On the Basics: Putting it in writing

© Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Owner

An American Editor

© An American Editor. Content may not be recirculated, republished or otherwise used without both the prior permission of the publisher and full credit to the author of a given post and the An American Editor blog, including a live link to the post being referenced. Thank you for respecting our rights to and ownership of our work.

Note: The author is not an attorney and this article does not constitute legal advice.

It comes up so often in various places: Do editors (or any publishing pros) need contracts with clients? This is especially relevant for freelance editors and proofreaders who work directly with individual authors, whether academics seeking help with their dissertations or people writing books to be self-published, although some who aim for — or even have contracts for — traditional publishing might seek editors or proofreaders on their own.

There are two reasons for that: Aspiring authors are often savvy enough to get their manuscripts edited before submitting their work to agents or publishers, and, as most of us know, publishing houses are cutting back on in-house editors and putting the onus of that quality control step on authors. (Both of those instances create more opportunities for freelancers, but that’s another essay topic.)

As I said recently in an online conversation, it’s definitely smart to have a contract. I do know colleagues who have worked without one and never had a problem. That’s great, and I’m glad for them — but still no reason not to have a contract.

Some clients will already have a contract for you to sign; it’s when they don’t that we should all consider having our own, ready to use.

The purpose of a contract is to protect both parties, not just yourself. On your behalf, a contract spells out what you will do, when, for how much, etc. That protects you against any misunderstanding about your role or being asked to do work you weren’t expecting, or being paid, to do. For your client, a contract formalizes what they can expect from you and gives them a basis to trust that you will do what they expect and you promise. Keep that mutual benefit in mind if you venture into using a contract for the first time and/or encounter a new client at any point who resists the idea.

Contract elements

A contract of your own doesn’t have to be complicated, lengthy or packed with legalese. It doesn’t even have to involve an attorney.

I keep a list of items that are almost always, if not always, elements of a project. It’s easy to adapt the list to a new client or project as a contract.

Essentially, bullet out what you will do for an average project: type of work (level of edit, proofread, write, index, etc.; number of words for a writing assignment, items for an index, illustrations for book or other graphics project, etc.), schedule or timeframe and fee for each task, deadline(s), anticipated expenses for reimbursement (such as mileage cost — I charge either mileage or time traveling and meeting, not both — or supplies, software versions, etc.), number of passes for editing or revisions for writing and illustrations, language to protect against scope creep, copyright, phone call or e-mail message policy, median policy, etc.

When I was doing onsite conference reporting, I would ask that the client purchase the plane ticket and put hotel accommodations on their account, so I didn’t have to use my own money and wait to be reimbursed. That would be in our contract or agreement.

State when payment is due and; the standard is within 30 days of invoice date. Many clients will pay sooner than that, although some might pay later — you need to establish that so you can budget accordingly. I don’t like 45- or 60-day payment schedules, but I can handle them if I know that’s the client’s policy before I accept the project. Although my contracts say that payment is due upon receipt of invoice, and invoices say “Payable upon receipt,” I assume I won’t be paid until those 30 days elapse, so anything before that is a pleasant surprise.  

Include a late fee policy.

For large or ongoing projects, your contract can ask for an advance or retainer, if you think that will be acceptable to the client, and include an interim payment process: an advance or deposit, with payments at specific points (such as number of hours or pages), and whether payment will be made before you hand off the finished project. Be prepared for publishers, publications, organizations, business, etc., not to accept such arrangements, but individual authors are often, if not usually, amenable to doing so.

Your contract can state that copyright for the edited or proofed version of a client’s document remains with you until you’ve been paid in full. That’s most likely to be effective (and sometimes necessary) with independent authors, but Rich Adin, founder of the An American Editor blog, was able to use that policy with major publishers that were paying very, very slowly for his work.

In the light of legislation that is encouraging employers to force their freelancers into becoming employees, you also might want to include language in a contract about your status as a freelancer or contractor.

Your contract can state how you prefer to be paid (check, PayPal or banking apps like Zelle and Square, direct deposit to your bank account, etc.).

It’s quite possible that once you’ve created your checklist, projects will come along that require adding new items to it. The checklist is simply a template or starting point. You will probably have to tailor it to every client and project that comes along.

What not to include

I don’t charge for paper, ink, software or hardware, because those are my costs of doing business and my fees or rates should be enough to cover those expenses. However, colleagues who are expected to print manuscripts of a couple hundred pages, especially in color, might want to be reimbursed for the impact of that on printer toner or copier ink. I would definitely include reimbursement shipping/delivery for sending back a marked-up manuscript, or ask to use the client’s FedEx/UPS account.

You probably don’t have to include charges for long-distance phone calls, since so much of our work these days is via e-mail and other electronic mechanisms.

When to say no

Keep in mind that non-individuals such as publishing houses and businesses often have their own contracts that we have to accept if we want the work. Some are straightforward, some are complex, some are downright draconian, some are negotiable — you can delete, or ask to delete, clauses that don’t make sense.

One such item that comes up a lot these days involves insurance. If the client usually hires contractors with their own employees who work at the client’s jobsite or other location and operate vehicles or equipment on behalf of the client, they might have a standard contract that requires a level of liability insurance that isn’t essential or even appropriate for a freelance editor, proofreader, writer, designer, photographer, etc. That happens when it’s the first time the client has used a freelancer.

I once turned down a dream writing and editing project because the contract would have created an unreasonable onus of responsibility for things beyond my control: It called for my role to have legal liability for any and all errors in the published work — when others could make changes to what I submitted, without my knowledge. I’m fine with taking responsibility for the accuracy and quality of my work, but I can’t accept responsibility for what someone else does to it after it leaves my hands.

My approach to contracts

After establishing project details with the client, I “Save As” my checklist, rename and adjust it as needed, and send it back attached to an e-mail message with a cover note along the lines of “Per our discussion(s), the attached document will serve as our letter of agreement/contract.”

For the clients who pay me by the hour, I use a very basic Excel worksheet with a column for date, task, hourly rate and percentage of an hour/hours per task; Excel handles the percentages and adds up the hours/dollars for me. Each month, I do Save As to create a new log or tracking document for the new month for each client. (I’ve found that the key is to remember to enter every project for a given client as soon as I finish it, rather than wait until end of the month to enter anything, or I forget half of them.) That log goes with the invoice.

There are lots of contract and invoice templates all over the Internet, including in Word and from various professional associations. An excellent book about contracts is The Paper It’s Written On: Defining Your Relationship with an Editing Client by Karin Cather and Dick Margulis — they wrote it for editors, but most of it can be applied to almost anyone with an independent business.

When has a contract, or lack of one, become an issue for you? How did you handle it?

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter (www.writerruth.com) is an award-winning provider of editorial and publishing services for publications, independent authors, publishers, associations, nonprofits and companies worldwide, and the editor-in-chief and owner of An American Editor. She created the annual Communication Central Be a Better Freelancer^® conference for colleagues (www.communication-central.com), now co-hosted with the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (www.naiwe.com) and sponsored by An American Editor. She also owns A Flair for Writing (www.aflairforwriting.com), which helps independent authors produce and publish their books. She can be reached at Ruth@writerruth.com or Ruth.Thaler-Carter@AnAmericanEditor.com.

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Thinking Fiction: Whose book, for how long?

