National Association of Independent Writers & Editors
Member Benefit #32
The Institute of Professional Editors hosts a biennial conference, which is an exciting opportunity for editors and other publishing professionals, researchers, students, and associates from all across the world to connect, learn, and celebrate best practices in editing and publishing. In addition, IPEd offers training and webinars to improve your skills.
NAIWE members receive member pricing!
Visit the NAIWE website to see all of the member benefits.
Now is a great time to think about attending one or two conferences over the next 12 months.
In thinking about attending a conference, what would you like to get out of it? Is your overall goal networking or training on a particular software? Do you want to discuss pricing or working with others in the publishing industry?
Large conferences offer some great benefits, but so do small conferences. Small conferences may lend more to networking, as there are fewer attendees and making connections is a common goal of many of the attendees. I’ve noticed that I am more at ease at smaller conferences, and I meet more people and pass more business cards to others.
Webinars offer some of the same benefits as large and small conferences. If in-person events are too much of a challenge, financially, location, or otherwise, think about participating in some virtual events, such as NAIWE monthly webinars!
Some of the topics that will be covered in upcoming webinars include reputable sources for journalists, video marketing, copyright law, and marketing on Facebook!
And here are some names of people you may want to learn from: Suzanne Lynn Cheesman (NAIWE’s Media Interviews Expert), MJ Courchesne (NAIWE’s Copyright and Permissions Expert), Kristen Fischer (NAIWE’s Journalism Expert), and Ruth Thaler-Carter (NAIWE’s Networking Expert).
April Michelle Davis has been the executive director of the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) since 2018. Prior to that, she was NAIWE’s Social Media Marketing Expert. NAIWE is an association that focuses on career building for writers, editors, and other professionals in the publishing industry by developing multiple streams of income; it helps its members market their products and services through social media, newsletters, and more.
She is also the coordinator for the Virginia chapter of the Editorial Freelancers Association, a lifetime member of the American Copy Editors Society, and a freelance editor, indexer, proofreader and author. April Michelle has taught courses through her own company, Editorial Inspirations, as well as for associations and colleges on topics such as editing, indexing, grammar, writing, and creating macros.
Her credentials include a master’s degree in publishing from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in English from Messiah College, as well as certificates in editing (University of Virginia), book publishing (University of Virginia), and professional editing (EEI Communications).
April Michelle has shared her insights about her career development by contributing quotes and vignettes to several books. She has presented sessions on various editorial topics to many groups, including the Virginia Writers Club, the Communication Central conference, Randolph-Macon College, the Christian PEN: Proofreaders and Editors Network, the EFA, Copyediting newsletter, RavenCon, and the Hanover Book Festival. In addition, April Michelle has published three books.
We wanted to get to know Kristen Fischer (NAIWE’s Journalism Expert) better, so last month we sat down with her. Here are some thoughts she shared with us.
What is classified as a legitimate source?
In this webinar, I’m going to talk about two types of sources: people and written sources. A legitimate source is usually someone who has been through a certain situation or is involved with it, or a professional from a legitimate institution. When it comes to written sources, that can include published research but also anything written on the internet. Separating legitimate sources from all the other sources out there is key. And it’s hard to define, because the outlet you’re writing for may have a list of sources that they will not consider legit.
Where should your research begin to find a legitimate source?
This depends on the story or type of writing you’re doing. In journalism, you want vetted sources—that can mean a certain official or a professional. But if you’re on the scene of the story it can mean verifying the person you’re interviewing has the credentials to make a comment.
How many sources are usually needed? Is one enough?
Again, this depends on your story. Most stories do best with at least two to three sources so you can either validate what one source is saying, bring up related sources, or have the sources oppose to therefore give a more objective view and show multiple sides of an issue.
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We live in the age of “misinformation” so it’s vital for journalists to use reputable sources. How can you sift through the information and research on the internet and find legitimate sources? How can you pinpoint sources for interviews and ensure they are legitimate? This webinar will take a deep dive with tips to help you ensure that your research and interview sources are solid.
You can join in this conversation on July 25, at 2:00 pm eastern, when NAIWE will host a discussion on finding and vetting legitimate sources. The cost for NAIWE members is only $10! Nonmembers can join for $30. Register today!
NAIWE is always coming out with new on-demand training!
We are doing this to help you learn about new services you can offer to further expand your multiple streams of income. Whether it be fiction writing, nonfiction writing, journalism, proofreading, editing, designing, or more, we are working to expand your toolbox.
