Leaving Academia: Becoming a Freelance Editor
By Paulina Cossette
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Category: Education
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Episodes: 100
Description
In 2019, I was a political science professor who was fed up with the stress and hostility of academia–not to mention the low pay. I left my tenure-track job and went from barely surviving to thriving as a freelance academic editor. Today, I own Acadia Editing Services, an editing and coaching business that brings in six figures a year.
In this podcast, I’ll discuss the challenges of academia, what academic editing involves, and what life as a freelancer looks like. If you’re willing to jump outside your comfort zone, it IS possible to find joy, true flexibility, and a profitable and rewarding career as an academic editor.
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| Episode | Date |
|---|---|
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From Burnout to 10k Followers: How Erin Schleiden Built The Academic Writing Coach
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Sep 03, 2026 |
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4 Signs Your Academic Business Has Outgrown You (and What to Do Next)
|
Aug 27, 2026 |
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The "House Cleaner Theory" of Pricing Your Academic Editing Services
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Aug 20, 2026 |
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Does Leaving Academia Still Feel Like Failure? Reflections on the Last 10 Years
|
Aug 13, 2026 |
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How to Finish Your PhD and Launch Your Editing Business (with a Toddler at Home)
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Aug 06, 2026 |
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"There's No Work Out There" Is a Lie: 3 Places to Find Your Next Editing Clients
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Jul 30, 2026 |
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How to 4x Your Editing Rate without Learning a Single New Skill
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Jul 23, 2026 |
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Neurodivergent and Burnt Out? Why Freelance Editing Might Fit Your Brain Better than a 9-5 Job Does
|
Jul 16, 2026 |
|
This Bait-and-Switch Keeps PhDs Overworked and Underpaid (and What to Do About It)
|
Jul 09, 2026 |
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Group Coaching or 1:1? How to Choose the Right Path Out of Academia
|
Jul 02, 2026 |
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$10k Months as an Editor? The Exact Homepage Structure I Used to Hit This Major Revenue Goal
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Jun 25, 2026 |
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"I Can't Leave, I Need the Insurance": How to Leave Academia and Freelance With a Chronic Illness
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Jun 18, 2026 |
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7 Clients in 12 Weeks: How Annie Left a 20-Year Teaching Career and Launched Her Editing Business
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Jun 04, 2026 |
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The AI Editing Backlash Nobody's Talking About (And Why It's Good News for You)
|
May 28, 2026 |
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The 1 Thing Killing Your Academic Business Before You Even Start
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May 21, 2026 |
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The Academic Skills You're Giving Away for Free (and What They're Actually Worth)
|
May 14, 2026 |
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The Identity Shift Every Academic Needs Before Becoming a Paid Editor or Coach
|
May 07, 2026 |
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Stop Leading with Your CV: Why Your Credentials Are Repelling Your Ideal Clients
|
Apr 30, 2026 |
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"I Wish I Hadn't Waited So Long": How to Build a Business With Your Academic Expertise
|
Apr 23, 2026 |
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My First Online Course Flopped (and What I Did to Sell 120 Seats in the Next One)
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Apr 16, 2026 |
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Your Post Got 2 Likes: Here's Why That Doesn't Matter
|
Apr 09, 2026 |
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How to Market Your Academic Business... Without Feeling Gross
|
Apr 02, 2026 |
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The Money Stuff Nobody Tells You: What a Financial Planner Wants Academics in Business to Know
|
Mar 26, 2026 |
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How to Land Your First Coaching Client (When You Have No Idea What You're Doing)
|
Mar 19, 2026 |
|
Rethinking Education: How to Teach Outside the Traditional Classroom
|
Mar 12, 2026 |
|
Academia Uncensored: The Top 5 Reasons Why People Are Leaving
|
Mar 05, 2026 |
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Hosting Your First Writing Retreat? Here's Everything You Need to Know to Make It a Success
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Feb 26, 2026 |
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Why Your Academic Job Search Isn't Working (Hint: It's Not Your Resume)
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Feb 19, 2026 |
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Don't List Your Credentials, Tell Your Story: The Real Secret to Attracting Clients
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Feb 12, 2026 |
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"I Finally Have a Life": What One Poli Sci Professor Gained When He Gave Up Academia
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Feb 05, 2026 |
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Academia Trained You To Overwork. Here's How to Undo It In Your Business
|
Jan 29, 2026 |
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Is Consulting Your Escape from Academic Burnout? What Happens When You Stop Doing Free Labor
|
Jan 22, 2026 |
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You Got Your First Inquiry... Now What?
