Ever ignored a gut feeling about a potential client and ended up regretting it later? Trust me, I’ve been there. After fourteen years in the freelance editing business, I’ve seen my fair share of red-flag and beige-flag clients.

In this episode of The Modern Editor, I’m sharing what I’ve learned from not-so-great client experiences so you can avoid some of the mistakes I made early on. At the end of the day, you should always pay attention when your spidey senses start tingling.

• (1:14) You Can’t Avoid All Red Flags
• (1:45) Don’t Pay for Anything Up Front
• (2:46) Don’t Accept Payment in Royalties
• (5:23) Avoid Clients Who Want to Argue Over Your Rate
• (9:14) Always Maintain Your Boundaries
• (11:00) Contracts Are Nonnegotiable
• (11:46) Avoid Clients Who Lie to You
• (13:12) Don’t Work with Clients Who Ghost You
• (15:26) Pay Attention to How They Behave Online
• (17:13) Avoid Clients Who Hate Feedback
• (18:40) The Freelance Editors Club is Reopened!
• (19:20) New Client Beige Flags That Could Turn Into Red Flags
• (22:26) How to Protect Yourself from Client Red Flags

• Editorial Freelancers Association
• ACES directory

• Grab the Editing Contract Template
• Join the Freelance Editors Club

Do you pass the mantle or mantel?

In this episode of The Modern Editor, I’m back with more commonly confused words I’ve come across in my years of editing. Some of these might be easy for you to spot, while others are trickier. Either way, it’s important to keep an eye out so these words don’t fall through the cracks.

In case you missed it, listen to part one here!

(1:15) Mantel and Mantle

(2:00) Medal, Metal, Meddle, and Mettle

(3:30) Affect and Effect

(5:07) Compliment and Complement

(5:53) Course and Coarse

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Join the Freelance Editors Club

As an editor, I see commonly confused words all the time. There are the super common ones we all know (to/too/two, etc.), but lately I've been spotting a handful of less commonly confused words over and over again while copyediting manuscripts.

Whether it's the result of speech-to-text software, typing too quickly, or our brains simply filling in what we expect to see, these mistakes seem to be popping up for me lately. I figured I should highlight them in an episode of The Modern Editor so that you can watch out for them too!

• (1:32) Stock and Stalk
• (2:17) Break and Brake
• (2:45) Phase and Faze
• (3:21) Peak, Peek, and Pique
• (4:06) Casualty and Causality
• (4:42) Keep a List of the Commonly Confused Words You Encounter While Copyediting

• Grab the Editing Contract Template
• Join the Freelance Editors Club

If you know me at all, you know I’m all about efficiency and becoming a more effective editor. There are so many repetitive tasks in editing that can steal your time and attention, which is why I’m sharing my favorite time-saving tool with you in today’s episode of The Modern Editor.

Allow me to introduce you to TextExpander, one of my favorite editing tools that doesn’t use generative AI.

• (1:07) What is TextExpander?
• (3:51) How TextExpander Works

• TextExpander
• Espanso
• aText
• Writing With Color blog

• Grab the Editing Contract Template
• Join the Freelance Editors Club

Curious about what my copyediting process looks like? I’m giving you a sneak peek in this episode of The Modern Editor Podcast. Listen in as I share the 10 quick searches I run every single time I start a new copyediting project.

Something I love about editing is that everyone has a different process, and I appreciate learning from others. This is a glimpse into the process that works for me, so take what you like and see if it works with your own process. There’s no one right way to edit.

• (1:35) Why I Like to Run Prechecks
• (3:35) Extra Spaces
• (4:25) -ly Adverbs with Hyphens
• (5:00) Further and Farther
• (5:33) Halves
• (6:19) Compounds
• (6:51) Words That End in “Like”
• (7:46) Commonly Confused Words
• (8:45) Comma With Internal or Terminal To, Either, or Though
• (9:47) Double Punctuation
• (10:28) Straight Apostrophes and Straight Quotes

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• Join the Freelance Editors Club

What does it really take to become an editor? In this short-and-sweet episode of The Modern Editor Podcast, I’m sharing how I got into the editing biz fourteen years ago. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t for the best reason 😅

This episode is for new and hopeful editors who want to learn from my experience and build a successful editing business. However, I think there are some good reminders for veterans, too. Listen in as I share the good, the bad, and the vulnerable!

• (1:05) I Could Find Typos Everywhere
• (2:09) Did You Know There Are Different Types of Editors? I Didn’t!
• (4:34) The Freelance Editors Club Membership Price is Going Down
• (5:21) Four Steps to Getting Started as a Professional Editor
• (10:54) Fourteen Years in and I’m Still Learning

• The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors by Erin Brenner
• Editorial Freelancers Association
• ACES: The Society for Editing
• Editors Canada
• Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading
• Northwest Editors Guild
• San Diego Professional Editors Network
• Freelance Editors Club
• The Chicago Manual of Style
• AP Stylebook
• Developmental Editing by Scott Norton
• Editing Fiction at Sentence Level by Louise Harnby (line editing)
• The Copyeditor’s Handbook and Workbook by Amy Einsohn and Marilyn Schwartz
• The Chicago Guide to Copyediting Fiction by Amy J. Schneider

• Grab the Editing Contract Template
• Join the Freelance Editors Club

Are you the right editor for the job? In this episode of The Modern Editor, I’m flipping the script and taking on the author’s POV. Listen in as I list what I think are the most important things authors should look for when hiring an editor.

This episode is directed toward authors, but editors will benefit from it too. You’ll learn whether or not you’re marketing yourself correctly so that the right authors hire you to work with them.

• (2:27) Number One: An Editor's Education
• (4:51) Number Two: Does the Editor Work with Your Type of Content?
• (7:46) Number Three: Look for Testimonials, Referrals, and Word-of-Mouth Recommendations
• (9:28) Number Four: Ask for a Sample Edit
• (13:16) Number Five: Values Alignment
• (14:56) Number Six: Do They Use a Contract?
• (15:57) Number Seven: Rates
• (21:22) Number Eight: Deadlines and Availability

• Writing With Color Descriptions Guide: Skin Color

• Grab the Editing Contract Template
• Join the Freelance Editors Club

I don’t know about you, but I could use a pep talk right about now. Things are feeling bleak in the editing and publishing industries, not to mention everything else going on in the world.

If you’re currently feeling defeated, bitter, exasperated, or annoyed about the state of our industry right now, you’re not alone.

I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge what we’re going through in this episode of The Modern Editor Podcast. Listen in for a pep talk from yours truly, along with how I’m staying hopeful and focused through the muck.

• (0:56) The Current (Meh) Landscape of the Editing Industry
• (4:03) How to Cope With These Challenges
• (10:25) Keeping Hope Alive

• Grab the Editing Contract Template
• Join the Freelance Editors Club