Freelance Careers Then
Back in the day, freelance careers were limited. A freelance or freelancer was a mercenary soldier. He sold his services to any nobleman or monarch who would employ him on a short-term contract. His weapon was a lance. His freedom was to sell himself and his lance to the highest bidder. He owed allegiance, but only during his contract. He was not an employee or a bound man. When the job was completed he moved on the next.
One of the early extensions of the job description was to politicians who owed no allegiance and sold their forensic skills to factions or political parties. How different from today when our political leaders are people of honour who adhere to strict principles and never sell out to gain advantage for themselves.
Freelance Careers Now
In 2020 life has changed dramatically. The employment scene, already precarious, has been upended by COVID-19. We live in uncertain times and the economic future for many looks bleak. Redundancies are beginning to bite and firmly established businesses are failing. Where do we turn?
Who is a Freelancer?
It is reckoned that half the workforce will be self-employed by next year. Freelancing is not the same as self-employment. All freelancers are self-employed, but not all self-employed people are freelancers!
Plumbers, decorators, electricians, barristers, shopkeepers and gardeners who work for themselves and are paid by individual clients are not doing freelance work. They are, however, self-employed.
But proofreaders, copy-editors, photographers, graphic designers, web designers, programmers and PR consultants are true freelancers if they are hired by a variety of companies and organisations.
More and more businesses are destaffing. They don’t want a heavy inflexible fixed payroll. They want to able to pay as they go for specialist skills. Just as books are now printed on demand rather than held expensively in large numbers, so employers want to pay only as and when demand occurs.
Good news for freelancers, bad news for predictable, cradle-to-grave, old fashioned employment. Things will never be the same again. The “new normal” will be to have a variety of skills and a variety of “employers”. We shall have to be nimble, flexible and very good at self-promotion through networking and social media. It’s going to be a competitive environment. Specialist training will be needed for success.
Freelance Proofreading and Copy-editing
Chapterhouse has been training freelancers for 30 years. We have responded to constant change in the publishing industry. Hard copy books compete with digital media. The industry has expanded hugely over the last ten years. More books are published and read now than ever. The digital revolution has pushed hard copy sales and turned more of us into avid readers. Something in the world is going well, then!
Most proofreading and editing is now put out to freelancers. Publishers can no longer afford to have employees with downtime between projects. Big offices will be abandoned. COVID-19 will increase this trend even more. As the economy recovers the future may be a bright one for the book industry and those who serve it as freelancers.