Mark Sinker

Professional Member
Location 7 St Johns Mansions, Clapton Square, Hackney, London, E5 8HT
Mobile +44 7533 410034
Email [email protected]
Website http://marksinker.co.uk/
LinkedIn Mark Sinker: writer, editor, writing consultant
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/dub.d.dee
Twitter @dubdobdee

Skills

  • Proofreading
  • Writing
  • Copy-editing
  • Rewriting
  • Developmental/substantive editing
  • Project management

Media

  • Magazines
  • Books
  • Multi-author books
  • Websites/blogs

Experience

Freelance since 1983

Sub-editor, proofing and fact-check, Crafts magazine, 1998-2014

Contributing editor and sub-editor, Sight and Sound, 1994-2012

Editor, The Wire, 1992-94

Training

On-the-job training towards becoming editor of The Wire, 1991-92

On-the-job training in house style and procedures, copy-editing and proofing requirements (Sight and Sound magazine), 1995

Clients

Royal Academy of Arts (2019): copy-editing and proofing a catalogue (Humphrey Ocean)

Strange Attractor publishers (2016-19: copy-editing various books on music; commissioning, copy-editing and proofing an anthology (A Hidden Landscape Once a Week)

The Crafts Council and the Saatchi Gallery (2017): sub-editing and proofing a catalogue (COLLECT) 

Subjects

music, history of instruments, popular music, jazz, rock music, contemporary music, experimental music, modern music, avant-garde music, composed music, blues, folk music, heavy metal, world music, musicology, notation, music theory, music and technology, culture and technology, material culture, history of popular music, history of composed music, history of experimental music, history of jazz, history of film, history of cinema/film, history of television, history of broadcasting, history of art, history of applied art, history of video, history of audio, European art history, popular art history, 20th century history, 19th/20th century art history, social history, history, crafts, contemporary art, decorative art, visual art, applied arts, furniture, ceramics, jewellery, textiles, woodwork, metalwork glasswork textiles, design and technology, computer-assisted design, electronic/online publishing, HTML, web editing/writing, newspapers, publishing history, UK culture, English language usage, English language grammar/syntax, English language writing skills, literary studies, comparative literature, literary criticism, literary theory, media studies, children’s literature, general English literature, humour, modern poetry, modern literature, post-colonial literature, Victorian literature, fiction, crime fiction, mystery fiction, thrillers, historical fiction, literary fiction, popular fiction, science fiction, fantasy, horror fiction, scientific writing, cultural studies, folklore and mythology, continental philosophy, philosophy of science, film/TV biography/autobiography, historical biography/autobiography, literary biography/autobiography, classical musical biography/autobiography, jazz musical biography/autobiography, political biography/autobiography, popular biography/autobiography

Qualifications

BA in Mathematics and Philosophy

Specialised software

QuarkExpress

InDesign

Testimonials

Over the last three years, I’ve worked with Mark as author and editor on a major project – A Hidden Landscape Once a Week, a large anthology involving some 30 writers. A strong and very experienced writer himself, he is an excellent project manager, firm and diplomatic, with a good grasp of how to coax a wide variety of people into hitting deadlines. From his time editing a magazine he knows exactly how to shape a collection that’s more than the sum of its parts, and also how to troubleshoot when problems arise. He’s fun to work with and unflappable, with a meticulous eye for detail and good antennae for problems that are likely to emerge down the track.

He has also acted as consultant editor on books I’ve published authored by others. He works speedily, accurately and tactfully, recognising how inexperienced writers can be nudged towards clearer and punchier presentation of their work, while fully respecting their own sensibility and the subtleties of the stories they’re trying to tell.  

Mark Pilkington, Strange Attractor