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Over 25+ years in publishing I have copy edited many books (fiction and non-fiction) and been editor of four newsstand magazines (including three history magazines). I’m a writer of history-related books and articles, including a weekly history newsletter. I have done the typesetting/formatting/layout (pick your preferred term!) for hundreds of books, ebooks and magazines. I also provide up-to-date advice on self-publishing. My business, Prepare to Publish Ltd, also offers a full book production service from first draft to press.
If you’ve reached at least the first draft stage, I’d love to hear about your book and help you take it forward for publication, whether you are self-publishing or taking it to agents or traditional publishers.
Editorial roles
Present:
- Editor, Discover Your Ancestors genealogy/social history magazine (and spinoff books), Discover Your Ancestors Publishing (2011–present); also typesetting in InDesign
- Editor, Local History News – journal of the British Association for Local History
- Production manager (project management, copy editing and typesetting/formatting in Indesign), The Right Book Company (2019–present)
- Typesetter/formatter in Indesign and Vellum, Edward Everett Root (2021–)
- Project manager, copy editor and typesetter/formatter in Indesign and PressBooks, Unbound (2017–present)
- Copy editor and typesetter in QuarkXPress (books and magazines), Hawker Publications (1999–present)
- Freelance editor and typesetter for numerous other publishers,organisations and private individuals.
Past:
- Executive editor, Your Family History magazine, Dennis Publishing (2015–2018)
- Writer, Your Family Tree (Future Publishing, 2005–2015)
- Fiction editor, Osiris Press (2005–2008)
- Associate/acting editor, Interviewer and Negotiator magazines, Inside Communications/Trinity Mirror (1999–2003)
- Associate editor, The Chalkface Project (1999–2000)
- Assistant editor, Methodist Recorder newspaper (1996–1998)
- Editor, PCW Plus magazine, Future Publishing (1995–1996)
Memberships
- Professional member, Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading
- Associate member, Alliance of Independent Authors
- Member, Independent Publishers Guild
- Member, Society of Authors
- Associate member, Historical Writers’ Association
- Publishing committee member, British Association for Local History
Subject areas
- antiquarian
- book design
- British history
- British landscape
- British travel
- ebooks
- family history
- folklore
- formatting
- genealogy
- Great Britain
- heritage
- hiking
- historical fiction
- historical memoir
- historical mysteries
- literary biography
- literary history
- local history
- museums
- page layout
- psychogeography
- self-publishing
- social history
- topography
- typesetting
- walking
Some recent projects
C = copy editing, T = typesetting/formatting/layout
- A Hidden Life/Unhistoric Acts/Unvisited Tombs, Mia Emilie (historical fiction trilogy) C
- Beatrice and Alexander, Valerie Mendes (historical fiction) T
- Bleak Health: The medical history of Charles Dickens and his family, Nicholas Cambridge T
- Blood on the Stone, Jake Lynch (historical fiction) CT
- From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice: The Longsword Techniques of Fiore dei Liberi (historical martial arts) C
- Go West, David Quantick (contemporary fiction) CT
- His Own Executioner: The Life of Nigel Balchin, Derek Collett (literary biography) T
- Killing Beauties, Pete Langman (historical fiction) CT
- Raiders of the Hidden Ark: The story of the Parker expedition to Jerusalem, Graham Addison (history/archaeology) CT
- Simba Chai, Sir Michael McWilliam (history of Kenyan tea industry) T
- The Continuity Girl, Patrick Kincaid (contemporary fiction) CT
- The Great White South, Herbert G. Ponting (new edition of exploration memoir) T
- The Knight Who Invented Champagne, Stephen Skelton (historical biography) T
- The Making of Lewis Carroll’s Alice and the Invention of Wonderland, Peter Hunt (literary history) C
- The Sheriff’s Catch, James Vella-Bardon (historical fiction) CT
- Today South London, Tomorrow South London, Andrew Grumbridge & Vince Raison (British travel/psychogeography/walking) CT
- To Survive is Victory: One Man’s Struggle to Forge a New China 1918–1980, Lin Xiangbei (modern history memoir) CT
- Way of the Rings: A cycle guide tracing the Neolithic from the Lake District to Stonehenge, Kathie Knell (British travel/history) CT
- Widening the Sphere: Mid-to-Late Victorian Popular Fiction, Gender Representation and Canonicity, Anna J. Brecke T
- Wolf Trap, Alan Hescott (historical fiction) CT