Last September, the Editorial Freelancers Association celebrated 55 years of editorial excellence with our first-ever virtual conference. We’re back June 26–June 27, 2026 – this time on a state-of-the-art virtual conference platform optimized for a seamless experience navigating sessions and networking with other freelancers.
This year’s theme, “Better Together: Building Sustainable Freelance Careers Through Strong Community,” homes in on our commitment to helping you grow in your expertise and identify and take advantage of new opportunities in your business. The conference will be preceded by a day of virtual meet-ups and networking sessions designed to support freelancers at all stages of their careers.
Programming tracks will include:
Building Sustainable Freelance
Careers Through
Strong Community
CHAPTER / AFFINITY GROUP FAIR
FIND YOUR PEOPLE
TO WIN PRIZES
26-06-2026 10:55 am
Ellis Prybylski
Ghostwriting is one of the most financially sustainable and opaque paths in editorial freelancing. This session offers a clear-eyed look at what ghostwriting actually entails, especially in the book world, and helps attendees assess whether it’s a good fit for their skills, values, and working style.
26-06-2026 11:50 am
Jeanette Smith
Many editors worry that if we teach authors too much, we’ll work ourselves out of a job. Yet holding back might undermine trust and limit our overall impact. This session tackles that tension head-on. In this presentation, I will explore how to provide meaningful educational value to authors while maintaining clear professional boundaries. Participants will learn where self-editing guidance genuinely helps, where professional editing remains irreplaceable, and how to prevent scope creep when authors want more explanation and support.
26-06-2026 01:15 pm
Paul Carlucci
Based on a recent EFA speaking session, this deep dive explores the service agreement I use. I provide a template for participants, and I walk them through the service description as well as the various clauses that protect editors from lost income: a scope-of-work clause, termination clauses, late-payment clauses, an automatic cancellation clause, and late-document-delivery clauses. After walking everyone through the contract, I answer questions. Then participants break into four groups and write service agreements and payment details for various client segments, after which they return and ask me any questions they had about the exercise. Participants get the template to use in their own practice. Panel note: can he include an AI clause for folks who don't know how to say they don't want to work with AI?
26-06-2026 01:15 pm
Dawn Vinson
26-06-2026 03:20 pmEditors increasingly navigate manuscripts dealing with politics, identity, cultural sensitivity, and AI (its use or lack thereof). When editors approach manuscripts touching on these sensitive subjects, the work sits at the intersection of language, ethics, and reader perception. This course provides frameworks for editing controversial or sensitive material while maintaining neutrality, clarity, and respect for author intent. Good editing requires both technical editorial skill and emotional intelligence, and this session will give clear principles editors can apply immediately when navigating sensitive or polarizing content.
26-06-2026 04:10 pm
Bryan Thomas
Join personal wealth management expert Bryan A. Thomas in this deep dive focusing on realistic, flexible strategies for retirement planning, saving, investing, and cash-flow management. Attendees will learn how to smooth out financial volatility, make smart decisions during high-income months, and avoid common pitfalls that derail long-term wealth building. Rather than one-size-fits-all advice, this session offers practical frameworks that adapt to changing income, life stages, and goals, helping freelancers move from reactive money decisions to intentional, confident planning.
26-06-2026 10:55 am
Amber Bateman
26-06-2026 11:50 am
Therone Shellman
Writing your manuscript and all the steps turn it into a finished book. Finding the right publishing solution, distribution, distribution pitfalls to avoid, marketing and publicity, guerilla marketing beyond the store market, understanding expense and profit margin, negotiating a publishing contract, the pros and cons of book signings and how to set them up. Selling books in the street market. Building a company and brand.
26-06-2026 03:20 pm
Matt Mason
At its best, corporate communications work isn’t just about polishing someone else’s words. It’s about learning the rhythm, politics, and pulse of an organization. This story-driven session is for new corporate communications professionals or those interested in exploring this niche. You’ll hear, from a 20-year insider, how broad-based and niche internal comms differ from other types of writing; the importance of being strategically agile, from project inception through completion; and some probing questions you can ask to build your credibility as a trusted consultative resource (not just a tactician). Each attendee will receive a practical tip sheet for entering a corporate writing/editorial engagement with confidence. Whether you’re crossing over from academia, journalism, or B2B, this session will help you land—and keep—the kind of work that lasts.
26-06-2026 04:10 pm
Kelsey Shipman
Editors are trained to focus on words, but readers experience text through structure, spacing, and visual flow. This interactive virtual workshop introduces practical visual thinking techniques that strengthen clarity and reader engagement at every editorial stage. Participants will learn how hierarchy, white space, chunking, and layout logic influence comprehension—and how to identify visual barriers that make text harder to navigate. Through guided, hands on exercises, we’ll work together to transform cluttered pages into clear, intuitive layouts using only Word or Google Docs. Attendees will practice applying visual hierarchy, reorganizing dense sections, and crafting effective queries that communicate visual recommendations without overstepping scope. We’ll also explore how visual awareness enhances developmental, line, and copyediting, and how editors can collaborate more effectively with designers and authors. Participants will leave with practical frameworks, annotated examples, and repeatable techniques they can immediately integrate into their editorial workflow.
