Friday, June 9, 2017

List of Professional and Freelance Book Editors in India

A published book is a cherished dream for many. Editing makes your manuscript publishing worthy. Almost every other blogger is an aspiring writer in India.
Yet, trouble begins when you begin searching for a professional editor. Unless you have good contacts within the publishing industry, you might have to run to your English teacher from school/college. 


This blog post aims to lessen the hassle by listing the most dedicated editors who have been recommended to me.

Most of the vanity publishers these days offer editing packages. I am focussing more on individual editors in this post. But first, let me list a few agencies which came with excellent references.


Indian Agencies offering editing services:

1) Book Bakers Literary Agency


The Book Bakers is a literary services company which serves as a catalyst for authors & publishers to bring their ideas to fruition by offering a full menu of services under one roof to assist them in having their stories and manuscripts published.
The Book Bakers' range of editing services includes editing, proofreading, and content development to make manuscripts read better.

2) Happy Self Publishing 


Founded by Amazon bestselling writer Jyotsna Ramachandran, they provide various literary services like angel writing, editing, book covers, formatting etc. They have a talented bunch of professional editors.
For more details, contact the page where the team is online 24/7 to guide you through their various services.

3) Urna Creative

Website
Varun Prabhu is an entrepreneur who recently created Urna Creative to offer help to creative and corporate professional in the matters of content development, production, and branding. Urna specializes in editing and ghostwriting, graphic design in the form of covers and illustrated artwork. It has an excellent track record in serving its clients better because of the personal attention given to each client's requirements. As a company, it seeks to be a full-fledged creative studio.
He accepts any genre except non-fiction.

4) DD Proofreading and Editing Inc.


DD is a professional writer and Author. Besides writing fiction and non-fiction books, he also undertakes Content Writing, Proofreading and Editing projects from other professionals and corporate, globally.

Indian Editors

All of these editors listed were recommended by published authors and I am happy to introduce you to them. Listing them alphabetically.

 Aarti V Raman 
Aarti is a writer-editor, a business journalist, a copy editor and a naptime enthusiast. In an alternate universe, all she does is read books and write them.

 Dr. Amrita Basu

Doctor, blogger, mompreneur and author of two books. Freelance editor. She accepts only select genres for editing and proofreading. 
Her preferred genres are:
Nonfiction: Self-help, blogging, writing, entrepreneurship, gardening, home decor, most categories.
Fiction: Murder mystery, Court room drama, Detective stories.
She also provides book launching and marketing services for all genres.

Dagny 

Passionately devoted to the written word, she began her writing career with developing content for corporate training- initially for herself and later for other trainers. She has been writing professionally for over twenty-five years; ten of them on her blog (www.serenelyrapt.com). She has edited corporate documents, short stories and essays, and manuscripts for two books published in-house by a corporate house.

She accepts fiction manuscripts in any genre.


Dhivya Balaji 


A reader, reviewer, writer, editor, and blogger. She has been reviewing books for more than four years and is also a freelance editor. She has edited various fiction and nonfiction books in different genres.
A published author, she occasionally dabbles in poetry. She has edited historical thrillers, memoirs, romantic fiction, paranormal thrillers, political thrillers etc., and prefers to read and edit thrillers.


Dola Basu Singh
Twitter @shiuli_dola  Facebook

Dola Basu Singh offers developmental, copyediting and proofreading services for fiction manuscripts in the Romance/Erotica, Crime/Mystery/Thrillers, and Horror genres. For novels belonging to other genres than those stated above, she offers only line editing and proofreading services.
She also offers a sample edit of the first chapter of the MS to help a client determine whether to work with her or not.
The best way to reach her at the moment is through her email: dolabsingh at gmail dot com.

Her website www.shiuli.com is currently under development. 

Harika Bantupalli 
 Website 

A graduate in Mass Communication and Journalism. Currently, she works as an English teacher at a School in Hyderabad teaching Cambridge Curriculum, and also works as a story editor at AkkarBakkar.com
She has been editing various kinds of content for the past three years, including articles, human interest story, features, poems, and books. She has edited more than 7 books (Including Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Anthologies).
She enjoys editing Chick Lit, Romance, Thriller, Mystery and Young Adult Fiction alike.


Inderpreet Uppal    
Website   Twitter: @indywrites

Inderpreet edits manuscripts, writes for her love of writing and reads endlessly. She is a Masters in Human Resources Management and an Army brat, she now joins her adorable Army hubby across the country. Books, editing, reviews, freelance writing, sponsored posts, and blogging keep her busy whenever she gets a breather from mothering her ‘too tricky to handle son’.


