I have had nearly two decades of intensive, hands-on experience in publishing and printing. This is a demanding business in which every job is different, with tight deadlines and stringent budgets. It needs discipline tempered by sensitivity and respect for an author's creation. I am proud of my track record.
I began as assistant in the production department of what is now Hodder Arnold, the educational publishers, and worked my way up to production controller. In the mid-1990s, I became a freelance production controller, working with publishers such as Hodder Headline, with Gollancz and with Parragon, world's largest producer of non-fiction books. I then had a spell on the other side of the fence as account executive for Mackays of Chatham (the Kent printers and bookbinders), liaising with leading UK publishers such as Random House.
Since 2000, I have been a freelance proofreader, copy editor and project manager. Clients include specialist firms such as Phoenix Photosetting, publishers Hodder & Stoughton, Ebury Press, Rider, C W Daniel, Piatkus Books and multinational publishing group, Springer-Verlag.
I am privileged to work with a large number of fiction authors such as Zoë Sharp, Christina Jones, Hilary Norman and Trisha Ashley. My non-fiction portfolio is wide-ranging − I have recently completed a series of River Café Pocket Books with legendary restaurateurs Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers; Growing Out of Trouble with TV gardening celebrity Monty Don; and a cornucopia of mind-body-spirit publications.