“Sue is a fantastic editor and writer – always creative, speedy, perceptive and thorough, with a brilliant can-do attitude that finds solutions for apparently insurmountable problems. She is, in fact, a joy to work with!”

Fiona Robertson, Publisher, Watkins

Under my maiden name, Lascelles, I gained many years’ in-house editorial experience with leading UK publishing houses including Orion, Little, Brown and Penguin Random House. Today, I am in demand as a freelance editorial consultant. I specialise in guiding new writers towards successful publication and supporting established authors through the editorial process, and I particularly enjoy working on commercial nonfiction and literary fiction.

Highly acclaimed titles worked on by me in an editorial capacity include:

• The War on Disabled People by Ellen Clifford – winner of the Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing, ‘an essential book’ Ken Loach, film maker & activist
• Philosophy for Life by Jules Evans – ‘An important book’, Times books of the year
• Cow Girl by Kirsty Eyre – winner of the Comedy Women in Print Prize and shortlisted for the Katie Fforde Debut Romantic Novel 2021
• How to Read a Church by Richard Taylor – ‘[a] gem of a book’ Spectator
• The Crossing by Samar Yazbek –‘may be … one of the first political classics of the 21st century’ Observer

My services include manuscript-assessment reports, book doctoring, rewrites, structural editing, copywriting,  copyediting and proofreading – from proposal to completed manuscript. Clients include BBC Books, Ebury, HarperCollins, The Literary Consultancy, the London Writers’ Club, Orion, Piatkus, Unbound, Watkins, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Welbeck and Zed Books. I am also happy to work on copy for websites  and proofread dissertations and other documents. Please don’t send me unsolicited material, but do contact me for more information and to find out how I can help.

“Sue is one of the best editors in the business: smart, imaginative, good-humoured, and sympathetic with the processes of writing while in tune with the practical matters of publishing. I frequently find myself recommending her services to writers of both fiction and nonfiction.”

Andrew Wille, book doctor and writing teacher

“Sue was indeed one of the best editors I’ve ever had.” Tony Buzan, author of Mind Map Mastery

“Sue is a skilled and trusted editor, who is able to transform books and goes above and beyond. I’m always thrilled with the results and so are my authors.”

Sara Cywinski, Editorial Director, Ebury Press