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Make Writing A Habit

By writing much, one learns to write well.

– Robert Southey

Entry-Level Editing Jobs: What You Need to Know

Do you love working with words? If so, a career in editing may be for you.

Editing is a rewarding line of work that will challenge you to always think on your feet. There are plenty of places to find editing jobs, but as in any career, you’ll probably start on the lowest rung.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t do work you love. The key is in finding a good entry-level editing job and anticipating the qualities that companies are looking for.

What follows are some of the most common questions about starting a career in this exciting industry.

Where can I find an entry-level editing job?

Picture your ideal workplace. Is it high-energy, or more laid-back?

For an editor, there are plenty of options to explore. From book publishers to independent newspapers, many companies are willing to hire editors who have limited experience, provided they’re willing to give it their all.

Here are five of the best places to inquire about open positions:

1) Magazine publishers

Magazine publishers often post entry-level editing jobs. They need editors to work on feature stories, craft headlines, and fact-check.

2) Nonprofits

Nonprofit organizations like the Heart and Stroke Foundation regularly hire editors to proofread publicity materials, such as pamphlets and press releases.

3) Newspapers

From the Toronto Star to The New York Times, major newspapers need editors to help polish stories from reporters and write engaging headlines.

4) University presses

Major schools like the University of Toronto often run their own presses. They need in-house editors to copyedit and format manuscripts from academics.

5) Book publishers

Many editors begin their professional careers working for a book publisher like Scholastic. If you like to proofread manuscripts, this could be the job for you.

What will I do in an entry-level editing job?

It’s no surprise that as an editor you’ll spend most of your time working with words.

In an entry-level editing job, you should expect to become proficient at many types of editing. Some of your main duties may include the following:

  • copy editing manuscripts or articles
  • formatting and typesetting
  • crafting and updating web content
  • proofreading articles for an internal publication

Of course, in an entry-level editing job, you should also be prepared to do a fair amount of administrative work. This might mean doing tasks such as these:

  • sending emails
  • organizing event listings
  • attending staff meetings
  • recruiting writers
  • photocopying

How do I find an entry-level editing job?

You’ve polished your résumé and have a few ideas of where you’d like to work. Now it’s time to look for a position.

It’s always intimidating when you’re new to an industry, but these four strategies will help you land an entry-level editing job in no time:

1) Attend job fairs

Job fairs introduce you to other people working in the editing industry. You can inquire about open positions and even submit your résumé in person.

2) Use online job boards

It’s easy to search for entry-level editing jobs online. Using sites like Workopolis, you can usually find several listings for positions each week.

3) Sign up for internships

Students in journalism programs can often find internships through their schools. This is a great way to gain in-house experience and build your editing portfolio.

4) Volunteer

Like job fairs, volunteering for an organization such as the Editors’ Association of Canada can help you make valuable connections that can lead to a job.

Start your editing career today

Entry-level editing jobs are open doors into a world of possibilities. The secret to embarking on a new career is having faith in your abilities.

How to Find the Best Search Engine Optimization Pricing in 4 Easy Steps

The World Wide Web is a chaotic space. Millions of pages exist on every possible topic—but how do people know what’s legitimate? How do they know what will benefit them right now? How do they even begin to look around for something they need?

The answer, obviously, is search engines—tools like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. These search engines were created to help organize the chaos of the Internet and turn it into a catalog of knowledge that anyone can quickly navigate. What does this mean for you and your business? It means that you need to invest in search engine optimization so that your website is one of the few that is found by your potential customers.

But how do you get the best return on investment? Where do you find the best search engine optimization pricing? Here are four steps to help you find the right approach for you.

1. Make a commitment to getting professional help

As with any marketing strategy, you need to invest in professional help if you want the best results. This is especially true with search engine optimization (SEO), because SEO is not something you can do when you get a few minutes here and there when you get the time. SEO is such a vital part of establishing an online presence, it’s important for you to recognize that a certain amount of money and time should be regularly allotted for this purpose.

2. Figure out what you need

Unfortunately, there are a lot of SEO firms that make promises about top rankings, charge astronomical fees, and yet provide only vague details about what they’re going to do for your site, or when you might expect to see results. Worse, some firms use questionable tactics, like link buying, which is not only not sustainable over the long term, but could actually earn your site a penalty, making it less visible to prospects.

