Owen Gregory | Full Cream Milk

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What if you could see your writing through the eyes of your most honest, thorough and attentive reader? One whose insights are offered in a spirit of collaboration, while there’s still time to adjust it and make it better?

Working with an editor doesn’t have to be nail-biting or embarrassing. Neither should it be done casually. Your words are important. You need someone who can amplify your intent without imposing a voice, vision, or point of view that isn’t yours. Someone to steer you clear of problems and confusion and dullness. Someone who understands the balance between acknowledging the words you’ve written and recognizing that some ought to change. Working together, we can polish out the flaws in your manuscript, discover the great sentences hidden inside your good ones, and keep your readers reading.

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I’m a professional independent line editor and copy editor providing services to writers and publishers. I edit creative nonfiction, academic scholarship, literary fiction, and all kinds of other writing. I’m a thorough, meticulous and honest editor, with a sensitive and friendly approach to you and your text, steering clear of pedantry and peeves. Your voice is what readers want to hear, your story what they want to read. Whatever level of editing your text could benefit from, I can help refine and amplify it

My personal and editorial interests and knowledge extend into the arts (particularly music and literature), humanities and social sciences. Recent work has included a Czech gothic novel in translation, a first novel, and academic texts in the fields of computer games, art, language teaching, archaeology, music education, sociology, and the history of photography.

Web: https://fullcreammilk.co.uk

Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@fullcreammilkman

Skills and services

• Copy editing
• Line editing
• Developmental/substantive editing
• Page design/layout
• Typesetting

Selected titles

Recent titles include:

