Deborah Blake | Crime, Romance & Literary Fiction Editor

Crime, thriller, romance & literary fiction editing for indie authors and publishers

Self-publishing authors

Your story. Your voice. That won't change.

If you aren't sure what to expect from the editing process, let me put your mind at rest. Many of my clients felt exactly the same but I'll be with you every step of the way, providing positive and constructive feedback. I believe in editing with empathy and working together. It's my job to bring out the best in your writing so that your manuscript flows smoothly, allowing you to concentrate on producing great stories. Please visit my website or contact me for a chat if you'd like to know more.

'I'm delighted to have worked with Deborah on the editing of my novel. It feels as if I've taken a master class in creative writing tailored specifically to my style, alerting me to habitual weaknesses and helping me to build on strengths in narrative and dialogue.' Tina Beattie, author

Publishers

I have over ten years’ experience, have undertaken industry-recognised training and can work onscreen or on paper. You can rest assured that I never miss a deadline and always stay within budget. I will follow your house style and, if requested, am happy to liaise directly with the author regarding any queries after which I will provide a clean manuscript. If you'd like to know more, please visit my website or contact me to discuss your project.

'Deborah is a joy to work with and always provides a diligent copy edit. She has been patient and flexible with project timings and always does a thorough job. She has a careful eye and a friendly attitude. I highly recommend her.' Sian Heap, Commissioning Editor, Canelo

Services

Manuscript evaluation. This looks at the big-picture issues of your manuscript and reports on its strengths and weaknesses. So it will look at the following:

• Plot. Does the structure work? Is it easy to follow?
• Characterisation. How are the characters represented? Does their behaviour make sense – are they behaving according to their personality?
• Pace. How is the story unfolding? Is it too fast? Does it drag (this quite often happens in the middle)?
• Narrative style. Which point of view has the author used? Does it work with the type of story?
• Tense. Is it written in past or present? Or a mixture of both? Does this work?

Line editing. This is more of a stylistic edit, working at sentence level to address style, sense and flow, and concentrates on:

• Characterisation. Is the phrasing and word choice appropriate for the character?
• Narration. Is the narrative style consistent? Are the viewpoints clear?
• Engagement. Are there awkward metaphors? Too many cliches?
• Dialogue. Does it sound authentic? Is there too much or too little? Use of action beats.
• Pace & flow. Is there too much repetition or overwriting which is slowing down the story? Is it too fast?
• Tense. Is it effective and consistent?
• Exposition. Told verses shown prose.

Copy editing. This looks at the technical aspects:

• Chapter sequencing.
• Consistency of proper-noun spelling.
• Dialogue tags and punctuation.
• Logic of timeline.
• Any plot holes that might have been missed.
• Spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation, hyphenation.

Proofreading. This final check is like a literary quality control to make sure that no errors have been introduced during previous rounds.

Genres

• Crime, thriller
• Romance
• Literary fiction

Recent clients

• Independent and self-publishing authors
• Bookouture
• Fairlight Books
• Canelo
• Duckworth Books
• OwnIt!
• Jo Fletcher Books (Quercus)
• Sue Richardson Associates
• Whitefox:
  • Head of Zeus
  • Bonnier/Twenty7 Books
  • Lake Union Publishing
  • Blue Baltic Press
  • Unbound
• RefineCatch:
  • Bloomsbury Academic
  • Bloomsbury Methuen Drama
• Taylor & Frances (Routledge)

Training

• Developmental Editing for Fiction, advance (EFA)
• Developmental Editing for Fiction, intermediate (EFA)
• Developmental Editing for Fiction, beginner (EFA)
• Bookmapping (EFA)
• Editing Literary Fiction (Club Ed)
• Romance Editing (Club Ed)
• Manuscript Evaluation (Club Ed)
• Synopsis, Query Letters (Club Ed)
• Developmental Editing Theory (Liminal Pages)
• Developmental Editing Practice (Liminal Pages)
• Bricklaying: Editing for Structure (Copyediting masterclass)
• Start Writing Fiction (Future Learn)
• How to Write a Crime Novel online masterclass (The Writers' Academy, Penguin Random House)
• Brush up Your Grammar (SfEP)
• Editing with Word (SfEP)
• Introduction to Fiction Editing (SfEP) 
• Copy-editing 1 (SfEP) 
• Mentoring scheme (SfEP) 
• Proofreading 2 (SfEP) 
• Proofreading Today - distinction (Editorial Training) 

testimonials

Deborah is a dream to work with. Responsive, smart, encouraging and knowledgeable, she made a fantastic difference to my manuscript and I’m sure she will to yours too.

