ABOUT
I have been providing in-depth support to individuals and organisations throughout my freelance career, which began just over 20 years ago, following around 15 years' employment in different publishing settings. Over the years I have contributed to thousands of documents and books, and have been an Advanced Professional member of the internationally significant CIEP (former SfEP) throughout. Nowadays, I wear many hats. Although I started off in employment as a Desk Editor, I worked my way up to 'senior' level and am also a time-served and trained (as appropriate) Project Manager, Copy Writer, Typesetter, Designer, Indexer, Publishing Consultant, Book Author/Editor and Independent Publisher. I call myself an Editor Plus.
My career began in medical science, but my love of literature was established many years before that. Combining my language skills and biomedical knowledge, I first became a Medical Writer, then an Academic STM Editor (Taylor & Francis), shifting into more diverse and more clinical roles with Adis, Adelphi, and ISI Thomson Reuters, while taking on more management responsibility at each point. But I missed working directly with authors and their raw content, so I decided to go freelance in 2000, initially providing biomedical content services as Shoreline BioMedical (still going strong), while indulging my more creative side by extending my craft to the 'making' of books. I loved this new way of working, and my clients loved it. After increasing demand for my services from fiction and other non-fiction clients, and because I was approached by the NHS to publish some of their books, I set up Swan & Horn. And that is how I came to be a 'specialist' in all aspects of publishing.
Find more details of my experience, qualifications and training here. And see what some of my clients have to say about me (without being asked).
MY CURRENT PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
MY WONDERFUL SUPPORT TEAM
I am supported, as needed, by a small but fantastic team of reliable professionals, including a couple of proofreaders who check through texts that I have already edited (because these tasks should be performed by separate people - or by the Editor after leaving a significant gap); having this back-up really helps with tight deadlines. If I do subcontract aspects of the work, my clients still only liaise with me.
ARIANNA CARONI
Arianna supports me on the marketing side of Swan & Horn, with targeted promotion, website development, pitching to booksellers, and also helps out at book events, including book launches. However, I do need to share her with another publishing company and her own editorial and English-language tutoring businesses.
HUGH CARTER
Hugh is my full-time office manager (and husband) with responsibility for logistics, order fulfilment and stock control, and support for bookseller visits, book festivals and launch events. He is a busy songwriter and musician who spent his entire career in the music industry. Before being diagnosed with terminal cancer, he ran music-therapy classes for adults with additional needs.
SOPHIE HAMPSHIRE
Sophie helps out with many aspects of publishing, including social media and promotion, proofreading and editing, typesetting, design, illustration and preparing books for e-book and print-on-demand publication. She is also a newly qualified Speech and Language Therapist.
KELLY HIGGINS
Kelly lends me her expert eyes on a regular basis to deal with all the numbers, running the accounts for both of my businesses (Swan & Horn and Shoreline BioMedical), saving me a lot of angst and bringing order where there is chaos. This is alongside her full-time accounting work as a Finance Director.
HANNAH PHILIPS
Hannah has been in book publishing for many years, and works now as the editor of a community magazine, but she is always ready to help me out with first-pass typesetting, and proofreading of texts I've already edited on projects with tight deadlines, when there isn't time for me to take a break after editing.