26-06-2026 10:55 am
Sandra Wendel
Lisa K. Pelto
26-06-2026 11:50 am
Elizabeth Bartmess
Michele Combs
Indexes bring essential value to nonfiction works. An index is a book’s detailed “roadmap,” allowing the reader to quickly locate and explore specific information. Rather than just plucking terms from a document, an indexer reads the entire book, analyzes and extracts substantive terms and concepts, chooses appropriate phrasing, and adds cross-references to help the reader effectively navigate the index. Indexing is both a craft that uses specific tools and an intuitive art that involves understanding, conceptualizing, and organizing access to a book in a way that’s true to the nature of the book. It anticipates where readers will look for information.
Whether you’re an experienced publishing professional or are hiring your first indexer, our presentation will cover the essentials:
- How to find and assess an indexer
- How to get the most out of your working relationship
- How (and whether) to edit an index
- Why AI isn’t up to the job
26-06-2026 03:20 pm
Ceylan Ozguner
I'd go over different ways to find work as a freelance editor, which is a topic almost every freelancer wants to know about, especially new editors. I'd review different methods with examples to give attendees ideas: networking with other editors or writers, working on platforms like Upwork or Reedsy, joining organizations, posting on social media, boots-on-the-ground methods (book festivals, posting flyers at a local university/coffee shop, etc.), sending letters of interest to businesses, and other possible options. I'll give anecdotes of which of these options have worked for me and how I did them.
26-06-2026 04:10 pm
Jacquie Gardy
27-06-2026 11:25 am
Rita Forbes
Reduce friction and mental load by using a Stream Deck in your editing and proofreading workflows. This physical device with customizable LCD buttons eliminates the need to remember keyboard shortcuts—perfect for anyone who has ADHD or struggles with working memory for other reasons (hello, perimenopause!). Commonly used commands and macros are always right at your fingertips, with clear symbols and/or labels. A single button can trigger multiple steps: select a word in a PDF, copy it into a text correction, and change its capitalization, for example, all without breaking your flow. You can also create a “START” button for each project that opens and positions all the files, folders, websites, etc. that you need. The talk includes tips on finding an affordable secondhand device and trying out the software with a free app that turns your phone or tablet into a Stream Deck.
27-06-2026 01:45 pm
Nicholas Austin
While it can be tempting to use AI to help you draft your editorial contracts, should you? And when does "helpful" technology cross into risky territory? Led by a practicing attorney who works at the intersection of tech and the law, the session will explore where AI can reduce friction and save time -- and where it can potentially expose freelancers to serious legal and financial risk. We'll walk through real-world examples, common mistakes, ethical considerations, and red flags that signal when it's time to stop prompting and call a human lawyer. Attendees will leave this session with a clear, practical framework for responsibly leveraging AI tools as a drafting assistant without outsourcing legal judgment, confidentiality, or strategy.
27-06-2026 03:15 pm
Tiffany Vakilian
David Sunday ARAOTI
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming editorial workflows, yet many freelancers are uncertain how to use these tools responsibly without compromising quality, confidentiality, or client trust. This session offers a comprehensive and practical framework for becoming an AI-savvy editor while maintaining professional integrity.
We will examine where AI tools can enhance efficiency within the editorial process—and where human judgment must remain central. Participants will learn how to establish clear boundaries with clients regarding AI use, protect sensitive materials when using cloud-based platforms, and prevent overreliance that weakens core editing skills. The session will also address pricing, value positioning, and communicating the distinct human expertise clients are paying for.
Attendees will leave with a structured approach to developing their own AI-use and disclosure policy, ensuring they remain competitive, ethical, and future-ready in an increasingly automated publishing landscape.
27-06-2026 10:30 am
Owen Kerr
Section 1: The Rhythm of Language
How Shakespeare got it right, song lyrics, stand-up comedy, Sir Terry Pratchett
S2: How to Hear the Music
Meter, word length, sentence length, paragraph length, mental 'breaths,' word choice
S3: How To Make Your Readers Hear It
Nuts-and-bolts: sensory information, adjectives, exercises to build writing muscles, Ursula K leGuin
* Exercise: revise and edit, participants share edits, commentary
S4: Wrapup and Take-Home Exercise
Take a piece of prose and hand-write a copy of the first page. See where the author chose to use short words and long, short sentences and long, plus adjective, verb, and noun choice.
