Deborah Murrell – Editor

I'm a professional editor with 30+ years of experience in the publishing industry, including project and team management experience.

Titles include both children’s and adults’ books, CD-ROMs and website content.

Subject matter varied, fiction and non-fiction, highly illustrated, including history, travel, autobiographies, novels, natural history, literature, science, medical and teaching materials.

I began in non-fiction at Dorling Kindersley in London, mostly working on children's titles, but now do both fiction and fact, in adults' as well as children's markets. I've worked with many large publishing houses, sometimes managing large projects and teams, but I much prefer working directly with authors and their text!

I tend to get mostly copy editing and polishing/developmental work (where a manuscript needs more work than just a copy edit, such as work written by an author with English as a second language), but am also happy to do proofing and pretty much all editorial services. I learn in one way or another from every book I work on, and that's what I love most about the job. I also enjoy the opportunity to share information with my authors, such as some of the niceties of the English language with which most people are unfamiliar, but which can be very helpful for future projects.

Publishing houses I've worked with include Quarto, Harper Collins, Random House, Lonely Planet, Kingfisher, Ladybird and Pinwheel. In the last few years, however, I've been working directly for authors who plan to self-publish, or simply get their work ready for submission to agents or publishers.

As well as editing the work of others, I’ve also been commissioned to write non-fiction, for all age groups, by publishers such as Reader’s Digest, World Almanac Library, Kingfisher, Quarto and Ladybird, so I am familiar with an author’s point of view, too!

I currently live in France, with my husband and a bevy of lovely animals in rural Mayenne. I have a dedicated office at home, which gives me the luxury of a calm atmosphere in which to work, and a relaxing and peaceful place to enjoy when I'm not working!