Fiction and Non-Fiction authors

Our Book Editors

Our team of professional book editors specialise in all fiction genres across adult, children’s, middle grade, and Young Adult manuscripts, plus non-fiction projects, including memoirs.

Turnaround times from 2 weeks

All Editors

Getting feedback from an experienced external editor is the best way to improve a manuscript. Traditional publishers have always relied on the personal interaction between editor and author as a way to hone their works. Modern digital-first publishers use the exact same model. The best self-published authors all employ third-party editors too.
And that same service is available to you to, with standards that meet or exceed the quality threshold of the world’s Big 5 publishers.
If you want to dive straight into a review of our editors, you can do so here [ANCHOR LINK: to editor search]. Otherwise, read on to understand what editors do, what you need to do – and how to find the editor that’s going to be right for you and your book.

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Book editing isn’t a single process. At a large commercial publisher, a single manuscript will go through at least three editorial stages, and maybe more. You almost certainly don’t need that level of input, but you do need to know what the different services are, so you can understand what’s right for you.

Almost all writers should start with manuscript assessment. It’s quite likely to be the only editorial service they ever need. (Manuscript assessments are also called editorial assessments or structural feedback. Minor differences aside, these all refer to the same thing.)

A manuscript assessment offers deep analysis of every major element of your book: plot, character, settings, pacing, prose style, and more. Your editor won’t rewrite the book for you (that’s definitely your job), but they will tell you, in detail, what’s working, what’s not working, and how to fix the bits that aren’t yet right. You’ll be given plenty of examples and whatever further editorial advice seems helpful. The emphasis is always on constructive, actionable feedback.

At Jericho Writers, our editorial reports are a minimum of 3,000 words long. All of our editors are very experienced. We don’t work with anyone who doesn’t meet our standards and we have a superb track record of helping writers through to publication.
The service is suitable for all works of fiction and non-fiction, including memoir and including Young Adult or Middle Grade fiction for kids. Details of our children’s manuscript assessment can be found here.

If you are on a budget and only want an opening section review, then we can offer that too – it’s the same basic service but involves less text and shorter reports.

A developmental edit (or “dev edit”) involves everything you get from a manuscript assessment, but also includes detailed line-by-line comments on your manuscript and a one-hour follow up by phone with your editor.

This is the most rigorous, most challenging – and most costly – version of editing. It’s really suitable only for authors who are confident that their manuscripts are getting close to publication-ready. It’s conventionally the last (optional) step before submission to agents.
If you’re not sure whether developmental editing is right for you, you can book a free consultation with one of our team. In most cases, we’ll be likely to guide you to a cheaper option.

Copy editing is the most common form of text correction for authors. Copy-editing will focus on eliminating grammatical and factual errors in the text and will improve overall readability and consistency within your writing. Your editor will make changes using tracked changes (or a suitable alternative) directly onto your manuscript.

Some form of copy-editing is essential if you are planning to self-publish. If you are aiming to submit to traditional publishers via agents, you probably don’t need copy-editing, unless there are specific reasons otherwise (for example, dyslexia, or writing in English as a foreign language.)

If you want a deeper version of copy-editing – one that also tackles clumsily written sentences and aims to improve flow and clarity – you can ask for line-editing.

Proof reading is the lightest form of text correction and is really only suitable for text that has already been copy-edited and for authors who want a near-perfect manuscript prior to publication. The editor will identify simple typos or in-text errors. You will receive a marked-up manuscript, however any changes will be minimal compared to the other text correction services.

Seeking editorial advice should not be a passive process. On the contrary: the magic happens in the interaction between you and your editor.

To get the most from your editor, you should do as much as you can on the book before submitting it to us. So don’t just reach the final full-stop, then send the book out. You need to self-edit your work as rigorously as you can first. That way, the editor will be solving genuinely difficult and important problems, not just things that you could have found and solved by yourself.

As a rough rule of thumb, you should continue to self-edit your work until either you find yourself going round in circles or you know there’s something not quite right, but you can’t confidently identify the issue. That’s the point at which you will get maximum benefit from a professional editor.

And when you receive your feedback – be prepared! The typical reactions include a mixture of shock – you wanted the book to be perfect, and it isn’t – and relief. The relief comes from finally understanding what the issues are and being given a path to fixing them. Be assured that the relief (and energy release) will soon take over from any initial shock.

Our editors are all either:

A) Experienced editors from major publishing houses; or B) Experienced authors.

We make extensive use of professional authors, for the same reason that carpenters are usually the best people to teach carpentry: this is a practical task, and you’ll often get the best advice from hands-on, working practitioners.

That said, we also use well-qualified editors from publishing houses, but only those with a real passion for the task of editing itself. (Although the job title is ‘editor’, in practice the role covers management of the entire publication process from acquisition to production to marketing.)

As a very broad guide, authors often make the best editors for newer writers (where the practitioner-type advice is most important) and publisher-editors often make the best editors for later stage writers (where knowledge of the publishing market becomes more relevant.) But that’s a broad rule only. We allocate manuscripts to editors based on genre, author, specific editorial issues, an editor’s specific experience and passions, and so on. It’s our job to find the right editor for you.

We don’t use any editor who doesn’t meet our standards, and we check every editorial report before it goes out to the client. We aim to be the best and work hard to make sure we live up to that aim.

The cost of an editorial service is dependent on the service you require and your wordcount. The services that require a lighter editorial touch, such as proofreading, will be on the cheaper end of the scale. However, the more in-depth level of editing you need, the more expensive the fee will be. When you choose your editorial service, just enter your wordcount for an immediate quote.

Some authors will find they need another round of edits even after purchasing a professional review. This is normal – and unlike some other online companies, we are very upfront about that. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll need to pay for a second or third professional edit – you may be able to handle another round of edits yourself or with the help of a beta reader. But you should be prepared to go on editing until the day your book is published. (Your book will get better with every round of edits.)

At Jericho Writers, we pride ourselves in providing services we would value ourselves, with editors we truly believe in. So if you’re in any doubt about whether your manuscript is in fact ready for a professional edit, then get in touch with our Writer Support team, and we’ll offer you honest (and free) advice on your next steps.

We’re confident that we’re the best at what we do. That’s why we offer a guarantee for all the editorial work we undertake.

We promise:

To give you a stringent, in-depth editorial report.
To use an expert book editor with authority in the industry.
To consider the market for your manuscript.
To be honest and constructive.
To respect your copyright.
To pitch your work to agents on your behalf if, in our view, it is strong enough to be marketed. We will always seek your permission first.
To advise you honestly and in good faith.

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View some of our book editors

Over the last 20 years we have built up a list of professional book editors of the highest calibre. From bestselling authors themselves, to former commissioning editors, literary agents, and Big 5 Publishers, our book editors have years of experience working with all fiction genres across adult, children’s, middle grade, and Young Adult, and non-fiction projects, including memoirs.

Holly Seddon

Editor | Tutor | Author • International bestselling author

Bio
Books
Genres
Awards

Holly is an international bestselling author with five published novels to date.

Holly is the international bestselling author of ‘Try Not to Breathe,’ ‘Don’t Close Your Eyes,’, ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, (Corvus) ‘The Hit List’ and ‘The Woman on the Bridge’ (Orion).

After growing up in the English countryside obsessed with music and books, Holly worked in London as a journalist and editor. She now lives in South East England with her family. Alongside fellow author Gillian McAllister, Holly co-hosts the popular Honest Authors Podcast.

Thriller
Contemporary
Literary
Bookclub
Women's fiction
Short stories
Novellas

International bestselling author

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Philip Womack

Editor | Tutor | Author • Author & contributing editor to Literary Review

Philip is the author of The Other Book and The Liberators (Bloomsbury). The Liberators was a Children’s Book of the Year for 2010. He teaches Creative Writing to BA and MA students at London University, and has been a literary critic for nearly twenty years, as well as a freelance journalist for a variety of national newspapers and magazines, writing on topics such as education and literature, and even an article on pyjamas for Tatler magazine. He is currently on the Management Committee of the Society of Authors and a Contributing Editor to Literary Review.

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Dexter Petley

Editor | Author • Former commissioning editor

Dexter is the acclaimed author of a number of novels: Little Nineveh (Polygon 1995), Joyride (Fourth Estate, 1999), White Lies (Fourth Estate 2003) and One True Void (Two Ravens Press 2008).

Dexter is an experienced editor, literary novelist, memoirist and translator. He publishes regularly and is now considered to be one of our most original British nature writers. Dexter lives in a yurt in Normandy.

As a long serving editor with Jericho Writers, (since 2005) many of Dexter’s clients have achieved considerable success in finding agents and publishers. Among them is Costa shortlisted novelist, Elisa Lodato.

All Editors

Not sure which service or editor is right for your manuscript?

Book a call with our Writers Support team, we’d be happy to help you find the right service and editor for you and your book.