© Carolyn Haley

The time has come in my life to address estate matters; that is, to make a will. That means not only figuring out who gets my personal assets and possessions, but also what to do with my editing business and intellectual property.

Like many people, I’m a coward about dealing with such things and have delayed as long as possible. However, their importance has risen lately because of what I’ve been hearing and reading about politically motivated people messing with other people’s copyrighted novels.

From Agatha Christie to Ursula LeGuin to Ian Fleming to Roald Dahl, publishers are revising profitable, famous novels for “modern sensitivities” in disregard of when the books were written and published. In other words, they are altering historic records and disrespecting the authors’ authenticity without the authors’ permission because those authors are dead.

Revising for social currency and relevance isn’t new. It goes back at least to Mark Twain (who had his own things to say about it). My generation has seen the Nancy Drew novels — and other popular series for youth, such as the Hardy Boys and Bobbsey Twins — morph over decades in response to cultural winds of change. Nancy Drew has even become a multimedia franchise.

But all of those books are work-for-hire. Since the series’ beginnings, different ghostwriters shared a pseudonym for each series’ author, and the copyrights belong to the syndicate that employed them. That syndicate intentionally adapted to changing mores, in a business model different from individual authors writing novels and holding copyright themselves.

I number among those individual novelists owning my own copyrights, and the thought of having my work posthumously altered gives me the chills.

A legal right?

I gather from what I’ve learned so far that publishers who revise existing books have confirmed their legal right to do so. Some are working with the authors’ legitimate heirs who believe they are doing their parents or grandparents a service that will allow their works to thrive across generations. Some justify this by claiming it will prevent important works from being banned altogether. Perhaps they’re right. But in my opinion, there’s a difference between a government or other entity banning a published book and a publisher or heir revising it posthumously based on personal bias.

The problem with believing new readers will appreciate the changes is that the belief is based on volatile contemporary and future conditions, not immutable past conditions, when the books were created. Editing old books to make them current is a denial of fact. While the ancient, oral storytelling tradition allows for adaptation of a tale over time, the advent of print fixed a story in its own time and place — and indeed, led to the modern system of protecting authors’ works and controlling their rights of distribution and duplication. And while a story becoming fixed in time makes it dated over time, that datedness adds value to future readers because it gives them a platform of comparison and opens the door to greater understanding of a previous era — if not that, then at least a vehicle for discussion. This gives every work an inherent and potential power that “updating” it perverts.

Some authors might write intentionally for a specific group’s cultural sentiments, hoping to influence the future. More often, novelists publish their stories for public consumption and posterity as written. They usually have an artistic and/or commercial motivation that doesn’t concern itself with what future generations might think, beyond an author’s individual desire for their work to endure. For others to change their work after the fact is an insult to the originators’ vision and intention.

Many examples exist of authors whose books didn’t sell, or barely made a ripple in societal conversation, during their lifetimes, but became important and relevant after their deaths. The reverse is also true. The important question is: Who has the authority, in a given decade or century, to tinker with the original story and change its natural trajectory? And who gave such people the authority to do so?

Nobody.

A personal perspective

As an author whose novels are set in 1975, 2000, and 2015, the presumption of revisionists arouses my ire. I wrote what I wrote when I wrote it, influenced by what was real to me at the time, and each story is metaphorically sealed in amber. Same is true for anyone who writes historical fiction and researched the heck out of it for veracity, or who wrote novels that were contemporary in their own time and have since become stale because time marches on.

Would somebody please explain what’s wrong with an old book not being current? That’s the inevitable fate of every single novel!

In theory, I need not worry about this, because I’m not a household-name bestseller. Rather, I’m just an invisible molecule in the literary sea, like so many million other novelists. But that doesn’t change the fact we’ve invested enormous time, energy, vision, creativity, and skill to compose our works. While mine are fiction, they nonetheless represent me. They are my artistic and personal legacy. How dare anyone take that from me, just because I used a word or idea relevant to my time, story, or self that they don’t approve of later on!

Nobody but myself has a right to change the content of my books AFTER THEY’VE BEEN PUBLISHED. Yes, those caps mean I’m shouting, because that’s the key point. Developing and editing a novel is a fluid and often lengthy process that can involve many people, but once the book is released, I believe that only I have the authority to change the content for a new edition.

It’s tough enough to accept that 70 years after my death (per current U.S. copyright law), my work will default to the public domain and anybody can do whatever they want with it. Until then, though, the thought of my heirs having free rein to change my wording, delete or add scenes, or otherwise slant or sanitize my work to satisfy their personal tastes, political ideologies, or belief that they know what the marketplace will do is unacceptable.

Options for protection

What can I do about this?

Not much. At least, that’s how it appears from internet research. I’ve not yet hired an intellectual property lawyer to drill down to the bottom line. I want to have my priorities and a plan in place before I spend the money.

Some novelists are already tackling the problem through their wills. It seems that if I’m specific enough, and careful enough to whom I bequeath my intellectual property, my will should prevent anyone from tinkering with my work for 70 years.

Alternatively, I can arrange to have my intellectual property deleted from the world upon my demise. This is counter to my intent, so I hesitate to take such a drastic step. It warrants deep soul-searching before commitment. As an author, I am of little importance to the greater body of literature, and my heirs will gain little to no monetary value from my work. Who, really, is going to care enough about my books to do anything to them? I doubt this generation of relatives and advisers would bother — but 70 years means the intellectual property rights can pass to the subsequent generation, whose sensitivities may be completely different all over again.

That makes the real issue the principle of the thing.

A place for the work

My novels fall in a blurry place between genres, which is what orphans them in today’s marketplace. Somebody with greater knowledge and ability could recast the material into genre-appropriate stories, promote them aggressively, and thus crank up some money and name value. Maybe that will happen once the novels enter the public domain. It would be nice if I could make those changes and enjoy greater financial reward from my efforts, but that route takes me away from what I wanted to express when I wrote each story.

Having made the choice to not go there, what gives anybody else the right to go there in my stead?

There’s a section of copyright law called “moral rights”: an author’s rights regardless of who technically owns the copyright to a work. Moral rights are in three segments: (1) the “right of paternity” — to claim original authorship under your own name (or a pseudonym, or anonymity); (2) the “right of integrity” — to control fidelity of the material during translation or adaptation; and (3) the “right of association” — to prevent use of the material in service to some cause, product, or institution that affects the author’s reputation.

Item (3) is where my concerns lie. These moral rights last for a work’s copyright term, and pass to the heirs. Whether those heirs do something that changes the “author’s reputation” is unknowable, since I’ll be dead. But because I really, really don’t want my heirs to take that liberty, then I must prevent it in advance.

The next months will be an angst episode of how to handle this in my will. It makes me wonder how other authors are handling it. If anyone reading this essay has embraced the subject, please share with the rest of us what choices you made, and why. Likewise, if anyone not an author has been involved in any part of the process, please tell us what you experienced.

The larger issue

Posthumous revision is a larger issue than just me and my ego. It challenges the entire concept of copyright, artistic expression, and the validity of historic viewpoint. Why should anyone write and publish a novel if others down the line can override the author’s individual perspective and representation of their times?

As of 2023, U.S. copyright law does not protect a title or an idea. Instead, it protects an author’s unique expression of an idea. Once somebody else intrudes upon that without the author’s permission, they are violating the author’s copyright and could be taken to court if the author is alive. But afterward? Whoever owns that copyright might have a different idea about what constitutes infringement and not feel the need to protect the work from it.

