How To Not Get Exploited as a Freelance Academic Editor

How To Not Get Exploited as a Freelance Academic Editor

Bailey Harrington, freelance editor, part-time staff at Washington State University

Many academics work with an academic editor to prepare their work for publication. They may hire an editor directly or use an agency that specializes in English-language editing for academic texts. Journals may require the use of an editor and often provide authors with information on these agencies; occasionally, journals even have direct relationships with one or more of them. This presentation will include real-life examples of rates from my own work for agencies, as an editor in a university writing center, and with freelance academic clients, as well as examples of exploitative procedures and rates, to help editors protect themselves and be compensated fairly for their work

Bailey Harrington has worked as a freelance academic editor since 2015; in 2022, she left academia to focus on editing. In 2023, she joined Washington State University’s Writing Center as a staff editor and began freelancing for trade publishers, including Macmillan. Bailey holds a PhD in Genetics and Molecular Medicine from the University of Edinburgh. Most of her academic editing work is in the areas of genetics, biology, and medicine, although she also edits for clients in other fields writing in English as a foreign language. Bailey is active in the freelance editing community, serving as the Programming & Events Coordinator and Book Club Co-Chair for the Academic Editing Chapter of the Editorial Freelancers Association. At this moment, she is probably reading.