
Caroline Petherick
Advanced Professional MemberLocation | Windsworth, St Martin, Looe, Cornwall PL13 1NZ |
Telephone | 01503-262 671 |
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Web | www.the-wordsmith.co.uk |
Skills
Academic editing, consultancy (editorial), copyediting, editing non-native English, fiction editing, ghostwriting, line editing, Plain English, rewriting, structural editing
Media
Books, company literature, conference reports, distance-learning materials, family history, language course materials, local history, manuals, memoirs, newsletters, novels, online materials, theses and dissertations
Qualifications and awards
BSc Linguistics, Classics, Mathematics and Astronomy; Mensa membership; TESOL Certificate
Training
SfEP conferences 2018, 2016, 2015 and 2013, Editing fiction 2018, Editing in Word 2017, Rewriting and Substantive Editing 2016 at Oxford Brookes; IT user skills update 2013, Introduction to InDesign 2013, Editing digital products (Publishing Training Centre) 2012
Clients
Whittles Publishing, the Maritime foundation, RE Today, and a plethora of independent authors (fiction, non-fiction and academic)
Subjects
Animal(s) (rare breeds), anthropology, astronomy/space sciences (general, cosmology), bird-watching, climate emergency (both fact and cli-fi), conservation (countryside/nature, green issues), Cornwall, Cornish history, Cornish wildlife, counselling, education (open learning), English as a foreign/second language (EFL/ESL), fiction, food science/technology, games and puzzles, history (especially family history and maritime history), languages other than English (classical Greek, Latin), linguistics, marketing, mathematics (popular/recreational), medicine (complementary/alternative), memoirs, music (classical, opera), natural history, New Age/mind, body, ornithology, sci-fi, spirit/divination, shipping, sports (light aviation, sailing, water, scuba diving), tourism/travel, transport (advanced driving/roadcraft), wine.
(NB You might be wndering about this huge range of subjects, so I'll back it up by telling you that I've lived comfortably over 60 years thus far, so have had the time and the interest to accumulate a fair bit of knowledge.)
Many texts have benefited from my eclectic cross-curricular knowledge base. This has arisen from experiences ranging from managing a travel company to running an organic farm, from attaining a private pilot's licence to crewing a tall ship, and from learning ki-aikido to getting a degree in classics, astronomy and cutting-edge linguistics.
Testimonials
Caroline was a joy to work with on our projects. She immediately answered our cry for help and couldn’t have been more helpful throughout our time of working with her. We found Caroline a fast, accurate and efficient editor with a keen eye for attention to detail who could work to extremely tight deadlines, always delivering when she said she would. Caroline has meticulous editing and proofreading skills and is willing to learn and research the subject matter, checking facts and questioning material that needs clarity and providing suggestions based upon her expertise. All of her suggestions were well thought out and pertinent. We would have no hesitation in using Caroline for our future projects.
Barbara Jones, Curator of Maritime History and Education, Lloyd’s Register
We have been working with Caroline for several years and across a broad range of projects and subjects. It is a pleasure to work with her - she is efficient, accurate, knowledgeable, diplomatic and very understanding. She handles authors beautifully, with their own expectations and foibles, and we have received compliments from several who have praised her work, her understanding and the improvements she has brought to their manuscript. I have worked with editors for 40 years and I can say wholeheartedly and with objectivity that Caroline is one of the very best. I am constantly amazed by her knowledge and skills and appreciate her sense of humour - it all helps the editing flow more smoothly!
Dr Keith Whittles, Whittles Publishing
Caroline, I totally trust your excellent work! Cheers, Herbert.
Dr Herbert Puchta, Professor of English at the Teacher Training University in Austria
People often ask me what an editor does and if they need one for their book. My answer is that to publish a book without an editor would be total madness. Caroline not only corrects my grammar and punctuation, but she proof reads my work and checks the consistency of facts – names, places, people, dates. It would be embarrassing to have to reveal how many errors she finds, but I don’t think I am alone amongst other authors. We all need a second pair of eyes.
Matthew Woodward, author of Trans-Siberian Adventures and A Bridge Even Further.
[In response to you asking me what it was about the book that led me to compliment the publisher on its editing.] Autobiographical authors rarely achieve the narrative flow that this book has achieved without professional editing. The prose is sharp and well placed to support the narrative. There is little if any unnecessary material. Nothing is unnecessarily repeated. I'm not an editor (although editing government reports prepared by my team was part of my job before I retired) but do occasionally review papers and books for the AAMH Newsletter and our journal The Great Circle, and I occasionally receive manuscripts from hopeful authors on maritime history ... To be useful for maritime historians, autobiographies of the quality of In The Treacle Mine are rare. In my opinion, the book has achieved the correct balance between being a memoir for a general audience and being a useful source of historical information.
Peter Ridgway, Newsletter and Media Editor,
Australian Association for Maritime History