Lauren Finger - Editor
Sydney NSW, Australia
Editor and proofreader, 18 yrs. Bookouture, Atlantic Books, Allen & Unwin. Commercial fiction and memoir. Let's make your story shine.
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Overview
I'm a very experienced editor with a great reputation in trade publishing, including digital publishing. I most recently worked for digital publisher Bookouture on commercial fiction (crime, thrillers, romance and women's fiction), and before that the more traditional and literary houses, Atlantic Books and Allen & Unwin (literary and commercial fiction, histories, biographies, memoirs, true crime). I am available for developmental editing, copyediting and proofreading. I'm experienced in both fiction and non-fiction, and have worked with first-time authors through to academics, journalists, high-profile writers and celebrities.
My job is to make your manuscript the best manuscript it can be. I love what I do, and I'm good at it! I'm scarily organised, communicative and have a dry sense of humour. I have empathy and imagination, and will work with you to help you take your manuscript where you want it to go; whether that is to a small group of people, or the world.
My job is to make your manuscript the best manuscript it can be. I love what I do, and I'm good at it! I'm scarily organised, communicative and have a dry sense of humour. I have empathy and imagination, and will work with you to help you take your manuscript where you want it to go; whether that is to a small group of people, or the world.
Languages
English (AUS)
English (UK)
English (US)
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Self-help & Self-improvement
Travel
True Crime
Fiction
Crime & Mystery
Literature
Thriller
Women's Fiction
Work experience
Managing Editor
Bookouture
October, 2016
–
August, 2018
(almost 2 years)
Bookouture is a very successful digital publisher of commercial fiction.
• Project managing all titles from manuscript to finished product (and across very short schedules)
• Liaising with freelance contributors, allocating jobs and fees, checking their work etc.
• Briefing copyeditors, proofreaders, typesetters
• Editing, proofreading, proof checking
• Overseeing and maintaining schedules for all titles in production
• Overseeing corrections and distribution processes
• Liaising with authors
• Mentoring and supervising editorial staff and checking their work
Managing Editor
Atlantic Books
January, 2012
–
September, 2016
(over 4 years)
Atlantic Books and its imprints publish literary and commercial fiction and non-fiction
• Editing, proofreading, proof checking
• Reading and reporting on submissions
• Liaising with authors
• Project managing all titles and other special projects in-house from manuscript to finished product
• Liaising with all freelance contributors, allocating jobs and fees, checking their work etc.
• Briefing designers, copyeditors, proofreaders, illustrators, typesetters
• Overseeing and maintaining budgets and schedules for all titles in production
• Mentoring and supervising editorial staff and checking their work
Proofreader
London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games
August, 2011
–
December, 2011
(4 months)
Working in a small team to produce hundreds of publications for the large volunteer force, and helping inexperienced writers to communicate effectively
• Copyediting and proofreading training documents for the London 2012 volunteers
• Liaising with printers, designers and contributors
Senior Editor and Editor
Allen & Unwin
September, 2005
–
April, 2011
(over 5 years)
Subjects worked on include: fiction (commercial and literary), memoir, biography, history, politics, current affairs, travel writing, psychology, education, cultural studies, humour, anthologies, military history, self-help, sport, true crime.
Roles and Responsibilities:
• Project managing several titles at once—overseeing production from manuscript to book
• Copyediting and proofreading manuscripts, checking proofs
• Collaborating and working with authors
• Briefing covers, illustrations and internal designs
• Commissioning, working with, and checking work from freelancers, typesetters, printers and pre-press houses
• Managing schedules and budgets
• Training and mentoring new staff
Freelance - Copyeditor, Proofreader, Writer
Self-employed
January, 2005
–
Present
(over 14 years)
Copyediting and proofreading for indie writers, book publishers, magazines, universities, think tanks, charities and individual writers. Mentoring writers pursuing completed manuscripts, publication etc.
