Mrs Amanda Kay

Web
http://www.copsewood.com

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I offer a comprehensive copy-editing, proofreading and writing service to organisations, businesses, charities, publishers and individuals within the arts, tourism, heritage and academic sectors.

I work collaborately and sensitively with clients, cooperating with them to produce clear and consistent information, products and publications.

My portfolio includes:

• brochures
• guidebooks
• newsletters
• exhibition/display text
• app narratives
• websites
• marketing/promotional material
• reports
• educational content
• voice-over scripts
• app narratives
• non-fiction books.

I also offer a specialist style guide service, working with clients to identify corporate personality, tone of voice and aesthetic preference. This guarantees consistent and coherent branding across written and digital media.

My work is underpinned by over 25 years’ experience in publishing, both in-house and as a director of Copsewood Editorial. I am a Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading.

In addition to freelance editorial work, I am appointed to two civil service roles:

• Associate Proofreader for Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services
• Editorial Proofreader for the Standards and Testing Agency, Department for Education.

I have a background in museum work, am a member of the Museums Association and a co-founder and trustee of the Medieval Coventry charity.

I have written several guidebooks, including for the Churches Conservation Trust/Jarrold Publishing and St Mary's Church, Chartham, Kent.

Achievements include:

• the editorial project management of the 2018 ‘Royal Women of Influence in Medieval Coventry’ exhibition, which attracted over 2,000 visitors, and of the 2021 exhibition about the Doom painting at Holy Trinity Church, Coventry
• securing prestigious two-year contracts with the Department for Education and HMICFRS
• working on a number of award-winning academic books.

I have collaborated with a number of clients, including:

• Coventry City of Culture Trust
• Jaguar Land Rover
• Jarrold Publishing
• Department for Education
• Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency
• Bloomsbury
• Crowood Press
• Churches Conservation Trust
• Cultrex Cultural Tours
• The Lions Professional Development
• SPCK
• Yale University Press
• Newgen Publishing UK for:
  • Cambridge University Press
  • University of Wales Press
  • Manchester University Press
  • Taylor & Francis/Routledge
  • UCL Press
  • Pearson Education

Subjects

British social history, British local history, genealogy/family history, museum/heritage studies, British politics and current affairs, art history, fine and decorative arts, craft and design, history of architecture, religious studies/theology (Christianity, Biblical studies, Judaism), Jewish history, tourism/travel

Experience

• Director, Copsewood Editorial Services Ltd, since 2005
• Publications Officer and Website Editor, CEDC (Community Education Development Centre), 1998–2003
• Brochure Production Executive, Page & Moy Ltd, 1993–98

Qualifications and awards

• BA (joint hons) History with Politics/European Art and Artefacts (Salford University)
• MA Arts & Social Sciences (Salford University)
• Postgraduate Diploma in Museum Studies (Leicester University)

Clients

• Academic publishers:
  • Newgen Publishing UK for:
    • Cambridge University Press
    • University of Wales Press
    • UCL Press
    • Manchester University Press
    • Taylor & Francis/Routledge
    • Pearson Education
  • Yale University Press
  • SPCK
  • Palgrave Macmillan
  • Boydell & Brewer
  • Integra for:
    • Bloomsbury
    • Fairchild Books
• Trade publishers
  • Crowood Press
  • Pen & Sword Books
  • SPCK
  • Jarrold Publishing
• Government departments and related agencies:
  • Department for Education
  • Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency
  • Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services
• Businesses:
  • Jaguar Land Rover
  • TEXEM (These Executive Minds)
• Cultural organisations
• • Cultrex Cultural Tours
  • Weng Contemporary online gallery
  • Association of Inland Navigation Authorities
• Charities and not-for-profit organisations:
  • Coventry City of Culture Trust
  • Churches Conservation Trust
  • Chedham's Yard, Wellesbourne
  • Heart for Truth
  • Nepal Leprosy Trust
  • The Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London
  • Mosaic Church, Coventry
  • St Mary's Church, Chartham, Kent
• Independent authors:
  • Lord Simon Kerry, Bowood House, Wiltshire
  • Rt Revd Dr Christopher Cooksworth, Bishop of Coventry
  • Anthony Withers
  • Professor Alice Kettle, Professor of Textile Arts, Manchester School of Art
  • Professor Juan Torres, Director, Diploma of Innovation Management in the Department of Business Administration, University of Chile
  • Ayesha Khan, Researcher and writer, Collective for Social Science Research, Karachi
  • Dr Rina Arya, Reader in Visual Communication, School of Art and Design, University of Wolverhampton
  • Dr Hannah Roberts, Head of Sociology, Godalming College
  • Dr Pam Fox, author
  • Mark Jarvis, Director, Hunmoco Business Consultancy
  • Chris Spicer, Training Consultant at Spicers Ink Ltd

Training

• Essential Editing (National Extension College, The Michael Young Centre, Cambridge)
• Proofreading for Editors (Publishing Training Centre, London)
• Efficient Editing (CIEP)
• Proofreading Problems (SfEP)
• Going Freelance and Staying There (SfEP)
• Getting Work with Non-publishers (SfEP)
• How to Write Effective Museum Text (Museums Association)
• Writing for Trails (Text Workshop)
• Introduction to Dreamweaver Web Design (The Hill College, Coventry)
• Red Dot Website Content Management System (QCDA)
• Editing and Writing for the Web (Publishing Training Centre)

testimonials

‘We've been very pleased with the work that you have done for us. You are very thorough and conscientious and ask all the right questions. The authors have been very pleased with the queries that you have asked and that's great for us to hear.’

Sarah Faulks
Editor, Yale University Press

‘Thanks so much for your work – the book is so much stronger because of your input … I'll be sure to call on your services again for my next book and to recommend you to colleagues.’

Dr Rina Arya
Reader in Visual Communication, School of Art and Design, University of Wolverhampton, and author of Contemplations of the Spiritual in Art (Peter Lang) and Abjection and Representation (Palgrave Macmillan)

‘Your commitment to the job and flexibility in terms of the extra work ... was really helpful in achieving what I would like to think will be one of the best publications [we have] produced.’

‘I would like to take this opportunity of thanking you for your assistance and for delivering the edited version so quickly.’

Wendy Jones
Association of Inland Navigation Authorities

‘We were delighted to find Amanda Kay of Copsewood Editorial. Her work on our new guidebook for Preston Park Museum was swift, thorough and professional. She worked with our client effectively to ensure accuracy and consistency throughout the text, and the whole process was kept to schedule.’

Daniel French
Publisher, Jarrold Publishing

You have done a great job updating our text … We would like to work with you again on editing [our website]. We would really appreciate your help as it would be critical to our success.’

Can Turkseven
Cultrex Cultural Explorer

We are absolutely delighted with how Amanda has written the story of St Mary's [Church], setting it against all the political and religious shenanigans of the past seven centuries. She has done a wonderful job.’

Robert Allen (Churchwarden) and Patricia Allen (PCC member), St Mary's Church, Chartham, Kent

‘The display panels were so good I think a book could be put together using them. I would have liked to taken the panels home!’

‘Excellent printed material to take away.’

‘Excellent, effective, detailed information.’

‘Superbly done.’

‘An excellent exhibition, long overdue. Time Coventry was vocal and proud of its heritage and its future journey. Super excited about plans for medieval buildings / art in Coventry.’

Responses from visitors to the Royal Women of Influence in Medieval Coventry exhibition, Coventry, September 2018