Fay Gibbons – Editor

I'm a publishing professional with 10 years’ editorial experience both as a freelancer and as an in-house editor and publishing manager. I've worked for various major publishing houses including Macmillan and Pearson, as well as highly prestigious professional organisations such as the Royal Institute of British architects.

I have a thorough understanding the publishing process and have guided many authors from their initial submission through to finished work and post-publication activities. I really enjoy working with authors to combine my editorial know-how with their great ideas, and see this as a completely collaborative and mutually rewarding process. I'm lucky to say that some of the books I've worked on have gone on to win awards for their authors. I can help you with any of the following:

Concept development: developing your idea, research, articulating your idea to publishers, preparing proposals

Manuscript development: structure and organisation, pedagogical approach, research, design and layout, levelling and other audience suitability, approaches to language and tone

Copyediting and proofreading: spelling and grammar, sense, consistency, cross-checking and fact checking

Advice on dealing with publishers: understanding the publishing process; best publishers to contact; understanding publishing terminology, roles and practices.

MY EXPERIENCE:

The bulk of my work has been for educational (ages 4-18), academic and professional markets, for both UK and international audiences (particularly the Caribbean and Middle East). I therefore have an understanding of the nuances of different audiences and am attuned to cultural sensitivity considerations.

The content I’ve worked on has ranged from highly illustrated texts with many visual features and complex layouts, to text-heavy monographs and theoretical texts. I’ve performed many consistency checks across multi-volume texts and series and pride myself on picking up small details that may have been missed elsewhere.

I have edited books on architecture, urban design and planning, sustainability, contracts and other standardised documents, law, business, economics, management, nursing, English, various sciences, and social studies/humanities. I have a specialist background (degree and industry practice) in law. I also have experience with coffee-table style architecture books and early literacy story books.

My varied experience means I am confident with a wide range of genres, subjects and audiences, and I am always open to new opportunities. If you are at all unsure whether I would be a good fit for your project then please do not hesitate to provide details, along with any specialist requirements you are looking for or concerns you have, and I will be pleased to provide an honest, no-obligation assessment and evidence of my suitability or otherwise - plus a good chat to check I'm the sort of person you want to spend the next few months working with!