Portfolio (24 selected works)
I’m not a hero. I’m a bad dude who’s done bad things. And the sooner she understands that, the better off we’ll be.I’ve just got out of prison and I’m running from my MC, so my step-sister’s best friend has agreed to drive me across the country.Summer’s my ride. That’s all. But she captivates me, and I don’t have a damn clue why. She’s a distraction I can’t afford.Is it because I’ve been told ... read more
‘Oh my god… This book is stunning and must be read by everyone… It made me blub like a baby and I met my grocery delivery man with tears streaming down my face! Five stars.’ Cappuccino and Chocolate, 5 starsHolly was overjoyed to discover she was pregnant. But the baby is unwell, and her relationship is fracturing under the stress. Just when she is at her lowest, she receives the worst news of... read more
The woman’s limbs were so thin; the skin on her arms as translucent as tracing paper. Around her neck lay a faint string of purple bruises. In one so frail, darker, angrier marks might be expected but Beth knew the bruising would have stopped the moment her heart stopped beating.When a walker finds the body of a woman by the shores of Lake Ullswater, the police are put on high alert. Felicia E... read more
‘Romantic, uplifting and full of heart’ Cathy Bramley, author of A Vintage SummerShe’s taking her life back, one step at a time…Grace thought she had it all. Living in the beautiful village of Little Ollington, along with head teacher husband Mark and gorgeous son, Archie, she devoted herself to being the perfect mum and the perfect wife, her little family giving her everything she ever wanted... read more
Savage Games (John Savage Action Thriller Book 2)
Peter Boland
A dead body concealed high up in a tree.A dark forest that holds many secrets.One man determined to discover the truth.Deep in the New Forest, a body is hidden in the branches of a towering fir tree in an area known as Dead Maids Wood. When John Savage learns that the body belonged to an old school friend, he sets out to discover who was responsible.Together with brilliant computer hacker Tann... read more
The must-read psychological thriller for 2019 from the million-copy-bestselling author of Silent Child.In one moment, Kat Cavanaugh’s perfect world is shattered into tiny fragments. The flash of her daughter’s torn yellow dress, the beautiful blonde hair hanging across her precious face. Her own heart-broken sob…Kat experiences every mother’s worst nightmare when her little girl is found dead.... read more
Hush Hush: (Harriet Blue 4) (Detective Harriet Blue Series)
James Patterson, Candice Fox
Harriet Blue used to be a detective. Now she's inmate 3329.Prison is a dangerous place for a former cop – as Harriet Blue is learning on a daily basis.So, following a fight for her life and a prison-wide lockdown, the last person she wants to see is Deputy Police Commissioner Joe Woods. The man who put her inside.But Woods is not there to gloat. His daughter Tonya and her two-year-old child ha... read more
FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE USA TODAY BESTSELLING MYSTIC NOTCH SERIES…‘Talk about inconvenient. Not only did I have a dilapidated mansion and no money to repair it with, two cats I had no idea how to care for and a room full of cranky guests waiting for their breakfast, I also had a dead body on my hands.’Josie Waters has to admit she may have acted a bit hastily when she agreed to pu... read more
He looked down at the little girl, sleeping peacefully, her arms wrapped around a teddy bear. He knew he was the only one who could save her. He could let her sleep forever.An eight-year-old girl, Chelsea Compton, is missing in Pine Valley, California and for Detective Katie Scott it’s a cruel reminder of the friend who disappeared from summer camp twenty years ago. Unable to shake the memorie... read more
A Memoir. The extraordinary true story of a boy's journey from starvation at sea to becoming one of Australia's best-loved comedians. A story of true inspiration.
Victoria: A Life
A. N. Wilson
'Writing about Queen Victoria has been one of the most joyous experiences of my life. I have read thousands (literally) of letters never before published, and grown used to her as to a friend. Maddening? Egomaniac? Hysterical? A bad mother? Some have said so. What emerged for me was a brave, original woman who was at the very epicentre of Britain's changing place in the world: a solitary woman... read more
Inside Their Minds : Australian criminals
Rochelle Jackson
He is 29 years old and commits his horrendous crime alone. He is an underachiever, unskilled, doesn't have a regular job and he is now a mass murderer. What made Martin Bryant go on a brutal killing spree at Port Arthur taking the lives of 35 people?Working with a leading Australian forensic psychologist, investigative journalist Rochelle Jackson takes us deep into the minds of eight of the co... read more
The Roving Party
Rohan Wilson
Raw and hauntingly beautiful, a vivid reimagining of John Batman's infamous roving party that set out to hunt and kill the Aborigines of Tasmania. Winner of the 2011 Australian/Vogel's award.1829, Tasmania...John Batman, ruthless, singleminded; four convicts, the youngest still only a stripling; Gould, a downtrodden farmhand; two free black trackers; and powerful, educated Black Bill, brought ... read more
Barassi: The biography
Peter Lalor
His is a biblical tale, appropriate for a game that's a religion.Ron Barassi is modern football's first born son and saviour. His father wore the No. 31 then was tragically killed in the Second World War months after playing in a premiership. Ron Barassi junior was raised in the Australian bush before moving back to Melbourne with his devoted mother. Later the boy was taken under the wing of l... read more
A fascinating exploration of the women who love the baddest of the bad boys, including the wife of Mark "Chopper" ReadWhat attracts women to dangerous men? For some, it is true love, while for others, it's the excitement, wealth, and glamour. What was it like for Mary-Ann Hodge to be married to Mark "Chopper" Read? How was Joe Korp's former girlfriend Tania Herman persuaded to try to kill his ... read more
The story of 161 Reconnaissance Flight, the Australian Army Aviation unit deployed to Vietnam from September 1965 to March 1972, told through unit and personal records, pilot and aircraft log books and personal interviews with veterans.
