Written by Jayna Baas

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Ongoing education is crucial to your freelance editing career. Freelance editing takes careful attention to detail, knowledge of best business practices, and a strong foundation of up-to-date editing skills.

The Christian PEN is dedicated to providing support and resources for Christian freelance editors, and those resources include PEN’s sister division The PEN Institute.

If you’re a member of The Christian PEN, you have access to member-only discounts on courses from The PEN Institute. Let’s talk about what that means for your professional development.

1. Save money on online courses for editors

Education can be expensive. UC Berkeley’s full sequence of editing programs adds up to approximately $3,600. In contrast, you can choose an individual course topic from The PEN Institute for less than 10% of that price tag.

But if you use your PEN member discount, you can lower that cost even further. The higher your membership level, the higher your discount:

• Bronze members: 10% off courses from The PEN Institute
• Silver members: 15% off courses from The PEN Institute
• Gold members: 20% off courses from The PEN Institute

Plus, as a member of PEN, you’ll get email announcements whenever The PEN Institute runs a sale—and you can combine your member discount with any sale price for savings of up to 60%!

2. Increase your options for online courses for editors

The PEN Institute offers online courses in multiple areas of editing, including

• establishing your freelance editing business,
• fiction editing,
• nonfiction editing,
• basic grammar,
• editor/client relationships,
• and much more.

Every year, the schedule of courses is updated with new instructors or new material. In many cases, The PEN Institute is the only place that offers editing instruction from a clearly Christian worldview.

Courses come in a variety of formats:

• Digital curriculum—download the lessons and study the material on your own
• One-on-one instruction—interact directly with your instructor and get personalized feedback (includes certificate of completion)
• Group courses—study the course content with an online study group so you can learn from your instructor and from your fellow students (includes certificate of completion)

Using your PEN member discount gives you greater financial flexibility so you can choose the topic and format that work best for you, not just the ones that are least expensive. If you use your member discount during one of The PEN Institute’s annual sales, you’ll have even more options for saving on your preferred format and subject.

3. Offset the cost of PEN membership with online courses for editors

If you’d like to take one or more courses from The PEN Institute, but you’re not a PEN member yet and are concerned about the annual investment of a membership, here’s a little math:

• Bronze membership: If you purchase just one group course or one-on-one instruction at average price, your 10% savings will equal or exceed the cost of Bronze membership.
• Silver membership: Your 15% savings on one group course + one digital curriculum download at average price will equal or exceed the cost of Silver membership.
• Gold membership: 20% off one group course + two digital curriculum downloads at average price will equal or exceed the cost of Gold membership.

In other words, this works out to “get two courses, get your membership free!” You’ll then have access to all the other PEN member benefits, including discounted registration to the annual PENCON conference, access to the members-only Facebook group, and access at the Silver and Gold level to the PEN Loop, our active email loop.

Learn more about PEN membership and join us here.

How to access your PEN member discount on courses from The PEN Institute

To use your member discount on courses from The PEN Institute, log in to your PEN account. Click the Member Home link in the middle of the page (or the View button to the right), or hover over Log In in the main menu and select your membership level.

Scroll about halfway down the Member Resources page, and you’ll see all the information for your PEN member discount code and how to apply it.

If you’re not a member yet, start on our Purchase & Renew page by choosing a membership, filling out an application, and submitting payment. Then you’ll be able to view your member resources and use your discount code.

Thank you for reading the PEN Tips blog and for striving to give your clients the most up-to-date knowledge you can. Happy learning!

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