Jade and I are former colleagues who kept in touch long after we both left the jobs that made us friends. When I learned she’d written a book and she was putting feelers out for ARC readers, I stuck my hand in the air very enthusiastically. She replied and asked me if instead, I would copy edit her manuscript as she needed someone skilled who she trusted to go over it with a fine-tooth comb. Well, she didn’t have to ask me twice.

Jade tasked me with:

• General copyediting: correcting spelling, grammar and malapropisms, and double-checking that where Jade had established certain conventions (e.g. capitalisation of a word), they were used consistently.

• Fact checking: Jade’s novel is set in modern London and draws on historical events, so I made sure that references to these things were accurate, from what kind of boat a merchant might have used in the late 19th century to which transport route is best to get from Leicester Square to Denmark Hill!

• Timeline organisation: Laying out the events of the story as a calendar to ensure that days and times mentioned are accurate. This was no mean feat considering the story takes place between two realms and time passes differently in each of them!

• Developmental feedback: Jade asked me to provide feedback on her characters, assessing their speech, behaviour and actions against their descriptions to ensure they align with their portrayal, as well as provide my opinion on how tension is built at key moments, where detail could be removed or added to keep momentum or slow the pace, and provide general feedback on whether the flow of events makes sense.

Jade’s manuscript was 170,000 words long – a chunky tome for a debut! – and took 120 hours over three weeks to complete the edit Jade required. She consequently made further edits herself, and has written in her acknowledgements that if this means any errors remain, it’s because of her inability to leave things alone and not my efforts! I can’t wait to work with Jade again on Book two!

Annie Dean: Order and Blood is available to buy or read on Kindle Unlimited via Amazon