Copyediting
I am a highly experienced copyeditor with an excellent eye for style, tone and consistency. I am always respectful of the author’s voice and provide helpful and encouraging feedback.
Structural editing
It’s not easy writing 70,000+ words and so it’s to be expected that authors can struggle to find the best approach to structuring their story or communicating their ideas. I have a lot of experience in this kind of more in-depth editing, from suggesting a different way to order the material to taking a book apart section by section (even paragraph by paragraph!) and figuring out how to build something that will really land for readers and get across what the author wants to say.
Development editing / ‘Book doctoring’
Sometimes what an author needs is someone who they can bounce ideas off, guide them through the process of putting a book together and help them come up with a plan. Someone who can review drafts and ask the right questions, as well as providing reassurance and show them the way when they get stuck. It’s often impossible for an in-house editor to get this involved in the text – and usually better if someone else is looking at the detail so the commissioner can keep the necessary distance to be able to see the book as a whole.
I am regularly asked to do this sort of work. Whether that’s working with an author from the beginning or being brought in later, to help when an author is struggling or has delivered something that needs careful reshaping to make it publishable. I am pleased to be seen as a safe pair of hands by my clients and I always find a solution, even when a project has gone off track and a despairing author has become lost in the weeds!
Ghostwriting and writing
I have ghost- and co-written a number of titles, including some Sunday Times bestsellers. I have developed a happy and productive relationship with every author I’ve worked with and received excellent feedback. Please get in touch if you’d like to know more about the writing I have done.
I have also written a number of gift and humour IP titles for publishers. I really enjoy writing to a specific commercial brief in this way. Please see ‘Books I’ve written’ for some examples.
Writing tutor
Since 2021, I have been a tutor for the HarperCollins Author Academy, teaching aspiring authors from underrepresented and ethnic backgrounds about non-fiction writing and what it takes to get published.
I also teach creative non-fiction at the Hastings Writers’ Workshop.