How to Start a Paper Re-writing/Editing Service Business

Summary: Perhaps you want to provide re-writing and editing services to college/university students, book authors or to just about anyone who needs your skills. You may have observed that writing service companies have swarmed online offering editing, copywriting, ghostwriting, indexing, among other things.

It's also your chance to engage in this lucrative venture.

Freelance Writing at Home

The first thing to do to start is open a web site or blog in which you will advertise the services you’re offering. There are tons of sites that provide free web tools, free hosting, and design (template and easy-to-alter) that you can choose from. You don’t need to have your own Dot Com site, a simple Blog will do. The business of re-writing and editing papers can be done right at home and all you need is a dependable computer, reliable Internet connection, HTML or Web design skills, and don’t forget your expert writing, re-writing and editing skills and available time. With all these at hand, you don’t even need to have a start-up capital to begin with.

Since you’re a freelance writer, you don’t need to bother with putting up license and registration permits unless you really want to start big and come up with a partnership or corporation. However, you still need to pay your taxes. As a self-employed person, you need to pay as much as 15%. Get advice from a tax advisor or indicate in the IRS schedule C all your deductible expenses like paper, computer, postage, writing/book/magazine club memberships, seminar fees and travel expenses incurred related to your work. To qualify for home office deductions, have a room in your house as an “exclusive” office for your writing job. Here you can add in a percentage of electric, mortgages, telephone and other bills. Without formal contracts, draft simplified agreements with your clients citing the agreed terms of the work and the fees involved. Some charge at around $0.10 per page while some have flat rates of around $50. If you have solid writing skills, you can charge more (negotiable rates) but don’t overcharge your clients or they might get someone else to do the job.

Deliver Professional and Expert Skills

To attract more clients bank on your professional writing/editing skills. Load yourself with knowledge and skills needed to enhance your services and make your portfolio extensive. As a beginner, start with college students with simpler re-writing and editing demands. Unless you’re confident to re-write and edit a professional book, novel or research paper, stick to simpler tasks and learn progressively. Develop relationships with the media – (magazines and newspapers) – to cultivate other venues for income and learning. Don’t dive into unknown waters. Choose your re-writing and editing clients/jobs wisely. Remember that some pay less for taxing work while others pay more for simpler work. Some jobs can be entertained, though, regardless of the pay if they give you your much needed learning and connections.