There, I said it. There are some days when there’s more work than I can handle and some days when barely anything is coming in, and if I have to be honest, the latter is happening more often than it used to.
Chalk it up to some clients perhaps giving AI a shot at editing their work, or maybe money’s so tight nowadays that some people are deciding that they just don’t want to spend extra for editing and proofreading. It’s not ideal. It’s scary, even, but that’s where we seem to be at these days.
I’m going to sound like someone on LinkedIn by saying this, but this situation is why it’s important to build a good working relationship with clients and to always make sure you turn in excellent work. Even in the tightest of crunches, they’re bound to remember that your work helped make theirwork look good, and hopefully, they also see you less than someone who renders a service and more as a partner in what they do. And then hopefully, you have this kind of relationship with a large number of other clients and then they can tell other people in their network about you and the great work you’ve done for them.
God, that last paragraph sounds like it’s written by someone from another fairly recent era, when life and technology seemed to make more sense.
Anyway, all the uncertainty that I and lots of other people are feeling about our careers makes me wonder why so many people who are infatuated with AI are cheering for the death of industries and jobs. And if we’re all going to end up losing our jobs to AI, what other ways of earning a living can we do, and who do they think will be buying all their products and services if no one isn’t making any money anymore?
Huh, I thought I was going to write a calm, measured post about how you can set yourself apart as an editor, but this turned into an anti-AI rant (because fuck AI).
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