Overview
I am the associate publisher of Thornapple Press, a small press with a focus on non-traditional relationships. Want to know how to negotiate a polyamory breakup or what it's like to grow up as a non-binary millennial child of a polyamorous family? Just ask.
Before this, I earned my stripes at Douglas & McIntyre, formerly Canada's biggest independent publisher, and UBC Press, a respected academic publisher. I have provided freelance services to clients including UBC Beaty Biodiversity Museum and Talk Science to Me.
I enjoy copy editing both fiction and non-fiction, and am open to most topics. I have significant experience in editing and proofreading books about non-traditional relationship models, but have also worked on materials as diverse as cookbooks, memoirs, and trivia. Let me transform your run-on sentences and confused paragraphs into accessible content that will keep readers engaged.
As a British national who worked in Canada for ten years and who has substantial experience editing American English, I specialise in adapting books for local audiences and recognising the differences among global Englishes. Not sure how to change your punctuation for a British audience or confused about whether American English uses -ize in all occasions? Let me handle it.
Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Cooking, Food, Wine, & Spirits
Sex & Relationships
Languages
English (CAN)
English (UK)
English (US)
Work experience
Thornapple Press
Sep, 2018 —
Present
Handling production, editing, and marketing operations for an independent book publisher with a focus on love, sex, and alternative relationship models.
Creating production schedules and working with authors, editors, designers, and printers to ensure deadlines are met.
Copy editing and proofreading book manuscripts. Developing style guides and working with authors, designers, and other editors to ensure the successful publication of high-quality books.
Overseeing marketing initiatives including book tours, reviews, and other publicity.
Thorntree Press
Jun, 2016 —
Sep, 2018
(over 2 years)
Providing copy editing, proofreading, and project management services for an independent book publisher with a focus on love, sex, and alternative relationship models.
Maintaining production schedules including working with authors, designers, and printers to ensure deadlines are met.
Using Teamwork and Sync to efficiently manage projects and maintain efficient filing systems.
Developing and executing book tours and marketing campaigns. Undertaking market research, creating relationships with bookstores and other venues, planning travel and logistics, and creating press materials.
Promoted from this position to Associate Publisher.
Perfect Daily Grind
Aug, 2018 —
Oct, 2019
(about 1 year)
Managing and editing non-sponsored content for a leading coffee publication. This role involved managing a team of staff and contract writers and often required making complicated and potentially controversial topics accessible for a general audience.
Client liaison for sponsored content including article angle development, creating schedules, and troubleshooting any issues in a diplomatic and professional manner.
Commissioning, developing, and copy editing content with writers from a variety of backgrounds and abilities including many non-professional writers with English as a foreign language.
Creating schedules and implementing firm deadlines with writers and other parties.
Implementing SEO best practices and ensuring that content is engaging and accessible without being dumbed-down.
Maintaining tracking spreadsheets, creating and managing tasks using Asana, overseeing upload of articles to WordPress and troubleshooting any issues.
Writing content including articles, social media copy, and press releases.
NewadVentures
Sep, 2017 —
Aug, 2018
(11 months)
Writing, copy editing, and project managing entertainment and celebrity news for the Stars Insider brand.
Adapting English-language content to specific regions including adapting vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation to US, Canada, Australia, and UK audiences.
Developing and maintaining a comprehensive style guide including Plain English principles, country-specific sections, and guidelines for translators.
Providing feedback and development exercises to junior writers and coaching mid-level writers on how to adapt to the brand and market.
Reviewing applications for writer positions and providing feedback to managing editor and HR departments on strengths and weaknesses of prospective employees.
Image research, fact-checking, editing for SEO, and ensuring daily and monthly production targets are met.
Self-employed
Aug, 2009 —
Present
Providing proofreading, copy editing, and copywriting services. Clients have included Talk Science to Me, UBC Beaty Biodiversity Museum, Whitecap Books, Harbour Publishing, SHARE, the Columbia Institute, and Orca Books. Projects have included web content, business plans, marketing materials, exhibition materials, and both fiction and non-fiction book manuscripts.
Douglas & McIntyre
Aug, 2008 —
Dec, 2009
(over 1 year)
Proofreading edited manuscripts of fiction and non-fiction books, marketing catalogues, and advertising copy. I coordinated changes among editors, authors, and designers to keep projects on firm schedules. This role also included securing Cataloguing-in-Publication data and ISBN codes. I sourced and secured permissions for images and text excerpts and corresponded with printers to prepare production templates and meet specifications.
