I'm offering up my talents as a first pass editor.
This is stuff I've been doing for free for my writer friends for a long, long time. I won't charge them for future projects, of course, but my time has value, so any others seeking a first pass edit will be charged. If they decide to go with me, of course.
I made a website for it (here), and have created a Fiverr account (check that out here) for it and maybe I'll be able to make ends meet. It's a stretch. I mean, the typos in my tweets alone...
But see, that does give me perspective on how easy it is to make errors and how necessary a second set of eyes are. And I think I do a pretty good job as a first pass editor. I'm empathetic and enthusiastic, and I genuinely care about the stories I read. I really want them to do well.
The problem, of course, would be to drum up business; enough that I can relax about my joblessness. I'm not sure I can do that, but I'm hoping that maybe it'll happen despite my shitty marketing abilities. We'll see. I am encouraged by two recent clients, who had nice things to say about my work. Here's one testimonial:
With six non-fiction books in publication, you might think that it would be easy for me to write fiction – wrong. Thank goodness Sonia was there for me. She took my manuscript - poorly punctuated, with confused character naming, and a lack of descriptions for my characters - and made it much better. Her comments were helpful, thoughtfully offered, and always on point. I am motivated to use her input and take my manuscript to the next level.
- Dave Coderre, author
Aside from the job-hunting, I'm working to try and make my way in the world. With a little luck, maybe one of them will pan out for me!
I have more cleaning and sorting to do, so I'm off.
Ciao!