NAIWE benefit partners have even led webinars to assist publishing professionals with new software and resources to increase member productivity and improve member skills. (And these webinars are FREE to NAIWE members!)
What on-demand training have you benefited from recently? What topic would you like to see covered in an upcoming training?
This summer, NAIWE is challenging you and your fellow NAIWE members to be the best version of yourselves. You may personalize this challenge to fit your needs and summer goals. Choose a book to read that you classify as a self-help book even though its genre is far from that. Choose a project that has been nagging at you but will also produce great reward upon completion. And finish the challenge by spending some quality time with our experts learning how they mastered creating multiple steams of income. Throughout the challenge, be true to yourself and your goals!
Leave a comment below with your URL so that others who take the challenge can cheer you on as well.
July 4: Independence Day. The day after the first anniversary of American independence, John Adams wrote a letter to his daughter Abigail about the celebrations that occurred in Philadelphia. Take a moment to reflect and write a letter about how your town celebrates this holiday.
July 12: National Simplicity Day. Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817. Thoreau was an advocate for living a life of simplicity. In our busy lifestyles, National Simplicity Day is the time to take a step back and begin to simplify our lives. One can start by decluttering and striving for balance.
July 15: National Give Something Away Day. In the United States, giving is on the rise. What can you give to your clients or to the publishing industry?
July 16: Toss Away the “Could Haves” and “Should Haves” Day. Created by author and motivational speaker Martha J. Ross-Rodgers, this day is intended for all to let go of the past and live for the present. Make a list of your business regrets and then throw it away and live for today.
July 17. World Emoji Day. Emojis are images that express, similar to emoticons (emotions + icons) that are produced from an arrangement of keyboard characters.
July 21: Get to Know Your Customers Day. When businesses get to know your customers, you also get to know more about your need to grow. Reach out to your patrons and get to know them better.
July 21: National Be Someone Day. Through your business, be someone who changes a child’s life for the good.
July 26: National All or Nothing Day. Throw caution in the wind and go for broke. What is one business challenge that you would like to overcome?
July 29: National System Administrator Appreciation Day. Show appreciation to your IT professional.
Today’s podcast episode is a Member of the Month episode, where we get to know one of our fellow NAIWE members.
Our guest today is George De Stefano.
George De Stefano is a New York–based writer and editor specializing in culture and politics. He is the author of An Offer We Can’t Refuse: The Mafia in the Mind of America (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) and a contributor to numerous other books, including the Routledge History of Italian Americans; Mafia Movies (University of Toronto); The Essential Sopranos Reader (University of Kentucky Presses); and Reggae, Rasta, and Revolution (Schirmer Trade Books). His forthcoming book is Gumbo Italiano: How the Sicilians Made New Orleans. His writing has appeared in The Nation, Newsday, Film Comment, The Advocate, The Italian American Review, Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, and the online publications PopMatters, Rootsworld, the New York Journal of Books, La Voce di New York, and I-Italy. He also is a freelance editor for academic and trade publishers of books and journals, and for nonprofit organizations.
Q: Please share a little of your professional history with our readers.
I began my professional life as a journalist, reporting and writing feature articles for a weekly paper in Connecticut. I then became the arts editor of a New Haven weekly while also contributing articles and reviews to such publications as The Nation, Cineaste, Film Comment, the Advocate, Newsweek, and other newspapers and magazines. In the late 1980s, I went to social work school because I wanted to contribute to the fight against AIDS. I then worked in public health for 25 years while continuing to freelance. I published my first book while employed by a public health department. After leaving full-time employment in 2013, I began my editing business, GdS Editorial Services, while also working on my own writing.
Q: How and when did you make this business a reality?
In September 2013, I set up my editing business, GdS Editorial Services.
Q: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned so far in your career?
That there is a dialectic between writing and editing: one informs the other. Editing other writers’ works, helping them say what they want to say as effectively as possible has made me a better writer. I read my own work much more closely and critically.
Q: Are you working on any personal writing projects at this time?
I am now finishing my nonfiction book, Gumbo Italiano: How the Sicilians Made New Orleans.
Q: Are you working on any special projects you’d like to tell us about?
I am just finishing my book and getting the manuscript in shape to go to my editor.
Q: What are some of the teachers, books, or authors who have influenced your professional life in a positive way?
I have been an avid reader since I was a child. My mother often would say that when she wanted a break from her homemaking duties, she’d give me a book to read and then I’d be out of her hair for hours. When I became a writer, I retained the reading habit I’d acquired as a child. Novels, short stories, books about history, politics, culture—I devoured them all. From them, I learned invaluable lessons about craft and how writing can have an impact on readers and the world.
