Editing and proofreading
I began editing not as you might imagine, through working on my own books, but during my career in the corporate side of the NHS. I was *that* person who ends up proofing documents, double-checking newsletters, rewriting reports to get the main points into half the space…
Now I am *that* person who edits my own novels – and sometimes I’m approached to edit other people’s, too.
Editing can encompass several different levels:
- a big-picture developmental edit or less detailed editorial assessment, which looks at things like the shape of the book, the character arcs, and the plot
- a structural edit, focusing specifically on improving the structure and keeping the reader engaged
- copy-editing, covering spelling, grammar, word repetition, inconsistencies, and potentially the flow of the language
- proofreading – a final pass to pick up anything which might have been missed before.
I have carried out all these operations on my own books – reshaping arcs, cutting chapters, moving scenes around, multiple revision passes – and if you think I can help you, please drop me a line on my contact form. I can offer a free sample edit of one hour as a starting point, and if you would like me to concentrate on a particular aspect, let me know.
I edit in British English. I specialise in mystery, crime, thriller, contemporary fiction, humorous fiction and non-fiction, since I read all these and consider I have a more complete knowledge of how they work structurally. I’d be happy to copy-edit or proof any genre, though.
Book formatting
I format my own ebooks using TextMate and Calibre (free software). It’s a finicky process, but it means that I can update my own ebooks at any time.
If you would like to produce an ebook, but don’t want to learn how to do it yourself, contact me to discuss. I can supply both .epub and .mobi files, as well as the source HTML file. I charge £12.50 per hour of work.
NB: you will need to supply the cover, plus any images you wish to be included, e.g. as chapter headers, and make sure that you have the appropriate licensing to use them.
If you would like to see what my own ebooks look like, please visit my Amazon author page and download a free sample.
The featured image is ‘The End’ by Stephen Nakatani, shared by permission of Creative Commons license 2.0. No changes were made.
