Mr Patrick Neylan
- Membership Grade
- Professional Member
About Patrick
Featured
I've been a publisher and editor at the highest level for nearly two decades, most recently as Publishing Director at Drewry. Of course I can edit and proofread to the highest standard – you'd expect nothing less with that pedigree – but I also bring wide knowledge of a huge variety of topics. This encompasses not just business, but also culture, history, science and geography, and can be applied to editing fiction as well as non-fiction.
How is this useful? Take this sentence, from Kazuo Ishiguro's 'The Remains of the Day': "I have a good view from here of the sun setting over the sea." But Stevens is in Weymouth, which faces east. Where he's sitting, the sun sets over the hills. How about Yuval Noah Hariri's bestseller 'Sapiens', where he refers to "Emperor Valence". His proofreader clearly hadn't heard of Valens and didn't bother to check. Or Bill Bryson's 'A Short History of Nearly Everything', where his description of the size of a proton is out by a factor of thirty. Actually, finding mistakes in that book is like shooting fish in a barrel, but somehow Doubleday's editors didn't think it their place to question the great man. But it is my place.
I'm a bold but sensitive editor. I excel in making the complicated simple but not simplistic, and in bringing dead prose to life. One of my colleagues once said, "I'm sure the original was a lot longer, but I can't see what you've taken out." I'm not a pedant: I know the rules, but I believe that good, clear communication between writer and reader is more important.
Recent projects included updating a library of academic books, designing a schools course and managing a film project for primary schools, including editing scripts and even doing a bit of acting. I've even been asked by a former colleague to design a set of business reports. I declined and put him onto a better designer whom he could afford: I have ethics too.
Media
Books, integrated media, magazines, newsletters, multi-author books
Experience
Freelance since 2017; Books Editor, Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, 2017-18; Books Editor, content writer, Drewry Shipping Consultants, 2017-18
Clients
Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, Drewry Maritime Research, Drewry Maritime Advisors, Drewry Supply Chain Advisors, Bromley Little Theatre (voluntary)
Subjects
B2B, maritime, marketing, public relations, strategy, business, economic, theatre, financial services, education – films and syllabuses, music, data cleansing
Qualifications
BA English & History
Specialised software
InDesign, Illustrator, Excel
Service(s)
Disclaimer note
The CIEP Directory of Editorial Services should be considered a point of first contact and prospective clients must satisfy themselves that members are capable of the work on offer. The Institute cannot be held responsible for the quality of work provided by any member listed in the directory. The members themselves are responsible for the maintenance and accuracy of their entries in the Directory and the CIEP has not made any attempt to vet them. The institute cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies in the Directory. Inclusion in the Directory as a freelance does not necessarily mean that the member is self-employed as defined by HM Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions.