Brigitte Najarian-Mier

Wahnt halp editting you’re cahpy? Writer's tip: change the font in the document you're reviewing and enlarge the font size - your brain will view/review the copy as new and any mistakes will be more obvious. 

1

I'm not afraid to admit that I'm a slow editor, but I don't believe that clients should have to pay more just because I'm taking my time to provide better work. I've learned over the years that reading the text slowly, carefully, and multiple times yields better results. I read through manuscripts three times before I'm comfortable sending my work back to clients. The first read is to simply take in the story, learn about the characters, and understand the plot. Unless I come across an obvious error that's easy to fix, there really isn't any editing being done at this time. No style choices are made. I might make a few notes on my style sheet, but that's the extent of it. I've found that doing this preliminary read is helpful because by the time I get to the next read, where the heavy editing happens, I'm already familiar enough with the plot and characters that the new revelations of the story don't distract me from my task of editing. That first read is the fastest of the three passes, whereas the second read is the slowest because that's where the bulk of the actual editing is done. Finally, I read the entire manuscript a third time as basically a final proofread of my work. Here I ensure my style changes are consistent, flesh out any comments I've left for the client, and obviously see if I missed anything. All of this is a lot of work that takes time, but it's what I've found to work best for me and results in a manuscript I am proud to return to my client. The amount of time it takes me to do all of this (usually about a month per manuscript) is also part of the reason why I don't charge per hour. I charge based on the word count. To me, this is the simplest, most straightforward way to do things. A client can tell me their word count before they even send me their manuscript and I can immediately give them a price based on that word count. If I charged per hour I would have to estimate how much time it would take me, and if I ended up going over that estimate, that could result in an unhappy client. Then there are other factors that could determine how many hours are required to do the editing. You can look up a past post of mine that talks more about this, but an example would be if a manuscript is in a much poorer state than expected. This would automatically increase editing time and result in the price increasing, which isn't fair to the client. The last thing I want to do is take advantage of my clients. I am thankful for every person who entrusts their manuscripts to me, and part of what I strive to give them in return is a clear price for the work. No surprises. This has been the reasoning to why I charge per word instead of per hour. I believe the majority of editors do the same, but I'm always flummoxed when I do see people charging per hour. To me, the per-word rate is by far the better way to go, and I don't see myself ever changing my mind about that. Timothy #amediting #writingcommunity #editing #proofreading

29

16 Comments

Why you want this job: -You'll captain a squad of scary-talented writers, content designers and creatives. -You will be my boss. -You'll steer the voice of the world's leading platform for athletes as we grow into our next chapter. -You can make me get you coffee. -It's a company you can feel GREAT about working for. We're motivating the world to be more active, and everyone at Strava is passionate about that mission. -You can make me come to San Francisco to give you your coffee. (You're the boss!) -This team. Seriously. The brains and the passion here are pure idea accelerant. I've done the best work of my career at Strava because of an environment where nothing is off the table, egos are cast aside and everyone has ideas that improve the output. As a creative leader, this place will be your super-shoe, your aero bike, your Hugh Bradner wetsuit. (Bonus if you get those references, though that's certainly not a requirement.) -We have a company-wide Slack channel dedicated to pictures of our dogs, which you can peruse while sipping the coffee I got you. -As usual, Michelle says it better below. If this is you, smash that Apply button. We can't wait to hear from you.

38

2 Comments