2023 Year in Review

This year has been a whirlwind, and my business has grown more than I ever thought possible (thanks to YOU!).

To wrap up the year, I thought I would summarize the work we’ve done together.

When I left teaching so that our family could move to Maine, I had no idea what I was going to do for work. And as a first-gen college student who, like so many academics, was plagued by imposter syndrome, I never in a million years thought that I would (or could) be an entrepreneur.

Having wrapped my fourth year as a freelance copy editor and my first year pursuing my own private clients, I am so immensely grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given and to all of you who have trusted me with your writing. I know how much effort you put in to publishing and applying for jobs, and I will never take lightly the responsibility of helping you prepare your text for submission.

But enough of the sappy stuff, let’s get to the numbers!

My work this year has been divided between private clients (YOU) and corporate clients (mainly book publishers).

Let’s start with the private clients.

Here’s some feedback I received from clients (special thanks to those who completed my survey!):

“Everything was absolutely perfect!”

“The editor was able to give more fluency and accuracy to the text.”

“Nice quality service. Very professional. Keep on that way.”

“The editor was very accessible and answered questions on time. She was also very fast and respected the deadlines in a very generous way.”

Now to the corporate clients.

Number of Projects: 123

• Academic books: 11
• Trade/gift books: 9
• Dissertations: 3
• Journal articles: 94
• Job materials: 6

And here are some pretty exciting additional stats:

• Words edited: 3,134,024(!!)
• Launched a weekly newsletter (these blog posts! Sign up here)
  • subscribers : 237
• Services added:
  • manuscript review
  • journal recommendation
  • publishing coaching
• Learned how to make a Facebook Reel (I won’t report how long it took me to do this!)

Whew, that’s a lot of editing!

What are we planning for next year?

In 2024, in addition to continuing our weekly-ish newsletters, I’ll be rolling out two courses.

The first will be a 6-Week Book Proposal Challenge. This course will be asynchronous, so you can enroll at any time once its released, and a set of videos and worksheets will be emailed to you on Monday morning each week.

The goal of the challenge is to give you the knowledge, structure, and motivation to write a high-quality, persuasive proposal targeted to the publisher of your choice. Each week, participants will watch a 10–15-minute video in which I explain aspects of drafting the proposal, the challenge for the week, and the information you’ll need to smash the week’s writing goal.

We’ll also provide you with digital (PDF) worksheets to guide your thinking and writing and an achievable “homework” assignment to help you make progress on writing your proposal. Everything is presented in manageable chunks that won’t overwhelm you and that you can handle along with your regular teaching responsibilities.

After six weeks, you’ll have a complete proposal draft ready to submit to the publisher.

An AltAc Career in Academic Editing

The second course that’s in the works is one that aims to help people who are in academia but are looking to make a change. Maybe, like me, you have children and are finding that the academic schedule is not as flexible as you were always told. Or, also like me, you’re tired of having your career determine where you live.

If this rings true for you, I can promise you that there is hope, and many options exist to give you the life you want. The one I can offer help with is illuminating the path to becoming an academic editor.

This spring, I’ll be offering a FREE webinar that explains what academic editing is and how you can start a side hustle or a full-time career as an editor. The goal of the webinar is to help you decide whether or not this option is for you.

For those who’d like to take the next step, I’ll be releasing a course (we’re aiming for late spring) that explains everything you need to know to get started: the different types of editing, how you find clients, what the pay is like, additional training options in editing and proofreading, and how to adjust your mindset so you can confidently commit to changing careers.

Many of you are happy in the academy, and that’s GREAT. But for those who are struggling, it can be a lonely place, and I want to share what I’ve learned so you can find joy again in a new, rewarding career path.

That’s a Wrap!

As you can see, we’ve got a lot going on! And this is on top of raising my two kiddos and enjoying the outdoor life in Maine.

Again, I cannot say enough how thankful I am to all of you for connecting with me. I truly love what I do, and I hope that it shows.

P.S. As we begin planning our articles for next year, could you let us know what you’d like to see more of? Message us. Thanks again!