Overview
I'm a freelance proofreader and copy-editor with over a decade of experience in commercial fiction, working on novels for major UK publishers including Orion, HarperCollins, Little Brown Book Group, and Simon and Schuster. Crime, thrillers, sci-fi and fantasy are my specialties, but I've worked frequently on general fiction and non-fiction titles. I've been a freelance manuscript reader for over fifteen years, doing editorial reports on novels for major publishers and independent clients. I've also been a freelance journalist since 2000, and I've been regularly reviewing novels, comics and movies for SFX (the UK's biggest SF/Fantasy magazine) since 2002.
If I'm working on a project for you, my priorities are: attention to detail, preserving the voice and intention of your book, making sure everything in the story is consistent and makes sense, and delivering on time. I'm strongest on commercial genre fiction, but I can adapt to any style or pace of storytelling. I'll also be honest and upfront about any problems that need to be solved in your work, and will always do my best to suggest solutions or different possibilities. I'm ultimately here to help you get your work finished and up to the best standard it can be, and it's a process that I genuinely find satisfying and enjoyable.
If I'm working on a project for you, my priorities are: attention to detail, preserving the voice and intention of your book, making sure everything in the story is consistent and makes sense, and delivering on time. I'm strongest on commercial genre fiction, but I can adapt to any style or pace of storytelling. I'll also be honest and upfront about any problems that need to be solved in your work, and will always do my best to suggest solutions or different possibilities. I'm ultimately here to help you get your work finished and up to the best standard it can be, and it's a process that I genuinely find satisfying and enjoyable.
SERVICES PROVIDED:
PROOFREADING -
PROOFREADING -
Proofreading can be a vital element of getting a piece of fiction or non-fiction ready for public consumption, especially if you’re an author intending to self-publish. Getting an experienced pair of eyes to look over your text can be the difference between a polished final product and a book riddled with errors that could potentially impact on any reader’s enjoyment. Simple typos can be an easy excuse for work to be rejected or dismissed, especially when there’s massive competition – proofreading is there to make sure the work is judged for what it is, not for any distracting grammatical errors or spelling mistakes. This is ideally the last stage of the process, giving the book a final once-over to make sure that nothing has been missed.
COPY-EDITING -
If your manuscript is in need of a little more attention than just proofreading – which is only there to correct small spelling or grammatical errors, and ensure consistency across the work – then copy-editing is the way to go. This is much more in-depth, often making significant changes in order to improve sense, clarity and/or narrative structure, and can make a major difference to the quality of a piece of writing. I’ve had considerable experience copy-editing novels, magazine articles and reviews over the last ten years, and I can help you get a difficult project into shape.
If your manuscript is in need of a little more attention than just proofreading – which is only there to correct small spelling or grammatical errors, and ensure consistency across the work – then copy-editing is the way to go. This is much more in-depth, often making significant changes in order to improve sense, clarity and/or narrative structure, and can make a major difference to the quality of a piece of writing. I’ve had considerable experience copy-editing novels, magazine articles and reviews over the last ten years, and I can help you get a difficult project into shape.
EDITORIAL REPORTS -
Sometimes on a book project, what you need is a brand new pair of eyes – and in the case of an Editorial Report, I’ll act as exactly that. I will read your manuscript from start to finish, and give you a written report on what I think of it, both its strengths and its weaknesses. It’ll be a tidy, polite and professional report, but will also be completely honest and frank where necessary. I have over fifteen years of experience writing freelance editorial reports for major UK publishers, and mainstream publishing can be a difficult world where the standards are extremely high. Conversely, the opportunity to self-publish can lead some writers to rush into getting their book out into the world before it’s completely ready. It’s often hard to judge and assess your own work, and an independent assessment from an outside perspective can be a significant help in making your novel the best that it can be.
Whether you’re looking for an agent and a mainstream publishing deal, or aiming to self-publish, I can assess your novel and tell you where I think its strengths and weaknesses lie. I’ll be prepared to point out whatever problems I feel are present in the manuscript, and give you pointers and suggestions on ways to improve it, all to give your work a better chance of success. I can’t guarantee that you’ll like or agree with what I say, but my top priority will be finding a way of helping your work connect to an audience.
