Working for an editing platform — Is it the right choice for you?
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So you’ve decided to start your freelance career in editing. Welcome to the club! Taking your first step towards being a freelancer is momentous and is certainly followed by a number of more decisions. Besides the decor for your home office and the choice of a work companion, you might be asking yourself how you will offer your services. Should you invest time in setting up a website and work independently or skip that step and work with an editing platform like Scribbr?
To help you discover the freelancing style that suits your needs and preferences, this article will give you an overview of the most important differences between working independently vs. offering your services to a platform!
Training & Development
Whether you’re already an experienced editor or you’re just starting off, as a freelancer, you’ll never want to stop learning and building confidence in your skills.
If you’re looking to improve your editing skills as an independent freelancer, you might want to set aside a training budget and follow an online editing course, which can range anywhere from $100 to $500. While an investment in a trustworthy and reputable course is a good way to prepare yourself for your first clients in a short period of time, you don’t necessarily need to spend a lot of money. Many successful freelance editors are self-taught and developed their skills through freely available resources and an inquisitive mindset.
Working with a platform, in contrast, often means that you’ll have free access to coaching and training materials developed by industry experts. The level and value of training offered by editing platforms varies though, and their offer might not always meet your needs when it comes to building on your existing skills.
At Scribbr, editors start off with a remunerated and individualized training program called the Scribbr Academy, in which they receive personal coaching by senior editors. Besides that, an extensive resource database, regular feedback and coaching, and access to a learning platform developed by a team of experienced editors ensure that editors are continuously able to hone their skills. In our active community, editors can ask each other tricky questions and learn from hundreds of other editors.
Community
Speaking of community — as a freelancer, it takes quite some effort not to fall into isolation during work. The good news is, with the rapid growth of remote work and the popularity of the freelance lifestyle, there is now an abundance of online communities to join. Beyond online forums and Facebook groups specifically for editors, there are also communities such as Focusmate, which allow you to join virtual coworking sessions. So, working as an independent freelancer doesn’t have to mean that you’ll be lonely, but you’ll need to be committed to getting yourself out there and finding like-minded people to connect with.
When it comes to platforms, some editing platforms do have an established and active community. The advantage of these communities is that the members all do the same type of work as you, which makes it easier to relate to each other and to build relationships. At Scribbr, editors are part of an active online community of 600 editors worldwide, where members discuss tricky language questions, share advice, and join virtual coworking sessions. Apart from that, editors get to know their colleagues through in-person and virtual meetups.
Customer relationships
Working as an independent freelancer, you get to have personal contact with each client — typically be the author of the text you’re editing. You have the opportunity to gather all the information you need and ask as many questions as you’d like to get a feel of the customer’s needs and expectations. If all goes well, you can then offer a customized service that your customers will be happy with. Sooner or later, though, the service you provide might not exactly meet your customer’s expectations. As an independent editor, you’ll be responsible for managing your client’s expectations and dealing with cases when a customer is not completely satisfied.
Working with a platform, most of the communication with the author and the complaint management are taken care of, which saves you time, so you can focus on editing and minimize the financial risk. In this case, the platform is your client. They ensure that you have the tools and information you need to perform well and manage the customer’s expectations. Although you certainly are expected to perform an edit that suits the author’s needs, platforms usually have an established scope for their service and a quality management system.
Working with Scribbr, editors can concentrate on what they are best at — supporting students with their language expertise. Meanwhile, students are assisted by our customer support team throughout the whole process, and our customer happiness specialist ensures that every student is satisfied.
Financial perspective
From a financial perspective, there are a few things to consider when choosing your freelancing style. Working independently, you can decide how much you want to charge your customers. On the flip side, you’ll have to invest a substantial amount of time into customer acquisition, writing invoices, and other tedious tasks. These tasks will take a lot of time if you’re just starting out, but as you gain experience and a solid customer base, you’ll be able to focus more and more on your core service.
A platform usually has fixed rates per word or per page and will keep a margin of what the customer pays. The advantage is that with a platform, many tasks including marketing, customer service, and invoicing are managed by a team of experts — which saves you many hours every week. Another aspect to consider is that an established and successful platform such as Scribbr also gives you a greater financial stability, as they have a steady flow of customers and are able to make reliable predictions about work fluctuations.
All things considered, the decision to work as an independent freelance editor or to offer your services to a platform depends on the tasks you want to focus on and the guidance you might need or not need at the beginning of your career. While working independently from the beginning will allow you to learn a broad range of skills aside from editing, working for a platform offers a smooth entrance into freelance life, so you can focus on developing your editing skills and learn from experienced editors.
A final piece of advice I want to leave you with is to invest thorough research into existing platforms. Every platform is different and offers different levels of training and guidance. By looking into Glassdoor reviews and testimonials and by reaching out to other freelancers who work for this platform, you’ll be able to get a good impression and decide whether a platform is right for you.
If you think working for Scribbr is the right choice for you, you’re invited to apply to be an English, German, Dutch, or French editor.