Brian Kimberling

Brian Kimberling is the author of two novels published in the US and UK, by Pantheon and Tinder Press respectively. He has also written for The New York Times, NPR, and others. Brian’s first novel, Snapper, about an aimless ornithologist in southern Indiana, was one of NPR’s Best Books of 2013. His second novel, Goulash, which is set in Prague, was also translated into Czech. Brian has an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University and a long history of teaching, mentoring, collaborating with, or otherwise consorting with fresh distinctive talent. He has worked extensively in publishing and journalism. He has also written and produced three plays. His interests include short stories, climate change writing, and contemporary British domestic fiction. Every couple of years Brian re-reads The Odyssey and cooks the food Odysseus eats in between reads. Brian was born in southern Indiana, but for the last twenty years he has called southwestern England home.

Deirdre Power

Deirdre began her publishing career in a literary agency, working with children’s authors ranging from Tom Fletcher and David Farr to debut novelists and upcoming new authors. Since then, she has gone on to work in children’s editorial at major publishing houses, working across everything from picture books to YA. She has worked with upcoming debuts launching in 2023 and 2024 and on high profile authors such as Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, Ravena Guron, and David Farr. She also works on a freelance basis on submission packages and manuscripts. Deirdre brings a keen editorial eye and in-depth knowledge of the market, and spends more time reading children’s fiction than anything else. Having worked in both a literary agency and a publishers, she has a strong understanding of how the process works from both sides, and what both agents and editors are hungry to read. Before her start in publishing, Deirdre was a children’s bookseller for many years and tutored in creative writing while she earned her MPhil in Children’s Literature from Trinity College Dublin.

Richard Roper

Richard is an experienced senior commissioning editor for non-fiction at Headline (part of Hachette UK), where he has published a number of Sunday Times bestsellers. Richard is also a novelist. His debut, Something to Live For, was published by Orion (UK) and Penguin (US), and has sold in twenty languages. Something to Live For (commercial reading group fiction) was a Barnes & Noble book of the month and was optioned for TV. The New York Times said, ‘I love this book with my whole heart.’ His second novel, When We Were Young, came out in 2021. As an editor at Headline, he works mainly in biography and narrative non-fiction. He has published memoirs by comedians James Acaster, Miles Jupp, Katy Wix, and Joel Dommett. He has also worked with the likes of Dave Davies of The Kinks, sports stars Steven Gerrard and Andy Murray, brands like Downton Abbey, and quirky narratives such as A Tomb With a View by Peter Ross – recently awarded Scottish Non-Fiction book of the year. Find Richard on Twitter here: @richardroper

Kate Rizzo

Kate Rizzo works as a Rights Director at a London literary agency, and has worked at agencies her entire publishing career. Her role in selling an author’s work abroad gives her a keen eye for what a manuscript needs to find a publishing home and captivate readers. She has sold translation rights for writers like Laura Barnett, Lucy Clarke, Kate Davies, Joseph Knox, Maria Realf, Holly Seddon, Clare Swatman, and Sarah Waters, and has worked for a number of bestselling writers in genres as broad as crime/thriller, women’s fiction, literary, memoir, narrative non-fiction and the sciences. Find Kate on Twitter here: @KateRizzz

Vee Walker

Love of family history was the start point for Vee Walker’s unique début novel Major Tom’s War (Kashi House), which evolved from a narrative non-fiction account of an unlikely WWI courtship into gripping historical fiction. Her unexpected success at the SAHR Military History Fiction Awards in October 2019 led her to undertake a solo book tour of India. Vee writes both fiction and non-fiction. Her novels are so closely based on archive material that they can be used as academic source texts.Vee honed her writing/editing skills as a heritage consultant for 20+ years, working with museums and natural/cultural/historic sites throughout the UK. Her poetry and descriptive writing can be found within unusual interpretive installations on mountains, in forests and along the coast. She was also commissioned to write pieces of site-based drama by The Royal Geographical Society (Antarctic Science, 2001), British Waterways (the AHI Caliba Award-winning Harry’s Cut, set on the 1950s Birmingham canals network, 2002), and The National Trust for Scotland (#FindAleckie, 2019). Vee often runs creative writing workshops. Find Vee on Twitter here: @veewalkerwrites

