Editing::Whose Business?

During our meeting on Monday, Christin asked me if I had a link to my “business” that she could include in her author page and in the book.

I was a bit taken aback, because I really hadn’t thought of what we were doing from the perspective of a “business.”  Which, of course, I should have, because offering to proofread her book was the first step in an overall “plan” to start up a little “business.”  Duh.

So, in addition to editing, I spent some considerable time (because I’ve got a lot of it right now) re-reading the book that gave me the original inspiration, The $100 Startup:Reinventing the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a NewFuture by Chris Guillebeau, and going over the notes I had taken during my first read.  I typed up a couple pages of notes – an “outline” if you will – on how I would proceed should I decided to make this a real-life endeavor.  And, just because I feel I need to give Christin something to “link” to, I started setting up this blog that would also support a little business should I get serious about it.

Have you gotten the sense yet that I’m not 100% committed to becoming a proofreader/editor?  I think I’m kind of holding out to see how this project goes.  It’s not necessarily the relative success of the book itself that will be the deciding factor for me (although I really, really hope it is a wonderful success), but how successful I feel personally about the editing process and working with an author.  Is this something I can actually do?

I guess we’ll find out soon enough.