Mr Paul Kilbey
- Website
- https://paulkilbey.co.uk/
- Membership Grade
- Professional Member
About Paul
Featured
I’m a freelance writer, editor and certified gold-standard journalist with a background in classical music and ballet.
My experience
I’ve worked as an editor and/or proofreader for various organizations including the Deutsches Museum, La Biennale di Venezia, the Royal Opera House and texthouse. I work with individual writers, too, including self-publishers.
As a freelancer, I work on books both academic and trade, from memoirs and biographies to conference proceedings. I’ve edited for record labels, apps and museums, and given grammar consultations to celebrity musicians. I love mixing it up.
My specialist areas are classical music and dance, but I work across the arts and academia, as well as much further afield. As a qualified teacher of English as a foreign language, I’m very comfortable working with writers whose first language isn’t English.
My style
As an editor, I’m respectful, thorough, subtle, and focused on solutions. Because of my own writing experience, I understand exactly what authors are going through when they write. Every edit I make is geared towards helping you communicate better.
After I’ve been through your work, it’ll sound more like you, not less.
Unusually for an editor, I don’t think I’m much of a pedant. I can (and will) make your manuscript stylistically consistent and beautifully formatted, but that’s not the main thing I bring to the table. The main thing is your voice.
Please feel free to get in touch with me for a free consultation and quote.
Media
- Memoirs, biographies and other non-fiction books
- Academic books and articles (sorry, I don't work with students)
- Arts event programmes
- Websites/blogs
- Company literature
Experience
Freelance editor/proofreader since 2016.
Content Producer (Ballet), Royal Opera House, 2015–2017.
Reviews Editor, Bachtrack, 2012–2014.
Recent clients
- Various individual authors
- Deutsches Museum
- Blinkist
- texthouse
- Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Subjects
- academia (humanities, etc)
- music (classical music, contemporary classical, opera, experimental, popular, musicology, programme notes, CD/DVD sleeves, reviews)
- dance (ballet, contemporary dance, programme notes, DVD sleeves)
- education (English as a foreign language / EFL / TEFL resources)
Qualifications and awards
CIEP Professional member since 2017
MA Music; MPhil Musicology
Journalism diploma (NCTJ): Gold Standard, A grades in all exams and 100 words per minute shorthand.
CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) Pass B
ABRSM Grade 8: Piano, Flute, Theory
Specialised software
Microsoft Word and Excel: highly proficient
Adobe InDesign and Photoshop: years of professional experience including several courses
Strong familiarity with Wordpress and other website platforms
testimonials
Working on the other side of the world in Australia, I knew of Paul Kilbey’s fine writing on music and the arts, but was somewhat anxious about putting nearly 200,000 words of editorial work in his hands. But as soon as his first batch of developmental editing arrived I knew I had made the right choice.
Here was thorough, intensely practical advice, given with the utmost sensitivity to my initial ideas.
When the time for copyediting came round there was no question about the best person to undertake such detailed work on a long book, and I have been delighted with those results too. I can wholeheartedly recommend Paul as editor to any writer.
Ashley Killar, author of Cranko: The Man and his Choreography (forthcoming)
Please accept my sincerest thanks, also on behalf of the other authors, for the very high quality of your work. Your contribution is very much appreciated.
Artemis Yagou PhD, Research Associate, Deutsches Museum
Paul Kilbey worked at the Royal Opera House in Publishing and Interpretation from December 2014 to June 2017. He swiftly progressed from Editorial Assistant to Content Producer, with expanding responsibilities in the preparation of print that covered all aspects, from the central areas of proofing and editing through to design and image work, to create high-quality publications. With his arts expertise, Paul also wrote articles for publication on-line and in print that showed a fine sensitivity to language and register as well as analytic insight and cultural understanding.
Work for the Royal Opera House is particularly pressured, driven by a continuous stream of deadlines, the high level of public expectation and exposure and a great sensitivity to negotiating with many people with their own exacting standards and expertise. Paul consistently and impressively rose to such demands with his own high standards of accuracy, consistency, style, intelligent and perceptive questioning – always diplomatic – and scheduling.
With such a track record of sustained and proven results at the Royal Opera House, I can endorse Paul’s abilities for all aspects of editorial work and in publishing project management without reservation.
John Snelson, Head of Interpretation, Royal Opera House
Paul has done freelance work for texthouse since January 2016, proofreading and editing material for classical CD and DVD releases, including work on some of the largest box sets ever produced. He has also worked on subtitles, web copy and press releases. Using his subject knowledge as well as his publishing experience, he works thoroughly and neatly, can turn projects around at short notice, and adapts the level of his edit carefully to the task at hand.
Jochen Rudelt, texthouse
Paul was the first editor I ever worked with as a classical music writer, back in 2012, and his patience with my early efforts was boundless. His keen editorial eye, paired with this patience and his perceptive sensitivity, was instructive in my growth as a critic and listener. Having now written for many other publications, I can safely say that Paul is among the most amiable yet effective editors in the world of classical music criticism.
Rebecca Lentjes, musicologist and critic
Paul is a fine editor indeed, one who taught me a great deal when he edited Bachtrack. With gentle encouragement, a kind pen, and a helpful outlook, he knows how to bring out the voice of a writer – because he is an accomplished one himself.
David Allen, freelance classical music critic (New York Times, Gramophone)
Service
Specialisms
Disclaimer note
The CIEP Directory of Editorial Services should be considered a point of first contact and prospective clients must satisfy themselves that members are capable of the work on offer. The Institute cannot be held responsible for the quality of work provided by any member listed in the directory. The members themselves are responsible for the maintenance and accuracy of their entries in the Directory and the CIEP has not made any attempt to vet them. The institute cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies in the Directory. Inclusion in the Directory as a freelance does not necessarily mean that the member is self-employed as defined by HM Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions.