Sophia Blackwell – Editor

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

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

• Agent representation

• Nominations, shortlistings or wins for Golden Crown, Lesfic Bard, Romance Writers of Australia and Kindle Storyteller 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, Unbound and others.

I have hosted six masterclass sessions for Bloomsbury on writing and publishing poetry and have recently 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.

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 one online consultation per project if necessary.

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 in most 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.' – Nonfiction author, published by Unbound

‘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