Katy Massey

Katy was a journalist for 15 years before studying for an MA and PhD in Creative Writing from Newcastle University. Her memoir, Are we home yet? (Jacaranda Books) was published in 2020 and praised by Bernardine Evaristo as ‘a gem’. It was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize and the Portico Prize. In addition, her fiction and nonfiction has been widely anthologised, including Common People edited by Kit de Waal from Unbound, The Place for Me, published by Scholastic, and upcoming speculative collection Glimpse, from Peepal Tree Press. She has recently delivered her first novel, an unusual take on the crime genre, to her agent. It features Maureen, a hard-drinking but tender-hearted brothel-keeper in 1970s Leeds. She becomes unexpectedly drawn into the murder of a friend’s son, events which take place against the disturbing back drop of the Yorkshire Ripper’s murder spree. Find Katy on twitter here: @TangledRoots1

Clare Coombes

Clare Coombes is an author, editor and literary agent with over 15 years’ experience of writing and editing professionally. She is a co-founder of the first Liverpool-based literary agency, who has already closed a number of major multi-book deals for debut authors since launching in late 2020. Clare is a published author of two novels, Definitions (2015) and We Are of Dust (2018) – which received development funding from the Liverpool Film Office for a TV adaptation. Her experience spans the breadth of editorial services and includes work across a variety of forms including full fiction manuscripts, anthologies, non-fiction proposals and pitches for film and TV. She also has a background in PR and marketing, alongside teaching roles on creative writing programmes, including at post-graduate level, on topics from approaching an agent to self-editing. Find Clare’s agency on Twitter here: @LiverpoolLit

Louise Tondeur

Louise Tondeur writes fiction, poetry, plays and nonfiction and has supported countless numbers of writers with both written and verbal feedback. Before doing a Creative Writing MA at The University of East Anglia, she trained as a Drama teacher and brings her knowledge of the theatre into her conversations with emerging writers. In the noughties, she published two novels with Headline Review called The Water’s Edge and The Haven Home for Delinquent Girls, then she did a PhD at the Reading University, started a family, and became a Creative Writing lecturer, while publishing mainly poetry and nonfiction. In 2017, she left her full-time job to focus on writing. Her short story collection, Unusual Places (Cultured Llama), came out in 2018 and she is currently working on a series of crime novels set in Norfolk / Suffolk border country where her grandparents lived for 40 years. Louise now lives near Brighton with her wife, son, and two black cats and teaches on the Open University’s Creative Writing MA. She blogs at: www.louisetondeur.co.uk Find Louise on Twitter here: @LouiseTondeur

Dexter Petley

Dexter is the acclaimed author of a number of novels: Little Nineveh (Polygon 1995), Joyride (Fourth Estate, 1999), White Lies (Fourth Estate 2003) and One True Void (Two Ravens Press 2008). Dexter is an experienced editor, literary novelist, memoirist and translator. Self-educated, he spent many years wandering Africa, Europe and America until settling in France in 1994. He worked as a teacher in a Ugandan missionary school and as a roving reporter for the BBC World Service before publishing his first novel in 1995. Since then, Dexter has become the acclaimed author of a number of novels, a translation, literary non-fiction and a memoir of childhood. He is one of the founding writers on the cult website Caught By The River, contributing chapters to both their nature anthologies. He publishes regularly and is now considered to be one of our most original British nature writers. Dexter lives in a yurt in Normandy. As a long serving editor with Jericho Writers, (since 2005) many of Dexter’s clients have achieved considerable success in finding agents and publishers. Among them is Costa shortlisted novelist, Elisa Lodato.

Sharon Zink

Dr Sharon Zink is a former English Literature academic, having studied at London and Cambridge, who has over eleven years’ experience of editing and creative writing teaching. Her first novel, Welcome to Sharonville (Unthank Books, 2014), was longlisted for The Guardian First Book Award and is currently being developed as a TV series. She has won numerous awards, such as being named as Young Poet of the Year and Writers Inc. Writer of the Year, as well as being shortlisted three times for The New Writer Short Story Award and for The Raymond Carver Prize. She is very proud that many of her clients have gone on to get agents and deals, including bestselling authors, Amanda Prowse and Kathryn Hughes, as well as the twice Macmillan-published, Mark Gartside, and Kate Glanville, whose books are with Accent and Penguin US. She has recently helped Helen Fisher’s novel become the lead title for Simon and Schuster in 2020. Find Sharon on Twitter here: @SharonZink

