Dave Watkins – Editor

I am a diligent, successful and highly skilled editor with over twenty-five years' in-house experience, eleven of which were at Faber and Faber in a number of senior roles, and for whom I rewrote their house rules. I have extensive experience as both a managing editor and a commissioning editor. My last role was editorial director for Footnote Press. I offer discrete services such as copy-editing or proofreading; alternatively, I can take your draft through the entire process, including typesetting, and return print-ready files. I am equally comfortable editing adult fiction, non-fiction and poetry. For non-fiction, I have considerable knowledge of general history and popular music – one of my clients is Paul McCartney, and I helped to establish the award-winning Faber Social list – and fiction-wise, I'm most at home with literary fiction. I'm also a sucker for humour.

‘Dave is a great editor. He’s perceptive and responsive. He has good suggestions about structure. He’s a steady hand and a clear head in a crisis. I really enjoyed working with Dave at Faber and Faber and would unreservedly recommend him to others.’ Simon Reynolds, author of Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984

‘Dave worked with me as editor on two of my books for Faber and Faber – Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany and Mars by 1980: The History of Electronic Music. The success of both of these books was greatly assisted by his friendly encouragement and input in shaping the text. I felt that he was a tremendous asset and a great ally, thanks to his own broad knowledge, as well as his experience of the publishing world.’ David Stubbs

‘I didn’t seek him out, David found me, publishing in academic peer-reviewed journals and for university presses. He then showed enough belief in me as a writer to see me through the difficult transition to trade-book publication. His guidance and support were instrumental in taking A Band with Built-In Hate: The Who from Pop Art to Punk and Pin-Ups 1972: Third Generation Rock 'n' Roll from idea to completion. More than this, he gave me the confidence to trust in my own voice as a writer.’ Peter Stanfield