Edward Wall

Edward Wall – Editor

Sensitive, skilful and sharp-eyed editor for major and independent publishers. From concept to completion, I'm your book's new best friend.

Overview

With a background in literary fiction, poetry, memoir and non-fiction editing, I've worked with major mainstream and independent publishers such as Canongate, Corsair, Faber & Faber, Fourth Estate, Bloomsbury and Borough Press among many others. In proofreading I am thorough and rigorous, bringing my focused experience and attention to bear on your manuscript to make sure it's in the best possible shape. I'm an adept copyeditor and creative line editor, and I know what it takes to make a book stand out in a crowded field.


I work closely with authors from diverse and neurodiverse backgrounds, across a range of genres, often undertaking structural and line editing with an interventionist approach where required. Though I'm a stickler where necessary, and won't hold back in telling you what you need, I'm also aware that writing is a deeply personal endeavour, requiring a sensitive listener and a constructive mentor. I know how to take care of my authors' feelings: if killing your darlings is a must, we'll kill them softly. I'm comfortable with a range of working processes, but what you can usually expect from me is a thorough line edit in tracked changes plus a narrative report, and I'm always happy to jump on a Zoom.


My interests range widely, from music to speculative fiction, from psychology to post-colonial theory. I've worked on books in a plethora of genres, and have read widely in many more.


Get in touch to see how I could be useful in helping your manuscript take the next step – I'm looking forward to reading your brilliant writing.

Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Fiction
Contemporary Fiction Literary Fiction Mystery & Crime Poetry
Languages
English (UK) English (US)

Work experience

Canongate

May, 2022 — Present

Freelance copyediting and proofreading on fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

Corsair

Feb, 2021 — Present

Freelance copyediting and proofreading on fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

Portfolio

Couplets

Maggie Millner

Maggie Millner's seductive debut is a novel-in-verse about a woman in her late twenties who leaves a long-term relationship with a boyfriend for another woman. The affair thrusts her from an o... read more
Proofreading
The Shakespeare and Company Book of Interviews

Adam Biles

Shakespeare and Company, Paris, is one of the world’s most iconic and beautiful bookshops. Located on the banks of the Seine, opposite Notre-Dame, it’s long been a meeting place for anglophone... read more
Copy Editing
The Underground Sea

John Berger

The Underground Sea is a succinct, urgent collection of writing from John Berger’s archive. It brings together for the first time his work on mineworkers and the miners’ strikes and has been e... read more
Copy Editing
Not Waving but Drowning and other poems

Stevie Smith

Faber & Faber

'Cheerful, brutal, beautiful! Stevie Smith is the wildest poet of them all.' Nick Cave 'I better say straight out that I am an addict of your poetry, a desperate Smith addict.' Sylvia Plath, w... read more
Proofreading
The Many Lives of James Lovelock: Science, Secrets and Gaia Theory

Watts, Jonathan

Canongate Books

Proofreading
The Wickedest

Femi, Caleb

MCD

Proofreading
Never Good with Horses: Assembled Lyrics

Simon Armitage

Faber Faber

Proofreading
Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak and Dogs

Jordan Stephens

Canongate Books

Love is a gift, isn't it? From our early childhood years to growing up and pairing off, it's a feeling we chase knowing we're better off with it. But what if love is claustrophobic and conflic... read more
Copy Editing Proofreading
The Maps We Carry: Psychedelics, trauma and our new path to mental health

Rose Cartwright

HarperCollins Publishers

‘Rose Cartwright breaks all our old certainties and liberates us to approach our mental struggles with new humanity and creativity. The book cannot fail to interest anyone concerned with their... read more
Copy Editing Proofreading
The Game Changers

Tim Clare

Canongate Books

Why is playing games a universal human instinct? Why did the same games evolve across wildly different civilisations? And how can those games make your life happier, healthier and more fulfill... read more
Copy Editing
The Witness

