Questions for a Freelance Copyeditor: Jill Sulam

Jill Sulam has been a proofreader and editor for ten years. For the last three and a half, she has been a full-time freelancer and the owner of Transformations Editing.

How did you get into editing? What was your first editing job and what is your current position?

My undergraduate degree is in psychology, but I knew I had a natural aptitude for writing and editing. In the middle of my graduate program in professional writing and editing, I started a summer internship in the publications department at Management Concepts, a training company. Among other projects, I copyedited a book—the first of dozens I've since edited for the company. That internship is the reason I have an editing career today.

My first staff editing job was with a trade magazine, and now I mostly edit and proof nonfiction books.

How is copyediting books different from copyediting magazine articles or other short pieces?

The technical skills needed for book and magazine editing are the same, but the mindset is different. It can be tough to see the big picture when editing a book that needs a lot of work on the sentence level. It's much easier to assess the structure and rhythm of a magazine article and to determine if it has done what the author intended it to do.

What do you find satisfying about freelance editing?

I love knowing that my work makes publications better—clearer, more concise, more precise, more engaging. I also love the feeling of accomplishment that comes when I land a job, or when a client compliments my work.

What advice would you give other editors interested in freelance copyediting?

Keep your day job until you have a client you can count on for nearly constant work. It might take a few years to build your client base and income, but don't give up on freelancing just because you have a dry spell. I don't even like to think about how light my workload was in fall 2010, but if I'd thrown in the towel then, I wouldn't have had the chance to rebound the way I have.

If you weren't editing, what would you like to try as a career?

I've long wanted to write young adult novels, though I'm not sure I have the drive and talent to actually do it. I also love maps; if my undergraduate school had offered geography as a major, I'd likely be doing something cartographic right now.

Thanks, Jill!

See more of Jill Sulam and her copyediting world on her website, Twitter @TrnsformEditing, and Facebook.

Image copyright Transformations Editing.