When I wrote my stories, I never thought about these things. Only age and politics have brought the ideas to the fore. I’ve decided that I would much rather have my books banned than revised. Heck, banning is an almost guaranteed way to increase readership! — if only because it arouses curiosity (in line with the old saw: Even bad publicity is good publicity). Revising content, in contrast, might make my work more interesting and valuable to some potential readers, but could also lose the audience I originally wrote for. I insist on retaining my judgment about that. Did I miss the mark as a novelist? Possibly. Maybe even probably. But I don’t think anyone else has the right to change that.

It boils down to this: You don’t like my work? Fine. Don’t buy it, don’t read it. Or read it and give it bad reviews. Ban it if you must. But keep your holier-than-thou paws off of it!

Carolyn Haley is an award-winning novelist who lives and breathes novels. Although specializing in fiction, she edits across the publishing spectrum — fiction and nonfiction, corporate and indie — and is the author of three novels and a nonfiction book. She has been editing professionally since 1997 and has had her own editorial services company, DocuMania, since 2005. She also reviews for the New York Journal of Books, and has presented about editing fiction at Communication Central conferences. She can be reached at dcma@vermontel.net or through DocuMania.

On the Basics — How writers and editors can find each other and work well together

© Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Owner

An American Editor

© An American Editor. Content may not be recirculated, republished or otherwise used without both the prior permission of the publisher and full credit to the author of a given post and the An American Editor blog, including a live link to the post being referenced. Thank you for respecting our rights to and ownership of our work.

One of the hardest things for an author to do after — or while — writing their book is finding and working with an editor. Questions about that aspect of the publishing process often show up in social media. Here’s my take on it.

First steps — the writing process

First and foremost, and even before thinking about working with an editor, every aspiring author needs a community. Many common questions about the writing craft and process can be answered by other writers, both in person and virtually through social media. Look for a local writers’ center or association that might host groups for writers to learn from and support each (professionally, not financially!). If your hometown doesn’t appear to have such a resource, check with area bookstores and libraries, which often host groups for writers. (There are lots of such groups online, but many of us prefer to meet and interact in person.)

If all else fails, start your own group! Your favorite bookstore, library branch or coffee shop might be willing to provide meeting space, often without a fee (although coffee shops rightfully prefer that people using their space buy something, even if it’s just a cup of coffee per person).

Your group can be made up only of other writers, whether aspiring or established. It can also be a way to meet agents, publishers, promoters and publicists, editors and proofreaders, illustrators and designers, and other partners in your efforts.

Just a warning to writers: Like everywhere else in life, the writing world has its trolls. Don’t believe everything everyone says, especially the negatives. Try to be objective and informed about advice from someone who might have a grievance with publishers, other writers, organizations and members of the writing world such as editors.

If you’ve never written and published anything before, consider taking a basic composition class at a local college, university, writer’s center or library. Even a high school continuing education program could be the source of a useful refresher class on composition, grammar and usage, and other elements of good writing. Do your best to build your skills in creating characters, writing dialogue, organizing and maintaining story lines, being consistent in descriptions and other important details, using correct language, and making your work the best you can. That will serve you well in the next steps to publication.

Then get to writing!

And as soon as you even start thinking about writing something you hope to see get published, also start putting money aside for other vital steps in the process: editing, proofreading (whether you plan to self-publish and be published traditionally; cover design, layout and production, promotion and publicity (if you plan to self-publish). Good editing, as well as any other service you might want to use, requires the services of a trained, experienced, professionally editor — and not everyone who claims to fill that role actually can do so. Choosing someone who charges the least, especially through online platforms that connects aspiring authors with self-proclaimed editors, is also not the best way to serve your precious project.

Next steps — assessment

No matter how much experience anyone has in writing for publication, everyone needs an editor and proofreader. It also doesn’t hurt to have a manuscript evaluation or assessment, for a sense of what does and doesn’t work in your material that you could fix before handing it off to an editor.

You can use your writers’ group connections for what’s called beta reading: having people representing prospective readers read some or all of your manuscript and let you know what they think does and doesn’t result in a readable, interesting, worth publishing project. Beta readers usually don’t charge.

And keep in mind that English teachers are not editors. English teachers are immensely important; it’s just that they look for and fix different things from what editors seek and fix. The two are not the same, and one shouldn’t be relied on to provide what the other is needed for.

We need English teachers to provide a strong foundation in grammar, punctuation, spelling (yes, even with spellcheckers!), organization, usage and more so people can write clearly and logically. We need editors to fix what authors get wrong in those areas and more.

Finding editors

Like everything else these days, you can find editors — or people who call themselves editors — online, and often for very little money. But cheap is rarely good.

Look into the resources of organizations like the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors, ACES: The Society for Editing, Editorial Freelancers Association, and similar organizations in countries other than the USA. Most have ways for writers to list their projects, usually for free (the listing, that is; not the editing work!), and membership directories that provide solid information about someone’s training, experience, skills, testimonials and other important details.

There are also organizations for editors in specific fields — romance, travel, medicine, technology, science, animals (cats/dogs/horses/birds), and almost any other topic.

There are groups in LinkedIn and Facebook for editors and writers to find each other, and many editors have accounts or profiles in those platforms.

Most established editors have websites where you can learn more about their backgrounds, experience, approaches and other important details.

If you know of anyone who has published their writing, ask them for referrals or recommendations. Some authors mention their editors in their published books; look at the acknowledgments in books in your genre for names you might try to contact.

Those local writers’ groups and organizations also can provide leads to editors for you.

Finding authors

Editors can be proactive in finding writers to work for and with. Consider joining writers’ groups, both online and in person, through writers’ centers and organizations, publishing associations, and similar outlets. Offer advice and answer writers’ questions to build a reputation for knowledge and helpfulness. Make your genre or topic expertise known. Encourage your clients to refer and recommend you — such testimonials are the absolute best way to find new clients.

The why and the how

Why hire an editor? Because it’s almost impossible to be objective about our own writing and see various types of problems or errors, especially in something we’ve worked on for a long time and self-edited as much as possible.

Yes, we can use computer resources such as spellchecker to improve spelling and catch egregious errors — but those can be wrong or miss problems. Depending on what a manuscript needs, editors can help with everything from structure/organization and plot or timelines to characterization, dialogue, historical or geographical accuracy, coherence, consistency in many areas (names, places, eras, numbers, dates, appearances, etc.), and much more. Every writer needs that objective editor’s eye on their work to make it the best it can be.

Don’t be put off if an editor asks you to sign a contract or letter of agreement. That protects both of you by establishing who will do what, when and for how much. (An excellent resource is The Paper It’s Written On … by Dick Margulis and Karin Cather.)

An editor might include language in their contract or agreement that says the edited version of your book belongs to them until they are paid in full. That doesn’t mean you lose ownership of your work; just that you do not own and may not use or publish the edited version until you fulfill your side of the bargain.

And please don’t worry about an editor stealing your work. If you do a good job of checking references and assessing the training, skills and experience before hiring an editor, that won’t be a factor. Genuine professional editors do not steal authors’ work (and, in all honesty, most isn’t financially worth stealing, no matter how well-written, original or evocative it might be). You own your manuscript as soon as you create it.

