Overview
I’m Lesley - welcome to my profile page. Publishing a book on your own (self-publishing as an independent author – indie publishing) can be a daunting task, but I’m here to help you through one of the most important stages: editing (I usually edit crime, fantasy, sci fi and horror, and romance).Your novel may be the product of years of toil; of late nights at a glowing screen after your children have gone to bed; of lonely mornings with your notebook and pencil and only a slowly cooling cup of coffee for company; of manic getting up in the middle of the night to scribble down an idea that’s just landed in your subconscious – all and more of these. The result is the product of your imagination – delivered as bubbling creativity, or eased gradually from your inner psyche. Or indeed many other things, as referenced by the many authors who have written about their art over the centuries. You are now so close to your creation that only a fresh pair of eyes can help you get your book into the shape you want it to be, to iron out any glitches, and to add some magic. Let’s work together on this wonderful project of yours, so you are ready to share it with the world.The first thing you should know is that I understand the amount of time and soul searching it has taken you to craft your manuscript, and that I’ll ensure any work I do with you on that manuscript will be with a view to producing a book that’s the best it can be: polishing your prose, but keeping it yours.I have nearly ten years’ experience in freelance editing, and I’ve taken many courses in editing and proofreading. I keep up to date with continuing education and attend my professional society's conference every year (which involves a lot of CPD). If you head over to my portfolio you’ll see I edit for Macmillan, Harper Collins, Black Library and some of the smaller presses, but most of my work – and the work I value above all else – is for indie authors who have chosen to take on the publishing process themselves. Many of my authors (apologies for sounding possessive) have published series of books which are doing very well; some choose only to write one book – and these also (rightly) do well.
Services
Fiction
Fantasy
Historical Fiction
Middle Grade
Mystery & Crime
Science Fiction
Thriller & Suspense
Young Adult
Languages
English (AUS)
English (CAN)
English (NZ)
English (UK)
English (US)
Certifications
- Advanced Professional Member, CIEP
Work experience
Self-employed
Nov, 2009 —
Present
I have been proofreading and copy-editing fiction for nine years, and I trained in both disciplines with SfEP and Editorial Training. My main field of expertise is fiction (crime, fantasy, sci fi and horror, romance, and children's books, but I can turn my hand to most genres).
I work with large publishing houses (such as Pan Macmillan, Black Library, Chicken House, and Harper Collins), but about half the projects I work on are those of self-publishers who are happy to entrust their work to my eyes. I am fortunate in that I have always been sensitive to the correct use of grammar and spelling. Additionally I have an inquisitive personality, happily satisfied by the writings of others temporarily given into my keeping to read and correct as necessary. I can provide publishers’ and authors’ references.
Portfolio
WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and ... read more
"one of the most enriching stories I have read this year." Sean Talbot - Reviewer"an enthralling and entertaining read that kept me turning those pages." Sarah Hardy By The Letter Book ReviewsCENTRAL IS LOSING ITS GRIP ON THE CITIZENS OF GALE CITY.Megan Skyla,... read more
What would you sacrifice for your children?Ballymor, Ireland, 1847As famine grips the country Kitty McCarthy is left widowed and alone. Fighting to keep her two remaining children alive against all odds, Kitty must decide how far she will go to save her family... read more
Do you love crime thrillers full of suspense? Then you'll love Sharon Thompson's #1 best-selling debut.Peggy Bowden has not had an easy life. As a teenager, her mother was committed to an asylum and then a local priest forced her into an abusive marriage. But ... read more
Liv Palmer has been running from her past for over a decade. Working for Resolution Security in Denver has finally given her a chance at a peaceful life. As the ten year anniversary of her husband’s death approaches however, a series of threats force her to re... read more
Former US Navy Lieutenant Dani Heynes returns to Denver when she is kicked out of the Navy after fifteen years’ loyal service. Working for Resolution Security, her brother’s security firm, gives her a chance to build a new life.Raphael Fallon inhabits a world ... read more
