Ms Jacky Ferneyhough | Non-fiction editor, proofreader and indexer

Friendly, approachable and here to help

I am an experienced editor who is used to complex works (multi-author, multi-stakeholder) and in making a publication suitable for a particular audience/purpose; for example, working with specialists to turn their knowledge into guidance for a broad audience, and editing work by non-writers to share their professional knowledge.

I can edit/rework pieces while retaining the author's 'voice' (style of writing), and can also apply a single voice to works written by many authors. I'm equally adept at editing technical works that require a depersonalised tone.

Having worked for so many authors, professionals and people unused to writing, I can adapt my approach to suit different communication styles and needs, enabling them to feel completely confident in giving their creative work to me. For instance, I can provide page-organised notes and queries, or annotate pdfs and Word documents, or scan marked-up proofs – I use whatever approach works for the author.

My range includes land and built heritage conservation, environmental practices and art history. I typically work on non-fiction, business reports and technical guidance, including manuals, instructions, academic books, internet/intranet sites, staff newsletters and journals, case studies and reports.

I am comfortable with editing works that include non-English language terms and proofing books for the US market. I'm able to create a comprehensive back-of-book index or keyword index (for example, to aid searches of a back catalogue of articles). Although not a photo editor nor copyright expert, I'm familiar enough with copyright requirements and GDPR to check necessary permissions have been obtained for images/quotes and to help research alternatives if needed.

Media

1. Multi-author books
2. Manuals
3. Books
4. Newsletters
5. Directories/yearbooks
6. Journals
7. Magazines
8. Company literature
9. Websites/blogs
10. Online materials
11. Case studies

Experience

• Freelance since 2005
• Previously employed at the National Trust where communications and research were a core part of my job.

Clients

• National Trust – on one-off and repeat work for many different departments
• Brepols (and its imprint, Harvey Miller), on editing, proofreading or indexing, since 2019
• Other clients include independent authors and building conservation surveyor team

Please see below for work on published books.

Subjects

• Art history and historical studies (including ecclesiastical and non-English terms)
• Building conservation and maintenance
• Coast and marine (management and science)
• Conservation (of historic and cultural collections)
• Countryside management
• Environmental practices/management (energy, resources, recycling and buildings)
• Farm management
• Forestry
• Gardens, horticulture and garden history
• Nature conservation and wildlife management
• Visitor experience/promotion/management
• Volunteer and community activities/management
• War memorials and military/home front sites

Testimonials

… and very special thanks to Jacky. Her amends are of great value and will help to make the book ’sing’.
(Author, 2020)

Goodness me, Jacky – I wish I had known about you sooner. You have been so thorough. It is rather sobering to realise there are still so many errors and inconsistencies.
(Author, 2020. Although commissioned to index only, I gave the author two lists of corrections, one crucial and one recommended, to help him weigh up changes against his budget and deadline.)

That’s great. You did a wonderful job. I love the Key Figures. Never would have thought of it. But it’s a brilliant addition!
Thank you for your nice response. You did all sorts of things I should have been able to do. I cannot tell you how much more secure I feel as a result. [The managing editor] had such confidence in you and I have come to see that that confidence was well founded. I feel lucky that you have taken on the book.
(Author, 2020)

Many thanks for the Index … I am also most grateful to you for picking up so many errors and inconsistencies. I think you have produced a very good and helpful index for this complicated book, and on a topic fairly new to you where it must have made it even more difficult to assess the significance of the items to be included. I appreciate the effort you put in and the helpful manner in which you tackled the whole job. I hope we can work together soon on another occasion.
(Publishing Editor, 2019)

I include the next two quotes as examples of editing articles for a journal, one from an academic specialist whose writing needed to be cut (first quote) and one from another professional, albeit an inexperienced writer, whose knowledge had to be shown to its best advantage:

• Example 1: Thank you very much. I think you did a very good job editing our article to get the word count down without losing the gist of the information.
• Example 2: Great stuff. Thanks for translating my ramblings into something meaningful.

Work on published books (in order of most recent first)

Cooper, Paul, Yorkshire Dialect in the Nineteenth Century (Routledge, 2025).
Indexed.

Futter, Andrew, et al, The Global Third Nuclear Age (Routledge, 2025).
Indexed.

High, Casey, and Luiz Costa, The Lowland South American World (Routledge, 2025).
Indexed.

