Charlotte Colwill

Charlotte Colwill – Editor

A former bookseller turned editor and literary agent, I specialise in childrens and commercial fiction. I love polishing raw literary gems!

Overview

I am an independent literary agent with clients ranging from genre fiction authors, as well as literary and commercial fiction, children's writers and non-fiction authors too. I have previously worked for Tibor Jones, with Wilbur Smith's co-writers, and for Jo Unwin Literary Agency, working with clients such as Eliza Clark, Caleb Femi and Jack Meggitt-Phillips. I also managed a UK based children's fiction packaging studio, using the same model as Working Partners, and creating successful children's series such as Agatha Oddly (HarperCollins).

I am very editorially focused as an agent, working collaboratively with my clients to get their manuscripts into a publication-ready state and helping them to achieve their vision. I have also worked with HarperCollins and Welbeck on the creation and editorial process of several children's series.

As an editor, I am both story and detail oriented. I love to bring out the absolute best in authors, and to share ideas in a collaborative way. I hope my love of writing and my deep respect for authors makes me fun to work with!
Services
Fiction
Historical Fiction Horror Middle Grade Young Adult
Languages
English (UK)
Certifications
  • Masters Degree Publishing
  • Bachelors Degree in English Literature and Philosophy

Work experience

Jo Unwin Literary Agency

Oct, 2021 — Jul, 2022 (9 months)

Literary Agent working on negotiations and editorial development for clients including Caleb Femi, Eliza Clark, Jack Meggitt-Phillips, Bethany Rutter, Jade LB and Wibke Bruggeman.

Tibor Jones

Sep, 2019 — Oct, 2021 (about 2 years)

I worked with Wilbur Smith and his literary agent, Kevin Conroy Scott, on Wilbur's many co-authored children's and adults projects, including close editorial support with Wilbur, his co-writers and his publisher Bonnier UK.

Tibor Jones Studio

Oct, 2018 — Present

I originated concepts for children's (middle grade, young fiction and YA) and worked with ghost writers to produce publication-ready manuscripts for publishers including HarperCollins and Welbeck.

Charlotte has 18 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Jodie C.

Jodie C.

Sep, 2023

Charlotte offered developmental editing on my half-finished manuscript (historical fiction). Her insightful feedback provided the boost I needed to course correct and rejuvenate my enthusiasm for my novel. Each of her comments and suggestions inspired a mini-breakthrough for me. She articulated clearly what was working, as well as proposing strategies for improving what didn’t work. As a litera...
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Joanne M.

Joanne M.

Aug, 2023

Charlotte's review of my book gave me a lot of food for thought. I found her very professional and she gave great advice for what lane to put my story in as I was on the cusp of what genre the story would best be suited for...middle-grade or YA. My cover art played more to teens but the storyline played more to middle-grade. She gave good advice on how to expand on the story if it went to t...
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Jo C.

Jo C.

Aug, 2023

Working with Charlotte was wonderful on every level. Her constructive advice helped me consider areas of my work in new ways, and gave me a perspective I would otherwise have lacked. Charlotte is efficient, quick to respond, insightful in her feedback, and quite simply a pleasure to work with.
Tim A.

Tim A.

Aug, 2023

In a very short time Charlotte read an 85K-word historical novel and returned a 2000-word critique that pointed out the weaknesses in the text and guidance on how to deal with them. These points were not just valid in themselves; they also confirmed reservations I had about the book and observations that came from casual readers (friends and beta). As an agent, Charlotte also offered advice abo...
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Marco Z.

Marco Z.

Jul, 2023

Very helpful

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