Philip Womack

Philip is the author of The Other Book and The Liberators (Bloomsbury). The Liberators was a Children’s Book of the Year for 2010. Philip Womack was born in Sussex, and educated at Lancing and Oriel College, Oxford, where he read Classics and English. After graduating, he worked at Literary Review for four years, before becoming freelance in 2008 on publication of his first novel, The Other Book. Six novels for children followed, including The Liberators, The Double Axe and The Arrow of Apollo, and his first non-fiction work for adults, How to Teach Classics to Your Dog, was published in October 2020. He teaches Creative Writing to BA and MA students at London University, and has been a literary critic for nearly twenty years, as well as a freelance journalist for a variety of national newspapers and magazines, writing on topics such as education and literature, and even an article on pyjamas for Tatler magazine. He is currently on the Management Committee of the Society of Authors and a Contributing Editor to Literary Review. Find Philip on Twitter here: @WomackPhilip

Louise Walters

Louise is the author of Mrs Sinclair’s Suitcase (Hodder & Stoughton, 2014), A Life Between Us (2017) and The Road to California (2018). She is also an editor, mentor, and publisher. Louise set up her indie imprint, Louise Walters Books, in 2017 and publishes novels and novellas. Dominic Brownlow (The Naseby Horses, 2019) was recommended to Louise by fellow Jericho Writers editor Susan Davis after Susan critiqued his novel; and Louise critiqued a novel by S J Norbury in 2019, and subsequently offered to publish it, an offer accepted by S J. Mrs Narwhal’s Diary was published by Louise Walters Books in 2021. Louise has a degree in Literature from the Open University, is an alumni of the Jericho Writers Self Edit Your Novel course (2013), and was a volunteer with the Womentoring Project. Louise lives near Banbury, with her family. Find Louise on Twitter here: @LouiseWalters12

Jane Struthers

Jane Struthers has been writing books since her teens and ghosted her first book for A Very Famous Person in her twenties. Jane first made it into print under her own name in 1990 and since then has written over 30 non-fiction books that have been published by Ebury Press, Godsfield Press and Watkins Books, among others. Her book on the British countryside, Red Sky at Night, was named a Hatchards Book of the Year in 2010. As well as writing on a wide variety of general topics, Jane specializes in Mind, Body, Spirit subjects, including astrology, tarot, palmistry and healing. Jane recently trained as a homeopath but has yet to write about it. She is a non-fiction editor as well as a writer, so understands books from both sides of the writing process. Her books include Beside the Seaside, The Book of Christmas, The Palmistry Bible, The Psychic’s Bible, Attracting Abundance, The Wisdom of Trees Oracle and Moonpower.

Kathie Weaver

Kathie is a screenplay, fiction, and nonfiction editor with more than 20 years of experience working with first-time writers to Academy Award and Pulitzer Prize winners. At DreamWorks Pictures and The Mount/Kramer Company, she developed scripts for highly-acclaimed writers and directors, including Horton Foote, Sydney Lumet, Roman Polanski, William Friedkin, Philip Noyce, and others. She has vast experience mentoring both beginning and seasoned screenwriters and authors through all stages of the writing process, from concept to final draft. A former film editor, Kathie studied English literature at Northwestern University and screenwriting at Columbia University. Kathie’s own script, Loco Weda, was optioned by The Mount Company, and she is currently working on a novel and an oral history of homeless women, called Women Outside. She lives on Bainbridge Island, a ferry ride away from Seattle, Washington.

Paul Roberts

Paul Roberts is a writer and business consultant with a love for effective communication. His first book was published by The Economist in 2007 and is now in its third edition. He has had several further books published by Kogan Page, forming part of their hugely influential ‘Business Success’ series. Paul’s latest non-fiction book has been published by Routledge in their ‘Absolute Essentials’ series, causing Paul to realise, if ever proof was needed, that it is far harder to write a short book than a long one. Paul writes frequently for magazines and professional publications as diverse as the Independent, Evening Standard, Maxim and Viz comic. He has also written for television. He has a novel nearing completion. As a reviewer, editor and teacher of creative writing, he has supported developing writers for many years.

Emily Randle

Emily runs her own Editing and Rights Consulting business, working alongside indie authors, indie publishers and consulting for big name international literary agencies.During her time at the agency, she worked with best-selling authors such as Stephen Fry, Paula Hawkins, Owen Jones, Carole Matthews, Sarah Vaughan and Rosie Walsh, alongside national treasure children’s authors such as Michael Morpurgo and Jacqueline Wilson. She was runner up for the David Miller Bursary in the Deborah Rogers Rights Award 2017. At the start of 2020, Emily launched her own freelance book editing and rights selling business under the name Randle Editorial & Literary Consultancy. She also regularly consults for big literary agencies such as Janklow & Nesbit and Johnson & Alcock, in both Rights and Primary Agenting departments.

