Julia Sandford-Cooke

Advanced Professional Member
Location WordFire Communications, Norfolk
Email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Website www.wordfire.co.uk
LinkedIn Julia Sandford-Cooke

Subjects

  • Business: business to business (B2B), direct marketing, e-business, management, marketing, office skills, public sector procurement, quality standards, small businesses
  • Construction: bricklaying, Building Regulations, built environment, carpentry, construction industry legislation, health and safety, planning/surveying, plastering
  • Education: distance learning, e-learning, exam preparation/revision, further education (FE), literacy resources, preschool/early years, reading schemes, primary, testing, T Levels, technical and vocational qualifications
  • Sustainability: alternative technologies, climate change, conservation, environmental education, green issues, renewable energy, sustainable development, town planning, waste management/recycling
  • Other: Amsterdam, board games, childcare, D&D, Dungeons & Dragons, Dutch, escape rooms, health and social care, hotels, keto, ketogenic, LCHF, low carb), literature, local government (town councils, parish councils, planning), NetherlandsNorfolk and East Anglia, nutrition (dieting, intermittent fasting, podcasts, puzzles, role-playing games, tourism, travel

Skills

  • Editorial: copy-editing, development editing, hard-copy proofreading, non-native English editing, on-screen editing, on-screen proofreading, PDF mark-up, plain English editing, compiling style guides, substantive editing.
  • Management and specialist: briefing, consultancy, clearing copyright, editorial project management, matching content to qualification specifications, managing photo shoots, identifying plagiarism, quality assurance, research.
  • Online/digital: content testing, search engine optimisation (SEO), web content auditing, web content strategy, web content writing and editing.
  • Software: Adobe Acrobat and InDesign; Microsoft Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word.
  • Writing: copywriting, repurposing, rewriting, technical writing, matching tone of voice.

Media

  • Non-fiction material: case studies, course materials, directories, distance-learning materials, educational materials, forms, handbooks, illustrated books, multi-author books, multiple-choice test questions, qualification specifications, teaching materials, technical reports, test and exam papers, textbooks, travel guides.
  • Corporate communications: annual reports, articles, bid and tender documents, business reports, corporate publications, government reports, manuals, marketing materials, newsletters, PowerPoint presentations, press releases, questionnaires and surveys, white papers.
  • Online/digital: blog posts, CD-ROMs/DVDs, ebooks, enewsletters, podcasts, social media, web content, websites.

Experience

Self-employed since 2011.

In-house employment
Working in publishing and marketing departments not only honed my editorial skills but also developed my management and relationship-building expertise.

  • Publishing and creative services manager, Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), 2004–11.
  • Senior editor, Harcourt Education (now Pearson), 2002–04.
  • Editor, AA Publishing, 2000–02.
  • Editing assistant, Endat Group (now ESI Ltd), 1998–2000.

Voluntary work
I was a town councillor for four years, and was a school governor until I moved to the Netherlands, so have plenty of experience of working within strict parameters and making decisions via committee.

I am using my experience of, and enthusiasm for, escape rooms, to help set up a puzzle quest in my local library to support the literacy development of Key Stage 2 pupils.

Professional development

  • CIEP (then SfEP) conferences 2011, 2013 (session leader: social media for editors), 2014 (session leader: Twitter for editors), 2015 (lightning talk), 2016 (session leader: getting out of your comfort zone), 2017 (session leader: working with business clients), 2018 (lightning talk and official lyric writer), 2019 (lightning talk), 2020/2021 (online), 2022 (official lyric writer), 2023 (onlne host)
  • Norfolk CIEP local group meetings
  • ERIC (Escape Room Industry Conference) 2019
  • Professional Copywriters’ Network conferences 2013, 2014, 2015
  • Efficient copy-editing (SfEP) 2013 and 2017
  • Fiction professional editing day (SfEP) 2016
  • Getting work with non-publishers (SfEP) 2013
  • Brush up your proofreading (SfEP) 2010
  • Brush up your copy-editing (SfEP) 2010

Clients

Publishing/editorial clients include:

  • AA Media: InDesign copy-editing and proofreading travel guides.
  • Asbestos Removal Contractors Association (ARCA): editing membership handbook.
  • Aspire (Australia): consulting on redeveloping a business ebook.
  • Balberry Publishing: copy-editing TEFL guides.
  • Consortium of large construction companies: consulting services and editing guidance on safe practice when constructing tall buildings.
  • Construction Industry Training Board (CITB): copy-editing and proofreading health and safety manuals; copy-editing and co-ordinating Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 industry guidance.
  • ConstructionSkills (awarding body): copy-editing assessment material.
  • Cambridge University Press: development editing blended resources for new vocational qualifications.
  • Green Climate Fund: board papers and reports
  • Haremi: development editing business textbooks and blended learning resources for vocational qualifications.
  • Hodder Education: project managing and development editing textbooks for new Cambridge Technicals qualifications.
  • Nelson Thornes: project managing and development editing textbooks for new qualifications.
  • NOCN (awarding body): editing and proofreading material.
  • OCR (awarding body): proofreading and copy-editing student guides; compiling in-house style guide; compiling in-house copyright guidance.
  • Optimus Education: commissioning, writing, editing and uploading content and resources for school leaders.
  • Out of House Publishing: copy-editing teacher’s guides; copy-editing and development editing BTEC Revise student guides and workbooks (Science and Health and social care).
  • Oxford University Press: writing and development editing textbooks and ebooks for new qualifications.
  • Pearson: writing core unit and development editing BTEC Revise Creative Media Production student guide and workbook; project managing and development editing many BTEC Revise Revision Guides and Practice Assessment Plus titles; development editing BTEC National Construction textbook for a revised qualification.
  • QBS: editorial and project management of numerous Pearson titles.

Qualifications

  • BA Hons English Literature (Hertford College, University of Oxford)
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies (Chartered Management Institute)
  • International English Language Testing System (IELTS) expert user (band score 9)