Karen Ball - Editor
London, United Kingdom
The Bookseller magazine Rising Star 2017. I edit children's & YA books, develop Intellectual Property & have written over 20 books.
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Overview
“I have always admired Karen’s editorial instincts. Her eye for the ingredients of a good story is second to none.”
— Claire Wilson, literary agent, Rogers, Coleridge & White
"Karen is a delight to work with and her expert eye was critical in my transition to writing for teens.”
— Alex Wheatle, author of Carnegie-longlisted Liccle Bit
With 25 years' experience of children's publishing and Intellectual Property, I have commissioned some of the most successful series including Beast Quest and Frankie's Magic Football. My strengths lie in creative collaboration, managing teams and working closely with authors and editors to create strong, commercial stories or whole series.
I have significant experience feeding back to authors on their manuscripts and mentoring them. I have also worked with licence owners and publishers to develop series concepts.
Languages
English (UK)
Fiction
Children's - Middle Grade
Dystopian
Fantasy
Paranormal Romance
Women's Fiction
Young Adult & Teen
Non-Fiction
Children's Books (Non-Fiction)
DIY & Crafts
Work experience
Director
Self-employed
September, 2016
–
Present
(over 2 years)
I aim to help content generators with their stories and concepts. I work with authors, agents, publishers and licence holders and speak regularly at university courses and industry events. Listen to my podcast interview on The Bestseller Experiment to learn much more!
Publisher
Little, Brown Books For Young Readers
August, 2013
–
August, 2016
(about 3 years)
I joined Little, Brown UK to launch a children's imprint, LBYR. I managed a list of approx. 50 titles a year and commissioned a range of fiction and non fiction, including Carnegie long listed novels, Liccle, Bit, This Is Not A Love Story and Joe All Alone, and successful commercial series such as Frankie's Magic Football with celebrity author, Frank Lampard.
Head Of Editorial
Working Partners
August, 2005
–
August, 2013
(about 8 years)
Working Partners is a London and New York-based book packager of internationally successful commercial children's series fiction. I commissioned and managing lead series, including Beast Quest (worldwide sales in excess of 10 million), Survivors (winner of starred Kirkus reviews), My Sister The Vampire and Sea Quest. This role gave me extensive experience of developing Intellectual Property and managing a team of editors.
Portfolio (10 selected works)
Liccle Bit (Crongton)
Alex Wheatle
Liccle Bit
Team T. Rex: Book 14 (Frankie's Magic Football)
Frank Lampard
Frankie and his team love playing football. There's always time for a game. And now that they have their magical football they're playing against teams they never imagined! While on holiday at a summer camp, Frankie, Charlie, Louise and Max the dog are transported to a prehistoric land of dinosaurs. Can they reunite a baby pterodactyl with its mum, and avoid being eaten by a hungry T-Rex? The ... read more
Ferno the Fire Dragon
Rowan Oakwing: A London Fairy Tale
E. J. Clarke
The first book in an epic new series about the Survivors dogs From Erin Hunter, #1 nationally be....
Joe All Alone
Joanna Nadin
The Cat Who Ate Christmas
Lil Chase
Spooktacular! (My Sister the Vampire)
Sienna Mercer
Spooktacular!
This is Not a Love Story
Keren David
Night School: Endgame: Number 5 in series
C. J. Daugherty
Karen has 4 reviews
Professionalism
Quality
Value
Communication
Karen was a pleasure to work with. She gave me a very thorough and super-helpful editorial assessment of my manuscript. Her experienced eye was just what my writing needed to point me in the right direction for the next version. She had great ideas and advice and I'm more than grateful for her input. In all communication she was personable, friendly and encouraging.
Read moreAndrea Mill, August 2018
Karen has been a pleasure to work with. She met all deadlines and provided me with a thorough edit of my work which I can see will much improve it. She also provided me with development tips for the manuscript and for my writing, which is over and above what I contracted her to do. Highly recommended.
Read moreRachel McCollin, November 2017
Karen is a very nice person and a quick editor. Once I received and digested her suggested changes, we discussed several of those I didn't quite understand. I plan to use her again.
Read moreGeorge Jankovic, August 2017
Working with Karen was an absolute pleasure and she went above and beyond the copy-edit I'd asked for, making helpful plot suggestions throughout. Communication was great and everything was completed bang on time. Would highly recommend.
Read moreCara Thurlbourn, June 2017
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