Alexandra Wilson

Little, Brown Book Group

The remarkable debut novel by prominent young mixed-race barrister Alexandra Wilson is a moving, twisty legal thriller for the 21st century.SHE SAW IT ALLBUT SHE CAN NEVER TELLA young black ma... read more
Copy Editing Proofreading
That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz

Tallack, Malachy

Canongate Books

Copy Editing
The Wrong Hands

Mark Billingham

'Had me laughing out loud one minute and emotional the next. I'm excited to have found a new favourite detective' --- CLAIRE DOUGLASThis is one case Miller won't want to open . . . Unconventio... read more
Proofreading
The Foot of Clive

John Berger

In the centre of a 1960s hospital ward sits a curtained-off bed, guarded by a policeman. In it lies a murderer, hidden from view and likely to die before he can be hanged for his crime. In the... read more
Proofreading
Gub

Scott McKendry

'Gub is unlike anything I have ever read. In a playful demotic that is exhilarating, hilarious and never forced, Scott McKendry makes magic of a Belfast that in other hands would make grim rea... read more
Proofreading
Your Wild and Precious Life

Liz Jensen

My son's death will never make sense to me. But it has taught me that it's possible to find meaning, collectively and individually, in the loss of what we love. And in finding them, transform.... read more
Copy Editing
Black Ghosts

Noo Saro-Wiwa

A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023: TRAVEL China today is a land of opportunity for African people blocked from commerce with most of Europe and Northern America. It is also an intersecti... read more
Copy Editing
Cowboy

Kandace Siobhan Walker

Proofreading
Mothersong

Amy Acre

A lyrical excavation of trauma and healing in the midst of early motherhood - the debut work of an endlessly inventive poet whose work 'fizzes with energy, physicality, and the levitating open... read more
Proofreading
A History of Women in 101 Objects

Annabelle Hirsch

A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023 This is a neglected history. Not a sweeping, definitive, exhaustive history of the world but something quieter, more intimate and particular. A single journey, ... read more
Proofreading
Sam: Coming soon to Disney Plus as Sam - A Saxon

Samuel Meffire

The extraordinary and exciting story of East Germany's first Black police officer.Samuel Meffire grew up as a Black German in East Germany and, against all odds, became East Germany's first Bl... read more
Proofreading
Enter the Water

Jack Wiltshire

AN OBSERVER BEST POETRY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023'A dark-light beauty' Ali Smith'Totally compelling, Enter The Water pulls you along like a current. Gentle, deft, spacious yet searingly vivid, it ... read more
Developmental Editing Copy Editing
I Need Art: Reality Isn’t Enough

unknown author

Proofreading
Kit

unknown author

Proofreading
The Writing School

Miranda France

'Both extremely funny and deeply sad, The Writing School examines how and why we tell our own stories. It's beautifully written and structured, compelling, wise and fabulously readable' Lissa ... read more
Proofreading
PLUS ULTRA

Sarah Fletcher

Proofreading
A Method, A Path

Rowan Evans

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE FELIX DENNIS PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION 2023**An award-winning poet explodes the notion of translation, showing us the poem in a supple, malleable form'Formally inve... read more
Proofreading
Content Warning

Akwaeke Emezi

'A triumph ... A wholly original and creative mind' NEW YORK TIMES'A multi-genre phenomena, it's a triumph of a creative mind' GLAMOUR'Frightens and astonishes ... Combines Maya Angelou's pass... read more
Proofreading
The Last Dance

Mark Billingham

THE FIRST NEW SERIES FROM #1 BESTSELLER MARK BILLINGHAM IN 20 YEARS.'Readers rejoice! A captivating new series from Mark Billingham, the very best in the business' --- RICHARD OSMANMeet Detect... read more
Proofreading
Customs

Solmaz Sharif

Longlisted for the 2023 PEN/Jean Stein Book AwardLonglisted for the 2022 Brooklyn Public Library Book PrizeA New Yorker Essential Read of 2022A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2022An NPR Best B... read more
Proofreading
Agatha Raisin: Devil's Delight

