Posted on Sep 13, 2022
Live Chat: How to Build Your Freelance Client Base
Below is the transcript of our webinar on How to Build Your Freelance Client Base, from September 6, 2022. It features advice on how to brand yourself and set up your professional profile to attract the right clients.Â
Guests:
Euan Monaghan is a book designer specializing in fiction and memoir, and who has worked directly with authors as well as for publishers like Melville House, World Editions and Zuleika. He designs covers driven by clear typography and strong imagery.
Rebecca Brewer is a freelance editor who specializes in science fiction, fantasy, horror and LGBTQ+ fiction. Previously, she was an acquiring editor at Ace, part of Penguin Random House.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
Skip to 03:10 for the start of the discussion.
Origin stories
Rebecca Brewer: When I was about 16, I decided that editing science fiction and fantasy books was the best job in the world. So I got a degree in publishing and moved to New York City. There, I had an internship at ACE, worked at the Science Fiction Book Club, was an author, worked at Borders (R.I.P.) â and then when ACE had an opening, I immediately jumped on it.Â
About seven and a half years ago, when ACE were shifting their title count, I was no longer needed. I joined Reedsy thinking it would be a secondary thing to keep my toes in the water, but then it went much better than I ever expected, which was a very delightful surprise.
Euan Monaghan: My story is slightly less traditional. I started doing design while studying for an undergraduate degree in physics, actually. Around 2011, I started doing freelance work on the side and very slowly transitioned to full-time freelancing in 2017. Iâve been on Reedsy for almost 5 years.

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Transitioning into freelance work
Euan Monaghan: Going freelance was a very gradual transition for me. Once I knew that I wanted to go full-time into design, it was a case of steadily building that up â Reedsy was a really helpful part of that, given the quality of the clients. There are many platforms, but many of them are bad. Like Rebecca touched on, it got bigger quicker than I expected.Â
Rebecca Brewer: I had gotten laid off from ACE and was looking for a complete career change. I thought Iâd do freelance editing just to make a little bit of money while I figured things out. But then it only took me about a month and a half of being on Reedsy to realize that I was already making more money than I was at a publisher. My day also had a lot more variability, and I was doing less hours. I thought, âwow, Iâm in charge and I make more money?â Then I just ran with it.
I started doing developmental edits, copy edits, and editorial assessments. After a bit, I also started doing query letter critiques and sensitivity reads.Â
Euan Monaghan: 70% of my work is book interior design and typography, and 30% book covers. I enjoy working with covers when itâs something that really speaks to my kind of skill set, which is quite typography-led. Thatâs something that I always try to do [when building a client base]. I only take on stuff that I know that I can do â or if it pushes me, it pushes me just enough to be healthy. Iâm not going to accept a job that I know Iâm not going to be any good at because I know there are lots of other people who are going to be better at it than I am. And it would also be massively stressful.

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Setting up your Reedsy profile
When you sign up to Reedsy, we ask you to complete a profile. This is the page that will introduce you to potential clients. Your profile will ideally compel authors to request a quote for your services and begin a collaboration.
Euanâs profile

Martin: One of the primary purposes of your profile is to convince clients who have never really worked with editors or designers before that thereâs an actual person behind the screen. Little details like âIâm British but I live in the Hague now,â a good photo, and stuff that shows a bit of personality are super helpful.Â
Euan, in your overview, you also have a single line that stands out: âI design both covers and the internals of books.â Is that something youâve had on your profile from the beginning?
Euan Monaghan: I didnât have it on its own originally, but I found that when people think about book design, they usually think of covers. Reedsy has a really good tool for doing the internals for books, but I think it helps to remind people that if they want something a bit more complex or push it to the next level, [there are people out there who design the inside too].
After that, I wanted to show what I do and what my process looks like â that my designs go from print books to ebooks very easily â and what my strengths are. If I havenât mentioned something that a client is looking for, thatâs a sign that maybe Iâm not the right person for them. On the other hand, if strong typography sounds like something they want to do, [I might be who theyâre looking for]. Really, I want to attract requests from people who like my stuff and the way I work. I take them through the process because thatâs how I would have wanted it to be.Â
Martin: And then at the bottom, you have your bona fides, stating which guilds youâre a member of, acting as a qualifier.Â
Euan Monaghan: Yeah, it helps to have some badges, doesn't it?Â
Martin: I donât think itâs something people actively search for, but it can help close the deal. After that, you list what services you offer. Has anyone ever requested just typography?
