Freelance copy-editor specializing in children's books

As Desk Editor for Scholastic, I am responsible for all proofreading and copy-editing for the fiction list. I take on much of this work myself, but I also manage a team of freelancers, briefing them on jobs and providing feedback to ensure our high standards are always met. I discuss editorial changes with our authors, explaining the changes we have made and ensuring they are happy with the final book before it goes to print. I regularly work on anglicizations, adapting books from our American publishing arm for the UK market. I oversee the schedule to keep our editors on schedule with production deadlines, and I liaise with designers to approve covers and interiors for print.

I worked on the series fiction team as editor of many key brand authors. This involved writing editorial notes on manuscripts, creating cover copy, briefing designers, updating AIs and overseeing all aspects of production to keep the books on schedule. I also worked on a packaging project, for which I created plotlines in-house, liaised with the ghost-writer and edited the final manuscripts. I provided regular proofreading and copy-editing, acted as departmental liaison to the weekly ops and production meetings, and helped oversee ebook conversion. I regularly read submissions and provided feedback to the commissioning editors and agents.

I provided key administrative support to the fiction department, including managing the Publisher's diary, writing AIs and cover copy, proof-reading, running sales reports, taking editorial meeting minutes, and organizing submissions. I acted as piracy coordinator, monitoring websites and creating take-down notices to remove pirated ebooks, and I also acted as liaison with authors on this key issue. As a special project I updated the metadata of hundreds of our key back-list authors, refining copy and adding keywords to improve our data for external websites. I also developed my editorial skills, including regular proof-reading and copyediting.

I administrated the Waterstones, Amazon, WHSmith and Play.com accounts, liaising with buyers on stock, processing orders with the warehouse, and supporting the key account managers. I developed a superlative understanding of the sales side of our business, and of the workings of these accounts, receiving strong positive feedback in particular from the Waterstones buying team, whose account I spent the majority of my time working on. I also developed expert skills in Biblio, Vista, Sprinter and Bookscan.

I organized the provision of sales material for the Transworld and RHCB key account managers and sales reps, liaising with design and marketing on cover images and advertizing slides, and with editorial on updating AI sheets. I set a schedule for both companies on the provision of this material for key sales dates and chased to ensure it was provided in time.