Job Posting: Writing Coach, Editor, & Mentor

Freelance Fiction, Nonfiction, and/or Academic Writing Coach, Mentor & Editor

Overview

One Lit Place: a full-service writers’ center specializes in supporting creative, academic, and business writers with personalized writing coaching and editing. Whether our clients wish to strengthen and improve their skills and overall confidence, work on a book or other projects, or require specific editorial insight to achieve publication, we step in to partner with our writers and help them achieve their goals.

What sets OLP apart is our commitment to supporting the writer with both their process and their products, treating the writer and their work as a complete entity. Our hands-on approach with our writers engenders the old-fashioned idea of the writer-editor partnership, and our writers note that having dedicated attention to them and their work increases their productivity and work outcomes and provides them with feelings of confidence, agency, and motivation.

Posting Information & Requirements

We are looking for a freelance writing coach and editor to join our creative team. Our writing coaches and editors serve the writer personally throughout their process as well as skillfully assist with the development of their manuscripts across the genres.

As a coach, you are a writer’s support system for accountability, confidence building, craft instruction, and guidance. Your presence, strategies, suggestions, and attention communicates to the writer that they’re in a collaborative partnership with someone who understands their unique needs and their process and is invested in their progress and success.

As an editor, you nurture writers’ projects from early drafts for brainstorming and idea generation to providing comprehensive developmental feedback to substantive copyediting to proofreading and formatting.

Additional assistance with submission materials (cover/ query letters, nonfiction book proposals, summaries or other documents), publication planning and organization, and advice as to markets and publication options may be requested. Copywriting is also available by request for website pages, blogs, business documentation, or ghostwriting creative work.

Our team are highly engaged, compassionate, skilled literary practitioners who see the intrinsic value in supporting writers and helping them feel more empowered in order to do their best work.

This position is part-time independent contractor/freelance, making it an excellent accompaniment to lecturer or adjunct teaching, editing, and writing. Our goal is for our team to feel at home and to take pride in serving our community. Our company culture is a warm, respectful one, where each team member’s skills and strengths are appreciated and highlighted for our client community.

All administration, advertising, client acquisition, intake, management, and billing are provided to enable you to focus solely on your clients.

Job requirements:

• Masters Degree and/or PhD in literature, writing, or related discipline required
• University or Adult Ed teaching experience and leading writing workshops  strongly preferred
• Must have a minimum of eight (8) years experience editing fiction, nonfiction, academic manuscripts and/or business documentation of varying levels of author competency
• Publication record: short works (required); book-length projects strongly preferred
• Coaching:
  • Comfortable working with and coaching writers of all levels and abilities (from emerging with no previous writing experience or training to professional authors), identifying needs and providing solutions (deadline, micro-assignments, schedules) and providing personalized plans depending on the needs, learning style, and goals of the client
  • Able to work closely with writers to balance needs and goals and manage expectations against the overall scope of the project and budgetary requests to ensure the work is of high quality
• Editing:
  • Able to provide developmental feedback (deep critique of a manuscript) that provides a thorough assessment of all areas of the manuscript from overarching holistic issues of flow, structure, and organization to specific issues of character/voice, plot, etc. in substantial and articulate notes in order to assist the writer as they enter into revision
  • Comfortable with performing all levels of edit, from substantive editing involving significant rewrites in the voice and style of the project to light copyediting in line with client expectations
  • Familiar with correct rules of grammar, punctuation, and syntax and able to use Chicago, APA, MLA, or adapt to a house style (upon request) as needed and provide a style sheet to ensure uniformity of editing for each project
  • (Suggested) familiarity with the particular rigours of academic writing for PhD candidate dissertations, journal articles, and other documents
• Able to meet deadlines as pre-determined between editor and client and operate in an “on-call” capacity, within reason, to support the client
• Able to maintain warm and professional demeanour throughout the project work and engender a positive, constructive environment for the client
• Familiar with Microsoft Word and “Review” or “Track Changes” and comfortable navigating various online platforms for connecting with One Lit Place admin and clients via team correspondence platforms Asana and Ringcentral (training provided)
• Interested in taking pride and care in supporting authors through their process, being party to their engagement and feelings of agency, and nurturing their work for the short and long-term.

Starting Pay $55/hr. CAD

For more information, or to apply with a letter and CV, please contact Jenna Kalinsky at contact@onelitplace.com