Next steps — working with your editor

Most editors are kind and thoughtful even when they have to relay discouraging news about a writer’s “baby.” Some might come across as more brusque than they realize, but they aren’t trying to hurt a writer’s feelings. Try not to take offense or feel personally attacked if an editor points out areas to improve or correct. Your editor isn’t attacking you or your work; they are are trying to lead you to ways to make your story or book better and stronger — more interesting, clear, relevant and accurate.

It’s OK to ask prospective editors to provide a sample of how they would approach your manuscript. Just be sure to send the exact same section or sample to everyone you’re considering, whether it’s two editors or two dozen. And don’t be surprised if some editors prefer not to provide a free sample of their work. Plenty of skilled, professional, worth-hiring editors will do a reasonable sample for you. Those who don’t probably have been burned in the past.

Some editors are more comfortable with interaction throughout a project while others prefer to just do the work and send it back to you, with the understanding that you can ask questions about changes that you don’t follow or want to make. Just be prepared to pay for the time it takes for an editor to respond to frequent questions about the project.

If you’re worried about paying for a professional-level edit, see if you can arrange payment in increments — a deposit when the editing begins and interim payments as the work continues. That makes it easier to pay for the editing work than having to come up with a large sum all at once at the end of the project. Some editors will request final payment before handing over the finished work, which is understandable.

The relationship between writer and editor can and ideally will be constructive, supportive and productive. Keep these tips in mind and your project should be all of that.

What else would our writer subscribers like to know about working with an editor? What would our editor colleagues like to add about making the relationship its best and most successful?

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter (www.writerruth.com) is an award-winning provider of editorial and publishing services for publications, independent authors, publishers, associations, nonprofits and companies worldwide, and the editor-in-chief and owner of An American Editor. She created the annual Communication Central Be a Better Freelancer^® conference for colleagues (www.communication-central.com), now co-hosted with the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (www.naiwe.com) and sponsored by An American Editor. She also owns A Flair for Writing (www.aflairforwriting.com), which helps independent authors produce and publish their books. She can be reached at Ruth@writerruth.com or Ruth.Thaler-Carter@AnAmericanEditor.com.

On the Basics: How editors (and proofreaders, writers, photographers, graphic artists, etc.) get referrals and jobs

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Owner

An American Editor

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© An American Editor. Content may not be recirculated, republished or otherwise used without both the prior permission of the publisher and full credit to the author of a given post and the An American Editor blog, including a live link to the post being referenced. Thank you for respecting our rights to and ownership of our work.

The other day, I got a private message from a member of a Facebook group that I own, offering to provide ghostwriting and editing services and asking me to refer them for projects that I might not be interested in.

This was someone I know nothing about, have never met either virtually or in person, who hasn’t posted to the group in question, and who clearly knew nothing, or not much, about me or they wouldn’t have offered services I’m unlikely to use … essentially, a stranger whose training, skills and experience are total unknowns.  A stranger asking me to put my name and reputation on the line by hiring them or referring them to my current or prospective clients.

My response might have been on the brusque side, but so be it: I said that I do my own writing and editing, and that if I need to refer someone for projects I might turn down, it would be only to people I know. Her response: “… if everyone was like you, other editors won’t ever get any job or referral …”

My response to that: “Not true. People would still get referrals and jobs — I get them all the time — from colleagues they know through professional associations and other connections. Once someone is established as skilled and knowledgeable, work comes to them. That’s networking, at least when it’s done right.”

Those who know me even a little bit know that I’m pretty generous with advice and referrals, and have been for many, many years; I’m not called the Queen of Networking for nothing. That aside, the exchange does raise the interesting and useful question of how editors, and other members of the publishing world, do get jobs, clients and referrals.

I’ve discussed aspects of this in previous posts, and some of our subscribers have seen similar conversations in various other places — association e-mail discussion lists and forums, Facebook and LinkedIn groups, newsletters from colleagues and organizations, even books. It’s worth a revisit, though, because obviously some people still don’t “get it.”

Whence referrals?

Referrals come from a variety of sources. In my experience, referrals come from clients who like my work and pass my name and contact information to their connections who need someone to do similar work; colleagues who meet me in person when I speak at conferences or electronically when I present webinars, or who know me through my active and visible membership in about a dozen professional associations; and even through family and friends who have no connection with the publishing world but know me from personal connections (including grade school and high school!).

What do they all have in common? They know me, or they know my work. They know me because I’m more than what I call a “checkbook member” of an association; I contribute to its newsletter, discussion platforms, events, etc. They know me because I host this platform and write about aspects of doing editing and other editorial work here (and elsewhere). They know me because they see my posts to Facebook, LinkedIn and association outlets. They know me because they’ve attended or at least heard about my “Be a Better Freelancer”^® conference.

Even if we haven’t actually met, they can feel confident that referring me to someone they know won’t make them look bad.

What people don’t “get”

What many newcomers to this world (and that of any profession or industry, when you think about it) is that you don’t “get” just by asking, and that networking is a two-way process.

You have to prove yourself. You can introduce yourself to a new audience, large or small; organization, group or individual; but that isn’t enough. You have to show that audience what you do and how well you do it. You have to demonstrate skills and knowledge. You have to let people know about your training and experience.

Most importantly, you have to contribute: Answer colleagues’ questions (accurately!), provide resources, present information. Lurking in the background might provide you with great advice, but it isn’t networking, nor is jumping into a new environment by asking for referrals and subcontracting without having shown that you’re skilled enough to earn them.

Yes: earn. Referrals and recommendations are earned. They aren’t presents. They aren’t rewards for simply joining a community. They are earned by proving you can do the work, do it well and make the referring person proud of their connection to you. They often come in over the transom, so to speak: I’ve received quite a few referrals that I didn’t ask for (which is always a good reminder to be more proactive about asking clients and colleagues to refer me to their connections). That’s one reason it’s so important to establish a strong reputation for a type of work or knowledge: You never know when or how it will pay off.

How to be referred

While referrals do often come out of the blue, you can be proactive about getting them. Once you have enough work and good relationships with clients and colleagues who know about that work, there’s nothing wrong with asking for referrals; in fact, it’s a good idea and often your best bet. Not everyone will assume that you’re looking for a new job or project — people might assume you have plenty of freelance work in hand or are happy and fulfilled in a full-time, in-house job. Sometimes we have to tell our clients, colleagues, family and friends that we are or might be available. You can also ask for LinkedIn recommendations and testimonials for your website (because, of course, you have a website if you’re in business). Those who know you and your work are likely to comply.

It’s just that, again, and again and again, you have to earn the positive answer to the request. That’s why the best referrals and recommendations come from clients who appreciate your work and colleagues who feel like they know you, and why it’s so important to build up your professional image through genuine networking and self-promotion once you have something to promote.

While referrals are most likely to come from those who do know you on some level, people don’t have to meet you in person or work with you to become referral sources. If you become known for your knowledge through giving advice and answering questions in various platforms, and/or for your skills and experience, you could receive referrals from people you don’t actually know. And that’s fine. It’s a benefit of doing good work, developing a positive reputation and doing networking that works. Networking isn’t a closed circle of only the people you know now or in one way; it’s a constantly expanding world of contacts.

In the spirit of networking, colleagiality, recommending and referring, by the way, check out Jake Poinier’s blog posts for the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE; https://jakepoinier.naiwe.com/) and at his website (https://doctorfreelance.com/freelance-referrals-business/) about this topic. They don’t come more knowledgeable and generous than Jake!

