Editorial Services

You can learn all about Emily’s experience here.

She can provide manuscript assessments, structural edits, mentoring and submission preparation packages.

‘I love clever twisty-turny crime thrillers, upmarket/book club fiction, literary fiction and narrative non-fiction. For me, anything that’s a bit dark and psychological usually comes top. I also love women’s fiction that tugs on the heart strings, or anything about human resilience and strength in times of crisis or gives a shrewd observation of the human condition.’

Miriam joined the team in September 2022. After starting her career at a boutique literary agency in Spain, she worked in Primary Agenting at Rogers, Coleridge & White Literary Agency. In 2021, she became a freelance editor and translator.

She provides manuscript assessments, structural edits and mentoring.

‘I am interested in story-led, character-driven works as well as more playful and experimental writing. I love literary and upmarket fiction and narrative non-fiction, historical fiction, clever crime thrillers, and any works which explore what it is to be human especially with a focus on psychological and emotional subjectivity. On the children’s side, I love to edit middle-grade and YA.’

Juliet has over ten years’ experience in the industry, working as a rights manager, literary scout and agent in both the UK and Australia. Over her career, she has worked with best-selling and award-winning writers like Mark Billingham, Claire Fuller and Hannah Richell.

She provides manuscript assessments and structural edits.

‘In my own reading tastes, I’m hungry and undiscriminating. I dip into a bit of everything. The books that are particularly special to me are the ones that have a gift for chronicling the human condition.’

Silvia Molteni has a BA in Philosophy of Science from the University of Milan and an MA in Publishing and Creative Writing from Kingston University London. She is the head of the children’s and YA books department at PFD Agents. She has been at PFD for over twelve years and there she manages her own list of clients, alongside selling audio and foreign rights in the children’s and YA list worldwide. The Bookseller named Silvia 2019’s Rising Star.

Amongst her clients are bestselling and award-winning authors such as Ross Welford, Onjali Q. Rauf, Caitlin Devlin, Ida Tufte Michelsen, Cathy Faulkner, Eibhlis Carcione, Leanne Egan, Rachael Craw, Susie Bower, Jacob North, Alex Bertie, Lisa Lueddecke, E Latimer, Scarlett Dunmore, Isabel Marinov, Jamie Windust and Samuel J. Halpin.

Silvia is our resident children’s books expert. She provides manuscript assessments, structural edits and mentoring for children’s books from picture books to Young Adult.

‘In MG fiction, I’m drawn to strong and diverse voices, with a preference for contemporary and realistic settings and magical realism. I love a laugh-out-loud story, endearing characters, mind-blowing adventures and stories with lots of heart. I always enjoy dark and gothic tales and generally veer towards voice and character driven narratives and gorgeous writing. 

On the YA side, I read across all genres, but again preferably literary, character-driven, voicey and beautifully written. While commercial fantasy that involves complicated world building, multiple books and high wordcount is not my cup of tea. 

On the adult front, my taste is very eclectic. I’m a big fan of beautiful writing and complex character driven narratives, in a Donna Tartt’s vein, Michael Coleman and Jeffrey Eugenides, but I also enjoy reading more commercial and entertaining fiction in the crime, psychological thriller and bookclub genres. I adore adult narratives with young protagonists.’

Margaux Vialleron is a French-Born, Glasgow-based writer and cook. She is the author of two novels: The Yellow Kitchen (July 2022) and Breaststrokes (May 2024). Her story, Fernanda’s Fish Soup, was runner-up in the 2022 Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Competition. Before switching to freelance, Margaux worked as a Translation Rights Agent for a London-based literary agency for eight years. She is also the co-host of the SPK Book Club, reading and culinary community, and she writes The Onion Papers, a newsletter about storytelling in the kitchen. Find more about Margaux’s work at her website and connect with her via Instagram.

Margaux is our resident published writer, offering an insight into the publishing process from an author’s perspective. She provides mentoring and submission preparation packages.

‘I’m passionate about storytelling and I love to help writers to find their voice and, in the process, confidence in the story they want to tell. I’m keen to work with anyone who doesn’t feel like their voice and style fit the usual publishing curriculum and with authors who write across languages. As a publishing professional and creative writing mentor, I’ve experience working across a wide range of books, from literary fiction, upmarket and book club reads to women’s commercial titles. I’m also a food writer and keen non-fiction reader, and I enjoy working on non-fiction projects greatly.’

Jordan began his career in publishing as part of the HarperCollins graduate scheme, working across five different departments of a major publishing house in his first year and a half. While this offered him an overview of the business that has proved vital over the last decade, it also allowed him to find where his heart truly lay: Editorial.

Jordan joined 4^th Estate who specialize in literary fiction and narrative non-fiction. Beginning as a project editor, where he helped usher titles from manuscript to bound book, he eventually rose to assistant editor, editing authors like Kirstin Innes, Coco Mellors and Ece Temelkuran. Jordan’s proudest moments during his time in the commissioning team were those occasions where he was able to champion stories that others may have ignored, helping them to find the readership they so richly deserved.

Since 2021, Jordan has worked as a freelance editor. He is our expert in narrative non-fiction and memoir, as well as literary fiction.

After a short stint as a university lecturer, a similar period working for a charity, followed by an even shorter period as a civil servant and, finally, a longer spell as a primary school teacher, Sam Humphreys began working in trade publishing in 2002, at the ripe old age of thirty. She started as an editorial assistant at Picador and, from then until late 2024, worked for a mix of small independent publishers and some of the biggest houses, including Penguin Random House and Macmillan. During that time, she has published authors as disparate as Oliver Sacks and Liane Moriarty, Clive James and Emma Donaghue. Her most recent job was as Fiction Publishing Director at Black & White, part of Bonnier Books UK. After being made redundant in November 2024, she decided she wanted to focus on editing rather than publishing and so became a freelance editor and consultant. Her main area of expertise is adult fiction although she has published non-fiction too, primarily narrative non-fiction.

Emma is the founder of Highbury Literary and works closely with writers and literary estates. She began her career at Faber handling Rights for a prize-winning and prestigious list of contemporary and heritage authors. She reads widely across all genres in her role as a reader for a literary scout, and you can also find her offering support and advice over at The Society of Authors.

She provides manuscript assessment and submission preparation packages.

I enjoy reading widely whether that’s at my desk or on holiday – the sweet spot of upmarket fiction will always be a personal favourite, but whether it’s commercial fiction, genre, or literary, I love to be surprised by original ideas, or find myself swept up into a story that touches on the human experience in a thought-provoking, compelling or moving way.