When a beautiful young widow catches the attention of a vicious Denver drug lord, her only hope is the tough owner of Resolution Security. The first in a new series of romantic suspense novels by Christy Shields. Alessia Lowell has no idea what kind of trouble... read more
Barrister Cassie Hardman is being stalked by an unknown male. She doesn’t know why but there is some connection to the defendant Paul Sadler, who faced trial for rape.Cassie struggles with the unwanted invasion into her life as she works on a murder trial – he... read more
"Had me on the edge of my seat." Erin StetlerDo you love psychological thrillers full of suspense? Then discover best-selling author, Pat Young's, unmissable I Know Where You Live.Penny believes she’s being watched. Yet no one should know where she lives.Penny... read more
A gripping & unmissable debut thrillerTwo women will never meet, but their lives are about to collide. Lucie married young. Her husband has become abusive, controlling and violent. Having lost everything as a result of the marriage, Lucie decides it is time to... read more
After narrowly surviving the battle in the skies above Newearth, Major Ivor Hooke reluctantly returns to London for a court martial hearing with the Duke of Wellington. Intent on putting his adventures among the stars behind him, a chance encounter sees quite ... read more
Set in 1851, A Curiosity of the Solar System follows the adventures of Captain Ivor Hooke, an affable but rather undistinguished officer in the British army who has been sent on a mission of diplomacy to one of the farthest flung corners of the British Empire.... read more
A shift in the night. A red phone box by arched trees. An enchanted world deep beneath London. A family tragedy sets Asha on a peculiar vow of silence, until she meets the Dwellers, a community transported to our time from olde London. The Dwellers are in sear... read more
The final term sees the Coats return in a more reflective light. A cloud still hangs over the school, as the students come to terms with unsettling events. Tali receives surprising news, as May grows increasingly insecure. Tobi decides to go it alone, and a mo... read more
The students return for their second term but face further scandals. Donovan hides a damning secret, while Tobi goes in search of the truth. Tali realises she is no longer welcome in her old life, and May schemes to bring down Donovan, for good, resulting in c... read more
A chilling serial killer thrillerKate Palmer, an undergraduate student, discovers that she is pregnant and makes the decision to drop out of university. However, on the evening before she returns home, her body is discovered in Aston park. She is the first vic... read more
Toby, Arty, and Fay must divide to find the answers that they need.King Arthur's legend is haunting them. The sword, Excalibur, taunts them. Their enemies are fewer but they grow stronger by the hour. And there are rumours that the symbol of King Arthur's defe... read more
OFFER PRICE (Normal price GB£3.49/USD$4.79)Toby, Arty, and Fay must find a way to persuade royalty help them reclaim the red dragon's powerful Firestone. But their plans go disastrously wrong when Fay is kidnapped. Arty and Toby must act fast before the Blood ... read more
OFFER PRICE (Normal price GB£3.49/USD$4.79)Toby, Arty, and Fay find that their lives are not getting any easier. Rather than reduce their list of enemies they increase it with two of the most powerful creatures known to the fairydian world.And yet, through the... read more
OFFER PRICE (Normal price GB£3.49/USD$4.79)Toby’s recent terrifying ordeal at the hands of the mer-prince has left him feeling isolated and alone. The arrival of a new witch at Tintagel brings him hope.Together the three new friends, Toby, Arty, and Fay, must ... read more
OFFER PRICE (Normal price GB£3.49/USD$4.79)When his uncle's life is threatened by a vengeful ghost, Toby is sent to Tintagel, an extraordinary village with strong King Arthur connections. Once there, he discovers that his uncle is bound by many things magical,... read more
In a land of lost wonders, the past is stirring once more . . .Gene's life resembles a debutante's dream., Yet she hides a secret that would see her shunned by the nobility. Gene is both male and female. Then she displays unwanted magical abilities - last seen... read more
Brand New!! Re-check ISBN before Purchase
Brand New!! Re-check ISBN before Purchase
Mightier than the Sword opens with an IRA bomb exploding during the MV Buckingham's maiden voyage across the Atlantic - but how many passengers lose their lives? When Harry Clifton visits his publisher in New York, he learns that he has been elected as the new... read more
