When it comes to essay editing, we are normally talking about students from middle school through secondary education. Generally, students themselves aren’t the decision makers nor the ones funding essay editing unless they are in graduate school or pursuing their PHD. For the younger students, the target market is the parents who are paying for their children.
In a close nit society like Korea, word of mouth is everything. Recognize this is a double-edged sword. Satisfy the talkative mom in one apartment block and you will have a plethora of essays to grade. Offend her and you may as well give up on that neighborhood. Mom café’s and the so called ‘Gangnam moms’ are famous for making or breaking editors, tutors and so on.
For most essay editors it is a nice and convenient side job but not one that can be trusted for a full-time job. First and foremost, the income stream is very inconsistent. School essays tend to be seasonal with more needing editing during midterms and finals. There can also be major disruptions. For example, during the coronavirus pandemic, many kids opted to forgo school for a year resulting in a major drop in application essays and in turn work for essay editors.
In general, parents and adult essay writers generally have a confined amount of editing they want to have done. PHD students for example may only need help one time to edit their thesis. Graduate students may have only a couple of essays each school year for 1 to 2 years. So, your volume per customer is quite limited and periodic. Younger students on the other hand may have a greater volume of essays but what is the willingness to pay for 3 to 5 page middle school or high school essays.
In South Korea education is hyper competitive. From the time kids enter a ‘prestigious’ kindergarten or English kindergarten the race begins. Do well in kindergarten so you can be admitted to a good elementary school so you can enroll in a top high school so that ultimately you can enter one of Korea’s top three schools, Seoul National University, Korean University or Yonsei University also known as the SKY schools.
If you falter anywhere along the way your future is doomed. You won’t be able to get at a job at one of the large conglomerates like Samsung or LG. This means life as a second-class citizen, undesirable for marriage and no money to raise a family. Or so the story goes.
The winning formula for essay editors in Korea, whether they are freelance or with an agency, is to parlay their notoriety in essay editing into tangential areas such as teaching or college applications. Upper middle-class parent are willing to spend thousands per month on their child’s education and tutoring. Its not unheard of for wealthy families to spend $10,000 a month.
If an editor can garner $300 a month correcting a student’s essays that’s not bad. If they can leverage the trust parents have in them to take on more responsibilities and earn $1,000 to $2,000 a month handling a students essays, tutoring, and test prep then this can be lucrative. If you have seen the movie Parasite it reflects this phenomenon in Korea. Trust begets trust and families are willing to spend unconditionally for their child’s educational success.
As mentioned earlier, the pinnacle for success in Korean education is entering a top school either domestically or abroad. Thus, of all the tangential work an editor can do, helping students with college application essays as well as the application process as a whole is extremely financially rewarding.
Parents eagerly will dish out 10, 20, 30 thousand dollars to agencies or chosen coordinators to guide their children through the application process. Parents will often choose a trusted tutor or essay editor to be the one to handle their child’s applications. So from a monetary perspective, the 2-3 years of mundane essay editing are preparation for the end goal of application assistance. Having just 6 or 7 of these students a year can equal a yearly salary and generally require only a few months of intense work.
Editing in any arena can be high times and low times and this is especially true in essay editing. The volatility usually translates to a short lifespan in the business. If however you can weather the storms, build a formidable reputation and leverage your essay editing prowess in a wealthier country like Korea with a high propensity to spend on education and ultimately wear other educational hats, then this can be a career.
By: Young Ju Seo
Write and Win: Participate in Creative writing Contest & International Essay Contest and win fabulous prizes.
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