|
Jan 15, 2026 |
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Should You Leave Academia for Industry or Business? A Path to Coaching via Data Science
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Jan 08, 2026 |
|
Why Good Academics Struggle to Make Good Money (and How to Fix It)
|
Jan 01, 2026 |
|
Marketing as an Academic Editor: What No One Teaches You
|
Dec 18, 2025 |
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How to Create Regular Marketing Content without Losing Your Mind
|
Dec 11, 2025 |
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How to Regret-Proof Your Life: Leaving Academia Mid-Career
|
Dec 04, 2025 |
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Why DIY-ing Your Academic Business is Killing Your Profits (and What to Invest in First)
|
Nov 13, 2025 |
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"You Can't Eat Prestige": Why Academic Identity Is a Trap, and How to Get Over It
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Nov 06, 2025 |
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Are Career Coaches for PhDs Worth the Money?
|
Oct 30, 2025 |
|
How a Free Writing Group Turned into Paid Clients: Building a "Plan B" Academic Business
|
Oct 23, 2025 |
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Can Editors Survive the Rise of AI?
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Oct 16, 2025 |
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"It's OK to Choose Your Mental Health": One Academic's Leap into Industry and a Side Hustle
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Oct 09, 2025 |
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What It's Really Like to Run a Business (and Why Academics Get It Wrong)
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Oct 02, 2025 |
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Peg Dolls and Postcards: This Professor's Subscription Box Might Be the Writing Workshop You Need
|
Sep 25, 2025 |
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Can You Be a Scholar Without Academia? This Writing Coach Says Yes
|
Sep 18, 2025 |
|
Stop Charging Like a Freelancer. Start Earning Like a CEO.
|
Sep 11, 2025 |
|
Get Paid for Your Academic Expertise: 3 Steps to Launch Your First Online Workshop
|
Sep 04, 2025 |
|
From Chemistry PhD to Academic Writing Coach: Launching and Growing the Researchers' Writing Academy
|
Aug 28, 2025 |
|
Is This All There Is? How One Professor Launched a Side Hustle and Reclaimed Her Joy
|
Aug 21, 2025 |
|
From PhD to Paid: The Exact Process I Used to Land $100/hr Clients as an Academic Editor
|
Aug 14, 2025 |
|
Why Credentials Don't Land Clients... and What Does
|
Aug 07, 2025 |
|
From the Lab to Multi-6 Figures: How this STEM PhD Built a Medical Writing Empire
|
Jul 31, 2025 |
|
From Mad Men to Mom Life: How One Professor Is Reinventing Herself through Comedy and Coaching
|
Jul 24, 2025 |
|
Planning Your Exit: 3 Steps to Build Your Business Before You Leave Your Academic Job
|
Jul 17, 2025 |
|
Will AI Replace Editors? A Conversation with the Founder of PerfectIt and Draftsmith
|
Jul 10, 2025 |
|
Overthinking Your Website? How to Simplify Your Homepage and Attract Your Ideal Clients
|
Jul 03, 2025 |
|
The Breaking Point: When You Realize You Have to Leave Academia--and What You Can Do Instead
|
Jun 26, 2025 |
|
How to Build Confidence in Business: Lessons from a Multi-6-Figure Academic Turned Business Coach
|
Jun 19, 2025 |
|
AI, Marketing, and Mindset Shifts
|
Jun 12, 2025 |
|
Marketing for Introverts: How to Use SEO and Avoid Social Media FOREVER!