Anastasia Parkes

Anastasia has an MA in English Literature from Oxford and has lived in London, Venice and Cairo. She has worked as a temp, a nursery teacher and most recently a defence lawyers’ secretary. Anastasia Parkes is an Oxford educated 50-something wife and mother of three living in Hampshire . She has two creative personae: as Anastasia she writes ‘human interest’ articles for The Times, The Daily Mail, The Lady and The Tablet where her schtick is to tackle, with humour and honesty, intensely personal topics such as single motherhood, older parenthood, living with multiple sclerosis, and life as a young English teacher in 1980s Cairo. Many of these are explored in her short story collection Stabbing the Rain and two novels (written under the pseudonym Maria Lucas) Daddy’s Girl and Loved Ones which are all available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon. Primula Bond is her alter ego and the successful author of the classy and explosive erotic romance trilogy The Silver Chain, The Golden Locket and The Diamond Ring, published by Harper Collins. Primula has delivered workshops at the York Festival of Writing and Eroticon in Bristol on how to write sex scenes and Anastasia has taught general short story techniques. Find Anastasia on Twitter here: @AnastasiaParkes Find Primula on Twitter here: @PrimulaBond

Martin Ouvry

Martin is a writer, editor, teacher and musician. He has twenty years’ experience as a writer, reviewer, manuscript assessor, structural editor, writing teacher, line-editor, copy-editor and proofreader. His fiction has appeared in a range of world-renowned publications including Esquire, The London Magazine and New Writing (Picador). Martin has received numerous prizes for his work, including first- and final-year prizes for outstanding achievement in the School of English and American Studies (UEA BA), the Alumni Association prize for fiction (UEA MA), a Hawthornden Fellowship, two Arts Council writer’s awards, and a Wingate Scholarship in literature. He has taught widely, for the British Council, the Arts Council, at City, University of London, UEA, Holland Park School and elsewhere. He recently completed his novel Frugality with the generous support of Arts Council England.

Liz Monument

Liz Monument writes all kinds of fiction, including SF, historical, and horror. She believes that the mechanics of fiction are identical whether you’re writing literary, genre, or hybrids, and that the same principles can be applied to improve a manuscript regardless of its subject matter or style. Liz’s debut novel was short-listed for Mslexia Magazine’s unpublished novel competition in 2013, becoming a talking book in 2014 (Audible.co.uk), and a paperback in 2015 (Fahrenheit Press). Liz’s second novel ‘Iteration’ (Fahrenheit Press) was on the submissions list for the Arthur C Clarke Award, 2018. Her third novel, written for a PhD in Creative Writing, is a genre-bending fusion of dystopian, historical, SF and literary fiction. Liz specialised in adult education and taught in the creative arts field for 22 years before becoming a full-time novelist and editor. As of 2021, Liz is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Lesley McDowell

Lesley is the author of fiction and non-fiction as well as short stories and was a literary critic for major newspapers. Lesley is the author of two novels, The Picnic (Black & White Publishing), and Unfashioned Creatures (Saraband), with a third novel forthcoming 2023-24. She has also published non-fiction, Between the Sheets: The Literary Liaisons of Nine 20th Century Women Writers (Overlook Press), and for many years was a literary critic, reviewing regularly for The Independent on Sunday, The Sunday Herald, the Scotsman, The Times Literary Supplement, and others, before turning to full-time editorial consultancy. She is the recipient of three Creative Scotland awards, a Society of Authors grant, and was Writer in Residence at Gladstone’s Library in 2014. She has been a judge for several literary awards, and chairs regularly at book festivals. Her agent is Ian Drury at Sheil Land Associates. You can find her on Twitter @LesleyMcDowell1, or on Instagram at lesleywrites.

Mark Leggatt

Mark is a manuscript assessor, editor and author who’s twice topped Blackwell’s bestseller list. He began his writing career taking advice and receiving manuscript assessments by professionals on his own debut novel, so he knows what it takes to become published and secure an agent. He’s the author of five books and an Associate Editor for Fledgling Press. Mark has produced detailed editorial reports, manuscript assessments and submission reviews for clients in the UK, EU and North America. He also provides expert advice on submission packs, and how to grab the reader from the first page of your novel. As an author, he is represented by literary agent Jon Wood at RCW. Mark has appeared at literary festivals in the UK, US and the EU, and also performs improv as part of the author touring group Four Blokes in Search of a Plot.

