The best book editors for hire in the United Kingdom

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Copy editor and proofreader with experience in non-fiction books, arts and culture, biography, business, the environment and general history

Genres: Design, Non-Fiction, Business & Management, Architecture, Earth, Space, & Environmental Sciences, Math & Science, Travel, Art, and Humanities & Social Sciences.

Anna 5 star rating

London, United Kingdom

Award-winning editor and publisher with a near-obsessive eye and over twenty years experience in the industry.

Genres: Literary Fiction, Fiction, Horror, Thriller & Suspense, Short Story, Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Women's Fiction.

Work experience:

  • The Pigeonhole
  • Random House
  • Peters, Fraser & Dunlop
  • Curtis Brown
  • The Bookseller

Julia 5 star rating

London, United Kingdom

I am a highly-skilled professional editor and have worked with bestselling self-help, health and parenting authors for over 25 years.

Genres: Career Guides, Non-Fiction, Health & Wellbeing, Sex & Relationships, Self-Help & Self-Improvement, Parenting & Families, Cooking, Food, Wine, & Spirits, and Business & Management.

Work experience:

  • Self-employed
  • Ebury Publishing, Random House UK
  • Anubis Literary Agency

Caroline 5 star rating

Durham, United Kingdom

A flexible non-fiction editor with an eye for detail and consistency. I make sure that the little things don't distract from the big things.

Genres: Mathematics & Statistics, Math & Science, Non-Fiction, and Technology.

Work experience:

  • Self-employed

Dick 5 star rating

London, United Kingdom

Experienced London-based editor of fiction (novels, short stories), biography, art and culture.

Genres: Mystery & Crime, Fiction, and Humor & Comedy.

Work experience:

  • Self-employed
  • Waltham Forest Council

Sandy 5 star rating

Hampshire, United Kingdom

Sandy is a seasoned editor of non-fiction and fiction titles, and has been helping authors 'give birth' to their books for 20 years.

Genres: Health & Wellbeing, Non-Fiction, Religion & Spirituality, Psychology, Humanities & Social Sciences, Sex & Relationships, Mystery & Crime, Fiction, Self-Help & Self-Improvement, Parenting & Families, and Thriller & Suspense.

Work experience:

  • Godsfield Press
  • Tigerprint Limited
  • Self-employed
  • AA Publishing

Mike 5 star rating

Colchester, United Kingdom

A publisher and editor with over 25 years of experience, helping authors craft the best manuscripts and proposals possible.

Genres: Literary Fiction, Fiction, Biographies & Memoirs, Non-Fiction, History, Humanities & Social Sciences, Political Science & Current Affairs, Historical Fiction, and Women's Fiction.

Work experience:

  • Self-employed
  • Profile Books
  • Simon & Schuster UK
  • Bloomsbury Publishing

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Deborah 5 star rating

Bexley, Kent, United Kingdom

Crime/thriller, romance & literary fiction editing for indie authors and publishers

Genres: Literary Fiction, Fiction, Romance, and Mystery & Crime.

Work experience:

  • Self-employed

Hannah 5 star rating

Oxford, United Kingdom

An editor with expertise in children's books, literacy and artwork design, I’ve worked with authors such as Julia Donaldson and Terry Deary.

Genres: Middle Grade, Children's, Fiction, Picture Books, Comics & Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Literary Fiction, Children’s Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction, Education & Reference, Comics Non-Fiction, and ELT.

Work experience:

  • Pearson Plc
  • Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
  • Oxford University Press
  • Hamilton Trust
  • HarperCollins Publishers
  • Camel Publishing Ltd.
  • BBC
  • Oxford Inspires
  • Blue Tutors
  • University of Oxford
  • Forge Media, University of Sheffield

Tim 5 star rating

York, United Kingdom

Experienced editor specialising in science fiction, horror, mystery and YA – offering assessments, structural editing and copyediting.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Short Story, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mystery & Crime, Horror, Thriller & Suspense, Action & Adventure, and Psychological Thriller.

Work experience:

  • CGP
  • Pearson
  • Scholastic
  • British Fantasy Society
  • Self-employed

Editor/Writer with more than 20 years of experience in educational publishing, magazines, technical and web.

