Overview
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 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!
Services
Non-Fiction
Languages
Work experience
Self-employed
Clients include Harper Collins, Oxford University Press and independent authors.
Macmillan Education
Responsible for creating and delivering the 3-year pub plan and budget through research, commissioning and line management of the content development team.
Commissioned and oversaw the development, submission and final delivery of 7 series (48 components, mixed subjects) for a 2018/9 ministry textbook program review. Books from all 7 series won adoptions.
Established the editorial development team including recruitment and training of editors and creating workflows and editorial guides to ensure highest quality control.
Macmillan Education
Commissioned educational content for Caribbean curriculum (ages 4 to 18) including textbooks, online resources, interactive test-banks, video, audio and eBooks. Subjects included maths, sciences (biology, physics. chemistry, integrated science and human biology), English, social studies/sciences, business, IT, and geography (including atlases).
Extensive market knowledge and contact list developed through desk research, school and ministry visits, liaising with local reps, multi-week international research trips and hosting multi-day focus groups and other market consultation. Used market insight and research budget to source authors, develop and test full project concepts, then present detailed business cases for full investment approval
Royal Institute of British Architects
Commissioned and developed professional, academic and trade content for the built environment, covering general architecture to more specific guidance on building types and design, urban design, planning, construction law & contracts, and building regulations. Also included coffee table books, architectural philosophy and academic research pieces.
I drove the strategy for and managed three different lists. One of these I developed from scratch and a number of titles from this list have gone on to win the National Urban Design Book Award every year from 2018 to 2020.
I also worked on marketing and promotion (organising launches, copywriting, sourcing forwards/endorsements from prominent names).
Pearson Education
Full manuscript development for Arab World Editions (HE business, economics and marketing texts) and Caribbean Schools. Included schedule management, substantive editing, checking for curriculum and brief match, ensuing cultural sensitivity and consistency, managing peer review and providing author feedback. Content included textbooks, companion websites, test generators, online teaching resources and CD ROMs.
Pearson Education
Editorial production of various print and digital products including copyediting, typesetting, proofreading, permissions and image research. Mainly worked on Higher Education titles for the Middle East.
Pearson Education
Portfolio
Fay has 1 review
Professionalism
Quality
Value
Responsiveness
Denry M.
Aug, 2020