Q: As a seasoned professional, what advice would you offer an independent writer or editor who is just beginning a career?
Read a lot—widely and critically. Take an editing course or two and join professional organizations like NAIWE that can help newbies build their careers. Be patient, too, because building a successful career takes time.
Q: What inspires you?
Great literature and intelligent critical writing about it in such publications as the London Review of Books and the New York Review of Books. The arts, especially music, and especially jazz, with its dialectic of freedom and discipline. The lives of great fighters for freedom and social justice. The constant and unstinting support from my partner, Rob.
Q: How has your membership in NAIWE benefited you professionally?
My NAIWE website has exposed my writing and editorial services to a wider audience. I’ve also gotten excellent tips and advice from other members of NAIWE about the craft and business of editing.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share?
I am so looking forward to a return to some degree of normal life after two years of a pandemic hell. I can’t wait to go to restaurants again, to jazz clubs, plays, and travel.
Member Benefit #31
As of 2018, H&R Block operates approximately 12,000 retail tax offices staffed by tax professionals worldwide. It also offers consumer tax software as well as online tax preparation and electronic filing from their website.
NAIWE members receive 25% off for new H&R Block clients, 20% off for existing H&R Block clients, or 20% off for tax preparation software!
Visit the NAIWE website to see all of the member benefits.
Here at NAIWE, we emphasize the importance of developing multiple streams of income, and I have found this to be beneficial in my own business as well.
Before taking the plunge to freelance full time, I was a bit fearful of getting rid of my steady paycheck. I felt that it was reliable. However, as I continued to build up my clientele, I overcame this mindset when I realized that my income came from one source — my employer. What would happen if I lost this job? I would lose all of my income!
As a freelancer, I had multiple clients. Therefore, I was receiving multiple checks. If one client’s work were to dry up, I still had the other clients’ work to hold me over while I looked to fill that open spot.
While I had to learn to juggle this new method of not necessarily knowing when a check would be in the mail, I found that this method of having multiple streams of income was actually safer to my overall well-being because I am not putting all of my financial faith in one company.
And as my freelance career has continued, I have further developed multiple streams of income by speaking at conferences, teaching college-level courses, and publishing books.
How about you? How have you developed multiple streams of income to give yourself more financial security?
April Michelle Davis has been the executive director of the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) since 2018. Prior to that, she was NAIWE’s Social Media Marketing Expert. NAIWE is an association that focuses on career building for writers, editors, and other professionals in the publishing industry by developing multiple streams of income; it helps its members market their products and services through social media, newsletters, and more.
She is also the coordinator for the Virginia chapter of the Editorial Freelancers Association, a lifetime member of the American Copy Editors Society, and a freelance editor, indexer, proofreader, and author. April Michelle has taught courses through her own company, Editorial Inspirations, as well as for associations and colleges on topics such as editing, indexing, grammar, writing, and creating macros.
Her credentials include a master’s degree in publishing from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in English from Messiah College, as well as certificates in editing (University of Virginia), book publishing (University of Virginia), and professional editing (EEI Communications).
April Michelle has shared her insights about her career development by contributing quotes and vignettes to several books. She has presented sessions on various editorial topics to many groups, including the Virginia Writers Club, the Communication Central conference, Randolph-Macon College, the Christian PEN: Proofreaders and Editors Network, the EFA, Copyediting newsletter, RavenCon, and the Hanover Book Festival. In addition, April Michelle has published three books.
June 1: National Say Something Nice Day. Make the day pleasant for someone today by saying something nice.
June 2: National Leave the Office Early Day. This day is an incentive to many who often work more than 40 hours each week.
June 3. National Repeat Day. Take this opportunity to repeat something you needed or wanted to do again.
June 6: National Higher Education Day. Spend a moment educating or inspiring others who are interested in pursuing a similar career.
June 10: National Ballpoint Pen Day. Write a client a note today with a ballpoint pen to commemorate the patent filing on June 10, 1943.
June 11: National Making Life Beautiful Day. Celebrate those who make life beautiful through their words.
June 13: National Random Acts of Light Day. Bring light to a colleague by sharing some encouraging words.
June 21: National Selfie Day. Take some selfies that show you are balancing work-life activities.
June 30: Social Media Day. Post on all of your social media accounts today, letting potential clients know you are available for hire.