Visit my business website to hire me.
Over 30+ years in publishing I have copy edited many books (fiction and non-fiction, but I now only work on the latter) and been editor of five newsstand magazines (including four 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
- Editor/publisher, Northern Earth – journal about archaeology, folklore, psychogeography and our relationship with landscape
- 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–)
- Copy editor/proofreader and typesetter, Watkins Books (2023–present)
- Copy editor and typesetter (books and magazines), Hawker Publications (1999–present)
- Freelance editor and typesetter for many other publishers, organisations and private individuals.
Past:
- Project manager, copy editor and typesetter/formatter, Unbound (2017–2022)
- 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
- antiquarianism
- book design
- British history
- British landscape
- British travel
- ebooks
- family history
- folklore
- formatting
- genealogy
- Great Britain
- heritage
- hiking
- historical memoir
- historical mysteries
- literary biography
- literary history
- local history
- museums
- page layout
- psychogeography
- self-publishing
- social history
- topography
- typesetting
- walking
Some history-related book projects I’ve been involved with
C = copy editing, T = typesetting/formatting/layout
- A Hidden Life/Unhistoric Acts/Unvisited Tombs, Mia Emilie (historical fiction trilogy) C
- The Art of Walking in London, Alison O’Byrne (social history) C
- The Ascott Martyrs, ed. Keith Laybourn (rural/union history) CT
- 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
- The Chester Book Club, 1824 (social history) T
- The First NHS, Emma Snow (medical/social history and biography) C
- From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice: The Longsword Techniques of Fiore dei Liberi (historical martial arts) C
- George Canning is My Son, Julian Crowe (historical biography) CT
- Go West, David Quantick (contemporary fiction) CT
- The Great White South, Herbert G. Ponting (new edition of exploration memoir) T
- His Own Executioner: The Life of Nigel Balchin, Derek Collett (literary biography) T
- In Pursuit of a Better Life: A New Englander on the Western Frontier, Liz Peretz (historical biography) CT
- Killing Beauties, Pete Langman (historical fiction) CT
- 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
- A New Life of Anne Brontë, Edward Chitham (literary biography) T
- Raiders of the Hidden Ark: The story of the Parker expedition to Jerusalem, Graham Addison (history/archaeology) CT
- Sailing for the Empire, David Peretz (historical biography) CT
- The Sheriff’s Catch, James Vella-Bardon (historical fiction) CT
- Simba Chai, Sir Michael McWilliam (history of Kenyan tea industry) T
- 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
- Town: Prints and Drawings of Britain Before 1800, Bernard Nurse (topographical history) C
- Walberswick People and Houses 1870–1930, Edward Wright (local history) CT
- Way of the Rings: A cycle guide tracing the Neolithic from the Lake District to Stonehenge, Kathie Knell (British travel/history) CT
- Weird Walk (archaeology, folklore) T
- Where the Victorians Got Their Reading, ed. Frederick Nesta (social/literary history) T
- Widening the Sphere: Mid-to-Late Victorian Popular Fiction, Gender Representation and Canonicity, Anna J. Brecke T
- Wolf Trap, Alan Hescott (historical fiction) CT