ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND CATALOGUES
- editorial skills and portfolio -
When you’re trusting a freelancer to coordinate with a prestigious team of contributors on one of the biggest budgets out there, you need someone with a proven track record. With over 20 major encyclopedias, catalogues raisonnés and other large projects successfully completed, I have the judgement and experience to smoothly slot into your existing workflows while driving progress with tenacity and sensitivity. The encyclopedias I’ve project managed have extended to 12 volumes, with over 1,000 articles and teams of contributors numbering over 1,200. I have a tried-and-tested methodology that delivers a balance between the macro and the micro – from the overall project parameters right down to the tiniest stylistic detail.
Skills and experience
- Over 16 years’ experience working on encyclopedias both in-house and freelance
- 20 major reference works (MRWs) managed through copyediting, typesetting, proofreading and indexing (total of 70 volumes and almost 20 million words)
- Experience working closely with the author of a million-word, highly technical online catalogue raisonné
- Both print and digital workflows (familiar with HTML, XML and CSS)
- Adept with various style guides (e.g. APA, Chicago, 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 works
- 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
- Proven methodology that combines a persistent focus on the details with big-picture planning
- 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
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
It has been an overwhelmingly good experience working with you on the final stages of our massive International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. I’m particularly grateful for the meticulous care you have taken to support our many authors whose first language is not English; and for your patience and readiness to go ‘far beyond’ in order to resolve my many queries. It has been a huge project, and I look forward with some trepidation to seeing the finished product online and in print.
- Hilary Callan, director emerita of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Hazel is one of the best project managers I have worked with in over 30 years of freelancing. She provides thorough, detailed briefs, and I am always confident at the start of a project that she has taken its measure and anticipated most of the problems that are likely to arise. Clear-headed and calm, she is an excellent project leader. She is good at making sensible decisions but also does not hesitate to modify a principle if something isn’t working. Hazel is always a pleasure to work with: she treats freelancers as collaborators and with respect, and often copy-edits alongside other freelancers on large projects that she manages.
- Jacqueline Harvey, freelance copy-editor
Thank you very much for all your hard work. You have done a magnificent job with a complex and difficult book.
- Harry Sidebottom, academic and author of the Throne of the Caesars trilogy
Hazel is a very organized and detail-oriented freelancer. I have worked with Hazel on multiple projects and have always found her diligent and proactive. Her suggestions are quite useful especially in managing big MRW projects. I trust that the final product has met the standards and all the errors and inconsistencies have been resolved. I would highly recommend Hazel and really enjoy working with her.
- Mansi Wasan, production editor, Wiley Blackwell
It was a great pleasure working with you as your emails were very explanatory and the instructions were crystal clear. Thanks for being very supportive and providing instant feedback on the quality of the proofs.
- Swapna Srinivasan, typesetting project manager, SPi
Portfolio
Clients and publishers
My first editorial job was as a project manager of major reference works (MRWs) in the Production department at Elsevier in Oxford, UK. I project managed several scientific encyclopedias, overlapping with colleagues in the Editorial Development and seeing the works through copyediting (including XML conversion), typesetting, proofreading, indexing and printing.
After I went freelance in 2009, I soon began working with Wiley Blackwell on their MRW programme. Since then I have project managed 15 of these works, including several of over ten volumes.
Subject areas
Encyclopedias are usually multidisciplinary within a broad overarching topic. I have extensive experience of working to ensure consistency across publications while respecting the conventions of each field.
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
What I’m most proud of
The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, ed. Hilary Callan (12 vols, Wiley Blackwell, 2018)
- Project management and copyediting, overseeing other copyeditors, indexers and proofreaders, and working closely with typesetters
- Over 1,000 entries, 1,100 contributors and 3.2 million words
- Development and implementation of 70-page style sheet based on the Chicago Manual of Style and extensively customised to the project
- Numerous highly sensitive topics and many non-native authors
- Complex metadata and cross-referencing, requiring extensive collaboration, planning and checks
Other example publications
- The Encyclopedia of Child and Adolescent Development, ed. Stephen Hupp and Jeremy D. Jewell (10 vols, Wiley Blackwell, 2020)
- The Encyclopedia of Greek Comedy, ed. Alan H. Sommerstein (3 vols, Wiley Blackwell, 2019)
- The International Encyclopedia of Art and Design Education, ed. Richard Hickman (3 vols, Wiley Blackwell, 2019)
- The Encyclopedia of Ancient Battles, ed. Michael Whitby and Harry Sidebottom (3 vols, Wiley Blackwell, 2017)
- The Encyclopedia of Adulthood and Aging, ed. Susan Krauss Whitbourne (3 vols, Wiley Blackwell, 2015)
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.
