Overview

My first love is the non-fiction book and I’ve worked extensively in commercial and educational non-fiction over the years, especially in Sport and Popular History. I’m offering my services as a first-rate proofreader of all things non-fiction with a great eye for detail and factual accuracy.

I worked at Ebury for three years and found myself particularly drawn to sport titles, working with George Best, Ricky Hatton, celebrated cricket author David Frith and many others. I wrote to the late, great Sid Waddell to ask if he'd like to do a book with us, and it turned out he did, the book commissioned in my final week at Ebury. When Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer. I was only 29.

I moved to A&C Black's Sports department as a desk editor with commissioning on some lists. I did extensive editing, reshaping and proofreading for many brilliant professionals who were experts first and authors second. We relaunched Know the Game in my time and widened the list of self-help fitness titles considerably.

During a first period of freelancing I proofread titles including Jeff Stelling's Jelleyman's Thrown a Wobbly as well as editing the sports results section of two editions of Whitaker's Almanack. I have also worked for many years across magazine print and digital platforms as an editor, writer and journalist.

I'm an easygoing and reliable person to work with, and I take everything I embark on seriously. Please also visit my Maxi Editorial website for more detail of my portfolio and experience.

Alan Bennett is my greatest hero, so if Alan happens to be reading this and is planning to self-publish, please get in touch.

Services

Proofreading

Languages

English (UK)

Non-Fiction

History

Self-help & Self-improvement

Sports & Outdoors

Freelance editor

Self-employed

January, 2020 – Present (about 1 year)

Editor

The Austin Maxi Owners Club

January, 2015 – Present (about 6 years)

This is a voluntary (elected) role I hold for my beloved car club. I took over the editorship and completely transformed the magazine from its traditional newsletter style of variously formatted, unedited submissions printed and stapled together to a fully designed, professional-looking magazine, typeset and laid out every quarter totally by myself using InDesign/Affinity Publisher, along with all of the copy-editing sub-editing and proofreading – not to mention some of the writing. It's a real labour of love, and it's always allowed me to keep a foot firmly planted in the printed media world.

Digital Editor

Red Bull Media House

June, 2010 – December, 2019 (over 9 years)

I started back full-time at Red Bull as a web editor and worked my way up through a variety of roles, as Bike Channel manager, Senior Web Editor and finally Central Editorial Service Manager, running a team of editors I recruited and managed on a daily basis.

Freelance

Self-employed

January, 2009 – May, 2010 (over 1 year)

After a brief spell, Red Bull decided to close The Red Bulletin F1 magazine. I continued to freelance for Red Bull in print and online, and I also subbed for Autosport.

On the book side, I did some proofreading work and edited the sports listings for two editions of Whitaker's Almanack.

Sub-editor/writer

Red Bull

February, 2008 – December, 2008 (10 months)

I fell backwards into a career in Formula 1 as a magazine sub and journalist for the Red Bull F1 team's offshoot the Red Bulletin, which was put together and printed right by the race paddock. I loved books, but the chance to travel the world with the F1 circus was too good to pass up. It was short-lived, but it was fun and I learned a lot.

Editor

A&C Black

May, 2006 – February, 2008 (almost 2 years)

My second job in publishing was totally new, working in the main on much more practical titles in A&C Black's Sport & Fitness list (now completely absorbed into Bloomsbury). As well as some commissioning, it was project management: I held authors' hands much more through the whole process, especially those who were experts first and writers second. This gave me much more copy-editing experience. I also proofread almost everything I published.

Editorial Assistant

Ebury Publishing

May, 2003 – May, 2006 (about 3 years)

My first job in publishing, where I discovered I really could do editorial detail. As well as a grounding in the nitty-gritty of publishing, I met lots of famous people. I'd never had a desk job before where Sienna Miller might unexpectedly breeze past. I worked closely with George Best, was on hugging terms with Mel Giedroyc and put more money in Piers Morgan's car parking meter so he didn't get a fine (he never paid me back). I also made sure all my authors' final PDFs were perfect before they went off to the printers.