Have experience with university presses and/or academic authors? I need to figure out how to approach them.

Talk to us grad students! We get a huge amount of useful emails through our university Listserv. I think I have seen at least a half dozen emails asking for people to do editorial work for articles to be published. Heck, I got a few I need reviewed myself. People visiting from countries outside the English-speaking world almost always seek out editors.

Most university presses are student-run. But look for something at the Writing Center – they tend to hire new people every few years.

Thanks, @wildpotato. I would love to know how to reach people who are looking for my kind of help.

— Is there a place where people run ads for editorial services, such as a faculty newsletter or student paper?
— Is there a support services center that you can register with for referrals?
— Do English departments keep lists of available freelancers?
— Is there an office that supports foreign students? Would they also offer support to faculty members from abroad? I especially like working with non-native speakers of English as clients and have helped clients whose native languages were Russian, Chinese, Urdu, Khmer, and various Indian languages. How would I reach such prospective clients on a campus?

I hasten to add that I am not interested in writing anyone’s paper for them and don’t even like to work on dissertations because I think people should earn their own grades. But I enjoy helping to make a manuscript ready for publication by supplying language expertise on a par with the author’s subject-matter expertise.

Shoot, I just realized I hadn’t gotten back to you yet. OK, here’s the deal:

—Such things are generally not advertised in the student or faculty papers, but are rather posted as “Editor Wanted” notes on the Listserv. That’s the general email pool – I think it’s usually called that, but maybe not everywhere. Here in NYC and back in Colorado we just called it “the Listserv” because that’s what it calls itself in the “From” field of all the emails – I’d suggest asking Dominic or niki-p what theirs are called; the terminology might be different on the West Coast. The Career Services people are most often in charge of the Listserv.
—I’ve never seen an ad sent around on the Listserv – ads are generally pinned to corkboards in hard copy format, with little rip-off tabs along the bottom. Almost every one I see here at the New School has one or two tabs ripped off, so this seems to be a semi-successful advertising method for most.
—English departments do not keep lists, as far as I know – though I might not know, beause I was not deeply embedded in the English department at my college – but different schools have different ways, and this might be a good thing to explore. You’d want to contact the department secretary/coordinator (for undergrad) or Student Advisor (in a grad school) and ask him or her; this would be the person with access to such a list. More likely, the school’s Writing Center would keep a list like this.
—There are almost always offices that support foreign students. My school’s is called International Student Services – there should be an equivalent for pretty much anyplace worth its tuition – even Brigham Young has one. Going through this office would probably be a great way to reach prospective clients.

I would be perplexed, personally, at the suggestion to write another’s paper for her – no one I know now or knew in my undergrad years would set out to do such a thing. I know that some do it – but penalties are so harsh, it’s not too common.

Many thanks, @wildpotato. That’s very helpful.

I’ve received calls at my business number with requests to do academic papers. I always refuse. One curious call was from a parent who wanted to hire me to write his son’s paper for him. He asked me if I were a good writer, and I said yes. He then offered me a sum of money to write his son’s final English paper. I refused, saying that the most I would do was copyedit it once it was written. He actually proceeded to argue with me, pulling as his trump card that if I didn’t do it, somebody else would, and I said fine, then, let somebody else do it. He seemed absolutely amazed to find that someone might have scruples about it. I was amazed that he was amazed.