UBC Press
Jan, 2008 —
Aug, 2008
(7 months)
Maintaining marketing databases and the website of an academic publisher. I created marketing materials in InDesign and distributed review copies of books. I wrote and proofread catalogue copy and marketing “blurbs” for UBC and agency titles. Creating advertisements and page layout for catalogues, as well as media packages and press releases. This role also included pitching books to media and organising events.
Portfolio
Proofreading
We were not prepared for #metoo when it blew up Twitter in October 2017. In many ways, we still aren't. What do we do when we learn a friend has been harmed? And what does it mean to be a good friend when someone we love caused the harm? We live in a society t... read more
Polyamory is not always easy. With multiple partners often come more complex relationships to navigate. This practical guide looks at the common causes of polyamorous breakups, identifies strategies to avoid ending relationships, and provides you with the tool... read more
Almost everyone has had some interaction with depression. Whether it’s you, a family member, a friend, or a partner who is affected, depression has the potential to touch us all. Even so, many... read more
Copy Editing
Copy Editing
Copy Editing
Copy Editing
Proofreading
From a childhood in Ivory Coast to a career as an American physician, Habib Fanny journeys across continents, cultures and identities, telling a few tall tales and finding his own story along the way. Sick of living in the shadows of a corrupt post-colonial Iv... read more
A guided tour of non-monogamy, A World in Us begins with Louisa and her husband Gilles, who love each other but whose marriage is going nowhere. They decide to explore polyamory, falling for another couple and trying to forge a life together as a quad. But the... read more
Even as the broader LGBT community enjoys political and societal advances in North America, the bisexual community still today contends with decades of misinformation stereotyping them as innately indecisive, self-loathing, and untrustworthy. Claiming the B in... read more
Headed by noted executive chef Frank Pabst, Blue Water Cafe is dedicated to exploring the best that the Pacific Ocean and the rivers and lakes of the Pacific Northwest have to offer. Complemen... read more
Proofreading
In the 100 days of genocide that ravaged Rwanda in 1994, one million people were killed and as many as 500,000 women and girls were raped. No one was spared. Grandmothers were raped in front o... read more
Proofreading
They met at a poetry reading, but Ehor Boyanowsky and British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes became friends through their shared — and unquenchable — passion for fishing. Against the backdrop of the... read more
Proofreading
Small Beneath the Sky is a tender, unsparing portrait of a family. It is also a book about place. Growing up in a small prairie city, where the local heroes were hockey players and curlers, Lo... read more
Proofreading
Hockey trivia master Don Weekes has cherry-picked more than 800 of his most compelling trivia questions and records to create this authoritative collection. Who was the only player to captain ... read more
Proofreading
Shrinking budgets, stressful conditions, demanding patients: today’s medical professionals face enormous pressure. What’s a doctor to do? For Dave Hepburn, the only relief is in relishing the ... read more
Proofreading
Brian Brett’s farm on Salt Spring Island is affectionately known as Trauma Farm. There, he raises chickens, pigs, cows, sheep, and goats, tends an extensive orchard and vegetable garden, conco... read more
Proofreading
Widely regarded as one of North America’s finest restaurants, West has garnered much critical acclaim, including recognition as among "ten of the best, worldwide" by U.K.’s Sunday Independent.... read more
Proofreading
To smooth over five decades of constant clashing, determined daughter Jane Christmas decides to take her arthritic, incontinent, and domineering mother, Valeria, to Italy. Will being at the ep... read more
Proofreading
Library Journal Best Books 2011: Historical Fiction selectionFinalist for the Commonwealth Writers’ PrizeFinalist for the Canadian Authors Association Fiction AwardFinalist for the Amazon.ca F... read more
Proofreading
Good news, my guy! Alternatives to the strict limitations of monogamy await. By understanding and practicing polyamory, you can be empowered to live the limit of your romantic appetites and build networks of love that nourish and challenge you. But this new fr... read more
Even in progressive families and communities, people who practice nonmonogamy are susceptible to misinformation and accusations of moral and emotional failings. Facing this requires its own coming out and education process. In this guide, Tamara Pincus and Reb... read more
Many of us were asked by our mother to do the dishes as children. Perhaps some of us would need to be asked more than once. Koe Creation was the type who'd get asked three times, by three diff... read more
Proofreading
Sex work was once thought to be anathema to women's liberation. Now, to some, we represent the tenacity of women's struggles under patriarchy and capitalism—that is, at least, the white, strai... read more
Proofreading
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Elizabeth A.
Oct, 2020
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