Jenny Knight

Jenny Knight is a prize-winning writer of short story and memoir and a contributor to the celebrated Common People anthology, edited by Kit de Waal (Unbound, May 2019). An experienced editor, copy-writer, copy-editor and proofreader, she’s enjoyed 25 years’ successful freelancing for publishers including Macmillan, Simon & Schuster and Routledge, and her writing on writing and the publishing world has appeared in Book Machine, National Writers’ Centre and Restless. Jenny was selected for PenguinRH WriteNow 2018, a 2019 Arts Council/TLC Award, is a NCW Case Study and has won or been shortlisted in competitions including Bridport, Fish, Arvon, ACE/Escalator, Yeovil, Riptide and SWWJ. She has a degree in English Literature and Drama, studied Creative Writing at UEA and is never happier than when writing, critiquing other writers or reading a diverse range of fiction and non-fiction. Find Jenny on Twitter here: @knightjennyk

Pauline Kiernan

Dr Pauline Frederica Kiernan is an award-winning playwright, commissioned screenwriter and prize-winning short story writer. She has been a literary consultant for 12 years and has taught Creative Writing on Oxford University’s Creative Writing Undergraduate and MA programmes. Pauline is a former lecturer at the University of Oxford and a Shakespeare scholar, and was appointed Leverhulme Fellowship at Shakespeare’s Globe to work with Mark Rylance and the directors and actors in its first six years as dramaturg and research resource. She is the author of the snappily-entitled Screenwriting They Can’t Resist: How to Create Screenplays of Originality and Cinematic Power. Break The Rules and is a theatre and film consultant. Her monographs, Shakespeare’s Theory of Drama, and Staging Shakespeare at the New Globe were published to worldwide acclaim, and her best-selling Filthy Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s Most Outrageous Sexual Puns was an Observer Book of the Year. She is currently writing the first of a series of crime novels set in Italy, and a book about Keats.

Sam Jordison

Sam Jordison is a co-director at Galley Beggar Press, the award winning indy press. He has extensive editorial experience and knowledge of the book world – and has also been on the other side of the fence, having written several best selling works of non-fiction, including the notorious Crap Towns series (Boxtree, Pan Macmilan), the best-selling I Spy for adults series, a book about Literary London (co-authored with Eloise Millar), political books like Enemies Of The People and The 10 Worst Of Everything. As a journalist, he mainly writes for The Guardian, and mainly about books. He runs the Not The Booker Prize, and the Guardian’s online book club, The Reading Group. He has also taught about publishing on several Creative Writing university courses, as well as teaching a course on publishing at Greenwich University and journalism at UEA. Find Sam on Twitter here: @samjordison

Julie Hoyle

During a very successful teaching career spanning thirty-four years, Julie enhanced her editing skills while assisting students in reaching their goals before entering the publishing world. Her copy-editing and proofreading experience in publishing is wide and varied. She edits fiction in a broad range of genres from crime to romance, from fantasy to comedy, short stories, poetry collections and children’s books She has worked on non-fiction texts and case studies in the areas of psychology, self-help and autobiographies. She has also worked on educational publications such as a new reading scheme, KS1, 2 and 3 maths workbooks, student planners and teaching posters. Julie has written numerous book blurbs which have been complimented by the authors. She is a very conscientious worker, has a great eye for detail and always hits her deadlines. Julie is married with a grown-up son. She is a keen Masters’ swimmer, competing in events all around the country and abroad.

Claire Gillman

Claire is an experienced journalist, writer and editor. Until last year she was the Editor of Kindred Spirit, the UK’s leading mind/body/spirit magazine. She has been coaching and mentoring writers for nearly 15 years. She has been a freelance contributor to leading women’s magazines and national newspapers, particularly The Times and the Guardian, and has also been editor of a number of consumer and specialist women’s magazines including Health & Fitness magazine and Girl About Town. Claire has written 30 non-fiction books for adults and creative non-fiction titles for children, some under the pen-name, Rory Storm. Among her titles are three books in the Hodder Teach Yourself series on how to get published and how to make money from freelance writing. She has coached authors for top publishing houses and has also run writers’ workshops, always with the emphasis on fun, style and discovering your inner creativity. Claire is married with two grown-up sons and lives on the edge of the West Pennines with her family and dog. For more information, go to www.clairegillman.com.

