Editing that adapts to your needs
From a final fresh pair of eyes to a deep edit for structure and flow, with options for comprehensive referencing advice and editorial project management
14+ years of sound judgement
Full-time freelance since 2009, offering you expertise gleaned from hundreds of publications across numerous topics and areas
Trusted editorial partner
Consistently excellent feedback and many long-term collaborations resulting in productive synergies, shared learning and mutual growth
Neela Jane Stansfield
It has been such an enjoyable process working with ... Hazel Bird (copy-editor extraordinaire).’
Author of Grants Fundraising
(Directory of Social Change, 2022)
Paul Choy
Hazel has been my secret weapon for more book projects than I can remember.’
International documentary
photographer and author
Charity and non-profit services
Inform, engage and motivate your audience while demonstrating accountability via accurate and polished copy
Business and digital services
Balance functionality and flair to effectively communicate your expertise or big idea – and capture your reader’s imagination
Services for complex projects
Don’t compromise: control the big picture and the details on multi-author, data-heavy or highly illustrated editorial projects
Welcome!
My name is Hazel Bird and I founded Wordstitch Editorial in 2009. I’m an artsy spreadsheetoholic who enjoys using a structured approach as a basis for nuanced, responsive editing. I’m an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading and a member of ACES: The Society for Editing, and I’m also certified as a PRINCE2® Practitioner. I’ve been described as ‘superhuman’ and a ‘secret weapon’, but until Tony Stark comes calling I’m dedicating my superpowers to text-based endeavours.
What can I offer you?
A bespoke editorial service that sees the big-picture issues while pinpointing every detail. With around 15 years’ experience in publishing, I provide a steady hand and broad expertise on editorial projects ranging from articles, reports and books to multi-million-word encyclopedias.
Who do I work with?
Wordstitch is a small editorial business with big perspectives. I work globally with charities and non-profits, businesses, publishers and non-fiction authors to help them deliver some of their most prestigious publications.
What do I work on?
All things non-fiction, including reports, applications and assessments, books, educational materials, articles, websites, encyclopedias and catalogues. Specialist topics include charities, peace processes, digital and technology, business and leadership, media and culture, futures, history and the social sciences, but a broad bank of experience means I can turn my hand to most subjects. I get particularly excited about in-depth edits and large, complex projects where I can really add value.
My projects in numbers
I can offer you tried-and-tested ways to reach your intended readership more effectively, with services that cut through the confusion with clear, decisive advice. Because of the breadth and depth of my experience, I’ve had many opportunities to learn new and better ways of doing all things editorial.
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full-time years in businessOver 0 million
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collaborations with authors and editorsWhat my clients and colleagues say
‘Thank you for the extremely detailed work you do on our reports. You not only make the text grammatically correct but you also improve the quality of the report with your thorough comments and questions for the authors. Also the check of the endnotes is very thorough and improves our work. We highly appreciate the commitment you reflect by sending queries during the editing process so that you can apply decisions to the entire text, and your effort to accommodate our challenging deadlines.’
– Margarida Ferro, Office Manager, Flemish Peace Institute
‘Hazel is an exceptional editor. She has an incredible eye for detail and makes suggestions for cuts and amendments to the texts which vastly improve the flow and strength of the prose. Her queries were always thoughtful and considered and have been extremely useful for the authors. This was a complicated project with lots of different elements, but Hazel handled everything in a calm and professional way which made the whole process smooth and stress-free. It's been a pleasure to work with someone as skilled as Hazel. Thank you.’
– Emily Pedder, Director of The Book Edit and The Academic Edit (feedback on copyediting academic grant proposals and assessments)
‘A full-length handbook, an in-depth report or a stubbornly difficult chapter – Hazel approaches each and every project with equal amounts of care and attention to detail that is second to none. She has been our trusted copy-editor for a number of years now, and we couldn’t hope for a better advisor on all things editorial. Not only that, but she is also an absolute pleasure to work with!’
– John Martin, Publisher, and Gabi Zagnojute, Editorial Manager, Directory of Social Change
‘Hazel has worked on some of our biggest and most difficult manuscripts. She negotiates their complexities with clear-sightedness, patience and diplomacy, and the authors are always delighted with the results. I feel complete confidence in putting projects of this nature into her capable hands, and I know that she will bring clarity and precision to even the most challenging situations. It is a great pleasure to work with her, and I look forward to every project I am able to send her way.’
– Emily Lees, Senior Editor, Paul Mellon Centre
‘Bringing any publication to market is always a challenge and part of that challenge is never really knowing who you are going to end up working with. We have been delighted with the service provided by Wordstitch Editorial. They have been consummately professional, have a can-do (and will-sort) attitude and they have protected us from a lot of the usual aggravation that can come as texts are prepared for publication. We have certainly seen many books that have been published riddled with errors, but we really are not seeing that this time. We would really like to work with you again. Thank you!’
– Mark and Bernie Fishpool, authors of Software Development in Practice (BCS, The Institute for IT, 2020)
‘Hazel helped to make the manuscript more easily accessible and understandable than it would have been. She’s also razor sharp in having an eye for the structure and flow of the text. … There were specific parts of the manuscript where I was in doubt of whether I had explained myself properly – and parts where I surely knew I hadn’t. Hazel helped sort those parts out so I could rephrase and rework them. Those were very crucial parts of the manuscript, so I feel it became so much better and more congruent. I’d recommend (and have done so already) Hazel to anyone seeking an editor for their book project!’
– Rasmus Houlind, author of $Hello FirstName (Omnichannel Institute, 2023)
‘Hazel has worked as Project Manager on a number of large, multi-volume, print and online reference works produced by my team. She has a deep understanding of the publishing process and an analytical mind. She works closely to the brief, whilst also being unafraid to suggest intelligent improvements to processes and solutions to problems. She is always professional and helpful, striking a good balance between meeting the needs and requirements of the client and delivering a quality product.’
– Louise Barnetson, Production Manager, Wiley Blackwell
Resources
Ready to discuss your project?
If you’d like to read more about my services, click here. Alternatively, click through below to start a discussion about how I can help to move your project forward.
