The Editor's Affairs (TEA)

The Editor’s Affairs (or “TEA”) is an integrated system of Excel tools and business administration expertise for self-employed editorial professionals, allowing you to easily manage your income, expenses, and project data. It’s designed to help you keep your affairs in order – your financial records, your project schedules, and your client relationships.

TEA's formula-powered Excel spreadsheets let you record and analyze the data that will keep your editorial business running. And your business data remains in your control. TEA stays local on your computer, and you are the only user of your TEA spreadsheets. 

Automated formulas mean you can put away your calculator, reduce the likelihood of human error, and spend more of your business hours on the editorial work you love.

Run your editorial business with confidence

TEA is your project manager, HR team, payroll department, and business data analyst all in one. It can show you how much you’ve earned on each project and what your expenses were each month. Even more importantly, TEA can be:

• A pat on the back for successfully negotiating your hourly rate and meeting your deadline this week.

• Clear evidence that a client is habitually paying their invoices late.

• The nudge you need to take some days off because you’ve been working 60-hour weeks all month.

• The rock-solid case for giving yourself a raise and increasing your rates.

To get a taste of how TEA works, click on the link below to subscribe to The TEA Times newsletter and you'll get a free download of the TEA Project Timesheet Template, where you can track your editing speed on each of your projects.

Subscribe to get your free
TEA Project Timesheet

The Standard TEA packages

The Standard TEA includes: ​​

• a multi-tab "Income and Expenses" Excel spreadsheet for tracking income, expenses, project-management data, and summary data,

• a single-tab Excel Project Timesheet Template, and

• access to the TEA Help Site for all your TEA support needs.

Whether you quote per word, per 1000 words, per page, or in different ways for different projects, the Standard TEA has got you covered.

Currently, there are Standard TEA packages for editors based in (or who file taxes in) Canada, the US, the UK, or Australia. If you are interested in purchasing TEA and are based elsewhere, please get in touch to discuss your business admin needs.

Order your Standard TEA now

Check out some of the most powerful features in the Standard TEA below.

Payment in Instalments

​Record payments made in several instalments, with automated formulas that retain your hourly, per-project, per-1000-word, and/or per-page rates.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Tracking

​Log your editorial courses, networking events, local group meetings, and other CPD, including the organization name, date(s), number of hours spent, and any certificate you received.

This option is especially handy for members of professional editing bodies that require CPD for membership upgrading.

System, software, and knowledge requirements for using TEA

What are the system and software requirements for using TEA?

TEA runs on both MacOS and Windows PC desktop operating systems. TEA is designed to run in the latest version of Microsoft Excel included in the Microsoft 365 subscription, and some features and functionality may not be compatible with older versions of Excel.

If you have questions about running TEA with your specific system and Excel version, please get in touch.

Do I need to be an Excel expert to use TEA?

Not at all! TEA is designed for Excel novices and expert users alike.

The TEA Help Site that accompanies your TEA package includes Excel basics and walks you through each detail that you have to fill in yourself and each data point that the spreadsheet formulas generate automatically.

TEA for new freelancers

I'm a new freelance editor and I don't know all of my business admin needs yet. How can TEA help me?

Welcome to freelance editing! With TEA, you can record every quote you make, track your professional development and business expenses throughout the year, and build a picture of your client landscape to keep you organized and informed about the health of your business from day one.

My four-part article series on Business Admin for New Freelance Editors also has plenty of tips for editors at the start of their freelance careers.

Business data and Excel workshops and presentations

Are you looking to demystify your business data and embrace Microsoft Excel? I’d love to share my passion for data and spreadsheets with your community of language professionals!

I have recently given presentations at several online annual conferences – ACES, CIEP, IPEd, PEG, and Editors Canada – as well as workshops for Editors BC and as part of SENSE’s Sizzling Summer Workshops series.

I also have a recorded webinar on Business Data for Freelance Editors available for purchase from EFA.

If you’re interested in booking me as a speaker for an event, or to lead a workshop or presentation, click the link below to get in touch.

Contact Maya to
book a speaking engagement

“There is nothing negative I can say about the customer service! Maya was prompt and courteous and addressed my issues even earlier than she promised.

She went above and beyond, providing several options to address customization requests, which was very helpful and provided guidance on my decision-making.”

Adrineh Der-Boghossian
​Editor and Translator

“TEA is an invaluable resource.”

Dean Kyte
​Writer and Editor

"TEA does a great job of allowing you to itemize and track your monthly projects and have a larger sense of your productivity/rates and how your business plays out over the course of the year. Plus the colour-coding is a helpful reminder of which cells are editable and which are locked. Super valuable!"

Leona Burlew
Editor

Want to hear more from other TEA users?

​Check out the TEA Case Studies page to see how other freelance editors use TEA to manage their business affairs.