Alice Youell – Editor

Hello!

I’ve worked in publishing for the last 11 years, most recently as Commissioning Editor at Doubleday, an imprint of Transworld at Penguin Random House, UK. There, I curated and edited a list of critically acclaimed, prizewinning literary fiction from the likes of Jan Carson, Susannah Dickey, Conor O’Callaghan and Caryl Lewis.

It was a great privilege to see my authors’ work from submission stage right through to publication and beyond, but it's the editorial process I've always relished the most: the wonderfully creative, dynamic and trusting collaboration between writer and editor, with words and story at the heart of everything. From the deep, involved work of helping a novel manoeuvre out of a narrative cul-de-sac and back onto the open road, to applying the final polish to a draft that's nearly ready to go, I'm available for the full gamut of the editorial lifecycle!

I offer editorial assessments and developmental editing of literary and bookclub fiction, as well as line editing of partial and full-length works of both fiction and non-fiction. I also offer editorial advice on your query package if you're at the point of submitting to agents.

Please do get in touch to let me know what you're writing, and to discuss how we might work together.

*****

'Alice is hands down the best editor I’ve ever worked with. Over the course of four books, she helped me both recognise and realise the potential in my stories. She has an incredible knack of noticing both what’s not working in a book and exactly how to fix the problem and all her editorial advice is delivered in such a warm and genuinely helpful manner it doesn’t feel at all like critique. There’s no one I'd trust more with a manuscript. She was the making of me as a writer and I’m so grateful for her advice and encouragement.'

Jan Carson, author of THE RAPTURES

'Alice is a dream editor – she has an innate ability to sense where a manuscript is lacking, combining her sensitivity to her author's ambitions with a respect for the reader's experience.'

Susannah Dickey, author of COMMON DECENCY

'Expertly incisive, her attention to detail ensures that the editing process – from structural to line and word level – is meticulous. Her skill with story and character will support you in making your narrative sing, and Alice's genuine commitment to her authors makes editing both joyful and extremely rewarding.'

Louisa Reid, author of THE POET

'It is rare for an author to find someone else who cares as much about their work as they do but Alice is so intellectually and creatively generous that I felt I had someone entirely in my corner. I learnt so much working with her, I developed as a writer, and also had good plain old fun in the process.'

Bea Setton, author of BERLIN