Lucy York – Editor

Hello, I’m Lucy. I help authors to get their manuscripts into shape for self-publishing or to submit to agents and publishers. I specialise in adult romance, adult fantasy and young adult fiction.

I offer manuscript critiques, developmental edits and line-edits, and I work on UK and US English text. My goal is not just to help you better your manuscript, but also to equip you with knowledge and techniques to hone your writing craft. I build lasting working relationships with my author clients, many of whom I have collaborated with on multiple books.

I have been editing books for over 18 years. I started out as an editorial assistant and worked my way up to managing editor at Summersdale (Octopus). For three years I was a freelance editor, working on YA novels with self-published authors, romance novels for Harper Collins, the Warhammer fantasy series for Black Library, adult fiction for Simon & Schuster and over 100 titles for Titan Books across their list of urban fantasy, steampunk, horror and TV/film tie-in novelisations. I returned to an in-house role as a senior and commissioning editor with Quarto Publishing for five years. Having worked in these in-house roles, I understand the demands and standards of the publishing industry. As a freelance editor, I find it hugely rewarding to work with authors to ensure their stories stand out in a competitive marketplace. Since 2018, I have run my own editorial business, helping authors to get their manuscripts in shape for publication.

My number one principle when editing is: it’s your story, told in your voice. As your editor, I will give a frank assessment of aspects of your manuscript that would benefit from improvement, then support and guide you to make your work the best it can be. My particular strengths lie in developing believable characters whose motivations drive the action forwards, honing the details that make your creative world vividly real and providing practical solutions to plot problems. The editorial process will be a dialogue and we’ll hopefully have some fun along the way.