Job Posting: Writing Coach, Editor, & Mentor

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

Overview

Our purpose as a full-service writers center is to provide specific, customized support to creative, academic, and business writers from start to publish. Whether they are new to writing or multi-published authors, our aim is to inspire, educate, and normalize the ups and downs of the writing process to help them achieve their goals.

As writing coaches, we provide relevant guidance, insights, and accountability to ensure our writers gain confidence and motivation; as editors, we apply developmental insights and all levels of editing to their projects to help them publish.

Our style of support, based on the time-honored model of the collaborative writer-editor partnership, is built upon investing in the writer and nurturing them from where they are to where they wish to go, both for the short and the long term.

Where One Lit Place is unique is in how we treat the writer and their writing as a complete entity—and that we do so in custom ways that meet each individual’s needs, schedule, and goals.

Since our start in 2015, our writers have noted that having such dedicated attention designed around their writing background, skills, and interests makes their writing practice far more thriving and thoughtful, their relationship to their writing dynamic and agented, and their publishing journey more knowledgeable and even easier.

(Many of our authors find the relationship addictive, enjoying feeling uniquely heard and respected as well as having a consistent resource through the ups and downs of writing and publishing, and remain with their coaches/editors for years and across numerous projects.)

Posting Information & Requirements

Our freelance 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 may nurture writers’ projects from early drafts for brainstorming and idea generation to providing comprehensive developmental feedback to line and copy editing to proofreading or simply provide one or more of the needed editing services.
  
  

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 university lecturer or adjunct teaching, editing, and writing. All client work is paid, whether it’s spent in coaching sessions or providing on-page feedback.

Our company culture is a warm, respectful one. Our goal is that our team feel at home and take pride in serving our community.

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

Job requirements:

• Master’s Degree and/or PhD in literature, writing, or related discipline/certification program required
• University, college, or adult education teaching experience (e.g. comp, + forms of creative and/or other writing) and leading writing workshops 
• 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 rigors 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 a “retainer” 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 (which includes maintaining a thoughtful, sensitive stance in privately held public-facing content).
• Familiar with Microsoft Word and “Review”/“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 $50 USD/hr. | $60/hr. CAD

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