Graham Wall, author

Deborah is a joy to work with and always provides a diligent copy edit. She has been patient and flexible with project timings and always does a thorough job. She has a careful eye and a friendly attitude. I highly recommend her.

Sian Heap, Commissioning Editor, Canelo

Deborah has been professional, accurate and timely on the projects I have worked with her on. Her judgement on when to leave the authorial style and when to intervene is spot on. It's a pleasure to work with Deborah and I would highly recommend her services.

Daniela Ferrante, Editorial Assistant, Fairlight Books

Deborah is such an effortless pleasure to work with. Thoroughly professional and committed, a great eye for detail and an acute sensitivity for what will help a piece of writing shine in its best light. Both creative and in tune with the author's needs/vision when copy editing, and methodical and thorough whilst proofreading. Deborah is a real asset to have on your editorial team. Great with authors and very reliable when it comes to meeting (tight) deadlines, I have no hesitation in recommending Deborah Blake's editing services.

Crystal Mahey-Morgan, Own It!

It was great to work with Deborah who was prompt to reply to messages, quick to get started with the work and efficient and professional in what she delivered. I was looking for a copy edit that chopped dead weight, tightened up my prose and sanity-checked my plot along the way. Deborah delivered on all fronts and them some!

Frances M. Thompson, author

Deborah was great to work with. When I told her that I was a first-time author and I wasn't sure about all the different types of editing, she explained everything to me, clearly and thoroughly. The manuscript evaluation and copy edit that I received from her was very detailed and extremely helpful. Would definitely recommend her!

Carrie Duggan, author

I'm delighted to have worked with Deborah on the editing of my novel. It feels as if I've taken a master class in creative writing tailored specifically to my style, alerting me to habitual weaknesses and helping me to build on strengths in narrative and dialogue.

Tina Beattie, author

The proofread version of The Power of the Connected returned by Deborah was not only very professional but came with additional comments and suggestions that enabled me to better enhance my original version. The return was also on time, in fact early, which was appreciated. I will be using Deborah's services again.

Andrew Sharp, author

A thoughtful and professional piece of work which reinforced some of my ideas and provided several new insights. Thank you.

Nigel Crisp, author

Efficient and eagle-eyed, Deborah has never missed a deadline and is always an absolute pleasure to work with - I would trust her with any proofreading or copy editing job that came up on our list and highly recommend her services to all.

Molly Powell, Jo Fletcher Books (Quercus)

Deborah Blake has primarily done some copy-editing work for us for a fiction author of ours. She's very skilled with in-depth knowledge in the areas she edits. She has great communication skills and works thoroughly and punctually. A valuable asset to any production team.

Kelly Mundt-Czerkawska, Sue Richardson Associates

Deborah helped me a lot by copy editing my first novel. I had never done anything like this before so I went through many iterations until I got to a final version of the book that I was happy with and Deborah helped me a lot to understand how best to tell my story as well as correcting the finer points of my English.

Mark Ballett, author

Deborah has worked as a proofreader on a number of titles for the past few years or so. Her work has always been thorough and I would happily recommend her to anyone requiring a professional proofreading service.

Merv Honeywood, RefineCatch Ltd

Deborah did a great editing job and worked very quickly, helping me a great deal with things it is easy to overlook.

Ted York, author

I was asked to seek a proofreader/copy editor. I contacted several names listed on the internet. Deborah's response fitted in with what I was looking for. Deborah turned my book into a meaningful script, which now flows beautifully. The work was finished in the allotted time and I was very grateful for her assistance.

Jacqueline Hearn, author

Deborah edited my first novel. I gave her the manuscript in tatters and she turned it into a great, easy reading novel. I was so impressed with her work and attitude I personally wouldn't work with anyone else in the future and would most certainly recommend her services.

R Barnard, author

Deborah Blake has been a most able, accurate and reliable transcriber for the Canada History Project. When we had made errors in our photocopying and/or cataloging process, Deborah caught them and proved of great assistance in helping us correctly archive and date the work. Our editorial staff has appreciated her diligence, accuracy and insight, even when confronted with difficult handwriting and idiomatic language use. In short, our editors and I would not hesitate to employ her again for both her transcription and editorial services.

Lewis Stout, Project Coordinator

• Editor
• Proofreader

• Fiction
• Biography, autobiography & memoir
• Crime, mystery & thriller
• Literary fiction
• Romance