S5: Q&A
27-06-2026 11:25 am
Lisa A. Crayton
Effectively reaching a culturally diverse readership is challenging. Discover how to effectively write for multicultural readers while strengthening your commitment to target audiences. Helps identify problem areas in content that hinder cross-cultural communications, while providing methods for improvement. Learn about market needs, pitching tips, and current opportunities (including social media pitch contests). Also discusses the importance of sensitivity reading and using beta readers for WIPs—and before projects are submitted to agents or publishers. (This topic is also useful for editors seeking how to better meet diverse readers’ content needs.)
27-06-2026 03:15 pm
Elise Abram
Even experienced editors struggle to edit their own work. Our expertise does not eliminate our brain’s tendency to “autocorrect” errors or eliminate cognitive bias when we are too close to the prose. This session takes a look at why it’s difficult to edit your own work and offers practical strategies for editing your manuscript with greater clarity and objectivity.
We’ll begin with “big-picture” developmental editing techniques—such as reverse outlining and building a “book bible.” Next, we’ll discuss how to copy/line edit your manuscript using multiple, focused passes.
The use of AI tools as a diagnostic tool to train yourself to identify personal stylistic habits, patterns, and crutches while revising will also be discussed.
27-06-2026 10:30 am
Chloe Nicksic Sigmon
Creating a strong emotional impact is one way for authors to make their writing memorable. This topic has been widely studied, and as a result, we know a lot about techniques that authors can use to maximize readers’ emotions. However, the goal to increase the emotional intensity of a text, whether fiction or nonfiction, does not have to end with the author. Line editing can greatly enhance the emotional pull of all types of prose, and this is a skill that editors can master. The proposed session will draw on the work of Donald Maass (The Emotional Craft of Fiction), Karl Iglesias (Writing for Emotional Impact), Edgar Allen Poe (“The Philosophy of Composition”), and other influential literary critics to identify concrete strategies that editors can add to their tool boxes that will enhance the intensity of emotions evoked in authors’ work, thus making it more memorable and, ultimately, more influential.
27-06-2026 10:30 am
Jennifer Navarre
Tiffiny Spire
Julie Scheina
Alysa Loring
Kristin Batterton
In this panel discussion, members of the KidLit affinity group will discuss what led them to editing KidLit, who they work with, what types of projects they work on, and suggestions for those interested in breaking into the field.
27-06-2026 11:25 am
Ley Taylor Johnson
This 45-minute presentation is all about outlining and explaining the STEPS story framework. This framework is designed to provide a clear and consistent action-consequence cycle that works at both the scene and story level to tie character and plot together and keep the story moving forward. We'll examine what each of the five steps (Status quo, Turning point, Emotional reaction, Physical response, Status quo) does for the scene and/or beat at hand, how it evolves from the previous step, and how it flows into the next in a self-sustaining loop. The presentation will be followed by a 10-minute Q&A.
27-06-2026 01:45 pm
Mary DeSantis
Developmental editors face the honor and struggle of being invited into an author’s most vulnerable work. As a result, it can be tempting to push authors out of the driver’s seat because “I know best.” In this way, developmental editing is like being the gamemaster of a role-playing game, a job that requires a meticulous eye for detail, a strong sense of story, and the ability to tell when players need to be left to their own devices or nudged in a new direction.
Introducing: Running solo RPG adventures to up your developmental-editing game.
Through a guided RPG session, this workshop teaches developmental editors how to use premade adventures to hone their collaboration skills. Come prepared to work through discomfort with imperfection, build feedback around a preexisting framework, and learn the difference between helping and hovering. And have some fun while doing it.
27-06-2026 01:45 pm
Shannon Scott
What is imposter syndrome? Why is so pervasive in the freelance editorial and story coaching world? How can you possibly overcome it?
Short answer: You can't. But you can learn valuable strategies for quieting that inner critic.
This workshop will help you define the emotional, mental, and physical imposters holding you back from being the best version of yourself as a freelancer, while also providing clear strategies to highlight your strengths and downplay your weaknesses until you can evolve them into strengths. What's more, you'll learn how to build a personal and professional support network who will help you fight off imposter syndrome a little more each day.
27-06-2026 03:15 pm
Sohini Ghose
Editing is often framed as a technical process—correcting grammar, improving clarity, and strengthening structure. But the strongest editing also relies on less visible skills: empathy, intuition, and the ability to understand what a writer is trying to achieve before attempting to improve it. Writers entrust editors with work that may represent years of effort, personal experience, or deeply held ideas, and the way an editor approaches the editing process can profoundly shape a writer’s confidence and trust in the collaboration.
This session explores the practice of gentle editing: an approach that prioritizes preserving the author’s voice while strengthening clarity, structure, and resonance. This session moves beyond editorial feedback to examine the edit itself—how editorial decisions either honor or undermine voice, and how empathy sharpens rather than softens editorial judgment.
Drawing from examples in fiction and creative nonfiction, participants will learn practical strategies for editing with rigor while safeguarding voice, approaching manuscripts with curiosity rather than correction, and building the trust that sustains editor–author relationships.
