Emily Kearns

Emily Kearns – Editor

Freelance editor | 18 years' experience | Food and drink, travel, wellbeing, popular science and fantasy fiction

Overview

I have worked in publishing for more than 16 years, copy editing a variety of fiction and non-fiction books, as well as project managing magazines, show guides and reports – both print and digital – and have written a few books too.

I am a details person, am incredibly thorough and check everything meticulously, as well as ensuring consistency of style across a piece of work. I am easy to work with and am a good, clear communicator.


My specialist subjects

Food and drink – I was chief sub editor of Harpers Wine & Spirit magazine for five years and since then have worked across numerous drinks trade publications in a freelance capacity, editing a huge number of articles and features on wine, spirits, beer and cocktails. I have also copy edited several recipe books and am the author of Tea: A Miscellany Steeped in Trivia, History and Recipes, published by Summersdale.

Health and wellbeing – I have copy edited a host of titles across health and wellbeing, as well as supplying the copy for two pocket-sized wellbeing titles.

Travel – I have worked on many travel biographies, covering destinations the world over, and often centred around an epic journey or adventure.

Transport – I am the author of Mind the Gap: A London Underground Miscellany and Underground Overground: A London Transport Miscellany, both published by Summersdale.

Music – I worked as a freelance music journalist for 10 years and have copy edited a handful of music biographies.

Popular science – I have copy edited many titles for Bloomsbury Sigma, Bloomsbury’s popular science arm.

Fiction – I have copy edited a raft of fictional books, taking in historic fiction, science fiction, fantasy, steampunk, crime/detective and young adult titles.

Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs Cooking, Food, Wine, & Spirits Entertainment Health & Wellbeing Music Parenting & Families Travel
Fiction
Science Fiction
Languages
English (UK) English (US)

Work experience

Self-employed

Oct, 2013 — Present

I provide editing services – including copy editing, sub editing and proofreading – to a wide range of clients across books, magazines, websites, reports and show guides.
My clients include Bloomsbury, Summersdale (Octopus/Hachette), Little Brown, Bradt Travel Guides, Aurum Press, Hodder Education, Retail Week, Harpers Wine & Spirit, Drinks Retailing News, Drinks International and Knitting Magazine.
I specialise in non-fiction, but have also worked on various fiction titles across historic fiction, science fiction, steampunk and crime/detective genres. I have also copy-edited first drafts of a YA fantasy trilogy.

Ascential

Sep, 2016 — Sep, 2017 (about 1 year)

One-year contract managing the production of Retail Week Connect print and online projects – including reports, white papers, online guides and digital briefings. Tasks included sub editing and layout in InDesign, uploading and editing online content in Webvision CMS, building and editing online guides, managing freelancers and liaising with project managers.

Harpers Wine & Spirit

Aug, 2008 — Oct, 2013 (about 5 years)

In this role at Harpers Wine and Spirit magazine I oversaw the sub editing of a fortnightly publication, supplements, show guides, directories and web stories. This involved managing web content and ensuring all areas of the website were populated and up to date; writing news stories and restaurant reviews for both and the magazine; handling freelance budgets, and liaising with editors, publishers and production departments.

Self-employed

Dec, 2006 — Aug, 2008 (over 1 year)

During this time I worked as a freelance sub editor across a wide variety of magazines and trade publications including: Coast, Best, Music Week, The Publican, Building Design, Building Services Journal, Building, Drinks International, Off Licence News, Wine & Spirit, British Baker, Packaging News, Printing World, Lloyd’s List, Take a Break, OK! and The Sun’s TV Mag. I also took on various proofreading and copy-editing projects for a range of clients.

Jackson Lowe Marketing

Apr, 2006 — Dec, 2006 (8 months)

In this role as a project manager for a small marketing and design agency, I oversaw all production of publishing projects from beginning to end, along with proofreading and fact checking. This also involved a lot of copywriting – mainly for a range of VisitBritain accommodation guide books.

The Publican

Jun, 2004 — Apr, 2006 (almost 2 years)

In this role I worked as a sub editor on the busy production desk of a weekly trade paper, its monthly sister magazine and various supplements. This involved laying out and subbing pages, writing headlines, standfirsts and captions, editing images with Photoshop and helping to ensure all pages went to press on time.

Rock Sound

Jul, 2001 — Jul, 2012 (about 11 years)

In this role for Rock Sound magazine, I interviewed many artists, wrote news stories and features, and reviewed recorded material and live acts.

Portfolio

Emily has 8 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Jon D.

Jon D.

Nov, 2023

Emily was great to work with and did a fabulous job especially as I asked her to do a considerable amount of cutting (I asked her to remove 30,000 from my MS!). She was thorough, ruthless and her communication was excellent (especially the comments throughout). I would definitely recommend her and will work with her again.
Angela D.

Angela D.

Aug, 2023

Emily provided valuable feedback to help me provide a better product. Her editing cleaned and tightened up my writing and formatting to get a quality manuscript that flows, is easier to read and sounds professional. My primary concern was my use of footnotes and resources - she did an excellent job of assisting me with these. I look forward to working with Emily on my future projects!
Amit V.

Amit V.

Apr, 2022

It's been a pleasure working with Emily, she has been very thorough in her work, pointing out things I've missed, helping with re-shaping sentences to make them sound smoother and communication with her has been great. Although there were a few disagreements we always came to the best compromise, she has listened to my POVs and taken them on board to produce the best work. I would happily work...
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Gary T.

Gary T.

Dec, 2021

This is the second time I have used Emily - partly because I am writing a series, but mainly because she gets the job done - and I am always pleased with the results.
Tom D.

Tom D.

Apr, 2021

It has been a pleasure to work with Emily in what has been my very first project. I immediately got the sense that she grasped what I was trying to achieve, and Emily was both encouraging and honest throughout our communication as she copy-edited my book. Her attention to detail is extraordinary, picking up on things that I would never have even thought about. And that is particularly remarkabl...
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