Tips for Organizing a Local Editors' Group

Especially given the increase in remote work and location-independent businesses, editors can now be found everywhere, not just in large cities such as Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco.

Outside big cities, though, we've found that not only are most editors not members of any regional or national organization -- the Northwest Editors Guild, the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA), or ACES -- but many editors haven't even heard of these groups.

Below are some basic tips for editors who'd like to form a local editors' group in their community, based on the successful model we've used to organize a group of 50 editors in Eugene/Springfield, Oregon, in a year. We started as a monthly social/networking lunch-hour group, and now meet for lunch and a speaker once a month.

EFA's "Starting a Chapter" page, aimed to help its members organize local chapters, has many helpful tips too. (EFA offers financial support, organizing guidance, and staff support to local chapter organizers but also has some requirements; contact chapters@the-efa.org for more information.)

Your gatherings can be quarterly, bimonthly, or monthly, depending on your energy and interest, and can be free discussions or have speakers. Do what is easy and/or will be professionally or personally rewarding for you.

Be patient. Attendance will likely begin small and grow over time, as you learn the best publicity methods for your area, and as the initial members spread the word to others (the most effective marketing technique).

1. Find at least one other local editor who's interested in co-hosting a group, so you don't have to do all the work yourself and have someone to bounce ideas off of.

2. Choose a meeting place, date, and time.

Place: We recommend a cafe, as opposed to a conference room at a library or community center, so you don't have to provide refreshments and the atmosphere is social.

• Choose a venue that has a quiet place for at least 3-6 people (groups often start small) to talk and not disturb others.
• It should be centrally located and easily accessible via public transit, with convenient parking. (Note transit and parking info in your invitation.)

Date/time: We recommend lunchtime on a weekday:

• Lunchtime so you're not conflicting with people's family time or asking them to go out after dark
• A weekday to emphasize that the gathering is work-related

When you've decided, let the venue know the specific date and time you've chosen, and reserve a table if possible. Plan to arrive 15 minutes early on the day.

3. Compile an emailing list of all the local editors you can find. Figure that 10-20% of those you invite will attend. We used half of the ideas below for our initial gathering, and are still catching up on the rest:

• Local members of the Northwest Editors Guild and EFA (if you're a member of either group, ask the administrator for a list of local members; if you're not, look in the groups' online directories)
• Local attendees of the past few Red Pencil conference(s) (if you're a Guild member; ask the administrator)
• Local editors on various professional platforms (do a bit of Internet research and match names)
  • Reedsy (search for editors near you)
  • LinkedIn, Facebook (search for "editor" + the names of towns near you)
  • Mediabistro, Upwork, Guru, etc. (search the site and/or the internet for "editor" + the names of towns near you; example)
• Editors at local:
  • periodicals (look on the online mastheads of newspapers, magazines, etc.)
  • book publishers and small presses
  • colleges and universities
  • ad agencies, public relations firms, and other employers
• Unaffiliated professional editors (search for “[town name] editor”)
• Any other recommended/referred editors, friends of friends, etc.

You may also meet editors at local book festivals, literary conferences, author readings and talks at bookstores and other venues, etc. Collect business cards.

4. Invite people to your initial gathering 2-4 weeks in advance, so it gets on their calendar before anything else. You can do this via your personal email at the outset, or by setting up a group on a site such as Meetup (see #5), which involves a bit of additional time and investment ($10/month) but has many benefits.

Sample email invitation:

RE: You're invited to the first YourTown Editors Lunch Hour on [date]!

We're forming a group of professional editors in the XXX area who'd enjoy meeting occasionally to have coffee, share advice/tips/resources, and build editorial community.

The group is open to all editors with at least a year of professional experience. Freelance, full-time, and/or remote editors are all welcome. Food and drink will be available for purchase, but there's no charge to attend.

Introductions will begin at noon. Our gathering will last till at least 1:30; feel free to arrive and leave as your schedule allows. Bring business cards and interested editor friends.

We meet every second Tuesday of the month at the same time and place. If you have questions, contact co-hosts Jane Doe, jane@janedoe.com, or Jack Sprat, 503.838.1234.

A week before the first gathering, email your invitation again as a reminder, with all the essential info in the subject line:

RE: Join local editors next Tuesday at noon at YourTown Cafe!

5. When your group becomes sizable, we recommend using Meetup or a free alternative such as Groupspaces to manage administrative duties, such as sending reminders of meetings each month. You may wish to do this from the start.

Meetup charges a monthly fee to the main organizer (which you can write off a business expense) but can be a powerful marketing tool; it offers unparalleled visibility and can help you connect with local editors you haven't reached in other ways.

Groupspaces is free to organizers but doesn't have nearly as many users as Meetup, so the chances of other editors serendipitously discovering your group are considerably less.

Either way:

If your goal is to assemble a group of editorial professionals (rather than an assortment of folks interested in editing, with widely varying amounts of experience or none at all), be sure to set up the group so that you approve all prospective members, and approve only those with at least a year of professional experience (or whatever criterion you wish) .

Try to have at least one or two events listed on your Meetup/Groupspaces page at all times, so it's clear that the group is active and will go on. Many Meetup groups seem to start strong and flare out after one or two events.

Below is sample text for the "What we're about" page:

What we're about

We're forming a group of professional editors in the XXX area who'd enjoy meeting at a local cafe occasionally to have coffee, share advice/tips/resources, and build editorial community. The group is open to all editors with at least a year of professional experience. Freelance, full-time, and/or remote editors are all welcome.

Food and drink will be available for purchase, but there's no charge to attend.

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If you don't have a year of editorial experience but are curious about editing, we suggest that you peruse the many free resources on the websites of

• ACES: The Society for Editing (aceseditors.org)
• Editorial Freelancers Association (the-efa.org)
• Northwest Editors Guild (edsguild.org)

You can also follow these groups on Facebook/Twitter, and attend their annual/biennial conferences or other events open to the public. EFA's annual conference is in August, the Editors Guild hosts its Red Pencil conference biennially in the fall, and ACES's annual conference is in the spring. There are other national groups for editors organized around niches such as Christian editors, technical editors, science editors, and many more; google and/or search Facebook to connect with editors in your area(s) of interest.