We recently connected with Lynne Pearson and have shared our conversation below.

Lynne, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

Working in the library of a middle school was a job that fed my passion for reading. Whether I was selecting books for students, reading or talking about them, books were my life.

I was invited to a neighborhood book group where a local writer would be present. I enjoyed her book and signed up for her newsletter. She sent out a chapter of a book she was working on, and I spotted inconsistencies that didn’t fit the story’s time period. I had no way to get hold of her and thought about contacting her publisher to see if they wanted someone to read books and report errors before books were published.

I remember being in the school parking lot when the idea hit me that there’s a paying job for that: editing. So, I took a yearlong certificate course in editing at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Knowing that I wanted to work with independent authors, I contacted the local writer I’d met previously and interviewed her for a school assignment. That interview led to her hiring me to edit a book for her and recommending me to other writers. Another writer friend convinced me to join the Greater Seattle Romance Writers of America, now known as Emerald City Romance Writers, where I took many classes on writing itself, which helped me refine my editing skills.

I made a big investment working with two branding professionals. They helped me rework my website and get into the habit of posting regularly on social media. I still use the images from my day-long photo shoot with them and reach out to readers and writers through my monthly newsletter. I would not have started that without their encouragement.

In its heyday, RWA had a monthly magazine that reached thousands of writers nationwide. Advertising in that magazine brought me clients who, years later, are still with me.

While I built up my clientele, I kept my day job, finally leaving it—and paid medical insurance behind in June of 2020. Now, that was scary!

Lynne, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Editing is more than correcting spelling and punctuation errors. I can do that for a client if that’s all they need, but the majority of my clients want help breathing life into their stories and hire me because they are too close to the story and can’t see why it is flat. Sometimes, the character lacks enough motivation to want what they want. Sometimes, the character doesn’t face enough obstacles. Sometimes, the story starts in the wrong place, and sometimes the villain is the wrong character.
It’s not enough just to point these things out. I suggest solutions that allow the writer to see the possibilities in their story.

I like to set up meetings with writers to discuss their books. I find that ideas flow better in a conversation, and I want them to understand the why behind my suggestions. At the end of the day, my edits are suggestions that writers can accept or reject. It’s their name on the book’s cover, not mine, regardless of how much work I did on it.
It thrills me to pieces when writers share their successes with me. Whether it’s a glowing review, winning an award, or selling a manuscript to a film company, I am pleased as punch for them. When they come back to me for their next book or refer me to another writer, I know my work has merit.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

While I do send a report when I’ve finished an editing pass, the face-to-face meetings (in person or online) I have with clients build loyalty and trust. They provide an opportunity to gauge a client’s response to my suggestions. If they aren’t on board with my ideas, we work to find another solution. And it’s a great time to discuss future stories,

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

I can only work on one book at a time in order to keep a story straight in my head, so I edit two, sometimes three books a month. When a client’s book doesn’t arrive on time, or cancels at the last moment, it impacts my income significantly. When that happened recently, I posted on social media that I had an immediate vacancy, and I was able to fill that slot within a day.
I never used to put the estimated cost of an edit on a booking deposit because it was usually included in an email. I learned to do that when I sent the first invoice to a client for an edit (we’d discussed the cost in a phone call but there was nothing in writing) and they backed out at the last minute. That was an expensive lesson to learn.

Contact Info:

• Website: allthatediting.com; lynnehancockpearson.com

Image Credits

maruphotography.ca
designwheelgraphics.com