How to Get Started as a Freelance Book Editor

Hi! I'm Holly, a freelance editor living in Houston, Texas. I've been an editor working with authors from all walks of life for about ten years now. My clients vary from poets to nonfiction authors with big ideas to artists to indie writers in the speculative genres. My favorite clients to work with are new writers looking to make the leap into publishing. I am the managing editor for Interstellar Flight Press, an indie speculative publishing house focusing on novellas, short story collections, anthologies, and poetry collections.

About ten years ago, I moved from Maine back home to Texas with my spouse. We were just finishing graduate school, and he was starting a new job in healthcare. Having put him through school, I knew I wanted to do something with writing and publishing, but I wasn’t sure what. I’d done some editing for grad students, and I thought maybe that could be a viable path.

I found my first client via a part-time job I applied for post grad school. The job didn’t want me, but one of the reviewers recommended me to a friend who was looking for a writing assistant. From there, I started picking up freelance jobs both as a writer and editor, and slowly started growing my freelance business.

In 2020, my editing business had grown so much that I had to hire outside help. I made the decision to take a part-time job at an academic journal for those coveted benefits, and now I edit mostly part-time. But in 2025, I’ve had at least two editing clients every month of the year. Most of the time, I’m turning writers away because my schedule is full.

I don’t think I anticipated how busy and how popular my services would be. Getting started as a freelance editor is a leap of faith. You’re asking writers to trust you—and the key to that, in my opinion, is you have to be trustworthy. So I’m going to share with you some of the main ways I got my business off the ground so many years ago: By building trust with writers. Writers trust me because they know I frigging love writing.

This all goes back to my writing motto: “Love what you write, write what you love.” As a freelance editor, you could say my motto is: “Love what you edit, edit what you love.”

This is the topic of my upcoming September workshop, all about how to get started as a book editor:

So You Want to Be a Book Editor
DATE: 4 Weeks Starting September 9th, 2025
TIME: Asynchronous, Self-Paced via Writing Workshops
Price: $299
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Publishing survives on the work of editors. If you’ve ever considered becoming a freelance editor, this workshop will give you the tools needed to get your business started. Learn about the different types of editing, how to structure your editing business, and what resources exist for freelance editors. A nitty-gritty, in-depth guide to becoming a guide for writers.