She edits all genres except horror. Drop her a mail with your requirement or a sample for a quote and a free sample edit at inderpreetedits at gmail dot com

Mahesh Sowani 

( Website )
Mahesh Sowani is a blogger, writer, book reviewer and an editor. He has edited books for Blue Rose Publications. He will be also working on the book in the Peshwa series which will be published by Westland

Namrata 


Contact: privytrifles at gmail dot com

Namrata has been an editor for a leading publishing house before pursuing it as a freelancer since last few years. Having quite a few published works of her own, she understands the importance of the written word. Being a reviewer has helped her gain valuable insights into a book which has been further nuanced with various courses. She has been a UEA India Fellow-2016. 


Prachi Sharma

An author, blogger, editor, bookworm, content writer and book critic by night, and a pharmacist, medical writer and aspiring scientist by day. She also counts herself as a foodie, coffee freak, and experimental cook.
Preferred genre: Crime, Fantasy, Slice of Life, Thriller

Priyanka Agarwal 

A Mumbai-based screenwriter, author, blogger, and editor. 
She has 12 years of experience in professional writing and editing, including 3 years each on the editorial desks of Condé Nast Traveller India (digital writer) and Spenta Multimedia (subeditor). While working with Priyanka, authors can expect a detailed assessment from her on their stories, along with tips and advice for improvement. 
Preferred genres: everything, though she avoids horror and extremely technical literature.

Puspanjalee Das Dutta 

Website 

Puspanjalee Das Dutta offers developmental and copyediting services for books in the academic and nonfiction genre. She was the chief editor in a leading publishing house in Guwahati before starting her own freelance services. She also offers editing services for M.Phil dissertations and Ph.D. theses in Arts & Humanities.


She regularly blogs about her journey as an online entrepreneur at her website and review books at her blog. Puspanjalee also shares writing and blogging tips on her Facebook page


Rasana Atreya:
 Website     Twitter: @rasana_atreya

A self-publishing pioneer in India. In addition, she's a reporter, content writer and marketer, and editor. She also formats eBooks and print books.
 She accepts all genres except horror.

Reshmy Pillai 
Website  Twitter: @reshmypillai

A freelance editor based out of Mumbai. She loves stories in all forms and looks out for those special ones that will excite the reader in her. She believes only a good reader would know what to edit out.
She is also a blogger, book critic, and writer.
She accepts all genre manuscripts in fiction and ancient Indian history and mythology in the non-fiction category.


Samarpita Mukherjee Sharma
Website Facebook: Cover To Cover Writing Studio Twitter: @BookLuster

An ex-full time and current freelance journalist, she began editing manuscripts after having ample practice during her days of journalism and then working with publishing houses. Her current work profile and other details along with services offered can be viewed at www.samarpita.in

She also provides social media promotions for authors (and brands) as well as content creation as services.

Shivani Adib

Website LinkedIn Facebook Twitter: @shivaniadib


Graduating from JNU with top honours in M.A. (Spanish studies), Shivani Adib worked as translator/editor for an e-newspaper and freelanced as a translator for Spanish and Portuguese before the advent of two boisterous young brats. After many years of full-time motherhood, she is now additionally a children's author and a freelance editor and content writer.


Shruthi Rao

(Visit here for contact details)

An award-winning writer and author of books for children. Her short fiction and essays have been published widely.

She is a copy editor with kitaab.org and Linguistic Data Services. As a freelance editor, she accepts manuscripts in the following genres:

Fiction - All genres, both adult and children's literature. Short story collections. Particularly experienced in working with translated material, and with writers whose primary language of communication is not English.

Non-fiction - All genres - especially science, technology, health and fitness, parenting, history.
Srilakshmi Indrasenen 

A freelance content strategist, who does content management and creates content strategies for startups. She also edits website content, professional documents, and manuscripts. In her leisure, she blogs, writes stories, and travels. She has co-authored one full-fledged novel and has contributed to 2 anthologies.

She prefers to edit fiction books that fall under the genres of thriller and romance.


Suneetha Balakrishnan
website Twitter: @SuneethaBala

A bilingual translator, editor, writer, and journalist working in English and Malayalam languages. She edits content, fiction, nonfiction (including textbooks and academic papers) and translations into English and Malayalam.


Contact her at suneethabalakrishnan at gmail dot com

Tara Khandelwal Website 

She is an editor and bibliophile based in Mumbai. She has worked at companies such as BloombergQuint, HarperCollins, Penguin India and SheThePeople.TV. She graduated with a degree in Economic History from Columbia University and is also an alumnus of the Columbia University Publishing Course. As a freelancer, she works with Writers’ Side, UK-based Eyewear Publishing, among others. She is the founder of Bound. Bound hosts writers’workshops, curates literary events and writers’ retreats, and helps authors promote and launch their books. 