M.C. Beaton

'Every new Agatha Raisin escapade is a total joy' ASHLEY JENSEN'No wonder she's been crowned Queen of Cosy Crime' MAIL ON SUNDAYAgatha and her assistant, Toni, are driving to their friend Bill... read more
Proofreading
Poetry Unbound

Pádraig Ó Tuama

An immersive collection of poetry to open your world, curated by the host of Poetry Unbound This inspiring collection, edited by Pádraig Ó Tuama, presents fifty poems about what it means to be... read more
Proofreading
The Lost Chronicle

Polarbear,

Polarbear is one of the most influential poets of his generation. The work collected here is the work that made his name. These poems have racked up hundreds of thousands of views online, lodg... read more
Proofreading
A Little Resurrection

Selina Nwulu

AN IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARA Little Resurrection is the debut full-length collection from acclaimed poet Selina Nwulu.In these reflections on being and blackness, informed by empathy and i... read more
Proofreading
Peach Pig

Cecilia Knapp

'Cecilia Knapp is a great writer. I love her' KAE TEMPESTIn her devastatingly powerful debut collection, Cecilia Knapp examines the experience of motherlessness and its lasting impact, as well... read more
Proofreading
The Affairs of Ashmore Castle

Harrod-Eagles, Cynthia

Proofreading
Sonnets for Albert

Proofreading
Music for the Dead and Resurrected

Mort, Valzhyna

Proofreading
Model Citizens

Shand, Daniel

Proofreading
The Sentence: A Novel

Erdrich, Louise

Proofreading
These Great Athenians

Carter, Valentine

Proofreading
Forgotten Heroes of Comedy: An Encyclopedia of the Comedy Underdog

Ross, Robert

Copy Editing Proofreading
Too Young, Too Loud, Too Different: Poems from Malika's Poetry Kitchen

Malika's Poetry Kitchen

Proofreading
Paint My Name in Black and Gold: The Rise of the Sisters of Mercy

Andrews, Mark

Copy Editing
Not Even This: Poetry, parenthood and living uncertainly

Underwood, Jack

Proofreading

Edward has 8 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Sophia S.

Sophia S.

Nov, 2024

A compassionate, professional, wonderful editor. He took on my first book with the utmost consideration and understanding. He has inspired me to keep evolving as a writer - every first-time author would be lucky to have him as an editor.
Edward W.
Thank you for your kind words Sophia! It's been such a pleasure working with you. E
Rob F.

Rob F.

Oct, 2024

Ed is a high quality editor. He set about editing the manuscript with the precision of a Harley Street surgeon and left it in stronger shape and much closer to the final draft. Lots of shrewd observations/suggested cuts, advice on how best to incorporate/present some key details, and he also whipped all the formatting into shape.
Edward W.
Thanks Rob! It was a very enjoyable project to work on, and I'll look forward to seeing your magnum opus in print soon.
Benjamin W.

Benjamin W.

Oct, 2024

I had the pleasure of working with Edward on my first book, and I could not be more satisfied with the experience. Edward offered insightful suggestions that not only enhanced the clarity of my writing but also helped strengthen the overall flow and cohesion of the book, with so much more. Communication was clear and professional, and everything to do with the process went smoothly. I would h...
Read more
Edward W.
Dear Benjamin, What a pleasure it was to work with you on your debut. I foresee really good things coming to you if you keep up the hard work. Stay in touch and let me know how things progress. I'...
Read more
Abigail T.

Abigail T.

Oct, 2024

Very insight and wonderful to work with. I highly recommend!
Melissa C.

Melissa C.

Aug, 2024

Ed was by far the most professional and supportive part of my book process!! He has so much information. And really listens to you with the utmost respect. I am tremendously proud of the work on his behalf and would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone 💛 I look forward to working with him again!!

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