Euan Monaghan: Yes, it was a custom lettering type design for a book which already had the artwork and back cover complete, and they wanted something a little different for the lettering. The artwork was supplied and I added a mix of hand lettering and type design to fit in around the imagery.
I usually donât illustrate from scratch. My usual remit is working with illustrations or photography or type itself. For El Llano in Flames, for instance, I used satellite imagery from NASA, which I built into a topographic map of the area where the book is set. It also had foiling. It was a proper work of passion for me. Doing covers with typography over photographs can take as much work as something which is heavily illustrative.Â
Choosing your portfolio
Martin: Since design is such a visual medium, can you talk us through how you chose your portfolio?
Euan Monaghan: It was tricky. The portfolio only shows covers and because I also do internals, I didnât want the portfolio to be too long. I wanted potential clients to get to the point sooner. I also wanted to show a variety; there are a couple of languages there to remind people that if theyâre writing something in German, thatâs fine. Then thereâs some photography, some illustration, and some designs which are more customized â and others that are slightly less customized.

Rebeccaâs profile

Rebecca Brewer: When I first set up my Reedsy profile, I included information about where I had worked previously and what I specialize in, but later on, when I was looking at other freelancers providing the services that I do on the marketplace, I noticed that some of the people who had a lot of reviews â which I assumed meant they had a lot of business â were using author names on their profiles. I thought that was a good idea because it brands you while also giving you bona fides at the same time. And I really love when an author mentions that they love another authorâs work because then we can geek out about it together.Â
Martin: You also start naming some of the subgenres you work with in your overview. This is great because the Reedsy search engine will pick up on that if itâs in the body of your text, which helps you put yourself out there.
Tip: Setting up your genres
Martin: When setting up your Reedsy profile, you can select up to eight genre tags to indicate the types of books you specialize in. When you select a subgenre, for example, "Urban Fantasy," you will also turn up in searches for the parent category, "Fantasy." With this in mind, you should aim to be as specific as possible in selecting your categories and focus on subgenres.
In addition, you can 'star' two genres that are your specific areas of expertise. You will appear higher in searches for these terms by starring a genre.

Euan Monaghan: Iâve added categories like âliterary fictionâ and âscience fictionâ since I find a lot of visual interest in those genres. Designing for LGBTQ fiction is often really interesting too, and adding that to my profile has had the lovely side effect of stopping a certain type of person from messaging me or asking for a quote â which in all seriousness, has been really helpful.Â
The profile is a case of saying, âhey, hereâs a bunch of stuff I have a lot of experience in; hereâs a publisher I work with; this is something Iâm pretty good at.â Itâs about showing the things youâre interested in and have a wider knowledge of.
Asking questions to curate your client list
Rebecca Brewer: I think my ability to pick the clients I enjoy working with has improved over the years. The first thing I ask clients, which can be a stumbling block to a lot of people, is for more information about their project. A fairly large amount of people never respond to the questions that I have, which tells me they aren't as savvy as I want them to be.Â
Itâs helpful when authors explain what they're hoping to achieve. Combined with the sample pages they give me, I can get a good sense of them and the project, because I donât want to work with somebody whoâs [not ready yet and is] going to need a tremendous amount of work.
Euan Monaghan: If they haven't given a very detailed brief, I ask questions about simple things like deadlines and about the project to find out if I'm available at that time and the right person for the job. Iâd perhaps ask them to add a couple of images that have inspired them or that they may be aiming for.Â
If theyâre aiming for illustration, I might ask if theyâve thought to hire an illustrator from the marketplace, since Iâm not an illustrator. I think that gives them the confidence as well â that youâre not just taking on everything and trying to get work no matter what. So itâs a win-win because I get to work with people who know what theyâre getting into and that they want to work with me.
Developing strong editor-client relationshipsÂ
Rebecca Brewer: As an editor, I get to sort of see how my clientâs mind works. Once I send off my edits, we do a zoom call, and itâs almost like I finally get to meet the person I already know. Sometimes my questions about the book (e.g. what does this event mean to the main character?) end up bringing up some of their own personal feelings. One person told me I was the best therapist theyâd ever had, which was really rewarding â to know that I had helped with the book but also with their life.Â
I think for a lot of [indie] authors, I'm the first person that ever reads their book. And a lot of them are terrified that I'm going to tell them that they should give up and that their book is absolutely awful. So itâs part of my job to help them learn and to reassure them that there is value in what theyâre doing. I try to have a soft touch when it comes to my authors. I want to help them. I don't want to scare them away. So I usually ask a lot of questions, make some suggestions so that they can feel their own way and internalize how to structure a book.
