Essentially, academic editors edit or revise scholarly documents–journal articles, books, job market materials, tenure packets, and more. They work as freelancers or as in-house editors (i.e., salaried employees for publishers), and they help scholars save time, get published faster, and excel on the job market.
There are generally three types of editing.
Developmental editing involves looking at the “big picture” of a document. Is it organized well? Is there a clear thesis statement? Is that thesis supported by evidence throughout the paper? This does not involve correcting grammar or formatting the text. Often, developmental editing is done on longer projects, like books, but it can also be helpful if someone is struggling to get a journal article published and needs help restructuring the presentation of the argument.
Copy or line editing involves reading the document, applying the formatting guidelines (setting the page margins, heading styles, page numbers, and so on), and correcting errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. It also includes rewording sentences to improve clarity and flow. When you work for private clients (i.e., scholars), a copy edit typically means that you are preparing the document for submission for publication. There are virtually always changes that the author will need to make after they receive the edited file from you (e.g., rewording some text, adding or cutting references, etc.), but the goal is for you to get the text as close to publication-ready as possible for them.
Finally, proofreading is a last-minute check before a document is published. It is usually done for book publishers or journals, and it involves looking at the typeset files (usually in a PDF) to make sure there are no last-minute typos and that everything–the text, headings, images, page numbers, and so forth–is showing up correctly on the page.
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Where Do Academic Editors Work?
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it gives you a general idea of some options. Note that most of these jobs are focused on copy editing and proofreading, rather than developmental editing, and the articles I write are primarily for people who plan to do freelance, rather than in-house, editing.
One option for freelance academic editors is to work directly for an academic journal. This involves copy editing the articles when they’re accepted for publication, sometimes working with the authors on multiple rounds of edits, and checking the proofs before the issue goes to print. I’ve worked for two journals and the roles vary widely, but it’s a good source of regular work.
Commercial and university presses also hire freelance editors and proofreaders. As a copy editor, you would edit the book, liaise with the authors, incorporate their changes, and then send the files back to your contact at the press. If you’re proofreading, you would not interact with the authors, just look over the proofs, mark any errors, and return the files to the press. Book publishers typically offer the lowest pay rates (with the exception of the most prestigious presses), but the writing is usually clean since the book has already been through peer review and would have been sent for prior copy editing if there were major issues.
Some books I’ve edited over the years. You can see more in my portfolio.
Many think tanks or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have in-house copy editors, but some do hire freelancers. If you have connections through your research to any organizations like this, you can definitely work those networks if you decide to go into editing.
Next, if you’ve published a journal article recently, you’ve probably come across what are sometimes called editing “agencies.” These are usually arms of publishing companies like Taylor & Francis or Wiley where the publisher hires freelancers to provide editing services to authors. Other examples include Scribendi, Editage, and Enago. The clients with these companies are often people for whom English is a foreign language. The pay rates are typically lower, but the agencies can provide reliable work to you, especially if you’re just starting out.
Packaging companies handle the book-publishing process for presses. For example, Routledge uses a packager that’s responsible for handling their copy editing, indexing, and other tasks. Working for a packager is very similar to working for a book publisher, and the pay is equally low.
Finally, we have private clients, which involves you working 1-on-1 with scholars to help them perfect their work and get it published. This is my favorite type of work because I’ve built relationships with clients whom I’ve worked with for years now–we talk about our kids, they have me work on multiple projects for them, I get to read their books before anyone else does, and it’s a lot of fun to build these relationships.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many options when it comes to finding work as an academic editor, and this list has only scratched the surface. I sometimes get comments from people on social media who derisively say that there’s no money in freelance editing or that the work expectations of various employers are terrible. While it’s true that there are companies out there that pay next to nothing and expect very fast turnaround times, they are the minority. And as far as pay, I and other academic editors have built six-figure businesses and regularly have to turn away work–so the idea that editing can only be a side hustle is downright wrong.
For more on this last point, stay tuned next week for my post, “Can I REALLY make a career as an editor?”