Keep a diary and one day it’ll keep you.
Mae West
Non-fiction has changed radically in nature and prestige over the last ten years, with many non-fiction titles outselling the once more glamorous fiction list. The market for history books, popular science, memoir and a host of other non-fiction genres has grown to create exciting new opportunities for writers.
At The Oxford Editors we are particularly fond of non-fiction books and handle everything, from autobiography and history to travel and memoirs.
We have a large and diverse range of academic expertise available to us, and we handle all academic works from books and papers to doctoral theses.
All our editors are experienced writers and, depending on the category your book fits into, we’ll find an expert to guide you. Our job is to help you and to give advice in an honest and straightforward manner.
The Oxford Editors literary consultancy works closely with the best literary agents and publishers worldwide. We also have strong links with international academic publications. Our aim is to give you the best possible chance of getting read and taken on by an agent. Literary agents receive hundreds of submissions each month so, in order to attract their attention, yours must be polished to perfection. The Oxford Editors can help you do this.
What we will give you
Your editor will read your manuscript with care and attention. As published writers we understand the demands of the market for your chosen genre. Many of us also teach writing and are used to communicating our ideas clearly and honestly.
We will write a full and detailed report on your work. Each report will vary as every book is different, but the report will cover topics such as prose style, marketability and next steps.
We will have an in-depth conversation with you about your book. We understand the effort that has gone into producing a book and we want to help. If you forget a vital question, then you are welcome to come back to us by telephone or by e-mail.
If we think your book is suitable for today’s market, we will recommend you to a literary agent. We can’t give any guarantees, but most writers find agents on the strength of a recommendation from other writers. We want to help you succeed and if we feel we can place your book we will show it to the right people.
As one of our writers, you can always come back to us for further help and editorial advice. We care about our writers and your feedback is absolutely vital to us, whether it’s after six months or a year or even two years.
Protecting your ideas
Ideas are precious things and every writer has worried at some time or another that their unique idea may be copied.
At the Oxford Editors we only work with authors and writers we trust. However, before they join the team we ask them to agree in writing that they will respect your intellectual property and will never “borrow” anything from our clients. Nor will they discuss your work or ideas with a third party.
There is no longer any such thing as fiction or non-fiction; there’s only narrative.
E. L. Doctorow
Want to proceed?
At The Oxford Editors we pride ourselves on being a literary consultancy that is easy to work with. Send us your manuscript by post or email together with payment. As soon as we receive your submission we’ll contact you with details of your editor. We give every author and every manuscript detailed and dedicated attention and sometimes that means that it takes a little longer as everything we do is geared towards you and your needs. There are projects that just need a few weeks and others that take much longer.
We also provide an express service with a turn-around time of 2-3 weeks, at an added cost of a further 50% of the initial fee.
