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Angie had been thinking about starting her own writing and editing business for years. Then in early 2021, after a year of working from home in her salaried position and facing indefinite restrictions to meeting up with colleagues, she decided to take the leap.
IBA supported Angie Faye Martin, a Kooma/Kamilaroi woman, to get started with a business loan that allowed her to cover the costs of essential office equipment.
Angie acknowledged, “Start-up business expenses for a primarily online freelance business add up quickly. In addition to hardware, I had to purchase cloud storage, domains, insurance, legal advice and memberships to professional organisations and editing resources and style guides.”
Now, almost two years later, Versed Writings is a thriving business with a loyal client base and a multitude of business services. Her clients have included academics within Australia and overseas, a number of state and federal government departments, some large not-for-profits and numerous fictional authors.
Angie’s business is built on a passion for meaningful, tailored streamlined prose – whatever the purpose or whoever the audience.
“I believe meaning matters most. If you’re clear on what you want to communicate and the intention of your message before you sit down to write, the words will flow effortlessly,” said Angie.
Versed Writings offers content writing, copyediting and cultural sensitivity editing services.
“I started off mainly doing copyediting for academic journal articles and annual reports because that is my comfort zone and I expanded from there,” said Angie.
In a matter of months, Angie realised the high demand for content writing and cultural sensitivity editing from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective. She sought out the mentorship of Ngiyamppa academic Dr Mark Lock, who is an expert in the field of cultural safety editing, and IBA supported weekly mentoring sessions for three months so Angie could build her knowledge, skills and confidence in this area of growing demand.
Angie is signed with HarperCollins for her novel, Melaleuca, to be released in 2024, an outback noir crime thriller about an Aboriginal police woman called out west to investigate the murder and disappearances of Aboriginal women.
Business support comes in many different forms. IBA provides capability building, finance, and workshops for entrepreneurs and businesses wanting to develop their ideas. Find out more at iba.gov.au/business/starting-a-business.
