Questions for a Freelance Copyeditor: Maria Boyer

Maria Boyer has been editing professionally since 1984 and freelancing for the past 15 years (including for one longtime client for the last 10 years). She is a member-at-large on the board of the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA). 

What do you find satisfying about your current freelance work? 

One of my favorite gigs is working on the newsletter of a conservative political commentator. Most people either love this guy or hate him—and my friends aren’t shy to tell me what they think—but the editor and art director, whom I work with on an almost daily basis, are by far the most professional people I have ever worked with in my 27 years in the field. I’ve learned so much from both of them in the last four years, and I get great satisfaction from being a part of their team.


What resources are particularly helpful to your area of editing? 

I don’t market myself as an editor/proofreader in any particular field, but I do market myself as someone who has worked with the rules of The Chicago Manual of Style since my first day on the job. I still have my first copy of CMOS, thirteenth edition, copyright 1982. A woman on Etsy makes purses out of old books—wouldn’t that be lovely to carry around when I’m retired? 

I also am a fan of Google and Merriam-Webster.com. 

What fortune-cookie-size advice would you give other editors interested in freelance copyediting? 

Start in your spare time to build a client base. 

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

I’ve always been fascinated with bridges and may have missed my calling as a civil engineer ... though I have a bit of a fear of heights, so I’m not sure how that might have worked out. Still, building bridges—literally—sounds like a good way to spend my days. 

Thanks Maria! 

You can find more of Maria Boyer and her copyediting world on her website, her 2010 cook-blog, and Twitter.