You are clearly curious and maybe a little bit of a rebel?

I like that.

Inquisitive souls like you deserve a little surprise–but only if you swear not to give away the secret of the yellow squiggle.

Promise?

Okay, then you get the whole story of how I came to be an editor. Because “it’s too long to put on your About page” and “not everyone cares about this stuff.”

Pfft

Without further ado, I give you…

JENI’S ORIGIN STORY

a.k.a. stuff you never knew you wanted to know about Jeni

One thing that’s important to know (a bit of backstory, if you will) is that my parents were authors. They published (with Big 5 publishers, indie presses, and self-publishing) cozy mysteries, romance, poetry, short stories, and even dipped their toes into urban fantasy and science fiction. They were self-publishing before the internet was even a thing–in the 80s, they brought together a group of local poets and writers and self-published several anthologies.

Literally. They learned to bind books and bound those suckers.

By hand.

This is important information because it gives you some idea about the spirit I was raised with: a love of stories and the written word, a sense that anything is possible, the importance of community, and the determination to bring my ideas to life, even when it means unconventional tactics. The writing bug never bit me. But I have always loved reading and got to understand a lot of what it takes to get a book written and published.

Fast forward to 2009

My husband and I started a hole-in-the-wall bookstore in the tiniest town you can imagine. He was responsible for the daily functioning of the store (because I was working another job full time), and I took on the marketing and promotion. Part of our overall strategy was to feature local art and books in our stores. This meant connecting with local authors for book signings, and we started a book club where the picks were all by local authors–and the authors came to the meetings!

2009 was in the very early days of kindle, and self-publishing usually meant using a vanity press, which made it almost impossible to get your book into any kind of store. We put out the word that we’d work with self-published authors to get their books into the hands of readers, and we had a pretty good response from both authors and readers.

One self-published author had come to several events, and we’d gotten pretty friendly. Her book was about cute things her kids did and the lessons parents can take from their children (it has since gone out of print). She was working on a second one and asked me to read it and give her my thoughts based on what our bookstore clients buy. It was basically beta reading, only before I knew that was even a thing much less what it was called.

I read her manuscript and sent back extensive notes. She was impressed by the depth of feedback, and I got my first taste of joy from seeing an author’s eyes light up when they get to talk about their writing (and not just their book–because there’s a difference). From there, I started beta reading for other authors and found I really enjoyed it. I wasn’t charging for it at this time, although a few authors insisted on paying me.

Later that year, the Nook came out, and self-publishing started growing much more rapidly. Several authors I’d beta read for wanted to try their hand at e-books, and before I knew it, I had a nice little side hustle, copy editing and proofreading manuscripts for e-books.

And yes, that included some of my parents’ books when they decided to self-publish as well.

During this time, I thought of my “editing” as a hobby and never really considered that it might be something someone could do full time. Which was a real shame because I wasn’t super happy at my full-time job. It didn’t really use any of my creativity or natural talents, but it was really good for me and my family at the time. I was able to work from home while our youngest was a preschooler, and it offered me a lot of flexibility we really needed with young kids.

Then, the bookstore–as much as we loved it and wanted it to succeed–folded after its first year.

But I’d learned a lot and made some good contacts. And it taught me that I really, really like working for myself.

So when everyone in the office at my full-time job was laid off due to a buyout, I talked to two friends about how hard it was going to be to find another work-from-home job (at the time, most were MLMs or straight-up scams, and we weren’t in a financial position to do that. Plus, I am a terrible salesperson haha) The first friend told me to pull myself up by the bootstraps and make it work–other people did it and so could I. This is a lot of what I’d been telling myself too. The second friend (who I lovingly call a woo-woo hippie in the best possible way) said, “Maybe this is the universe telling you to take a chance on your editing.”

Guess which one I listened to.

Since then, I’ve been fortunate enough to work full time as an editor, and even better–I get to work directly with authors to develop their stories and their writing skills. It really is the best possible combination of using my analytical side and my creative side, and I get to talk to the most amazing creatives every day. I won’t pretend it’s always easy. I had to learn a lot about running a business and being self-employed. I had to take classes to learn to be a “real” editor so I could charge a fair price. It took me several years to build my business to the point that I started to feel some financial security again. And that’s not even getting into how the rest of my life didn’t stop to let me focus on my editing business so I ended up anxious, depressed, and burned out.

If you’ve ever wondered why I talk so much about mental health on social media, now you know.

Obviously, I can’t know how long I’ll keep editing, but the greatest lesson I’ve taken from my experience is that I never want to be in a position again where I’m not using my gifts to make people’s lives better in some way.

If you’ve made it this far–WOW, you’re kind of obsessed with me, aren’t you? 😆

I’d love to hear from you. How you got into writing. What about it lights up your spirit.

What made you click on the yellow squiggle.

Or even just a little wink and nudge to let me know you found my hidden message!