Sophie Bradshaw – Ghostwriter

As Publisher for general history, I planned and implemented a successful publishing strategy, with full responsibility for the profit and loss of a trade publishing division. I have a keen sense of emerging trends, excellent people skills and an intuitive understanding of the global book publishing market. This enabled me to use the contacts I have built up in the industry to develop my list into a commercially viable section of the business. I managed a team of four commissioning editors and commissioned between 10 and 12 titles of my own each year.

Following the birth of my children, I worked as a freelance commissioning editor of illustrated non-fiction, history and military history titles, originating and developing new series ideas, commissioning books to order and consulting on publishing strategy. During this time I had a proven track record of initiating new and innovative ideas and following through with strong business plans. I commissioned authors to write to a specific brief for my nostalgia series A 1950s Childhood, which has sold over 300,000 copies to date.

This role involved commissioning and project managing a list of over 40 titles per year. I also worked with charities, museums and other companies on licensing agreements, licensed foreign rights deals, worked with agents and authors to negotiate contracts, and ensured the ongoing performance of the backlist through paperbacking frontlist titles and managing automatic stock replenishment systems and reprints. I managed editorial staff to ensure projects were brought in on time and to budget. I was responsible for negotiating print quotes, picture fees and author advances, as well as liaising with internal sales and marketing staff in order to get the most out of the product.

I wrote recipes and regular food columns, including restaurant and hotel reviews, for several newspapers and magazines, including Derbyshire Life, Cotswold Essence, The Burton Mail, The Bath Chronicle and The Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard. As a writer for Cotswold Essence, I was responsible for sourcing ideas, researching and developing them into reader-friendly content.

I am a writing coach, ghostwriter and editor. Through one-to-one coaching, bespoke book planning workshops, group courses and ghostwriting, I help non-fiction authors who want to write a book but don't know where to start. I also offer structural editing for authors who have a finished or partial draft that needs substantial work. I am an experienced indexer and food writer.