2022 editing roundup

Last year, I did a roundup of the editing projects I worked on throughout the year, so I thought I’d carry on the tradition and do one for 2022. If you like stats or you’re interested to see what type of things I work on – and how much work a full-time book editor does in a year – read on!

Project breakdown – what did I work on?

As always, my year has been filled with mainly novels, although I did take on some interesting non-fiction projects this year. I take on the occasional non-fiction book for publishers if the topic is of interest to me, but my main focus remains on fiction.

Services performed

• Beta and sensitivity reads: 0
• Copy/line edits: 6
• Proofreads: 20
• Manuscript assessments: 16
• Mini critique: 1
• Submission packages: 4

In total, I did 47 separate services this year! This is less than last year for a few reasons.

First, I was aiming to reduce my workload, in particular the amount of work I was taking on for publishers versus independent authors. Publishers often have faster turnaround times and lower rates, so this was something I’d meant to do for a while. I love working for publishers, but I’ve now got it narrowed down to a few regulars, and the rest of the time, I can focus on working with indie authors.

Second, I have a tendency to take on too much. I started being more careful of this by booking further out and raising my rates (also a necessity thanks to the UK’s rising cost of living – ugh). I started self-publishing my own writing this year, too, so I wanted to have at least some time for that without becoming stressed out!

You’ll also notice that I stopped doing beta/sensitivity reading this year. This is mainly because I take on so many manuscript assessments now, and I just don’t have the additional time or headspace for beta reads.

On that note, next year I won’t be offering submission packages anymore either. I want to focus on copy/line editing, proofreading, and manuscript assessments.

Types of material

• Books: 42 (go figure – I’m a book editor after all!)
• Short stories: 1
• Chapters/submission material: 4

Age ranges

• YA: 6
• MG/children’s: 2
• Adult: 39

Genres

Fantasy and crime/thrillers were my top genres this year – eleven and thirteen projects for those genres. I also did a lot of contemporary fiction, romance, and sci-fi! 

Genres I did less of this year were mysteries, non-fiction, and historical. I’m more selective about these genres anyway, so that makes sense.

Client type

The bulk of my work was for publishers and independent authors, which isn’t a surprise. I’m pleased that I did slightly more work for independent authors this year, as I wanted to scale back my publisher work slightly.

I did some work for service providers too – in case you’re wondering, these are other editorial businesses such as Pikko’s House and Writers & Artists, who hire me to take on jobs. I love working with these two businesses as the people who run them are lovely and I enjoy the projects. This year, I also did a job for the CIEP, giving feedback on a developmental editing guide before it was published. 

A handful of the lovely books I’ve worked on!

Podcast interview

I got to go on a podcast this year! I was invited onto The Pen to Published Podcast by the two Alexas who run it. I chatted to them about self-publishing versus traditional, and you can listen to the episode at this link. This was something new to me but I had so much fun, and they’ve invited me on again in future.

Other wins in 2022

Some other fun things happened for me editing wise in 2022:

• I’m booking about six months out for a lot of projects, which is amazing (I always leave wiggle room for my regular publishers, but the fact that authors are willing to wait so long to work with me is so lovely).
• I kept up with blogging regularly and took a blogging course – I still get messages about this blog and how people find it helpful, so thank you for that!
• I started the author interview series I mentioned in last year’s end-of-year update! I’ve interviewed three people for this series so far.
• Started a newsletter, although this has morphed into more of an author newsletter (with writing/publishing tips included) due to my other major win this year…

… which was taking the leap and publishing my own writing! I published a fairytale retelling called The Darkest Curse, which introduces the world of Nethervale. I’ll be publishing more retellings set in this world next year. 

Plans for 2023

I’ve been a full-time freelance editor for five years now, and I’m at a point where I feel very comfortable and stable with my business. This is something I’m so grateful for, because when I first started out, that wasn’t the case! I’m booking author clients from July 2023 onwards, and we’re only in December 2022!

As a result, I don’t have many goals for 2023 except to keep doing what I’m doing, including updating this blog twice a month, and working on amazing books. As I mentioned before, I want to focus mainly on copy/line edits, proofreads, and manuscript assessments in 2023. I’d love to do more copy/line edits, as I love how involved I get to be in the text.

If you’re interested in my writing, I want to self-publish more books of my own next year – and already have a plan! First up will be the second fairytale retelling set in the world of Nethervale. It’ll be based on The Little Mermaid and I hope to release it in late spring/early summer.

---

If you’d like to get on my editing calendar for summer 2023 and beyond, you can fill out my editing contact form here.