Sophia Blackwell – Editor

I am an editor, author and marketer with twenty years of in-house publishing experience and fifteen years of editorial consulting work. I have worked for four of the Big Six UK publishers and media companies.

In the past year, Reedsy authors have achieved the following for their projects after working with me:

• Representation by a literary agent

• A significant award from Amazon

* Golden Crown Literary Award wins

* Shortlistings for Golden Crown, Lesfic Bard, RWA and Watty Awards

• Acceptance of their manuscript by a leading academic publisher

I have edited international bestsellers including the most recent three books by philosopher Roman Krznaric from Penguin, three books in the Writers’ and Artists’ from Bloomsbury, and books published by Oxford University Press, Duke University Press, Pearson and others.

With all my authors, I provide a bespoke service including editorial assessment, development editing, copy-editing, with proofreading and synopses and back cover copy as additional, optional services. I provide an initial report of between one and two thousand words before full feedback to check in good time that we're in alignment. Every client is different and my approach reflects that.

A note on AI: My practice is 100% human-centred and I don't use AI. I hope my authors will either not use it or be transparent about how they did.

To see an example of how one client worked with me over the course of three books, please look up this delightful Reedsy blog: How I Won the £20,000 Kindle Storyteller Award in 2025.

I have hosted several masterclass sessions for Bloomsbury on writing and have lectured on writing and publishing with Oxford University, Falmouth University, City University London and University of the Third Age.

I also have five books of my own – one Big Six-published, one self-published and three published by independents – so I have experience from both sides of the fence.

My own writing has been published by Bloodaxe, Burning Eye, Muswell Press, Nine Arches, The Emma Press, Mslexia, Writers’ Forum and others. My 2022 guide to writing and publishing is available from Bloomsbury.

I specialise in LGBT+ fiction and non-fiction as I was getting clients who would find me by accident and realise (happily) that I was gay half-way through a project! However, I work across many other genres.

Feel free to get in touch! Here are some testimonials:

'Sophia is undoubtedly one of the most skilled editors I have worked with over the past decade.' – Nonfiction author, published by Penguin

'Her structural and copy-editing skills are thorough and thoughtful, with great attention to detail, and her approach to delivery was timely and effective.' – Fiction author, published by Hachette UK

‘Having worked with Sophia for several years in-house at Bloomsbury, I’ve sought her out several times on a freelance basis and am always thrilled with her wonderful expertise, excellent ideas and unfailing reliability.’ – Former Routledge, HarperCollins and Bloomsbury in-house editor, now freelance editor and writer