Exiled into the depths of the Eye of Terror, former Emperor's Children Apothecary Fabius Bile is drawn back to the Imperium in search of a secret that could be the key to saving his misbegotten life. He is known by many names - Clonelord, Manflayer, Primogenit... read more
Warhammer archon Lord of chaos
A TREMBLING EARTH The flames of civil war sweep across the Shima Imperium. Blood turns against blood as the Dragon and Fox clans compete for the empty throne. With their plans to renew the Kazumitsu dynasty foiled, the Lotus Guild unleash their deadliest creat... read more
These are the wild days when Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call - heroes of Lonesome Dove - first encounter the untamed frontier that will form their characters. Not yet twenty, Gus and Call enlist as Texas Rangers under the command of Caleb Cobb, a capricious outlaw... read more
The Prologue introduces us to a British cemetery in Chunar, where startling discoveries are made regarding the grave of a Sufi mystic and his hoary connections with the Moghuls of the seventeenth century.Many centuries ago, a young prince, born exactly a thous... read more
"If Harry Potter, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Rick and Morty all got together and had a baby." Paul Ridge, Editor"Original, wry, sometimes funny, and always action-packed, Billy Twigg and the Storm of Shadows is en... read more
After Julius
The book sits in the near future fiction genre. In a global ultra capitalistic society, corporations and other large organisations control all of humanity. A research team working at one of the corporations discovers a technology with the power to wipe out all... read more
The End Times are coming. As the forces of Chaos threaten to drown the world in madness, Manfred von Carstein and Arkan the Black put aside their difference and plot to resurrect the one being with the power to stand against the servants of the Ruinous Powers ... read more
Archaon, the Everchosen was once a man, a devout servant of the warrior-god Sigmar. What could cause such a soul to fall to the worship of the Dark Gods? What dark events could have put a knight of the Empire on the path to becoming the harbinger of the world'... read more
When your life is based on lies, how do you hunt down the truth?Jerry Beche should be dead. Instead, he's rescued from a desolate Earth where he was the last man alive. He's then trained for the toughest conditions imaginable and placed with a crack team of sp... read more
This is the third instalment in the memoirs of the Georgian Englishman Thomas Flashman, which were recently discovered on a well-known auction website. Thomas is the uncle of the notorious Victorian rogue Harry Flashman, whose memoirs have already been publish... read more
Part three of the Langthorne Series. A series of crime thrillers based on the coastal town of Folkestone, Kent and its surrounding areas.
On a police radio a panic button is pushed. Across the town of Langthorne every police officer feels their radio tremble against their chest, a warning beep through the earpiece. They stop what they are doing and turn an expectant ear, somewhere a colleague is... read more
For more than a century, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream has been listed as a potential 'Jack the Ripper' suspect. Indeed, he was a sinister character, preying on the unfortunate souls who were forced to make a living as streetwalkers in Victorian London, and ultimatel... read more
Abraham Brown, Patch Hancock and Indigo Templeton are three American servicemen, separated from their platoon, biding their time in southern France during the Second World War, when they are captured by a desperate group of Renegade Nazi soldiers. This is a me... read more
'This is a must read for Devil Wears Prada and Shopaholic fans!' ADELE PARKS 'Captivating, glamorous and laugh-out-loud funny' GIOVANNA FLETCHER A fast-paced, fun-packed rummage through the ultimate dressing up box, THE STYLIST is perfect for fans of Lindsey K... read more
Will he succeed? Or will darkness thrive? This epic fantasy takes an ordinary young soldier called John on the journey of his life. One moment he is on the front line of World War Two fighting for his life and then next, after a sudden tragedy, he finds himsel... read more
Lesley has 39 reviews
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Adrian H.
Aug, 2023
Pinned
Sam P.
Jul, 2023
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David P.
Apr, 2022
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Alan B.
Sep, 2025
Francheska T.
May, 2025
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