The freelance industry encourages writers to seek out multiple income streams. Diversifying your income is a must-have for staying afloat as a self-employed writer. A lot of people attempt to do this by starting blogs, becoming writing coaches, or selling some kind of online course. But, if wading into the waters of the influencer’s life isn’t your thing, know that there are other options to diversify your income as a freelance writer.

Obviously, editing is a natural extension of writing, so one easy way to expand your freelancing income is to begin offering editing services.

But, editing is such a broad term. You could venture into the fringes of the publishing industry, and offer line editing services to budding authors, go the more news-y route and do fact-checking, or offer copy editing to—pretty much anyone.

Recently, however, I’ve discovered a lesser-known editing niche that I think is quite ripe for opportunity: Editing non-native English speakers’ academic journal entries.

A lesser-known market for freelance editors

I’m a U.S. expat currently living in France so, even when I am speaking English, 9 times out of 10, it’s with a non-native speaker. Often, a lot of these people are academics who (like me) are not French but (unlike me) have been brought to the Hexagon for work.

I’ve met and mingled with PhD candidates, researchers, and other folk in academia from Argentina, Poland, Brazil, and many other countries. All of them speak great English—that’s not the problem.

As any writer will tell you, speaking the language doesn’t automatically mean you’re a skilled writer. This is true even for native speakers! Since I’m their friendly, local native English speaker and a professional writer, people in this community often come to me for help editing resumes, cover letters, and articles for academic journals.

These are some of the main points I help them with as an editor:

Make their writing sound more natural

If you’ve ever read text that wasn’t written in the author’s mother tongue (or tried to write such a text!) then you know what I’m talking about. Sometimes, there are sentences that are technically grammatically correct, but they just don’t sound right. For native speakers, this is an easy fix—and it instantly renders the text more professional.

Correct false friends

For those who skipped high school language class, here’s a quick recap: False friends are words that “appear or sound like words in their own language, but have different meanings in others,” as described by linguist Chi Luu for JSTOR Daily. For example, I corrected one PhD candidate’s cover letter, where he (fairly) assumed “to postulate” has the same meaning in English as does the French “postuler.” (It doesn’t.)

Fix literal translations

All language learners are (at least sometimes) guilty of this: We structure a sentence the same way we would in our mother tongue, using words we directly translated into a second language. Except, that this doesn’t always work. Sometimes, you end up with a completely nonsensical phrase that confuses your reader, at best, and stains your credibility, at worst.

These are just some of the red flags I’m checking for when I edit a non-native English speaker’s text. But of course, I also give each piece the usual editing remix to make sure it satisfies what I call “the little picture” (i.e., correct grammar, spelling, formatting) and “the big picture” (i.e., a coherent flow of ideas and a clear takeaway for the reader).

How to market yourself as an editor for non-native English speakers in academia

I started out editing resumes, cover letters, and articles for people I know but I’ve since learned there’s a much bigger market to tap into.

Here are 3 ways to start marketing yourself as an editor for non-native English speakers:

Seek out academic journals

Recently, I’ve been in touch with one scientific journal in France that was actively hiring freelance language editors to edit articles written by non-native English speakers. And, I bet they’re not the only ones looking for this kind of editing help. If you don’t see any specific job postings, you can always take the cold pitching approach.

Leverage your network

Admittedly, finding this kind of work is a bit easier if you’re a native English speaker living abroad. But, maybe not! A lot of academics have to travel for their research so potential clients may be closer than you think. If you have any links to an academic community, start by putting out feelers there.

Advertise it as a service

Instead of looking for a gig with a specific journal, you can seek out individual clients. This is definitely harder at first but there’s big potential to grow. Academia is a very small, hyper-connected world. If you can link up with a few people, they probably know others who could also use your editing services. If you do a good job, word of mouth may be all you need to develop this new income stream.

Making (more) money as a writer

When it comes to diversifying your writing career, get creative! There are a lot of opportunities out there other than the typical article or blog writing. Resume writing is another similar example you could explore—not just for non-native English speakers. You may just start with a few people in your network but, if you lean into a new skill, it can quickly grow into more income streams.

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Meredith Shubel is a technical writer, ghostwriter, and blogger, covering cybersecurity, SaaS, and energy. She’s also the founder and editor-in-chief of the independent magazine, A Merry Loner. Contact here here: meredithshubel.com