The last word

Referrals don’t happen overnight. As with many aspects of any career, whether in-house or freelance, it takes time to build up enough of a reputation and portfolio to be referred to others. Be patient, put in the time and effort to let your light shine, and referrals will come to you.

How have you generated referrals? What do you suggest that colleagues do — and not do?

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter (www.writerruth.com) is an award-winning provider of editorial and publishing services for publications, independent authors, publishers, associations, nonprofits and companies worldwide, and the editor-in-chief and owner of An American Editor. She created the annual Communication Central Be a Better Freelancer^® conference for colleagues (www.communication-central.com), now co-hosted with the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (www.naiwe.com) and sponsored by An American Editor. She also owns A Flair for Writing (www.aflairforwriting.com), which helps independent authors produce and publish their books. She can be reached at Ruth@writerruth.com or Ruth.Thaler-Carter@AnAmericanEditor.com.

On the Basics: Résumés for today’s communications pros

© Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Owner

An American Editor

© An American Editor. Content may not be recirculated, republished or otherwise used without both the prior permission of the publisher and full credit to the author of a given post and the An American Editor blog, including a live link to the post being referenced. Thank you for respecting our rights to and ownership of our work.

I wrote about “Résumés for Today’s Freelance Journalists” for a recent presentation about that topic for the Freelance Community of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and it occurred to me that the tips apply to other colleagues as well. I hope this version is helpful to An American Editor subscribers.

Paper résumés are almost a thing of the past these days (although they can still be needed). Most of today’s résumés will be sent and seen as digital versions, which have their own requirements. Luckily, you can use the same content for both that traditional version and today’s digital one. The difference is less in what you present than in how you get it into the hands of potential clients.

Some standard rules still apply: Keep a résumé to what would be two single-spaced pages if it were printed out. Use the active voice. Leave out family information and non-relevant hobbies. Send your résumé as an attachment only if asked to do so; messages with unsolicited résumés are usually discarded as potential spam or viruses. Don’t include salary or project fee information. Update it regularly and keep a current version on hand/on your computer(s) so you don’t have to panic about whether it’s ready to be seen by prospective clients or employers, or miss an opportunity because it takes too long to do an update. 

Organizing your info

The first step in creating, revamping or updating your résumé — whether for print or digital use — is organization.

Traditional résumés for full-time positions are organized chronologically, often starting with education information (at least for recent graduates), followed by experience, with your current or most-recent job first.

A freelancer’s résumé starts by presenting assignments and projects, even if some were done quite a while ago or when you were (or are) in school. Recent students usually put their education info first. For people with substantial experience, education is less important and can be moved to the end.

Do not include family/personal information and only include hobbies if you write, edit, proofread, index, photograph or broadcast, etc., about them. This goes for both freelance and in-house searches.

Pro bono projects can contribute to your image as someone with skills and experience in various fields or topics, especially if you’re new to whatever editorial/publishing work you do or want to do. If you’re aiming for traditional in-house work, label those as pro bono, volunteer or community service. If you’re a freelancer, you can include such projects as part of your experience or freelance business section because no one has to know whether (or how much) you’re paid for them; the work itself is what matters.

You probably don’t need to include a street address, although it’s a good idea to keep a city and state for potential clients who might want you to handle onsite assignments — that’s probably more important for journalists, who are expected to cover events in person, but could relate to other types of work and projects. Nowadays, many colleagues leave phone numbers out of their résumés, using only e-mail addresses and social media handles as their contact information.

You still will include any full-time or in-house work, and those should still start with the most-recent position. Include links to published work (as long as you have client permission to do so) and the testimonial or portfolio section of your website.

Don’t forget to include membership(s) in professional associations, especially if you’re active and visible in one or more of those groups. And do include any work-related training you’ve taken. Both can go under a Professional Development heading. Your teaching and speaking experience, if any, should also be featured.

The process

1. Create your résumé in Word.
2. Keep the design simple: All-black “ink,” no more than two typefaces/fonts (and those should be common ones —good choices are Georgia or Cambria for serif, and Verdana or Calibri for sans-serif), ideally at 12 pt but no smaller than 9 pt; no photo; no boxes, shading, rules (lines between items) or other fancy graphics other than italics and — for headings — bold type.
3. Include your e-mail address; website URL and blog URL if you have one; and social media connections: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram — whatever is current and professional.
4. Skip the traditional Objective; it’s assumed that you’re looking for a job or for freelance gigs. Start with a list of skills you offer and software you can use.
5. To include freelance work when aiming for in-house positions, group those projects under their own heading — the name of your freelance business or, if you haven’t come up with a business name, something like “Freelance/Independent Projects.”
6. Bullet out projects in list form and active voice, by client or outlet. Rather than “Assigned to cover …,” use “Covered X beat with stories about Event X, Person Y, Issue Z, for Newspaper Name,” etc., or just “Wrote/Presented … for Publication A/Outlet B.” You can use general categories, such as news, feature, profile, etc., but do include names of subjects if your work includes projects for or about celebrities!
7. Ask a colleague to proofread your résumé — it’s hard to check our own work to perfection because we know what we meant to say or have tinkered with a résumé so much that we could misspell our own names or those of our clients or employers (trust me; that happens). Having another pair of eyes on your résumé will ensure you haven’t made any blunders that will disqualify you from getting freelance gigs or new jobs — especially if you’re an editor or proofreader!

Keep the Word version handy so you can revise the résumé as needed for specific opportunities, usually by rearranging the sequence in your project list to put the most-relevant projects first, and to add new projects as you complete them.

Use cover letters to go into why you’re a great pick for specific assignments or listings by parroting the language of opportunities you’re responding to with how you fit those requirements, but keep them short — no more than a single-spaced page.

Getting to digital

The digital aspect comes in once you organize your information.

• Create and keep your résumé as a Word document but use the Print function to save it as a PDF, and send the PDF version to prospective clients on request. A Word document can be changed by whoever receives it; a PDF is safer from such interference. The PDF also retains formatting and fonts if you’ve used something that clients might not have.

• Post, or announce the availability of, the PDF to all of your social media outlets.

• If you have a blog and/or website (and make creating one your priority if you don’t!), post the PDF there and describe your freelance business or professional background in more detail. Focus on what makes your work important or interesting, your experience and skills, what you’d like to cover, how you can help a prospective client, etc.

• Where possible, post the PDF to your professional association profiles and membership directories. If résumés aren’t allowed, use the content of yours to flesh out your directory profile(s) and, again, include links to published work (as long as you have client permission to do so).

Back to business cards

And by the way, especially now that in-person events are coming back: Business cards are still important! They could function as mini-résumés and will always have value as introductions. You can save yours on your phone to exchange with the more digital-savvy, but keep a stash of the paper version in every pocket, handbag, briefcase, camera case, etc. You never know when or where you might meet someone who would ask for your card. Some of colleagues’ best connections and freelance clients have come about from offering a business card at a party, in the grocery store line, at a highway gas station, on a plane or train …

For a previous post about business cards and résumés, check out:

On the Basics — Biz card, résumé tips as workplaces and in-person events return

Do you have any additional tips for effective versions and uses of résumés? Feel free to comment!

