Overview
I am deputy publishing director for a major UK publisher. I have worked in the publishing industry for thirteen years.
I am obsessed with story-telling; the theory of stories and why we tell them, the 'rules' of story (and why it is important to know when to break those rules), and what makes a story satisfying for a reader. I specialise in honing the structure and plot of a novel: the most important part (alongside good writing!) and what agents will be concerned with when considering the marketability of a book. I offer manuscript development services, including structural feedback, line-editing, manuscript margin comments and, in some cases, mentoring and brainstorming sessions.
I have published a stellar list of commercial, genre and reading group novels which have achieved commercial and critical success. My authors have been Sunday Times, New York Times and Amazon bestsellers, nominated for awards including the Women's Prize and the Costa First Novel Award, and chosen for retail promotions such as Waterstones Book of the Month.
I love working closely with authors on structural and line edits, and I am always conscious of marking what I love in a manuscript as well as providing constructive feedback. I have a good commercial eye and an extensive awareness of the market, which I can feed into any books I am working on, and my experience extends from aiding authors plotting out their novel right through to final proofread. I am a warm, thoughtful and conscientious editor who is willing to go above and beyond for my authors to help them make their book the best it can be.
I have a broad range of interests and experience working on fiction (novels, novellas or short stories), and I can help writers in the following genres:
- Crime and thriller
- Historical / time-slip
- Fantasy / magic-realism (upmarket/ literary)
- Book club
- YA & NA
As well as my editorial services, I can provide feedback on synopses and pitches and help you with query letters to agents and publishers.
Finally, I am passionate about improving inclusion and representation in publishing and have been working particularly on promoting socio-economic diversity within the industry.
Services
Fiction
Languages
Awards
- PPC Quarterly Award Best Publicity Campaign
Certifications
- Copy-editing (The Publishing Training Centre)
- Proofreading (The Publishing Training Centre)
Work experience
Vintage, Penguin Random House
Deputy publishing director for crime, thriller and crossover fiction, including fantasy, magic realism, historical and contemporary book club novels.
Bloomsbury
Maternity cover at Raven, Bloomsbury’s crime, thriller and suspense imprint
Orion Publishing Group
I acquire and publish commercial and book club fiction for Trapeze, an imprint that specialises in books that start conversations. Trapeze was shortlisted for imprint of the year at the British Book Awards 2019. My role includes:
- Working with authors on developing their manuscript, providing detailed editorial notes and line edits to help them make their book the best version of itself it possibly can be
- Developing and leading the fiction strategy for Trapeze, working towards turnover targets
- Building our fiction output by bringing in established talent and developing new authors
- Developing brand partnerships, IP and collaborative projects
- Working with the digital teams on eBook and audio strategy for the imprint
- Negotiating, pitching and making prospective approaches
- Copy-writing, metadata and blurb optimisation
Headline Publishing Group
I worked across all of our imprints on individual campaigns while being involved with the overall strategy for our more literary imprint, Tinder Press. I managed brand authors including Neil Gaiman, Sarah Winman, Jill Mansell and Mary Berry. I spearheaded an award-winning campaign for One Pound Meals, one of the bestselling cookery debuts of 2017, and my campaign for Sarah Winman’s Tin Man came highly commended at the annual PPC Awards.
Riot Communications
My role included:
- Developing traditional and digital campaign strategies
- Writing publicity plans, press releases, campaign updates, internal updates, digital strategies and evaluations
- Selling in news stories and feature ideas to the media
Sweet & Maxwell
I managed five legal titles while working within the legal and academic publishing branch of Thomson Reuters; I was responsible for copyediting and proofreading three of the titles, while project managing the freelancers on the other two. My role also involved liaising with the authors, publishing editors and production controllers to ensure deadlines were met, high standards were maintained, and projects were delivered within budget.
I also spent some time within the marketing team: I created, edited and proofread collateral for both digital and print titles.
Portfolio