Having a good idea of exactly what you need to outsource will ensure that you get the best search engine optimization pricing. For example, if you have a knowledgeable IT person on staff, you won’t need to outsource a technical SEO audit. However, you might find that you don’t have enough in-house capacity to add more content to your site on a regular basis. A professional SEO writing service would provide you with content for your site that would keep it fresh, provide value to your clients, and make your site visible in the search engine results pages.

3. Figure out what you should spend

Once you determine out which services you need to invest in, you can think about how much your business will need to spend. Here’s an important tip: don’t just think in terms of what you can afford. Looking at your budget and saying to yourself: “I have only got $1000 to spare for this, so that’s how much I will spend” is not an effective approach.

Think about your goals. If you know you want to increase sales of your blue widgets by 100 per month, and you know that that 50 out of every 1000 visitors buys a blue widget, you can then figure out how many more visitors you need to bring to your site every month. (You’ll also want to improve your conversion rates, but that’s a subject for another blog post.)

With this knowledge, you can then project how much you should spend to reach your goal. This will help you decide whether spending in other areas should be cut in the short term to supplement your SEO spend.

4. Measure, measure, measure

Before you commit to outsourcing your SEO needs, make sure you measure how you’re doing right now. Look at things like keyword ranking, organic visits, purchases, and so on. This will give you a baseline to compare your results to as you go forward.

Be aware that search engine optimization does take some time. This is especially true if you’re in a highly competitive niche. Be patient, and be prepared to commit to doing this for the long term.

If you want your business to build a following online, you need to make sure you’re using all of your resources to get the best return. By investing in things like SEO writing services, you can increase your chances of reaching customers. Be sure to consider these tips when deciding which service to use.

 

How to Become a Proofreader

Easy steps to learn how to become a proofreader

So, you have no formal training, but you’re curious about how to become a proofreader because you have seen proofreading jobs that you think fit your skills and expertise well. If you paid attention in your high school English classes, you already have the basics. You know all about correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, and capitalization. But, there is much more to proofreading than the basics, and that’s where specialized classes and training come in.

How to become a proofreader

One way to learn how to become a proofreader is to search your public library for books on proofreading. If there is a particular field that interests you (e.g., science), you might contact the larger institutions in that field and ask them to recommend the training or qualifications they look for in job applicants. If your goal is to work directly with writers or an advertising agency, talk to people in those fields. It is always beneficial to research proofreading by consulting the end user.

Another path to becoming a proofreader is taking online proofreading courses. These courses will teach you how to apply the correct style, formatting, and layout to a document. A good proofreading course will teach you about margins, lists, bullets, headlines, headings, subheadings, captions, vocabulary, and alphabetized copy.

When you become a proofreader, you will deal with more than just words—you will also have to examine numerical charts, tables, and graphs. In addition, if you proofread online, you will need to become familiar with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat, and LaTeX.

Becoming a proofreader also involves learning a variety of stylebooks and formats, including the Associated Press Stylebook, The Chicago Manual of Style (often called Chicago or CMOS), the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (often called APA), the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (MLA is the Modern Language Association), and A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (often simply called Turabian, after the author who composed the guide).

Why take a proofreading course?

In the process of learning how to become a proofreader, it is important to take into account your expertise in a particular field as well as your experience. However, without formal training, you may have difficulty getting a job. Publishers and employers generally like to see evidence of your education, which you will enhance after taking a certified proofreading course.

Which proofreading course should you take?

There are many commercial course options for those seeking to learn how to become a proofreader, but it’s hard to know whom to trust. A good way to embark on discovering how to be a proofreader is to talk to someone who is already a proofreader. If you don’t know anyone personally, you can find proofreaders online, on blogs, on LinkedIn, and on Twitter. Another good source of information is a national organization for editors and proofreaders. Some of these organizations may offer their own proofreading programs. For example, in London, England, the Publishing Training Centre at Book House, an educational charity, offers an online proofreading course. So does the Society for Editors and Proofreaders, also in London.

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