Over the past year I have taken on a great deal of copy editing work, both inside and outside of my office job, and discovered it’s something that I have a knack for and also really enjoy doing.
So much in fact, that I considered this a green light to myself for launching my first ‘real’ business venture: Elsass Editing.
While I have made some money off of my books, this kind of freelance work is refreshingly enjoyable, as the interaction with customers is much more personal. The feedback is immediate and I get to plainly hear what my clients like and what I can do better.
I of course love writing and will do so until the day I die, but I recently had the epiphany that I more enjoy contributing to others’ successes as opposed to being in the limelight for myself. In youth soccer, defense was my position of choice, I played a low brass instrument in band, and now, I take pride in improving other people’s writing.
Taking someone’s draft and getting to mold it into something they are proud to turn in or show off gives me the best feeling in the world, and I genuinely love doing it. I suppose this shouldn’t surprise me, as I was the kid in college that would volunteer to look at my roommate’s essays.
Currently my focus is going to be on articles, blog posts, research papers, resumes, and cover letters. My skills as a practiced researcher are also for hire. And for now, the first thirty minutes of work on any kind of project will be absolutely free, just to make sure my input is deemed helpful.
In addition to my corporate experience with the craft, I am also currently completing the Poynter University/American Society of Copy Editors Certificate in Editing.
I have also done a few odd copy writing jobs, which have also been great experiences and something I might take on more of in the future, but for now my focus is going to be on growing the editing side of the business. Eventually I will probably brand Elsass Editing into its own thing outside of this site, but for now it will all live on the landing page here.
So if you or anyone you know needs something they’ve written polished up, pass my name along–the family and friends discount is considerable.