Academia Broke Me

When I was a professor, I had no idea that copy editors existed until I published a book and worked with the press’s freelance editor. This occurred around the same time that I realized academia had broken me and I couldn’t go on. I left my tenure-track job, eventually started an editing business and have been happier than I ever imagined I could be. The moral of this story? If you’re fed up with academia, you have options and don’t have to stay.

After resigning my faculty position and fulfilling a years-long dream of moving across the country to live near family, I applied to countless nonacademic jobs, only to be repeatedly told that I was overqualified or that they’d simply found someone who was a better fit. It soon dawned on me that I could try freelance copy editing to help pay the bills—until I found a “real” job. That began a five-year journey that has shown me how well suited many faculty members are for entrepreneurship and how happy life can be once you break free of the academy.

Industry is often assumed to be the only alternative to academia, but many faculty members who try to leave, myself included, have struggled to learn the right lingo and craft a résumé that persuades potential employers to hire us. It seems that many hiring managers are unconvinced that we really do want to leave academia and that we are not navel-gazers with highly specialized knowledge and no general applicable skills.

I recommend that, rather than fighting an uphill battle only to end up in a corporate cubicle, you consider another option: freelance academic editing. Some people will disagree with me on this, but I don’t believe that scholars have to receive formal training to be successful developmental or copy editors. We do editing work in our various roles as faculty members—evaluating students’ writing, supervising student research, serving as peer reviewers. And moving through the process of writing and trying to publish our own research makes us highly knowledgeable about what a manuscript must look like to be accepted. Thus, academic editing is a natural fit with our existing skills and a relatively easy transition, as far as career changes go.

Becoming an editor has other benefits. You can start working part-time and decide if you like it (assuming your college allows side hustles). You can work from home and live wherever you want. You get to enjoy the intellectual stimulation of reading and critiquing research without having to jump through institutional hoops or be disrespected by administrators and students (ouch, but sorry, not sorry). If you decide to become a writing or publishing coach, you can even continue teaching, but from the comfort of your home office, through virtual meetings and with students who truly respect your time and expertise. And, while the job does not include benefits if you’re freelancing or self-employed, you can make good money. Plenty of us match or exceed our previous faculty salaries while working fewer hours than we did as professors.

The real beauty of becoming an academic editor, however, is that you’ll have the true flexibility that you were promised but never received when you joined the academy. I’ve heard countless faculty members say they’re afraid to leave academia because they don’t want to give up the flexible schedule. I had the same fear before I left. The problem with this statement is that it’s grounded in two false assumptions: 1) that the academic schedule is indeed flexible and 2) that schedules outside academia require you to work 9 to 5 under the gaze of a judgmental manager who clocks every minute you spend away from your desk.

First, I want to push back on the idea that the academic schedule is flexible. I had tenure-track positions at two liberal arts colleges, and I definitely felt pressure to be on the campus for extensive office hours, to attend all department and college events, to volunteer for student-centered social activities sponsored by the Student Life office, and—of course—to participate in department, division and collegewide faculty meetings. There’s also increasing pressure for faculty members to respond to student emails at night and on weekends and to even give out their personal cellphone number so students can text them. That’s not what I would call a flexible schedule, and it certainly doesn’t foster work-life balance.

Second, not all nonacademic jobs require you to work 9 to 5. While such a schedule is really not as bad as it sounds—you have your nights, weekends and vacations to yourself—it’s by no means the only option. And nothing is more flexible than freelancing or being your own boss. With academic editing, whether you work for an editing agency, book publisher or private clients, you decide when and how much you want to work. This should be particularly appealing to parents of young children, as it gives you the flexibility to attend all the extracurriculars, take time off when they (and, in turn, you) are sick, and never have to do spring break math to determine whether you can take a family vacation during your holiday week or theirs. Moreover, you get to enjoy all of this without the perpetual guilt. With or without kids, you can take up your hobbies again, read for fun and travel the world, without constantly thinking about all the research and writing you still need to do.

Now, full transparency, freelance editing does have some challenges and limitations. As I already noted, the job doesn’t come with benefits, and projects are typically short-term contracts. That means your long-term income is not guaranteed. (But is any income really guaranteed these days, even if you have tenure? I think not.) It’s also a sedentary job, though there are solutions to that. And if you have a condition that prevents you from working at a computer for several hours a day, that will limit the number of hours you can work—and, thus, your income.

But one of the most common concerns—finding clients and work—is not as challenging as many people think. You can find plenty of resources that teach you how to apply to freelance editing jobs and attract private clients. And former faculty are especially well positioned to be hired as academic editors because you are not only a strong writer and editor but also experienced in academic publishing. You are distinctly suited to help another scholar in your field or a similar one navigate the ups and downs of submitting papers to journals, turning their dissertation into a book or even navigating the academic job market or applying for tenure. You already have all of these skills; academic editing just requires you to apply them as a mentor or coach to others.

In closing, I know that the idea of owning a business can be intimidating. I never imagined I would or could be an entrepreneur. But freelancing or running an editing business as a “solopreneur” is nowhere near as complicated as it sounds. And while you may have chosen academia because of its stability and job security, we all know that those jobs are not as protected as they once were.

Moreover, I’ve realized in my own entrepreneurial journey that the skills that helped us excel in graduate school and survive faculty careers—persistence, creativity, adaptability, thick skin and the ability to learn new things quickly—also prepare us very well to build a successful business. Ultimately, if you’re unhappy in academia, you have many alternatives to pursue. And academic editing presents an opportunity to apply your scholarly knowledge and teaching experience in an environment where you are appreciated, happy and paid what you’re worth.