She provides editorial services for authors, biographers, business writers, academics, journalists and non-profits. She is comfortable working with all genres, fiction and non-fiction.



Varsha Naik

Website Twitter @varshanaik
After working in the US as a journalist and the Middle East as a copywriter with an advertising agency, Varsha has worked as a features journalist and copyeditor for DNA After Hrs. Soon after, she worked as an editor with Harlequin India and Bloody Good Book and currently does regular work with Pepperscript Publishing. 
She freelances as an editor, working directly with authors referred to her by writers whose books she has edited. She has found that many writers get stuck after writing their first draft and want to improve the manuscript but can't find a way to fix problem areas. She focuses on structural editing, providing detailed feedback on gaps in plot lines, character development and the general story arc that can enhance the writing. This is her core strength as an editor and she thinks it's most crucial to spend the maximum time on fine-tuning the story.
Being a voracious reader with the ability to read a book a day, she has recently started writing book reviews for the Sunday edition of the Free Press Journal.

She accepts both fiction and nonfiction manuscripts except science/medical fiction.

Vineeta Praveen
 Twitter @vineetapraveen LinkedIn


A freelance writer since eighties, writing articles for various journals. Currently writing her own books, short stories, Haiku and recipes.

She accepts fiction and non-fiction manuscripts.

Vrinda Baliga
Website  Facebook Email: vbaliga at gmail dot com
Vrinda Baliga is a writer and editor based in Hyderabad. She is the winner of the 2017 Katha Fiction prize and has also won prizes in the FON South Asia Short Story Competition 2016, New Asian Writing Short Story Competition 2016, Unisun Short Story Competition 2011 and the Katha Fiction Contests 2010 and 2012. She is a 2014 Fellow of the Sangam House International Writers' Residency. 

Genres: Fiction - Novels, novellas, short stories, short story collections

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P.S: This list was last updated on 4th May 2022. Some of the previously listed editors with inactive websites have been removed. A few names have been added.


Are you a book editor and wish to be included in this list? Tell me so in the comments. 
Or mail me your details (in the same format followed by the other editors) at authorpreethi at gmail dot com.

17 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for featuring me,
    Preethi. Honoured to be among such great names.

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  2. It's very good of you to compile this collection of professional and freelance editors .Many new authors with limited budget will be helped .Thank you for mentioning me.

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  3. Great initiative Preethi. I would love to have you and the editors mentioned in the list as members of my Facebook Group Indian Copyeditors Forum. Can I share the list in the forum?

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    Replies
    1. I think many here are already members of I.C.F., Vivek.

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    2. Thank you, Vivek. Feel free to share the list. Do mail me if you or anyone else you know wish to be featured here.

      Delete
  4. Great initiative for fiction and non-fiction writers looking for editors. How about breaking it down by stream within non-fiction (which is an umbrella category for an infinite variety of writing)? You could create a resource for academics writing on business and finance for newspapers who need editors to turn academic writing into newspaper-friendly copy, for instance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That can be done in another post. Will try and find non-fiction editors.

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    2. Hi Surit, I can help you with the 'newspaper friendly' type of editing if needed. Thanks.

      Delete
  5. Wow! A good list for self-publishers looking for editors. It's a good thing; I mean publishing these lists that you have been doing. Not many people know the options they have.

    Those are some really good tips. I wonder when I'll earn a salary where I can actually implement these tips. It's pennies so far! :D

    Anmol recently posted The Boy Who Loved Book Review

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  6. I am looking for someone to write a business novel based on my idea. Who would be suitable among above list.

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  7. Thank you, that is quite informational - will save the list for sure!

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  8. Good morning. This website is an invaluable resource for both writers and publishers. We are a Delhi-based publishing house and are looking for manuscript editors and proofreaders for our books. We create short story anthologies in English and are particular about the grammar and the syntax. It would be a pleasure to find editors here who think and work like us. Rgds.

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  9. I am an author who has just completed a 90000 word manuscript for my non-fiction book titled "Who am I? - Pathway into Inner Peace". I need an editor who can perform developmental editing of the manuscript, working closely with me to clarify ideas and perfect the structure of the presentation. Can you suggest an editor who can take up this work?
    Thanks you - Hari

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  10. Excellent, i was looking for editors for my book on management, fortunately i could pickup good editors. Thanks for this list.

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