|
Jun 05, 2025 |
|
The 2 Things Keeping Editors Stuck at $20/hr (It's NOT Your Skills)
|
May 29, 2025 |
|
The Academic Website Mistakes You Don't Know You're Making (and How to Fix Them)
|
May 22, 2025 |
|
From Burnout to CEO: How I Left Academia and Built a 6-Figure Editing Business
|
May 15, 2025 |
|
Coaching Session: Here's what you're missing if you're not attracting clients
|
May 08, 2025 |
|
From English Major to 6-Figure Editor (and Why AI Won't Take Our Jobs!)
|
May 01, 2025 |
|
Still Using Your Professor Voice? Here's Why It's Hurting Your Business... and How to Stop
|
Apr 24, 2025 |
|
Burned Out by the Academy? Here's How One Scholar Reclaimed Her Joy
|
Apr 17, 2025 |
|
Faculty Skills = Editing Gold: Why Scholars Make the Best Freelancers
|
Apr 10, 2025 |
|
How a Tenured Professor Left Academia and Built a Booked-Out Editing Business... in Just 2 Months
|
Apr 03, 2025 |
|
How to Land Steady Editing Work from University Presses and Journals
|
Mar 27, 2025 |
|
The 3-Page Website Formula that Turns Visitors into Paying Clients
|
Mar 20, 2025 |
|
Want to Earn More Money as an Editor? These Systems Will Change EVERYTHING
|
Mar 13, 2025 |
|
Inside My $100+/hr Workday
|
Mar 06, 2025 |
|
From Sabbatical to CEO: How One Scholar Created a Thriving Coaching Side Hustle
|
Feb 27, 2025 |
|
The Secret to Success in Writing Nonfiction: Insights from a PhD Turned Editor
|
Feb 20, 2025 |
|
5 Tips to Help You GTFO of Academia
|
Feb 13, 2025 |
|
Fiction or Fantasy? How to Bring Your Passions into Your Editing Work
|
Feb 06, 2025 |
|
Can Middle School Teachers Become Academic Editors? Here’s how…
|
Jan 30, 2025 |
|
5 Must-Have Tools to Edit Faster and Earn More Money
|
Jan 23, 2025 |
|
4 Steps to Get Started with Academic Editing NOW
|
Jan 16, 2025 |
|
A Deep Dive into Developmental Editing: How to Find Academic Clients, Set Your Rates, and Deliver the Final Product
|
Jan 09, 2025 |
|
How to Escape High School Teaching: Work 100% Remotely as an Academic Editor
|
Jan 02, 2025 |
|
How Do Clients Find Me? My 2024 Year in Review
|
Dec 26, 2024 |
|
Academic Editing around the World: How to Build a Global Editing Business
|
Dec 19, 2024 |
|
From Traveling Postdoc to Freelance Success: Building an Editing Career
|
Dec 12, 2024 |
|
How to Start an Academic Editing Agency: Founding and Building “Editing Worm”
|
Dec 05, 2024 |
|
From Academia to Editor: Creating a Successful Freelance Business
|
Nov 21, 2024 |
|
Combining Work and Play: A Unique Type of Freelance Editing
|
Nov 14, 2024 |
|
When You Need to Relocate: How to Work Remotely as an Academic Editor
|
Nov 07, 2024 |
|
Applying Your Academic Experience as a Dissertation Coach
|
Oct 31, 2024 |
|
Escaping Adjunct Hell and Rekindling Your Passions
|
Oct 24, 2024 |
|
How Blogging Can Attract Clients
|
Oct 18, 2024 |
|
Breaking Out of Academia and Finding Your Joy
|
Oct 09, 2024 |
|
How do freelance academic editors make money?
|
Oct 02, 2024 |
|
Overcoming Academic Burnout and Finding Fulfillment
|
Sep 19, 2024 |
|
Is Freelance Editing Right for Me?
|
Sep 12, 2024 |
|
What Does an Academic Editor Do?
|
Sep 05, 2024 |
|
Becoming a Freelance Academic Editor
|
Aug 29, 2024 |