Erin Brenner's Blog

Generative AI (GenAI) seems to be coming for editors’ jobs. When asked simple grammar or style questions, it can often (but not always!) give a correct answer. Tools like Grammarly, Hemingway Editor, and editGPT use AI to correct text quickly.

But GenAI is no replacement for the human editor. It often fails to understand and preserve a nuanced writing style. It lacks creativity and judgment, reaching only for the most likely next word.

Still, editors are forced to compete against the medio...

By Sean Brenner

In my last post, I discussed issues with the tells and detectors meant to discern AI-generated text from human writing and how those sorts of testing methods were inherently flawed. 

While it’s difficult to discern between the two, it isn’t impossible. You just need to understand what makes human writing and generative AI (GenAI) content different. That difference is fundamental, and, to some extent, it can be used to tell human writing and AI-generated content apart. 

T...

By Sean Brenner

If you’re like me, you got tired of hearing about generative AI (GenAI) a long time ago. Even if you’re not, you’ve no doubt been inundated in the flood of GenAI products and content in the past few years. 

As the tech industry’s new favorite toy has spread, part of the conversation around it has fixated on how to sniff out AI-generated content—especially AI-generated text, which can be alarmingly difficult to discern from real writing. 

For businesses, this is especiall...

Many freelance editors I know, myself included, do an annual review in December or January, making plans for the coming year. We look back at the previous year and dream of where we want to take our business next. We may even choose a theme or Word of the Year to guide us along. 

But then what? How many of us check back in before November rolls around again? 

On a rare quiet morning earlier this month, fueled by caffeine, I realized I’d been so busy with daily tasks that my monthly reviews...

By Sean Brenner

In my last blog post, I wrote about how procrastination isn’t always a bad thing; sometimes, you can even use it to your advantage. 

But if you procrastinate too much, you could end up not having enough time to complete your manuscript before the deadline. That’s a panic scenario, and one that many writers find themselves in sooner or later. 

Sometimes you can get an extension on the deadline. When that’s an option, take it. Rushing to complete a manuscript is bad for bo...

The publishing industry is experiencing another technological disruption with the rise of generative AI (GenAI). While GenAI tools can help authors in several ways, they also introduce new legal and ethical concerns. 

Authors are deeply divided on whether AI can be used in writing. According to a recent BookBub survey of over 1,200 authors, 48% do not use AI, nor do they plan to. 

If writers (and editors!) are going to use GenAI, what do we need to know about it, what should we be concerned about,...

By Sean Brenner

A writer’s workday is mostly spent writing, right?

Wrong. Writers spend most of their time, on average, procrastinating.

Procrastination is endemic to many workers, but writers and other creative professionals elevate it to an art form, often exploring any possible avenue to delay the inevitable for as long as can be.

Unless you have superhuman discipline, procrastination will come for you eventually, so it’s important to learn to manage it—and maybe even take advantage of it. 

The me...

If you want to liven up a conversation among freelancers, ask whether you should put your editing prices on your website. In no time at all, you’ll get as many opinions as there are freelancers. And many people will be convinced that their solution is the only one.

The question, as my pal Amy J. Schneider likes to say, is a “how long is a piece of string” question. Your business doesn’t look like anyone else’s. And as a result, whether to put your prices on your site will depend on who your clien...

By Sean Brenner

For many writers, the worst part of any given manuscript is finding a way to start it. The curse of the blank page can be overwhelming.

For others, though, it can be just as overwhelming to try to end the manuscript. Conclusions might not be hated as passionately as introductions, but they have a way of taking the wind out of your sails just as it seems the hard part of a project is over.

They may not always have as much ground to cover as intros, but conclusions can still give you ...

An editor new to the industry recently asked me why the job market is so tough for freelance editors and proofreaders right now. Why are new projects and new clients so scarce? Is it the current administration? AI? Something else?

Editing and proofreading (I’m going to refer to both as editing hereafter for simplicity) are not highly valued in general, which leads not only to low fees but fewer people and organizations having their projects edited. Like writing...