I have already started work on a new project and I am looking forward to working with Anne again. As a first time author, I found her steadying hand and overviews most helpful. She was efficient and diligent while responding promptly. The editing work was very good, inspiring confidence in the finished project.
Robert Lomax, author, Consciousness and the Alien Mind
Please allow me to introduce myself …
I started my editing and proofreading business, ASG Editorial, in May 2017. At first, I worked mainly on general copyediting and proofreading, but after a year or so, I decided to focus more on book editing.
Setting up my own business was born out of necessity really. The year before, in 2016, I was working as a freelance sub-editor for my local papers in Norfolk – the Norwich Evening News and the Eastern Daily Press. But with cuts to staff, especially editing staff, it was time to take stock.
You would think that transitioning from newspaper editing to book editing would be seamless. In fact, while they have much in common – well, an eye for spotting a typo for starters – there’s still a lot to learn.
I invested in courses, networked, bought software to speed up editing, learned how to use Word macros (totally alien territory) and picked the brains of the very generous community I found myself among.
Annual conferences with sessions and workshops that I might never normally have access to really helped, along with a supportive forum of fellow editors with a wealth of knowledge and expertise to tap into.
After building up a supportive circle of friends in Norfolk, which is a positive hive of busy editors and proofreaders, I did what any self-respecting freelancer would do and moved to the other end of the country.
I’m now living in West Lancashire. The scenery is very different and I’ve still yet to find a foothold in terms of building up a network of editing buddies, but it’s early days. It’s absolutely beautiful here, and a wonderful place to work. Right now, my bike is calling me for a ride along the canal. At least the tow path is flat!
Oh, and just in case you didn’t recognise it, the title of this section is the opening line to my all-time favourite track, Sympathy for the Devil, by the best band ever, The Rolling Stones.
My background
I began my working life as a newspaper reporter and stayed in this role for five years before joining the editing team at the Kent Messenger and Kent Evening Post.
My next stop was Norwich-based Eastern Counties Newspapers. I started out editing the weekly titles and then switched to the dailies – the Evening News and the
Eastern Daily Press.
In total, I have 26 years of editing experience in the newspaper/magazine publishing industry.
As well as editing words, I can design pages. I worked on full page layout using QuarkXPress from 1994–2011 and with Adobe InDesign from 2011 onwards.
I also write
I have written many published travel features on a wide range of topics, including rail journeys to Nuremberg, Baden-Baden, and Antwerp; a river cruise from St Petersburg to Moscow; cycling in the Rhine Valley, a few days in Gibraltar, camping in Les Ecureuils, Vendée, France, and a visit to Efteling theme park in the Netherlands.
I have also written a novel, Sorted!, which is available in ebook and paperback from Amazon. My second novel is well on its way. So, watch this space! If you want to buy my book or try a sample, click on the button below.