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter (www.writerruth.com) is an award-winning provider of editorial and publishing services for publications, independent authors, publishers, associations, nonprofits and companies worldwide, and the editor-in-chief and owner ofAn American Editor. She created the annualCommunication Central Be a Better Freelancer^® conference for colleagues (www.communication-central.com), now co-hosted with the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (www.naiwe.com) and sponsored by An American Editor. She also owns A Flair for Writing (www.aflairforwriting.com), which helps independent authors produce and publish their books. She can be reached at Ruth@writerruth.com or Ruth.Thaler-Carter@AnAmericanEditor.com.

On the Basics: Rewriting and editing my life by becoming an artist

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter

Owner, An American Editor

© An American Editor. Content may not be recirculated, republished or otherwise used without both the prior permission of the publisher and full credit to the author of a given post and the An American Editor blog, including a live link to the post being referenced. Thank you for respecting our rights to and ownership of our work.

As I’m about to reach a milestone birthday, I found myself wanting to do something new and creative — and I’m doing it! I call it rewriting or editing my life. When a colleague asked for experiences of learning something new at an, um, advanced age, I found myself writing enough to turn it into this post, especially since she only used a small part of my response.

I took classes in ceramics many, many years ago in junior high, even had a piece in an exhibition, and always wanted to do that again. I finally got back to it last year when I found a craft center nearby where I could work on my own after taking a class to prove that I know what I’m doing. I’ve made a few pieces and am going to do more. Not only is this a fun and fulfilling creative outlet, but there’s something very satisfying about pounding a hunk of clay to work with it. Techniques came back to life as soon as I started doing it again. It felt like coming home; coming back to part of me I had forgotten about.

What’s completely new is making art in glass. I’ve been copyediting artists’ articles for a glass art magazine (as well as editing a newsletter for an organization in the decorative arts) for several years and thought I should try my hand at glass work to have a better sense of what those artists are doing. Someone I dated in my previous St. Louis time works in that medium and I decided to check it out after stopping by the studio where he works to say hello. I learned that I don’t have the patience or hand strength for blown glass, but apparently am pretty good at making tiles and similar pieces that use different techniques. The studio’s gallery manager invited me to display pieces and be added to their website, and I’ve already sold a couple pieces — and have an actual commission in hand!

It’s exciting and uplifting to learn and practice glass techniques. Working with glass made me feel like a newbie at first, but I liked it. Learning as an adult feels more real somehow — I have a better sense of what I want to do than I did in school days, and I don’t feel worried about how anything turns out.

I’m making art a habit — the weekends are my art time. It’s just me and the cat nowadays, so I can play with art as long as I don’t have work deadlines to meet, and even those are usually during the week.

I’m using the craft center and glass studio for most of the supplies I need, including kiln time for both mediums. If these projects work out as well as they promise to, my dining room can become my workspace and I can set up a kiln in the basement of my condo building and be more independent. If this really takes off, who knows — I might end up with my own studio or gallery!

Doing this has been wonderful for my life, health, joy, stress relief and sense of accomplishment. I don’t feel stressed very often, but pounding on a hunk of clay takes care of any that does arise. Making art gets me out and among new connections, including people who see me as an artist. It gives me a huge sense of accomplishment, especially because the staff at the glass studio priced my work much higher than I would have dared!

I’m working on setting up an Etsy shop that will feature both glass and clay. In the meantime, if you’d like to see some of my glass work, go to:

https://stlglass.square.site/s/search?q=ruth

For anyone interested in learning something new, there’s only one perspective: As the ad campaign goes, “just do it” — it could be a lot of fun. It could even be no fun — but something new and adventurous is rarely a mistake.

Editing your life by adding a new skill of any type has another business-related benefit: It forces you to apply everything you know about writing, editing, proofreading and networking to make the best possible product and present it to the world in the best possible ways — just as you do with your editorial or publishing business.

And a lesson from the editorial business perspective: It’s rarely too late to “edit” your life by adding new skills, services and interests, whether in the publishing world or elsewhere. Doing something new could even add to your editing (writing, proofreading, design, etc.) client base by giving you visibility in that new area and the experience to feel confident about accepting projects in that area. For anyone feeling as if your editing business is getting stale, taking a new path could be the refresher you need.

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter (www.writerruth.com) is an award-winning provider of editorial and publishing services for publications, independent authors, publishers, associations, nonprofits and companies worldwide, and the editor-in-chief and owner of An American Editor. She created the annual Communication Central Be a Better Freelancer^® conference for colleagues (www.communication-central.com), now co-hosted with the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (www.naiwe.com) and sponsored by An American Editor. She also owns A Flair for Writing (www.aflairforwriting.com), which helps independent authors produce and publish their books. She can be reached at Ruth@writerruth.com or Ruth.Thaler-Carter@AnAmericanEditor.com.

Thinking Fiction: Hooray for a new “Copyediting Fiction” style guide!

© Carolyn Haley

For many a moon, I’ve been among the fiction editors craving a professional-level style guide for our work. The Chicago Manual of Style has been our best resource, but it’s oriented toward nonfiction, so it often doesn’t address the creative anomalies that crop up in novels and short stories.

Now — at last! — we have The Chicago Guide to Copyediting Fiction, by Amy Schneider, copyeditor nonpareil. It not only advises about how best to handle those anomalies, but also serves as a primer for people new to the profession.

Experienced copyeditors will find the book a valuable refresher and an aid to being better at organizing their thoughts and practices. These days, many (most?) fiction copyeditors are independent, and come to their work from different directions. They’ve learned their craft piecemeal, and often had no mentors. Only in recent years have formal education programs arisen that provide systematic training and certificates of achievement.

In addition, copyeditors trained and employed in traditional publishing houses have a different reality from those who entered the business from outside and serve independent authors. The mix-and-match of our individual experiences has led to inconsistent performance in a profession focused on consistency.

This book will help reduce that unevenness by providing a reference directly relevant to our concerns. I recommend that all fiction copyeditors, whether they work in traditional publishing or indie publishing, read the book cover to cover. I have worked in both realms and find that the material in this book embraces their different and common concerns. Most valuable are the examples offered to support every technical point.

Equally valuable is the extensive coverage of style sheets. These are perhaps the trickiest and most useful tool in copyediting, yet the hardest to master.

The book also covers fundamentals such as file organization, maximizing the use of multiple monitors, and the best mindset for approaching the fiction-copyediting task.

Especially helpful is the fact that the book is not a doorstop-sized tome. It’s easy to keep at hand on the desk and find the topic you need, thanks to good chapter organization and index. The narrative is concise and presented in a friendly tone.

I have met, worked with, heard about, and/or read pieces by everyone cited in the acknowledgments, and believe they represent the cream of today’s fiction-copyediting crop. Hats off to all, but an extra round of applause and thanks to Amy for bringing it all together. I’m confident I will be a better copyeditor after reading, absorbing, and referring to this book.

Carolyn Haley is an award-winning novelist who lives and breathes novels. Although specializing in fiction, she edits across the publishing spectrum — fiction and nonfiction, corporate and indie — and is the author of three novels and a nonfiction book. She has been editing professionally since 1997 and has had her own editorial services company, DocuMania, since 2005. She also reviews for the New York Journal of Books, and has presented about editing fiction at Communication Central conferences. She can be reached at dcma@vermontel.net or through DocuMania.

On the Basics: Dealing with idea “theft”

© Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Owner

An American Editor

© An American Editor. Content may not be recirculated, republished or otherwise used without both the prior permission of the publisher and full credit to the author of a given post and the An American Editor blog, including a live link to the post being referenced. Thank you for respecting our rights to and ownership of our work.

