By Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Networking Member, NAIWE Board of Experts

We hear about networking all the time, but what is it and why is it valuable to independent writers and editors? Networking is simply interacting with colleagues to exchange information, resources and support. Done right, it can create credibility, provide leads to new projects and clients, and bolster an independent editorial business. The key to remember is that networking is a two-way and proactive process; it goes beyond simply joining a professional organization.

The 2024 trifecta start of this new year — the week, month and year all began on the same Monday! — is a great opportunity to think about networking efforts and how to make them more effective.

Let’s start with the why.

Networking can build your independent writing or editing business by establishing you as someone with smarts, skills and experience. It can make you and your business visible to potential clients as someone worth hiring, or at least worth contacting about projects. It can get you noticed by colleagues who might refer or recommend you to their clients for projects they can’t or don’t handle, and who might hire you themselves as a subcontractor for their businesses.

Your goal is probably to use networking to become well-known enough to get more work from a given group or activity — but that means you have to be careful not to come across as needy or greedy.

Here’s the what.

If you go by the dictionary, networking is:

• “the action or process of interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts.
• “the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business …
• “… the process of trying to meet new people who might be useful to you in your business …”

At least one definition mentions the skills of bargaining and negotiation, although I see those as business skills that aren’t really factors in networking.

For all of that to happen, you have to do networking right. It’s vital to remember that networking is a two-way process. You can’t just take from colleagues or organizations; you have to give something back as well.

The how is probably the hardest aspect of networking for many of us in the writing and editing field. So many of us are, or are assumed to be, introverts who aren’t comfortable with promoting ourselves and our work, or with attending meetings in person; even on Zoom or other online platforms. Rule number one of networking might be: Get over it.

That is, face the fact that networking means interacting with colleagues and clients in person as well as online, and at levels online that might be a challenge for the shy and self-effacing.

The reality is that your business won’t grow very far or fast if you don’t do some networking.

You can prepare yourself to be better at the how. Start with doing things for the associations you join that don’t involve in-person interactions. Then move gradually into showing up at events, starting with local ones before advancing to regional and national ones. Rehearse a brief “elevator speech” to introduce yourself. If you’re really terrified of meeting people in person, ask a friend to help you role-play or go to a few events with you.

The other aspect of “how” is to build your network by contacting everyone you know to tell them about your writing or editing business, and asking them to keep you in mind for projects with them or with people whom they know. You might have to explain what you do to some of the people you know (especially family and friends ), and you might have to set boundaries with some of them in terms of how much time you have available to talk about your business, but you want to be sure that everyone you’ve ever known or worked for and with is aware that you have a writing or editing business.

Volunteer with organizations involved in causes you believe in — a shared passion can help you feel more at ease at events — through your skills; write for or edit/proofread their publications, websites or social media; present at their events, etc.

Look for ways to provide all those people with useful information. Just don’t push your business so much that you become annoying.

You can do this!

What not to do

• Make your first post to an association you’ve joined a “Give me work, send me all your client contacts” — colleagues are usually glad to share advice and tips, but not the relationships we’ve cultivated with our clients, and few professionals are going to risk their own reputations by referring or recommending someone they don’t know.
• On discussion lists that have rules about tags and subject lines, don’t post without those.
• Don’t be rude or sarcastic in networking circles.
• Don’t send private posts — even nice ones! — to group lists or forums, especially when responding to job opps.
• Don’t over-promote yourself — it can be fine to post a “brag” moment (some groups and organizations have specific ways or times to do that), but keep those to a minimum and consider only posting such items when someone else has started the thread. There’s a difference between, say, announcing an upcoming speech/workshop or a recent success versus flooding a networking community with self-aggrandizing material.
• Don’t post about your financial issues or whine about business problems — it’s one thing to ask about ways to manage your business more efficiently and effectively, but no one likes a whiner, and sharing too much info about financial struggles will make you look incompetent to both colleagues and clients.
• Don’t spend so much time on networking that you don’t get any work done!

What to do

Again, networking isn’t all about you; it’s a two-way process, not all take and no give. I think of networking along the lines of a Billy Preston song, “Nothing from nothing” (“Nothin’ from nothin’ leaves nothin’,
You gotta have somethin’ if you wanna be with me”),

and the old saw “What goes around, comes around.” Granted, you try networking to get something out of it, but that won’t happen unless you put something into it. What to do can include:

• Report on trends and suggest solutions to problems that colleagues might encounter, such as writer’s block, slow payers, scammers, low-paying job sites, authors who plagiarize, requests for writing or editing tests, etc.
• Answer questions promptly.
• Participate actively when you join an association, rather than be a “checkbook member” — write blog posts or newsletter articles, mentor newcomers, attend or host events and meetings, serve on committees and boards.
• Follow group rules!
• Be visible in as much social media as you can handle without losing control over your work and personal lives. It’s very easy to let social media activity take over our lives because there are so many channels to participate in and so much interesting stuff to read and respond to. Consider setting specific days or times to be active in social media so it doesn’t take over your work life or feel burdensome.
• Most importantly, give (back) — offer advice, resources, helpful information.

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, NAIWE’s Networking member of the Board of Experts, is known as the Queen of Networking. She is active in about a dozen professional associations, created and hosts Communication Central’s Be a Better Freelancer^® conference (with NAIWE), owns the An American Editor blog and A Flair for Writing publishing business, and is a respected member of several online groups for writers and editors.