| Julia Sandford-Cooke | Business and educational content writer and editor |

Experienced non-fiction writer and editor, specialising in educational, training and business content.

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Get in touch if you think I can make your message clear.

Editing, writing, proofreading, project management, advice... let me work with your words.

• Particular experience of non-fiction structural editing, including developing and project managing vocational and FE textbooks, T Level blended content and tutor materials.
• Author of an ebook for a business qualification, contributor to two textbooks for creative media production qualifications and author of three plastering textbooks.
• Particular experience of content relating to construction and health and safety.
• Copywriter of digital and hard-copy content for marketing agencies.
• CIEP Information Commissioning Editor (2022 to 2023).
• Member of CIEP (then SfEP) social media team (2012 to 2019), frequent contributor to CIEP’s blog and active participant in CIEP conferences.
• Coordinator of CIEP local group for Norfolk (West and Central).
• Escape room enthusiast: experienced playtester of both interactive and printed puzzles.

Please note: I do NOT work on academic papers, student dissertations or fiction.

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), Netherlands, Norfolk and East Anglia, nutrition (dieting, intermittent fasting, podcasts, puzzles, role-playing games, tourism, travel

CIEP blog posts

Author (most recent first):

Editors don’t just spot typos: Breaking down the editing stereotypes

Ten signs of possible plagiarism

A week in the life of a freelance editorial project manager

Context is everything: how learning a language shed new light on my editing practice

Podcasts and editors: what the word nerd heard (part 1) 

Podcasts and editors: what the word nerd heard (part 2)

Ian McMillan: My unedited and unproofread life

The A to D of writing multiple choice tests

Six ways to be the freelance editor you want to be (for BookMachine on behalf of CIEP)

Why general knowledge is not a trivial pursuit

Not just fun and games: the CPD of escape rooms

‘You spend all day reading?’ Why we need the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading

‘Pedantry is not a good look’: the radical message of English Grammar Day

You are not alone: five tips for co-working

10 things you didn’t know about the SfEP social media teams

Supporting sentences and each other

Why photo shoots need editors too

Five reasons editors love Twitter

Contributor:

Six resources for developing your editorial skills (for BookMachine on behalf of CIEP)

Accountability groups: What? Where? Why?

Five things to take to the SfEP conference

Lightning talks: snappy, illuminating and gone in a flash

SfEP celebrates Children’s Book Week (Dr Seuss parody)

A survival guide for introverts networking at the SfEP conference

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 (online 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)

• Editor
• Proofreader

• Architecture
• Communications
• Diet & nutrition
• Education & training
• English literature
• Environment & nature
• Food & cooking
• Psychology & psychiatry
• Reference
• Travel & tourism
• Games & activities
• Humour & satire
• Media studies

• Copywriting
• Writing (edited)
• Business writing
• Technical writing
• Project management