Freelance writers often worry about having their story ideas stolen. It’s rare, but sometimes it does happen. On the other hand, what appears to be idea theft might be something innocent. Here’s a recent example — and some tips for idea theft prevention.

A colleague in a social media group pitched a story to an alumni magazine. After asking whether they took alumni profiles, the writer had some seemingly positive e-mail exchanges with the editor via LinkedIn. Then the writer received this message and asked the group how to respond, if at all, to what felt as if the editor stole their story idea:

< Thank you so much for sending this idea our way. Dr. //// sounds like they are doing some wonderful work! … we might consider this story for a Q&A in the Class Notes section, but not for a feature at this time. We generally cover Q&As with our in-house staff and as such do not hire freelancers to conduct those interviews which are generally a few email exchanges.

< Thank you for being in touch and for sharing information about Dr. /// with us. >

As I responded in the group conversation, I sympathize (the only thing worse is being told that they’ve assigned your idea to an intern). Keep in mind that we can’t protect or copyright ideas — only the actual written expression of an idea can be copyrighted. This editor did take the writer’s idea, which would have upset me as much as it did the colleague, but the writer might have been able to protect that idea with a slightly different query approach.

When I suggested not naming the subject of a pitch, the colleague said that editor asked for the person’s name, which I said would be tricky. I probably would have responded with something like, “I’d rather not reveal the person’s name until I have a contract or agreement to write the story, as either a Q&A or narrative profile.” Again, that could result in the editor deciding not to assign the story to you, in part because it could imply a lack of trust, but it does give you some protection against your pitch being hijacked.

A response to the final decision in such a situation could be something like, “I’m not comfortable with having my pitch adopted as an in-house project. This feels like theft.” Doing that is likely to mean never working with that editor/publication, but it can be satisfying. Maybe write the message and then delete it unsent …

Another option could have been: “I appreciate the explanation and understand your process now, but would like to receive recognition for providing this idea. Do you pay for ideas that you assign in-house?” The answer probably would be no, but the question could generate a small fee, or at least plant a seed in the editor’s mind about a fair way to handle such situations in the future.

Fellow writers with similar story ideas might consider describing the person you’d like to profile without revealing the subject’s actual name: “An alum who …” Although even that doesn’t always work: I did something along those lines several years ago and the editor both immediately guessed who I was talking about and gave the profile to a staffer. The pitch was about a prominent local person, so maybe not all that surprising that my description could have given away their identity, but I’m still annoyed several years later!

If the subject of your pitch is someone you know who might sympathize with your quest to write about them, you could ask them to tell editors that they will only work with you — but that could backfire as well. Some editors might react by banning you from their pages forever.

In the online conversation, a group member suggested responding to the editor with something along the lines of “Thank you for letting me know. Please keep me in mind for paying feature assignments.” That shows grace and keeps the communication lines open for the future. Then keep looking for other outlets for that idea!

When you have a story idea in the future, look at several recent issues of a publication you plan to query to see which types of articles are labeled as staff-written or have no bylines. Those are often handled in-house, so craft your query to fit a different type of article.

Most publications nowadays publish their editorial calendars — planned themes and topics for the year’s issues — at their websites. Before querying, go there to check whether your idea, or a version of it, is already scheduled. You might even be able to see that it’s already been assigned. If your idea fits a given issue or theme, craft your query to make your idea stand out from whatever is already planned.

If you have a profile in mind, maybe pitch the person’s professional association(s) instead of their university alumni association publication. Other potential markets would be the person’s hometown publication, current local publication, even high school alumni association instead of college (although high school ones are less likely to pay), etc.

Writer’s Market remains a useful guide to what many publications seek from freelance writers, and Writer’s Digest magazine is still a good resource for information about new publications and the writing field in general.

Pitching a story idea is always iffy. Most editors are honest and won’t steal your ideas, but it can happen. The best way to protect your unprotectable ideas is to craft queries that are as detailed as possible without giving away what’s needed to write piece, and showing why you’re the ideal writer for that piece. And don’t write an entire article without a formal assignment or contract — on speculation (spec) — because that’s asking for your work to be used without compensation.

How do you craft your queries to protect your ideas from being hijacked? If you’ve had an article idea stolen, how did you handle it?

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter (www.writerruth.com) is an award-winning provider of editorial and publishing services for publications, independent authors, publishers, associations, nonprofits and companies worldwide, and the editor-in-chief and owner of An American Editor. She created the annual Communication Central Be a Better Freelancer^® conference for colleagues (www.communication-central.com), now co-hosted with the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (www.naiwe.com) and sponsored by An American Editor. She also owns A Flair for Writing (www.aflairforwriting.com), which helps independent authors produce and publish their books. She can be reached at Ruth@writerruth.com or Ruth.Thaler-Carter@AnAmericanEditor.com.

Guest Article: A Robot Wrote My Press Release

© Vivian Hood, Co-owner, Jaffe

Reprinted with permission of the author. May not be recirculated, republished or otherwise used without both the prior permission of the publisher and full credit to the author, including a live link to the post. Thank you for respecting our rights to and ownership of our work.

The advent and growth of social media created a huge leap in technology for public relations, but since then, few other new tech entries have made much impression beyond tweaking algorithms, adding features and providing updates.

Until now.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is trending on news sites and social media for being hyped as potentially making all kinds of content generation faster, easier and cheaper for everyone, including professional services firms. I decided to see how it works and what could make sense for use within the legal industry.

Putting Content Generators to the Test

My exploration focused on what application AI content generators might have in PR … Two available content generators that I checked out are Jasper and ChatGPT.

Jasper requires a monthly subscription after a free trial, and offers several plans depending on expected word number usage, type of content, type of user and other features. Jasper states it delivers original and optimized content at 10x the speed, presumably of normal human creativity. The platform offers many templates based on the needed content, and it offers to work with more than 29 languages. Jasper’s AI recently wrote its own press release to announce a new chat interface on its platform, providing one representation of its claims of robust abilities.

“Some have breathlessly proclaimed ChatGPT to be the most important technological development since the invention of the printing press or the splitting of the atom,” noted Joe McKendrick in a Forbes article about the ownership of content generated by AI. I simply had to try it out for myself!

I registered for ChatGPT, which became available in November 2022 to initially use as a free platform during its research preview, and entered this request: “Explain what an AI content generator does for writing articles.” Within seconds, the following response appeared:

“An AI content generator is a tool that uses artificial intelligence algorithms to automatically generate written content. It can be used to produce articles, news stories, social media posts, or any other type of written material.

“The AI content generator works by analyzing a set of input materials, such as a list of keywords or a sample article, and then using this information to generate new content that is similar in style and content to the input. The generated content is not necessarily a copy of the input, but rather a new piece of writing that is based on the input and uses similar language and ideas.

“AI content generators can be useful for a variety of tasks, such as generating filler content for websites, creating social media posts, or producing articles for marketing and promotional purposes. They can save time and effort for writers and content creators, and can help to produce a large volume of written material quickly and efficiently. However, the quality of the generated content may vary, and it may not always be suitable for all uses.”

Not bad. For me to formulate that response, I would have had to research and cull information from a variety of sites and write it up. That takes time, so witnessing the speed of this reply in seconds in real time was remarkable.

