EDUCATION AND TEXTBOOKS
- editorial skills and portfolio -
Textbook and educational publishing require fastidious attention to detail, often working within very strict parameters. Page layouts can be extremely complex, and digital content may be interactive and multi-layered. Exam boards’ requirements must be satisfied, and reading age must be precisely calibrated to the students. I have worked on multiple prestigious educational publications, consistently receiving excellent feedback for my ability to balance all these factors and more.
I offer editorial project management, copyediting and proofreading for GCSE (Key Stage 4), AS and A Level (Key Stage 5), undergraduate, postgraduate and vocational materials.
Skills and experience
- Broad project management, copyediting and proofreading experience across multiple humanities and social sciences subjects at Key Stage 3, GCSE, A Level, undergraduate and postgraduate levels
- Both print and digital workflows (familiar with HTML, XML and CSS)
- Experience with multiple editions
- Adept with various style guides (e.g. APA, Chicago, Guardian, Hart’s Rules and MLA), and can quickly adapt to clients’ house styles or develop a bespoke style guide from scratch
- Familiar with variants of English including British and American
- Considerable experience with highly illustrated and technical books
- Dexterity with referencing: can convert between systems, research missing information and implement stylistic consistency
- Practised at working with authors across disciplines, cultures, languages and language abilities
- Extensive experience coordinating with suppliers (freelance and non) around the world: I can suggest suppliers or work with your existing network (for project management)
Services
Copyediting
Proofreading
Developmental editing
Line editing
Editorial project management
What my clients and colleagues say
Thanks to ... Hazel Bird, copy editor, whose intelligent and thoughtful attention to detail has been nothing short of phenomenal.
- Sara Lister, Justine Hofland and Hayley Grafton, editors of The Royal Marsden Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures, 10th edition
Once again you have done the impossible!
- production editor, Wiley Blackwell
We really enjoyed working with you and were super impressed by your positive, flexible and resourceful approach throughout. We also greatly appreciated your collaborative relationship with [the designer and publisher]. [The author] made an especial point of saying how much she had enjoyed working with you.
- professional society representative on a collaborative textbook project
You have been amazing at turning our content around so quickly and so thoroughly.
- major publisher of online educational content
Publication types
Portfolio
Subject areas
I work across most subjects in the humanities and social sciences, and sometimes also the health sciences. However, some particular areas of expertise and experience are as follows:
- Anthropology
- Art and art history
- Business and finance
- Classics
- History and genealogy
- Linguistics
- Literature and criticism
- Media, culture and communication
- Music, music history and music technology
- Philosophy
- Politics
- Psychology
- Religion and faith
Clients and publishers
Most of these publishers I have worked with directly. In other cases, I have worked with a packager (a company that provides editorial services to a publisher) or an author who has had their manuscript accepted by a publisher or journal but wants editorial help prior to beginning work with the publisher.
- BBC Bitesize
- Cambridge University Press
- Elsevier
- I.B. Tauris
- Manchester University Press
- Newgen
- Oxford University Press
- Pearson
- PESI
- Routledge
- Springer
- Taylor & Francis
- Wiley Blackwell
- Zed Books
What I’m most proud of
The Royal Marsden Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures: Professional Edition (10th edition), ed. Sara Lister, Justine Hofland and Hayley Grafton (Wiley Blackwell, 2020)
- Nationally recognised as the definitive guide to clinical nursing skills in the UK and used around the world
- Packed with features: figures, boxes and multiple types of table
- Project management and copyediting involving coordination with multiple key stakeholders
- Strict design requirements
- Coordination of a complex schedule, keeping in mind professional, student and online editions simultaneously
Other example publications
- BBC Bitesize: GCSE revision guides in Religious Studies and Business Studies (2018–)
- Psychology, ed. Graham Davey (Wiley Blackwell, 2018)
- The Expanded Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Training Manual, Lane Pederson (PESI, 2017)
- Thinking About Art: A Thematic Guide to Art History, Penny Huntsman (Wiley Blackwell and the Association of Art Historians, 2015)
- CAPE Sociology, Carlton Chinapoo et al. (Hodder Education, 2014)
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.