• Ultima and Worldbuilding in the Computer Role-Playing Game by Carly A. Kocurek and Matthew Thomas Payne (Amherst College Press) • April 2024
• Tanya El Khoury’s Live Art: Collaborative Knowledge Production edited by Laurel V McLaughlin and Carrie Robbins (Amherst College Press) • February 2024
• Data Power in Action: Urban Data Politics in Times of Crisis edited by Ola Söderström and Ayona Datta (Bristol University Press) • December 2023
• Between Sahara and Sea: Africa in the Roman Empire by David J Mattingly (University of Michigan Press) • August 2023
  ‘I am remarkably grateful for the diligence and perseverance of the copy editor in resolving so many issues in what is a monster of a bibliography. It will be a great resource to others as a result of this work.’ — David J Mattingly (University of Leicester)
• Milton and Music by Seth Herbst (Routledge) • April 2023
• The Service Organization: How to Deliver and Lead Successful Services, Sustainably by Kate Tarling (London Publishing Partnership) • February 2023
• Researching and Writing Differently by Ilaria Boncori (Policy Press) • December 2022
• Understanding Privacy by Heather Burns (Smashing Media AG) • November 2022
  ‘At the beginning of the year, Owen was tasked with turning my filthy rough draft into a proper book. For Owen, that required a forensic examination of every letter in a 47,000 word brain dump. But it also required getting to grips with some very complex subject matter, on the fly, to a point where he could challenge the narrative as opposed to just reading it. He did all of that with ease. And none of you will stand so tall, because finally, if you’re me, you know you’ve got the right editor when they recognise all the lyrics you’ve embedded in the text. This is me we’re talking about. That is a lot of song references, people. I mean, does it get any better than that? No. Boom. Sorted. Shipped. Published.’ — Heather Burns (tech policy wonk)
• 32 to 33 by Sula Murray (self-published) • July 2022
  ‘Owen’s first edit of my first fiction book, 32 to 33, was transformational. The suggestions for layout, format and presentation made the manuscript much easier to manage, saving time and frustration. He clearly sorted out things which needed to be fact-based (postcodes in Lyon; medical conferences in Miami), to which I'd paid insufficient attention, from the fictional central premise. In response to his comments on how a reader would follow the trajectory of the story, I changed from a character-based structure to a chronological one, something I’d dithered with for months. I added in two new storyline elements he said would enhance the plot’s credibility. Transformational. A second edit was, of course, more routine but necessary for me. And after both of these, a few more tweaks and the ‘publish’ button on KDP got pressed.’ — Sula Murray
• Joaquín Rodrigo: Writings on Music translated by Raymond Calcraft and Elizabeth Matthews (Routledge) • November 2021
  ‘We are extremely grateful for all the work Owen did to make the manuscript of our book ready for typesetting and publication. It is a far better book because of his meticulous scrutiny of every aspect of it.’ — Raymond Calcraft
• Touch Design for Mobile Interfaces by Steven Hoober (Smashing Media AG) • November 2021
• Grasping for the American Dream: Racial Segregation, Social Mobility, and Homeownership by Nora E Taplin-Kaguru (Routledge) • July 2021
• Image Optimization by Addy Osmani (Smashing Media AG) • April 2021
• The Origins and Ascendancy of the Concert Mass by Stephanie Rocke (Routledge) • December 2020
  ‘At a time when cutting corners to cut costs seems to be becoming the order of the day in academic publishing, Owen Gregory was a breath of fresh air. Not only did he do all of the technical tasks expected of a copy editor, he also demonstrated initiative (e.g. investigating the norms of my discipline rather than simply asking me to dictate what I thought was correct), engaged intellectually with the content (e.g. showing where I had contradicted myself), communicated effectively, and met final deadlines. By the end of the process, Owen had earned my full trust and respect. I look forward to working with him again.’ — Dr Stephanie Rocke (University of Melbourne)
• Empire, Early Photography and Spectacle: The Global Career of Showman Daguerreotypist J W Newland by Elisa de Courcy and Martyn Jolly (Routledge) • November 2020
  ‘Owen’s copyediting of our manuscript was thorough without being invasive. His edits were undertaken promptly, and we quickly developed a pattern for working across different time zones. Owen is a clear and receptive communicator, in both email correspondence and in-text suggestions. He quickly accommodated the historic terms particular to our topic and focused his corrections on errors rather than intervening in the cadence of our writing. His attention to detail demonstrated a real care for our book. I have no reservation in recommending him as a copyeditor. Indeed, I hope to work with him again in the future myself.’ — Dr Elisa deCourcy (Australian National University)
• TypeScript in 50 Lessons by Stefan Baumgartner (Smashing Media AG) • October 2020
• Creative and Critical Projects in Classroom Music: Fifty Years of Sound and Silence by John Finney, Chris Philpott and Gary Spruce (Routledge) • October 2020
• Click! How to Encourage Clicks without Shady Tricks by Paul Boag (Smashing Media AG) • June 2020
• The Ethical Design Handbook by Trine Falbe, Martin Michael Frederiksen and Kim Andersen (Smashing Media AG) • March 2020
• Art Direction for the Web by Andy Clarke (Smashing Media AG) • March 2019
• Future Ethics by Cennydd Bowles (NowNext Press) • September 2018
• Design Systems by Alla Kholmatova (Smashing Media AG) • September 2017
• Content Design by Sarah Richards (Content Design London) • July 2017
• Web Typography by Richard Rutter (Ampersand Type) • May 2017
• Atomic Design by Brad Frost (self-published) • November 2016

Subjects

• arts, humanities, social sciences
• all aspects of front-end web design and development
• typography
• technology
• literature in English
• English language
• cultural studies
• orchestral music and instruments, particularly oboe and cor anglais
• musical notation

Media

• Books
• Multi-author books
• Manuals
• Online materials
• Magazines
• Typesetting
• Websites/blogs
• Sheet music

Training

• Development Editing: Fiction Theory (Liminal Pages), 2023
• Introduction to Fiction Editing (CIEP), 2021
• Word for Practical Editing (CIEP), 2021
• Copy-editing 3: Progress (SfEP), 2019
• Copy-editing 2: Headway (SfEP), 2018

Clients

Amherst College Press • Bristol University Press • University of Michigan Press • Routledge • London Publishing Partnership • Policy Press • Smashing Media AG • NowNext Press • Content Design London • Ampersand Type

Qualifications

• BA in English Studies
• MA in Writing (Distinction)

Specialised software

• Affinity Publisher (layout and publishing)
• MuseScore (music notation)

• Editor

• Archaeology
• Art & culture
• Communications
• English literature
• History
• Humanities
• Literary fiction
• Media studies
• Music
• Narrative non-fiction
• Performing arts
• Philosophy
• Photography
• Religion & theology
• Social sciences
• Sociology
• Speculative fiction
• Technology

• Design
• Typesetting