Getting customer testimonials
Positive customer testimonials on your profile can set you apart from the competition and convince a client to hire you instead of another freelancer. If youâre new on the platform and havenât had any collaborations yet, you can add testimonials from authors youâve worked with off the platform in your overview section until youâve drummed up some reviews from Reedsy clients.
Euan Monaghan: Reedsy is pretty good at helping you get testimonials. I think it gives people a prompt once a collaboration is done. I have a few messages saved in a text document that I use to let clients know that weâve finished the project and to ask if theyâve had any issues uploading any of the files, so itâs a very clear end to the collaboration in that sense.
Martin: We find that getting reviews is quite important. I guess the good thing about working with authors is that theyâre usually a bit more detailed with their write-ups! Have you ever found an author to refer back to feedback in your testimonials?Â
Rebecca Brewer: Yes, I have. And Iâve had a couple of repeat clients, which is always nice. I donât actually prod them to review, which Iâm now thinking is something I should consider doing. Especially when Iâve had a really great conversation with an author and they feel really excited to get back into their book and start working.Â
Martin: The good thing about testimonials is that authors want to know what the experience of working with a freelancer is going to be like. Iâve seen a lot of freelancers adding testimonials to their overview section because, in a way, youâre selling the experience of working with you.
Getting repeat clients
Euna Monaghan: Iâve had a few repeat clients and I think, to foster that, I aim to communicate really clearly and to produce a good thing. It sounds like Iâm trivializing the question, but if the client has a positive experience working with you, they might come back to you and ask for more work.
Rebecca Brewer: My clients often come back to me for their shorter work, especially if I worked on their novel and they then wrote a short story. Itâs nice to check in with them again.Â
One thing that is really helpful [for getting repeat clients] is to be very specific with the services that youâre going to include, because a lot of authors arenât really sure what theyâre going to get. Trying to be very clear about what theyâre going to get and at what date [contributes to clear communication and a positive experience overall]. And for me, I always tell my clients that I'm an ongoing resource. If they have questions 6 months from now, I'm still here.
If thereâs one thing you could tell yourself before you became a freelancer, what would it be?
Euan Monaghan: I think that what I'm doing now, compared to what I was doing in the beginning, is that I'm working significantly less hours and doing much better work. In the beginning, I thought freelance work meant that I had to be at my desk or in the studio all the time. But that actually isnât quality hours. I would have saved myself a lot of heartache if I had realized that a lot earlier and given myself permission to know when to be productive and when to take a break. It actually requires quite a lot of discipline to work less, as silly as that sounds.Â
I also want to mention one more thing about testimonials. I find that, as someone who occasionally suffers from imposter syndrome, having consistent objective feedback from people who have no ulterior motive, has been fantastically helpful for someone who is self-taught. It keeps the inner critic at bay. It can give a boost at the start of a day, especially when you work on your own.
Rebecca Brewer: I would have told myself two things. The first one is that you donât need to undervalue your skills. When I first started, I didnât really have a good sense of how much to charge. Reedsy has these average prices, which was very helpful, but since I didnât have any reviews yet, I thought I needed to go lower to get clients. That was not the case â perhaps because I have the bona fides. Itâs a balance of âmy pricesâ versus âmy hoursâ, so I change my pricing depending on my schedule and my needs. And secondly, like Euan said, you have to schedule time off, which took me a while too. Making sure to not go overboard with work and to give yourself breaks is really important.
Tips from Reedsy
Martin: Continuing from what Rebecca said in terms of pricing yourself, you ideally should be increasing your rates as you progress in your career. Having seen a lot of requests and quotes betweens clients and freelancers on Reedsy, fewer authors than youâd imagine go for the lowest price on offer. You don't want to chase yourself to the bottom; you want to be the one where they feel that they're getting good value. A lot of that also stems from the communication in that first email â letting them know what they can expect to get.
