Professional help with non-fiction writing

About Daisy Editorial

 Before we talk about me, let’s talk about you. If this is you then we should make a good team:

  • You want to communicate clearly and confidently to your readers, clients, customers or users.

  • You know the value of investing in the professional skills you don’t have to boost your business or increase your effectiveness.

  • You have nothing to hide behind fancy words or complex phrases. You value reader understanding over showing off your knowledge.

  • You don’t always have time for the minutiae. You just want it done, and you want it done well.

Why you’ll like working with me

  • If I’m not the right person to help you, or not yet, I’ll tell you that rather than waste your time (and money) and mine.

  • I won’t judge. I’ll give you down-to-earth advice on how you can improve your writing to effectively communicate what you want to say.

  • I rarely do strict rules and absolute rights and wrongs. I’ll work to get the best out of your writing but to keep it sounding like you. My personal preferences are irrelevant.

  • I’ll guide you through the editorial process, with free resources along the way to help you understand what I’ll do with your text and what your responsibilities and tasks are.

  • When we’re done (and you’ve paid me) I’ll make sure you get the latest versions of your files so you’re free to take the work elsewhere in future if you want to.

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So now something about me

Before going freelance as a copyeditor and proofreader in 2003 I spent over 14 years working in information and publications roles in an international legal firm, a local authority and several NGOs.

I am an Advanced Professional Member (APM) of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP). To be awarded that level of membership, editors must have achieved the standards of training and experience set by the Institute. All Daisy Editorial work is carried out in strictest confidence and in accordance with the CIEP Code of Practice. I served as a Council director of the CIEP, and its predecessor the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP), from 2015 to 2021.

Based in Fife in Scotland, I work for a diverse range of clients worldwide, including: businesses and sole traders; self-publishing authors; charities, NGOs and public sector bodies; traditional magazine and book publishers and small presses; and design agencies and graphic artists.

I can help you improve any non-fiction writing, including books, promotional materials, web content, blogs, reports and business documents. I also work with authors whose first language isn’t English and who want their writing to sound natural.

Below are some examples of my clients and projects I have worked on.

Margaret Hunter, seeder of sensible words

Margaret Hunter

Margaret Hunter

Advanced Professional Member of the CIEP

Advanced Professional Member of the CIEP

Training and experience

I’ve got proper copyediting and proofreading training, and I invest in continuing professional development (CPD) to make sure my skills and knowhow stay fresh.

Good service = happy clients.

 
“Please will you work your magic again?”
— A happy author

CIEP and SfEP training

  • Introduction to Proofreading

  • On-screen Editing 1 and 2

  • Brush Up Your Grammar

  • Web Editing and Proofreading

  • Introduction to Fiction Editing

  • Practical Mark-up of PDFs

  • Editing with Word

  • Plain English for Editors

Other training and qualifications

  • PTC Proofreading (distinction)

  • PTC Editing (merit)

  • Scots law degree (LLB) (DipLP)

  • MPhil Child Studies (distinction)

  • CPD including courses on ebooks and epub production, book design and layout, and editing in CMS

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Some publications I have worked on

 

What does good editing look like?

 
How Daisy Editorial has helped clients enhance their writing

Some examples of how I have helped my clients

  • Simplifying the wording of a health and safety manual for employees.

  • Editing and rewording an exercise self-help guide to ensure all instructions were clear and matched the illustrations.

  • Rewriting content for a business website in plain English and to improve search engine results.

  • Copyediting the revised edition of a school textbook and flagging out-of-date information for the author.

  • Editing a multi-author textbook for consistency of writing style and design; ensuring syllabus requirements were included and correctly referenced.

  • Working with the development and picture editors to choose illustrations for a book, ensuring a good gender and ethnic mix, and writing image briefs for the artwork designer.

  • Helping an author to sharpen up a memoir, designing the interior page layout and preparing print-on-demand and ebook files for publication.

  • Editing magazine articles for an author whose first language is not English while maintaining his distinctive tone of voice and field-specific language.

  • Formatting an academic book into house style, including making references consistent and inserting new subheadings where required; preparing lists of acronyms and tables.

  • Reducing word count of a strategy document for public consultation.

  • Design and layout of a journal for an NGO.

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