Thoughtful, meticulous copyediting for speculative, upmarket and literary fiction.

A woman with brown hair, glasses, and a plaid scarf stands against a brick wall, holding books and folders.
CIEP logo with the text 'Advanced Professional Member'

Editorial judgement built over two decades.

I’m a freelance fiction copyeditor with eighteen years’ experience in the publishing industry.

I work with publishers to help deliver clear, consistent prose that honours the author’s creativity and voice, on time and within budget.

Specialisms include speculative, upmarket and literary fiction; fantasy and soft sci-fi; and novels that blend or defy genre.

Honed through teaching

As founder of Liminal Pages, I've trained over 800 fiction editors across ten years, sharpening my own editorial technique in the process.

It's this grounding that led the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading to commission me to write their guide on developmental fiction editing, and why I'm invited to speak at industry conferences.

This experience results in edits grounded in defensible judgement, not personal preference.

Edits that respect creative vision

An MA in Creative Writing and a body of published short stories and poems mean I edit with a writer's sensitivity.

Authors consistently tell me my edits feel attuned to and respectful of their voice, which means less back-and-forth, quicker review rounds and happier clients.

Publishers releasing ambitious, nuanced work can feel confident that sentences are handled with care.

As a copyeditor, I’m the trusty sidekick. I follow the brief closely – working confidently in Chicago or New Hart's Rules, US or UK English, applying typesetter-ready styling, using macros and PerfectIt (no AI tools) to catch inconsistencies, keeping style sheets streamlined, and flagging legal concerns.

A lifelong fascination with editorial craft …

Experience

  • 2009: Internship at small press wildlife publisher Whittet Books

  • 2009–2010: Editorial assistant at Pearson Education for one year

  • 2010–2011: Freelance role at Pearson to help develop a Business Studies BTEC course and a Creative Writing course syllabus for Penguin

  • 2012–present: Over fifteen years’ experience freelance line editing, copyediting and developmental editing for authors and small press publishers (Propolis, Neem Tree Press, Victorina Press)

Academic

  • MA in Creative Writing, Royal Holloway University of London, 2010–2011, Merit. Dissertation: ‘The conflict between the natural and the mechanical in the steampunk genre’

  • BA in English Literature with Creative Writing, University of East Anglia, 2006–2009, 2:1

Editorial training

Copyediting & fiction craft

  • Copyediting by Distance Learning (The Publishing Training Centre)

  • Copyediting Fiction (Editorial Freelancers Association)

  • Introduction to Fiction Editing (CIEP)

  • Editing for Fiction: Professional Development Day (Society for Editors and Proofreaders)

Professional practice

  • Efficient Editing: Strategies and Tactics (CIEP)

  • Handling Non-English Words in English Text Webinar (ACES: The Society for Editing)

  • Unconscious Bias and the Conscientious Editor Webinar (ACES: The Society for Editing)

Developmental editing

  • Club Ed's full developmental editing suite, plus further training through EFA and Editors' Academy

Ongoing CPD

  • CIEP Conference attendee, 2014–2026

  • As many webinars as I can get my hands on!

  • “Both stylistically and technically your observations and suggestions were superb. An excellent, comprehensive job.”

    — Henry Layte, Propolis

  • “I’ve worked with other editors in the past but none as thorough, patient or supportive as Sophie. She made my work better and in the process made me a better writer. I simply couldn’t recommend her highly enough.”

    — Tony Faggioli, author

  • “Sophie edits with a gentle but meticulous hand – adding sparkle to a writer’s words without damaging their authorial voice. Highly recommended.”

    — Louise Harnby, author and editor

  • “Thanks so much for the fantastic job you’ve done. You have dark arts! My story reads so much better now … I’d call it seamless copy-editing, but it’s more like a MIGHTY feat of invisible mending.”

    — Tash Bell, author

  • “I’m really glad I chose you to edit this project. Your feedback blows out of the water what I received from my last editor!”

    — Meg Cowley, author

  • “I've worked with Sophie on three full-length novels. She tries to maintain the author's voice as much as possible and has a great eye for detail. I really don't know where I'd be without her guidance in smoothing out those rough edges!”

    — Rexx Deane, author

A few projects I’ve worked on:

I’ve worked on hundreds of novels for hundreds of clients. These are just a handful.

Book cover for 'One Plus One' by Tony Faggioli, featuring a person walking through a misty forest with trees and a reflective body of water.
Book cover for 'One Plus One' by Tony Faggioli, featuring a person walking through a misty forest with trees and a reflective body of water.

One Plus One
Tony Faggioli
supernatural thriller

I have worked with Tony across ten books, including his literary fiction. He has gained thousands of 4–5 star reviews.

Book cover titled 'A War of Banes & Demons: City of Demons, Book One' by Kevin Harkness, with a green background, silhouette of a haunted cityscape, and white-dot pattern.
Book cover titled 'A War of Banes & Demons: City of Demons, Book One' by Kevin Harkness, with a green background, silhouette of a haunted cityscape, and white-dot pattern.

City of Demons
Kevin Harkness
fantasy

Editing this five-book series was a joy. The second book won the eFestival of Words award for Best Young Adult Novel.

Silhouettes of three people walking against a colorful, textured sky with a gradient of yellow, orange, and blue hues. The title 'DISPLACED' is prominently displayed in large, bold letters, with the subtitle 'The Dark Array Series' and the author's name 'Dan Hook' below.
Silhouettes of three people walking against a colorful, textured sky with a gradient of yellow, orange, and blue hues. The title 'DISPLACED' is prominently displayed in large, bold letters, with the subtitle 'The Dark Array Series' and the author's name 'Dan Hook' below.

Displaced
Dan Hook
post-apocalyptic

Two books edited in this series. With three protagonists, voice, character tracking and location logic were key editing priorities.

Book cover featuring a silhouette of a person in a forest with orange sunset sky, title 'Shadebringer' and author Grayson W. Hooper.
Book cover featuring a silhouette of a person in a forest with orange sunset sky, title 'Shadebringer' and author Grayson W. Hooper.

Shadebringer
Grayson W. Hooper
fantasy

Short listed for the CIBA Ozma Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction. Edited to keep the author's military vocabulary accessible to readers.

Book cover titled 'Herai' by Aaron D. Key with a blue moonlit night scene, birds flying, and bare trees.
Book cover titled 'Herai' by Aaron D. Key with a blue moonlit night scene, birds flying, and bare trees.

Herai
Aaron D. Key
literary fantasy

I edited three books for Aaron, a highly poetic writer, focusing on smoothing flow and clarifying complex syntax and ideas.

Book cover showing silhouettes of four people walking along a forest path surrounded by massive, twisted trees with glowing purple stars or fireflies. Title 'Rise of the Reaper' by author Lorna Reid.
Book cover showing silhouettes of four people walking along a forest path surrounded by massive, twisted trees with glowing purple stars or fireflies. Title 'Rise of the Reaper' by author Lorna Reid.

Rise of the Reaper
Lorna Reid
fantasy

Across two exciting and imaginative books with a large cast, I focused on sentence-level clarity and careful handling of POV.

A woman with brown hair and glasses smiling and holding a white coffee cup in a cozy setting with a William Morris wallpaper background.

Get in touch

If you'd like to discuss a project, send me a message. I’ll get back to you lickety-split. I’m happy to discuss over email, or meet in person (if possible) or over video.

EMAIL ME