I next asked ChatGPT to write a press release to announce a new partner named Al C. Yuencourt who joined the Jacksonville, Florida, office of the national law firm Wee Winnit Allwaze, and who practices general litigation. The resulting draft of the press release surprised me with the content provided; it contained nearly all the elements I would have included had I written it. I finetuned the request to add other elements about this new partner’s background, and the revised results acceptably incorporated those new points.

I had to chuckle at the quote prepared on behalf of John Doe, the managing partner of Wee Winnit Allwaze, since it was very generic. I visualized this AI generator whizzing around its data stash, reviewing every press release with a law firm managing partner quote welcoming a new partner, and collating the most common phrases to draft the quote — all in under 3 seconds! Editing for additional messaging, voice and tone would not be too difficult at this point.

First Reactions

My initial thoughts about using AI-generated content:

• Key messages requiring advance strategic thinking must be incorporated into the request or added during editing, but AI learns with feedback to develop more refined responses.
• Time is needed to learn full functionality, which can offset the speed of content being generated once the request is entered. Once that is learned, the process should be much faster.
• AI could generate a typical and basic press release with speed.
• A solo practitioner, or a small law firm without the resources for a PR consultant or communications employee, could reasonably turn to an AI tool to prepare a straightforward press release.
• Editing is always necessary.
• I found it useful for sparking prompts and ideas.
• Word choice in my example press release was rather simple and repetitive in some spots, and there was loss of context and depth, along with a lack of nuanced details that would come from someone who understands the industry and audience.
• Personality was missing — but I read that AI could learn voice and tone style, so improvements could be made. For example, I could have provided personality traits about the managing partner that would be reflected in the word choice of the draft welcome quote.

New Thoughts

Overall, I predict PR and marketing professionals will start to incorporate AI into daily work, and it will become as ubiquitous as asking Siri now for reminders and data requests.

It’s almost inconceivable to imagine a world now without Siri or Alexa, even if their results can exasperate and frustrate almost as much as they can delight and inform. How does ChatGBT fit in? Think of Siri for Q&A, giving you immediate facts at your voice command, one and done. Now imagine that you can continue the conversation over time, albeit only in written format —that is ChatGPT. Unlike Siri or Alexa, it remembers earlier conversations and learns and adjusts for continuing back-and-forth responses. I’m simplifying matters, but ChatGBT is designed for engagement in a written format.

Ways to Use AI
[AI could be used to] to help develop questions to ask in a new-business meeting, job interview or networking event … Furthermore, sharing the experience about using AI for your conversation would be an interesting icebreaker!

Another obvious content need … is social media, and AI could easily help write social media messages. Reviewing and editing would still be necessary.

Humanity vs. Humanoid

In another Forbes article about the future use of AI, author and professor Ajay Agrawal offers a valuable reminder. “Despite advances in computing power, AI remains a tool about prediction, not judgment. Judgment is what humans must still do with the predictions that computing serves up.”

In other words, the humanity behind our writing — the nuances and factors and history and personality and all the rest of what makes a writer — cannot be entirely replaced by AI when we share our stories.

While AI content generation seems promising, it is still very early in the game and requires strategic human thinking and eloquence for direction, instruction and — of course — editing. It’s always exciting to witness industry shifts and growth from the use of technology, but I’m not worried about human writers losing their jobs anytime soon. (Indeed, I never thought I’d have to clarify and spell out “human writers,” but here we are!)

What other uses, benefits and drawbacks do you see with the use of AI-generated content? Would you use it, and if so, how? If not, why not? …

Jaffe provides a wide range of public and media relations services, including websites and graphics, for the legal industry. For the whole article, especially the context of AI for law firms, go to: https://www.jaffepr.com/blog/robot-wrote-my-press-release?utm_source=Newsstand_011123&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsstand_011123&utm_term=Vivian_Blog.

On the Basics: Making the most of job postings

© Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Owner

An American Editor

© An American Editor. Content may not be recirculated, republished or otherwise used without both the prior permission of the publisher and full credit to the author of a given post and the An American Editor blog, including a live link to the post being referenced. Thank you for respecting our rights to and ownership of our work.

One benefit of belonging to a professional association is access to job opportunities. Postings and leads also turn up in LinkedIn and Facebook, among other venues, as well as from colleague and previous client referrals. There are ways to stand out from the (often huge) crowd of other applicants who respond to the same listings. Here are a few tips for increasing your chances of being the one who gets chosen.

• In general, always have a current résumé handy, and schedule regular updates. Ask a friend or colleague to proofread it (and any cover message accompanying a job post response or application for you, if there’s time) — it can be very difficult to proof our own material, and you want your résumé to be perfect.

• Only respond if you really have the experience and skills in the listing. There’s nothing wrong with going after new opportunities if they arise, but applying for jobs or projects you aren’t qualified for makes you look bad. It also can interfere with the ability of qualified competitors to be considered; when unqualified applicants flood the field, clients feel overwhelmed and cut off further applicants. 

• Don’t underbid. It’s expressly forbidden by some professional organizations when responding to their job or project opportunities, and many colleagues consider it unethical, but it’s a bad idea even if there aren’t any strictures against it. If a potential client or employer offers a great rate, respect it, and yourself, and your colleagues. Offering to do the job for less — or for free — undercuts everyone seeking to maintain decent rates for our editorial services. And it makes you look desperate, unprofessional and unethical.

• Make multiple use of your qualifications and activity. When you write a response to a current/recent posting, save it in Word so you can adjust it for future listings. It should include a basic opening sentence noting what you’re applying for, a “nut graf” about how your qualifications or experience relate to the job or project, and a closing graf that asks for — when appropriate — fee/rate, deadline and any other important details not covered in the listing.

• If you include a résumé or promotional brochure as an attachment, make sure the filename uses your name so it stands out from applicants who just use “Resume.doc” as the filename for theirs. You’ll look more professional and will be more memorable, and your material won’t get confused with anyone else’s.

And speaking of résumés, freelance colleagues might benefit from the Editorial Freelancers Association booklet “Resumés for Freelancers: Make Your Resumé an Effective Marketing Tool … and More,” by Sheila Buff and yours truly (I don’t profit from sales). It’s available at https://www.the-efa.org/booklets/#post.

Outside the organizations

For cold queries and responses to leads from sources other than your professional membership associations, which usually provide at least some information about scope, detail and rate, keep a list of items to include and confirm in an agreement, assignment or contract:

• Scope, such as length/number of words (if an editing or proofreading project is defined in pages, make sure to do your own word count before using the client’s number of pages as the basis of your fee and deadline), number of interviews or images, etc.

• Preferred style manual

• Deadline(s)

• Fee or pay rate/amount

• Payment policy (on acceptance vs. on publication vs. X days from invoice date, etc.) • Kill fee

• Protection against scope creep

• Copyright protection

What has worked for you in responding to job services or leads? What hasn’t?

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter (www.writerruth.com) is an award-winning provider of editorial and publishing services for publications, independent authors, publishers, associations, nonprofits and companies worldwide, and the editor-in-chief and owner of An American Editor. She created the annual Communication Central Be a Better Freelancer^® conference for colleagues (www.communication-central.com), now co-hosted with the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (www.naiwe.com) and sponsored by An American Editor. She also owns A Flair for Writing (www.aflairforwriting.com), which helps independent authors produce and publish their books. She can be reached at Ruth@writerruth.com or Ruth.Thaler-Carter@AnAmericanEditor.com.