Helen Francis

Helen has worked in publishing for nearly twenty years. She was a fiction editor at Faber and Faber for 8 years, and a commissioning fiction editor at Head of Zeus for two years. She also ran the classics list at Vintage, Penguin Random House, and was a commissioning editor for Arcadia Books. She has worked as an international book scout for both Louise Allen-Jones Associates and Virginia Marx, keeping abreast of contemporary fiction and non-fiction and making recommendations to foreign clients. She’s worked at literary agencies Abner Stein Associates and MMB Creative. She also taught creative writing and editing at Bath Spa University, the Faber Academy and on a residential Arvon course. Authors she’s edited and published include Victor Lodato (twice shortlisted for the Sunday Times Short story Award), Sophie Hardach (shortlisted for the 2019 Costa Novel Award), Laurie Canciani and Michelle Paver (Sunday Times bestselling author of WAKENHRST). At Faber, she worked with authors such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Edna O’Brien, Andy O’Hagan and Sarah Hall. You can find Helen on Twitter here: @Helen_E_Francis

Rosie Fiore

Rosie has worked as a novelist and as writer, mentor and editor in theatre, television, magazines, advertising, comedy and the corporate market for more than 30 years. Rosie Fiore was born and grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is a teacher of creative writing, effective business writing and English. She has also studied playwriting with the National Theatre. Her most recent dramatic project was a stage adaptation of Dracula. Rosie’s has had eight novels published. She is published by Struik, Quercus and Allen & Unwin under her own name. This Year’s Black and Babies in Waiting were both longlisted for the South African Sunday Times Literary Award. Rosie is also published by Orion as Cass Hunter. The After Wife was translated into nine languages and optioned for a film in China. Find Rosie on Twitter here: @rosiefiore

Diana Collis

Diana has 25 years of experience in the non-fiction arena, with a writing career that began in journalism and media in Docklands London and continued in magazines, books, brochures, newsletters, radio programmes, e-zines and websites. Diana has years of editing and mentoring experience in Memoir and more general non-fiction work for Jericho Writers. Whilst Mind, Body and Spirit is her specialism, manuscript focuses have included areas as diverse as interior design, food/cookery, hypnotherapy, parenting/family issues, meditation, mountain trekking, feng shui, positive attitude, religious and transcendental experiences, travel and immigration, addiction recovery and physical and mental health challenges. A strong technical ability in writing and an honours degree in English, Drama and Film, combine with practical experience in the holistic field to make Diana uniquely able to appreciate the challenges of conveying material in both niche and traditional areas. She enjoys author support as much as developing her own projects, which, in recent years, have included consultancy and writing for the bestselling, Tattoo Tarot: Ink & Intuition deck/booklet set (attracting over 1, 350 positive reviews on Amazon), plus a follow-up Tattoo Tarot Journal book, a further, similar project of Movie Tarot, and research for the text of the Tarot Colouring Book, all with Laurence King Publishing. Most of her Jericho Writers authors have gone on to either win contracts with agents and publishers or successfully self-publish their work—frequently with excellent reviews on Amazon.

Wes Brown

Wes Brown is a writer, editor and researcher with a background in the publishing industry and many years’ experience of teaching creative writing. Wes was the founding editor of Dead Ink Books, young writer’s co-ordinator at the National Association of Writers in Education and has worked freelance for many literature organisations. He has written for the Times Literary Supplement, Literary Review, New Humanist and his debut novel, Breaking Kayfabe, will be published by Bluemoose in 2023. Wes has taught Creative Writing at the University of Kent, the University of East London and the City Lit and he’s also been awarded a CHASE PhD scholarship to research Narrative Non-Fiction. In 2021, he undertook research at the University of East Anglia as part of a collaborative project investigating the future of literature and the written word. Wes strongly believes in working with authors to achieve their own artistic ideals rather than project his own. Wes loves non-fiction narratives, memoirs, literary and speculative fiction. Find Wes on Twitter here: @wesbrownwriter

Natasha Bell

Natasha is an author, PhD researcher and creative writing teacher. Her debut psychological thriller, His Perfect Wife, was published by Penguin in 2018 and her second novel, This Nowhere Place came out in 2021. She’s also published short stories, memoir and creative non-fiction. Stylist labelled His Perfect Wife ‘2018’s most gripping psychological thriller,’ The Guardian called it ‘an astutely written, complex debut,’ and Publisher’s Weekly awarded it a starred review. Natasha holds an MA in Creative and Life Writing from Goldsmiths and is currently working on a practice-led PhD in autofiction. She teaches introductory and novel-writing courses at City Lit, mentors for The Riff Raff, and previously worked as a sub-editor at The Press Association. She loves narrative in all forms, but has a particular passion for psychological suspense, women’s fiction and stories that blur the line between truth and fiction. She’s lived in the US and the UK, and currently resides in south-east London. Find Natasha on Twitter here: @byTashB

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