Dangoor, Linda, From the Tigris to the Thames: Flavours of a Journey (Green Bean Books, forthcoming).
A narrative recipe book, which I indexed.

McKeown, Simon, Sweden and the Emblem: A Descriptive Survey (Brepols, forthcoming).
Proofread.

Zheng, Xuan, Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers Revisited (Taylor & Francis, 2024).
Indexed.

Raguin, Virginia C., Stained Glass Before 1700 in the Collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2 vols (Harvey Miller-Brepols, forthcoming).
Proofread and indexed: a complex work owing to its size (two volumes), extensive heraldic blazons and comprehensive descriptions of provenance, artists and donors involved.

Tributes to Elly Miller: Opening Manuscripts, ed. by Stella Panayotova, Lucy Sandler and Tamar Wang (Brepols, 2024).
Edited and proofread.

Burnham, Vin, Get into Costume: Design, Styling, Construction and Supervision in Film, TV and Theatre (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024).
Developmental editing of draft manuscript for author, edited transcripts of both book and online interviews and compiled advice to newcomers. Currently working with Vin on Book 2!

Pinkus, Assaf, Giants in the Medieval City (Brepols, 2024).
Proofread.

The Creation of Space and the Connection between Models and Drawings as Design Tools, ed. by A.F.W. (Lex) Boxman, (Brepols, 2023).
Edited.

Michael, Michael A., The Bologna Cope: Patronage, Iconography, History, and Conservation (Harvey Miller-Brepols, 2022)
Indexed (and a degree of proofreading): a complex index covering motifs, iconography, textiles, ecclesiastical clothing, history of the embroidery industry, roles, and more.

Nees, Lawrence, Frankish Manuscripts: The Seventh to the Tenth Century, 2 vols, (Harvey Miller-Brepols, 2022).
Proofread.

Pilliod, Elizabeth, Pontormo at San Lorenzo: The Making and Meaning of a Lost Renaissance Masterpiece (Harvey Miller-Brepols, 2021).
Proofread and indexed.

Felzmann, Vladimir (Father Vlad), Life Squared (2021).
Proofread. Although originally also asked to index, I was able to restructure this self-improvement manual and format the content list in a way to make a full index unnecessary.

Kahn, Deborah, The Politics of Sanctity: Figurative Sculpture at Selles-sur-Cher (Harvey Miller-Brepols, 2020).
Edited and indexed.

Panayotova, Stella, The Art and Science of Illuminated Manuscripts: A Handbook (Brepols, 2020).
Proofread.

The Visualization of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ed. by Marcia Kupfer, Adam S. Cohen and J.H. Chajes, (Brepols, 2020).
Proofread.

Derbes, Anne, Ritual, Gender, and Narrative in Late Medieval Italy: Fina Buzzacarini and the Baptistery of Padua (Brepols, 2020).
Edited.

Christ on the Cross: The Boston Crucifix and the Rise of Monumental Wood Sculpture, 970–1200, ed. by Shirin Fozi and Gerhard Lutz (Brepols, 2020).
Edited.

Hare, Chris, and Lela Tredwell, Safe Havens by the Sea: Lancing, London and a Century of Caring (Guild Care, 2020).
Indexed; I also helped with some late proofing.

Rouse, Richard H. and Mary A., Renaissance Illuminators in Paris: Artists and Artisans 1500–1715 (Harvey Miller-Brepols, 2019).
Indexed, some proofing: a complex index given that many terms were in French and indicators had to be added to those artists who appeared in a separate register.

Bullock, David, and Jacky Ferneyhough, When Nature Moves In: A Guide to Managing Wildlife In and Around Buildings (National Trust, 2013).
Co-authored and edited.

Bats in Traditional Buildings (English Heritage, National Trust and Natural England, 2009).
Edited; the text was written by six people, who had to be edited into a single voice.

Stokes, Jon and John White, Why Are Leaves Green? A Tree Miscellany (Tree Council, 2007).
Indexed.

Roger, Donald, Jon Stokes and James Ogilvie, Heritage Trees of Scotland (Tree Council, 2006).
Indexed: a complicated index as most of the trees were individually named, sometimes in two languages (English and Gaelic) as well as having generic common and scientific names.

• Editor

• Archaeology
• Architecture
• Art & culture
• Environment & nature
• Gardening
• History

• Copywriting
• Subtitling/captioning
• Formatting/layout