Services
Fiction
Action & Adventure
Epic Fantasy
Literary Fiction
Mystery & Crime
Romance
Space Opera
Urban Fantasy
Languages
English (UK)
English (US)
Certifications
- Professional member of Society for Editors and Proofreaders
- MA in Creative Writing (Pass with Merit) at the University of Manchester, UK
- Basic Proofreading (Distance Learning) from The Publisher's Training Centre, UK
Work experience
Self-employed
Jul, 2008 —
Present
I work as a proofreader and copy-editor of novels, frequently for major UK-based publishers.
Portfolio
A SOLDIER'S MISSION IN A RAVAGED WORLD: SURVIVE, RESCUE REBUILD.In a steel-and-lead-encased bunker twenty feet below gorund, a soldier waits for his final orders. On the surface, a bacterium has turned over 90% of the population into hyper-aggressive predators... read more
A SOLDIER'S MISSION IN A WORLD GONE TO HELL: SURVIVE, RESCUE, REBUILDHe has fought the fight, and run the race.But the enemies never stop coming, and the race has no finish line.It has been three months since Captain Lee Harden found the survivors at Camp Ryde... read more
A SOLDIER'S MISSION IN A WORLD GONE TO HELL: SURVIVE, RESCUE, REBUILDThis is the destiny of those who stand for others. Their honour will be bought in blood and pain.The Camp Ryder Hub is broken. Captain Lee Harden is nowhere to be found, and his allies are sc... read more
In this Sunday Times Top Ten bestselling memoir that 'reads like a thriller', (Joanna Lumley) Colour-Sargent Kailash Limbu shares a riveting account of his life as a Gurkha soldier-marking the first time in its two-hundred-year history that a soldier of the Br... read more
'Authentic, taut and compelling. Brookes is the real deal'Charles CummingFearing for his life, journalist Philip Mangan has gone into hiding from the Chinese agents who have identified him as a British spy. His reputation and life are in tatters. But when he i... read more
'A modern master'GuardianBen Cooper and his team from Derbyshire Constabulary's E Division return in this gripping new page-turner from the master of the genre.For the Peak District hamlet of Shawhead, there's only one road in and one road out. Its handful of ... read more
The Battle of Culloden has gone down in history as the last major battle fought on British soil: a vicious confrontation between Scottish forces supporting the Stuart claim to the throne and the English Royal Army. But this wasn't just a conflict between the S... read more
Paris at the time of the French Revolution was the world capital of science. Its scholars laid the foundations of today's physics, chemistry and biology. They were true revolutionaries: agents of an upheaval both of understanding and of politics. Many had an a... read more
From the international bestselling author of the Hugo and Nebula award-winning The Windup Girl, comes an electrifying thriller set in a world on the edge of collapse.WATER IS POWERThe American Southwest has been decimated by drought, Nevada and Arizona skirmis... read more
'For my money, Ken MacLeod is the current champion of the very smartest kind of New Space Opera... every variation on his themes produces something worth re-reading.' - LOCUS'MacLeod manages big Ideas (political and futurological) and propulsive action without... read more
'A joy to read' Amanda Craig'Shades of Cold Comfort Farm...Charming' GuardianEnglish Animals is a subversive, wry debut that fans of Marina Lewycka's A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian will love. When Mirka gets a job in a country house in rural England,... read more
'Bridget Jones's Diary for the millennial set' InStyle'Cheeky, sweet and serious' Psychologies'Will strike a chord with anyone who's survived their twenties' Red'A funny quarter-life crisis tale' Glamour---------Does your side-hustle pay the rent? Yes [ ] No [... read more
FIVE HEROES. NO HOPE. A WAR AGAINST DEVILS.Once a warrior queen, now a pariah among her own people, Cold Zosia wakes in the ashes of a burning city. Her vengeance has brought her to this - her heroic reputation in tatters, her allies scattered far and wide and... read more
SHORTLISTED FOR THE MCILVANNEY PRIZE FOR CRIME WRITING 2018"This is as close to a city without crime as mankind has ever seen."Ciudad de Cielo is the 'city in the sky', a space station where hundreds of scientists and engineers work in earth's orbit, building ... read more
I-NEWS TOP TEN DEBUTS NETGALLEY TOP FEBRUARY READSWRITER'S GUILD AWARDS NOMINEE'A proper page-turner! Suspenseful, mysterious, spooky and witty - and great fun' Justin Myers, author of The Last Romeo'Adventurous, magical, and very, very funny!' Emma Jane Unswo... read more
Two sisters and one betrayal that will carry across generations . . .In wartime Cornwall, 1943, a story between two sisters begins - the story of Adele and Amelia, and the heart-breaking betrayal that will divide them forever. Decades later, the efforts of one... read more
*** The new novel from the author of the highly acclaimed The Butchers of Berlin, soon to be a TV series ***Berlin, July 1944, a world of illicit jazz clubs, sexually generous young women, suspect art dealers, last-ditch zealots and a city defined by crumbling... read more
*** The new novel from the bestselling author of Anatomy of a Scandal – a brilliantly written and researched, tense, gripping, thought-provoking drama ***You think you have the perfect family. But everything can be broken.Liz and Jess have been friends for ten... read more
THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARDAILY TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOKS OF THE YEARLONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017What is being on form? How does it relate to feeling 'in the zone'? Are these states in the lap of the gods, a matter of which side of... read more
The million-copy bestselling author returns with a breathtaking thriller – now with exclusive new chapters to see how the story could have ended. This Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller has been updated with bonus chapters from B A Paris showing how she originally... read more
‘Haunting and evocative.’ Clare Mackintosh ‘A beautiful, stirring story of loss and obsession’ Lisa Jewell Some friendships are made to be broken Cornwall, summer of 1986. The Davenports, with their fast cars and glamorous clothes, living the dream in a breath... read more
'A ground-breaking and extraordinary novel . . . Hanrahan has an astonishing imagination' Peter McLean, author of Priest of Bones'Mind-blowingly stellar in every respect . . . Fantasy readers, be wise and buy this book, because there's simply nothing like it' ... read more
***Thrillers that race from the very first page***'Felix Francis' novels gallop along splendidly' Jilly Cooper ‘From winning post to top of the bestseller lists’ Sunday TimesHarrison Foster is a lawyer by training but works as a crisis manager for a London fir... read more
'Fabulous . . . Sure to be another fantasy classic' Huffington Post UK'The world Ryan has created for his new dragon adventure is a joy to visualise' SciFiNowThe White Drake's army has cut a bloody swathe across the world, leaving nothing but ash in its wake. ... read more
The brilliant new novel from the author of The Last Summer of the Water Strider ‘A sharp and very funny portrait of a brash era which is also a surprisingly tender take on flawed masculinity.’ Sarah Hughes, i paper ‘What a terrific novel - wickedly sharp, wild... read more
The third instalment in a gripping and atmospheric crime series set on a small island where there is no escape . . . ‘Gripping, clever and impossible to put down' ERIN KELLYINTRUDERS HERE ARE BOUND TO DIE . . . As the sun sets on a cold November evening, the t... read more
'Excellent . . . one of the most interesting and original fantasy worlds I've seen in years'ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY 'Brilliant' ROBIN HOBB, author of The Assassin's Apprentice TWO NATIONS AT WAR. A PRIZE BEYOND COMPARE. For generations, the Hundred Isles have built... read more
FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF OUR HOUSE, WINNER OF THE CRIME & THRILLER BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD'One of this summer's most anticipated thrillers' Stylist 'A clever, enjoyable follow up to Our House ... scarily plausible' Alison Flood, Observer'Guaranteed to hav... read more
Children of Ruin follows Adrian Tchaikovsky's extraordinary Children of Time, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award. It is set in the same universe, with a new cast of characters and a thrilling new narrative.It has been waiting through the ages.Now it's time .... read more
