What is the Editorial Freelancers Association (the-efa.org)?

Updated

The Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) is a professional association for freelance editorial professionals and the clients who hire them. Its stated mission is to advance excellence across its community by providing opportunities for business development, learning, and networking, and its resources are designed to help members and clients build successful collaborations. If you are a freelance editor looking for training, peers, or clients—or a publisher, author, or business trying to find an editor—the EFA is the organization behind the-efa.org.

Who the EFA serves

The site frames its audience in two directions:

  • Editorial professionals who want to build their skills, promote themselves, and connect with peers.
  • Clients—authors, publishers, and organizations—who need to find and hire an editorial freelancer.

The association describes itself as a "dynamic community of freelance editorial professionals," so the emphasis is on freelancers rather than in-house staff at publishing houses.

What the site offers

The homepage organizes its main functions into a few clear tools and resources:

Resource What it does
Member Directory Lets clients search for an editorial professional and lets members promote themselves
EFA Job List Lets clients publish a job to more than 4,000 editorial professionals
Classes and Webinars Professional development; members receive discounts on all classes and many webinars are free
Editorial Rate Chart A resource for pricing editorial work and growing a freelance business
Events A calendar of upcoming events, with a link to see all events
Member Benefits A summary of perks, with a prompt to check whether you are using all of them

The homepage also states the association's commitment to diversity, equity, and belonging, describing these as guiding principles for the profession.

How to use it, depending on your goal

If you want to hire an editor: start with the member directory to search for a match, or post your job to the EFA Job List, which the site says reaches more than 4,000 editorial professionals. The "Hire a freelancer" path is the intended entry point.

If you are considering joining as a freelancer: the membership page is the place to start. The site advertises member discounts on all classes, free access to many webinars, directory listing so you can promote yourself, and access to the rate chart. Before joining, review the Member Benefits page to confirm the perks match what you need.

If you want training without joining: classes and webinars are open to non-members, but the discount structure favors members—so compare the cost of the classes you want against the membership price before deciding.

What to keep in mind

The homepage does not publish membership pricing, class fees, or job-posting costs, and it does not state whether directory search or job browsing requires an account. Treat those details as things to confirm on the relevant pages rather than assuming free access. The "subscribe" reference on the site points to staying informed, not to a published price.

For a quick orientation: the-efa.org is best understood as a two-sided professional hub—a hiring and directory service for clients, and a training, networking, and business-development resource for freelance editors.