This is a story lost to history for over two hundred years; a dirty secret of failure, fatal misjudgement and desperate measures which the British Empire chose to forget almost as soon as it was over. In the wake of its most crushing defeat, the America War of Independence, the British Government began shipping its criminals to West Africa. Some were transported aboard ships going to pick up t... read more
The Iron Necklace
Giles Waterfield
The wedding of Thomas, an idealistic German architect, and Irene, an English artist, brings together the Curtius and Benson families. But their new lives are soon shattered by the outbreak of war in Europe. While Irene struggles to survive in a country where she is the enemy, her sister Sophia faces the war as a nurse on the Western Front. For their brother Mark, diplomatic service sees him mo... read more
Title: Tamil Tigress( My Story as a Child Soldier in Sri Lanka's Bloody Civil War) <>Binding: Paperback <>Author: iromiDeSoyza, <>Publisher: Allen&UnwinAustralia
‘I devoured this book, such a page-turner! If a crime has me still debating 'whodunnit' right up to the very end then I'm a happy reader!... I can't recommend this highly enough – fast-paced and gripping and literally kept me wanting more.’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 starsA tenacious young detective with scars both physical and emotional, Beth Young will stop at nothing in her fight for justice for... read more
‘Mummy, she’s gone…’Gemma Ballantine is getting ready for work one morning when her eldest child comes running down the stairs, saying the words every mother dreads.The front door is open. And her six-year-old daughter has disappeared. Frantic with fear, Gemma starts a nail-biting search for her little girl.After what feels like forever, her mother-in-law Diane finds Katie wandering lost a few... read more
One twinkling winter’s night, Ruby wakes her sleeping children and escapes for a new life in the countryside. It’s a choice that will change her life beyond all recognition…Arriving at the cosy little rental cottage as the first snow begins to fall, Ruby doesn’t regret leaving her bully of a husband for a moment, but she does feel guilty about uprooting her kids so close to Christmas. She can ... read more
The Secret Vow: An epic wartime love story set in Paris
Natalie Meg Evans
‘I loved this book. I couldn't put it down… it's beautiful… one of the best love stories I've read… keeps you guessing till the end… truly beautifully written… phenomenal.’ Jthbooks, 5 starsKatya – young, friendless and impoverished – arrives in Paris to begin a new life. Forced to leave her beloved sister behind, she is hiding a terrible secret. Her survival in this strange and beautiful new ... read more
‘This has probably reawakened my love for psychological thrillers!...I don’t think I’ll be able to recommend this one enough. It’s definitely a must read…my book of the year so far!’ Nemesis Book BlogNew beginnings. Old secrets.Theo and Pilar. The perfect couple.Successful, beautiful and very much in love. Until a year ago - and the tragedy that nearly tore them apart.When their baby died, a p... read more
Lauren has 1 review
Professionalism
Quality
Value
Communication
Absolutely brilliant! So much work for so little money. If she had charged me double it would still be an absolute bargain. I shall be thanking her on the Acknowledgements page of my debut thriller, A Beautiful Way to Die, which is due for publication on 15th April 2019.
Read moreDavid M Hinds, November 2018
Thank you, David. It was great to work with you on your novel.
Reply from Lauren Finger
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