The other part is to let people know who you are when youâre setting up a profile. That tends to mean having a picture of yourself, ideally smiling. We actually ran some data and found that freelancers who had a moody, back-lit profile photo with a filter on got very few requests. Sometimes, all you need is something that says âHi, Iâm a friendly person who will be nice to work with.â Sometimes thatâs enough.
Q&A session
Question: Euan, where did you find the background with books on them to place your designs on? Are they templates?
Euan Monaghan: Yes, some of them are paid for [templates], but there are a few on there which I found on covervault.com as a free resource. The designer who makes these has a massive zip file you can buy, but he also gives away some very high quality book mockups for free. I usually strip them back because they have backgrounds and things that I don't care about and theyâre just layered photoshop files. If you search for book mockups, you can find some really good quality stuff. Often itâs paid for, but itâs worth it.Â
Question: One of my authors is suddenly ghosting me. Is there a procedure for dealing with that situation?Â
Rebecca Brewer: Iâve been very lucky, but there have been a couple of instances where Iâve sent my edits and didnât hear from the author. Usually, there were other circumstances involved though.Â
I did have one potential client who was very combative and aggressive and was giving signs that he didnât really want to work with me. So I gave him an out since we hadnât officially started the collaboration yet. Sometimes they might not be checking their Reedsy messages. It might be going into spam. It really depends.Â
Euan Monaghan: Similarly, Iâve only very occasionally run into a situation like that. But Reedsy support is super responsive so if you need them, just click the âhelp!â button at the top.Â
Martin: Billing and chasing people up is perhaps the least favorite part of being a freelancer so thatâs one of the benefits we try to offer our freelancers. If a conflict arises, someone from our team will mediate and try to come to a resolution that works for everyone. Our aim is to both make sure that the freelancers are protected and that authors can feel some assurance as well.Â
Question: How much do you actually contact clients?
Rebecca Brewer: I send my edits to a client as a full package, all at once but sometimes I tell clients that they can let me know if they have questions in the meanwhile. Iâll also let them know if Iâm on time for the deadline or running a bit behind. After the edit, Iâm open for questions for any period of time.Â
Question: How do you handle clients who have unrealistic expectations of how much an edit or design costs?
Euan Monaghan: I generally point people towards some of the articles that Reedsy has about how much things cost. That also means that I donât have to be the one to break it to them.Â
Reedsy has articles to help freelancers set their base rates â editing rates, proofreading rates, designer rates, and ghostwriting rates â that can also be a helpful resource to send to authors.
Rebecca Brewer: It happens very often that people have unrealistic expectations, but I think once they see that four or five quotes are almost three times as high as what they thought â when they ask a qualified person â they understand. And Iâve actually received a lot of apologies for that.
One thing I occasionally do if somebody asks for a developmental edit but they have a smaller budget, Iâll ask if theyâve considered an editorial assessment instead. Then Iâll give a quote for that as well so they can get a sense [of the price point].
Euan Monaghan: Cover designs can be anything from âŹ300 to âŹ1000, depending on how much is involved â what kind of cover it is, whether itâs a full dust jacket, or whether itâs part of a series with preexisting design, and so on.Â
Question: Do you give your quote to clients right away or do you chat with them first?
Euan Monaghan: Itâs very rare that I get a brief thatâs complete enough to give a quote immediately so I often get back to them and ask a few more questions. That also gives me a chance to check whether Iâm the best designer for the job.Â
Rebecca Brewer: For me, I always ask for more information, and that includes a synopsis. That immediately tells me if Iâd enjoy the book regardless of how well-executed it is. Between the synopsis, their answers [to my questions], and their sample pages, I can give a quote.Â
Question: Do you require a signed contract before you begin a collaboration? What do Reedsy contracts look like?Â
Rebecca Brewer: There is a basic contract that Reedsy already has, but they do have the option to upload your own as well. Iâve never used that. Reedsyâs contract is very handy because they chase the money for me if somebody isnât paying. Everything is laid out; Iâm very clear about what they'll receive, the timeline and the cost. So thatâs never really been an issue.Â
If itâs someone else, like a publishing house for instance, I do require a signed contract, but with Reedsy itâs kind of baked into the system.Â
Martin: I believe you have options to set a schedule and change the delivery times if you need to, or if theyâre struggling to make the payment schedule. We usually donât suggest delivering the project until the payment has been made.Â
Thatâs it for today folks. Thanks so much for joining us!
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