing societies are a great opportunity to meet up with colleagues face to face.
Many editors find that the connections and friendships established through these groups can lead to informal mentoring, subcontracting, and even partnership working.
Accreditation and enhancing reputations
A number of societies offer accreditation which gives clients confidence that they are hiring an editor who knows their stuff.
Every accredited editor who does a great job then increases industry recognition of the society and the professional standards its members uphold. Building positive reputations helps prospective clients know where they can go to hire quality editors.
Marketing
Most editing societies have online member directories that allow clients to find suitably qualified freelancers. Aside from personal referrals, these directories are perhaps the number one way in which clients can find suitably qualified editors.
“The collegiality and support of editorial associations can be inspiring, as well as encouraging. I’m a member of (Editors Canada and The Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP)) which gives me strong links in two countries and shows potential clients in both Canada and the UK that my outlook is international.”— Janet MacMillan, Wordsmith
Industry recognition also means that companies will approach the society when looking for staff, often sending targeted advertisements to a central message board or straight to members’ inboxes. This is a great way to have prospective clients come to you rather than you having to do all the work in finding business opportunities.
Discounts
Most societies negotiate discounts for their members. In addition to training, there are considerable discounts on editing conferences. Other discounts include:
Tickets for events (such as the London Book Fair)
Tools of the trade, such equipment, reference books, or software like PerfectIt
Professional services, such as legal advice or insurance.
Value for money
When you consider the money saved through discounts on training and conferences, member discounts on goods and services, advertising in directories, and so on, the annual membership fees for professional societies can sometimes pay for themselves. However, the value that membership offers goes far beyond simple discounts.
The knowledge-sharing and the confidence building when it comes to applying or negotiating rates is invaluable. Plus, the status that membership and accreditation demonstrate means that joining a society makes you more likely to be offered work, and to be better paid what you are worth.
Finding your local society
To find out more about your local society, check out the links below.
ACES: The Society for Editing (ACES) - USA
Association of Freelance Editors, Proofreaders and Indexers (AFEPI Ireland)
Bay Area Editors’ Forum – USA
Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) - UK
Council of Science Editors – worldwide
Editors Canada - Canada
Editorial Freelancers’ Association (EFA) - USA
European Association of Science Editors - Europe
Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) - Australia
International Society of Managing and Technical Editors (ISMTE) - worldwide
Mediterranean Editors & Translators (MET) - Europe
Northwest Editors Guild - USA
Professional Editors’ Guild (PEG) - South Africa
San Diego Professional Editors Network (SD/PEN) - USA
Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW) - USA
Society of English-Language Professionals (SENSE) - Netherlands
Society of Writers, Editors, and Translators (SWET) - Japan
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