Genres: Children’s Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction, Education & Reference, Math & Science, Writing & Publishing, Children's, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, History, and Humanities & Social Sciences.

Work experience:

  • Macmillan UK
  • Multimedia Communications, Singapore
  • Marshall Cavendish, Singapore
  • Educational Publishing House, Singapore
  • Horizon Knowledge Solutions Pte Ltd, Singapore
  • Shing Lee Publishers Pte Ltd, Singapore
  • Chacon Publishing Inc, Calgary, Canada
  • Self-employed

Selena 5 star rating

Preston, United Kingdom

Highly experienced proofreader and copy-editor of healthcare/biomedical, academic, business and miscellaneous subjects at competitive rates.

Genres: Health & Wellbeing, Non-Fiction, Medicine, Nursing, & Dentistry, Math & Science, Humanities & Social Sciences, Nature, Education & Reference, and Life Sciences.

Work experience:

  • Self-employed
  • I.M.S. Health (now IQVIA)
  • Elsevier Science (Pergamon Press)

Andrew 5 star rating

London, United Kingdom

Friendly, precise editor and writing coach. Lots of experience with various genres. I'm an author, too. So I know what it's like.

Genres: Literary Fiction, Fiction, Mystery & Crime, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Thriller & Suspense, and Action & Adventure.

Luke 5 star rating

North Shields, United Kingdom

Freelance copy-editing, proofreading and plain language support; working with publishers, businesses, charities, students and other writers.

Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Business & Management, Political Science & Current Affairs, Humanities & Social Sciences, Music, Psychology, Entertainment, and Economics.

Work experience:

  • Various voluntary organisations; Newcastle City Council
  • Book publishers; County Durham, UK
  • Self-employed

Colm 5 star rating

London, United Kingdom

Freelance developmental editor, with a focus on thriller and contemporary fiction, memoir non-fiction, and LGBTQ+ writing.

Genres: LGBTQ Fiction, Fiction, Thriller & Suspense, LGBTQ Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Contemporary Fiction.

Work experience:

  • Self-Employed
  • RateSetter

Eve 5 star rating

United Kingdom

Previously Editorial Director for Hodder and Stoughton, at Penguin before that, I'm a fiction editor and author with lots of experience.

Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Horror, Thriller & Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Women's Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary Romance, Romance, Cozy Mysteries, and Mystery & Crime.

Work experience:

  • Penguin Random House
  • Hodder & Stoughton, Hachette
  • Self-employed

Nira 5 star rating

London, United Kingdom

Commercial editor helping authors turn ideas into books. Formerly Penguin Random House & HarperCollins with Sunday Times & NYT bestsellers.

Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Health & Wellbeing, Self-Help & Self-Improvement, Inspirational, Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Romantic Comedy, Romance, Women's Fiction, and Historical Fiction.

Work experience:

  • Ebury, Penguin Random House UK
  • Icon Books, UK
  • HQ, HarperCollins UK
  • Quarto Publishing

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Hire the best book editors in the UK

Finished writing your book, and wondering what you should do next? After you’ve done as thorough a self-edit as you can, you’ll be looking to hire a book editor in the UK or beyond.

It can be a little tricky to know what kind of editing you need, but a good choice for anyone who’s unsure is to partner up with someone who specializes in editorial assessments. This takes the form of an overview of your manuscript that will tell you where you should focus your editing efforts. These types of editors aren’t usually too expensive, yet they can be invaluable to your project. After all, if you have no idea what’s wrong with your book, how can you make a plan to remedy it? If you’re ready to dive deep into everything that may not be working with your manuscript, a developmental edit is the most thorough editorial process, which will delve into both big picture elements and issues within individual chapters. For a more surface-level polish, a copy edit or proofread will help guide an already edited book to the final stage of publication, removing any remaining errors or inconsistencies.

To hire a book editor in the UK, simply sign up to Reedsy and start browsing through our editing professionals today.

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Step 2

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Step 3

Request quotes

Request quotes from up to five freelancers at any time. They’ll look at your sample pages to give you a tailored quote as well as a sense of how they work.

Step 4

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