Maria McGuinness

Professional memberships

Professional Member, Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP); Full Member, Association of Editors, Proofreaders and Indexers of Ireland (AFEPI Ireland)

Qualifications

BA International Marketing and Languages (2:1); MA Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies (First Class); Advanced Creative Writing: Open University modules (First Class); Higher Diploma in Education (First Class).

 

Training and professional development

• Developmental Editing with Sophie Playle (SfEP recognised), 2018
• Practical Mark-up for PDF (SfEP), 2017
• Progress in Editorial Skills: Copy-editing and Proofreading (PTC), 2017
• Re-writing and Substantive Editing (PTC), 2016
• Advanced Copy-editing with Margaret Aherne (PTC), 2015
• Core Copy-editing Skills with Andrew Steeds (PTC), 2015
• Editing in Word with Anne Waddingham (SfEP), 2015
• Non-fiction Editing with Fergal Tobin (Publishing Ireland), 2015
• Basic Proofreading by Distance Learning (Merit) (PTC), 2014
• Fiction Editing with Fergal Tobin (Publishing Ireland), 2013
• Using Language with Fergal Tobin (Publishing Ireland), 2013
• Proofreading Problems (SfEP), 2013
• Introduction to Web Editorial Skills (SfEP), 2012
• Introduction to Proofreading (SfEP), 2012

Languages

Italian and French.

Equipment and software

PC; Microsoft Word; Adobe Acrobat.

Experience

Freelance editor and proofreader since 2012; Secondary school English and EFL teacher from 2000 to 2012; Copywriter for an advertising agency and co-editor of The Irish Hair and Beauty Journal from 1997 to 1999; I was short-listed for the Cuirt New Writers Fiction Prize and long-listed for the Fish Publishing Poetry Prize in 2013.

Media

Novels, short stories, academic books, theses, online and promotional materials

Skills and services offered

Developmental editing; line editing; copy-editing; proofreading; manuscript assessment. I edit on-screen using Track Changes, use PerfectIt and can proofread on-screen and on hardcopy using BSI symbols. New Hart’s Rules and Butcher’s Copy-editing are my main references when not following an in-house style guide. Aside from the mechanics of editing, I enjoy excellent relationships with both publishers and authors.

Subject areas

Fiction (all genres); non-fiction (memoir and biography, academic humanities subjects, comparative literature); educational texts and short-story collections.

Clients include

Irish Academic Press/Merrion Press, educational publishers, independent publishing service providers, independent authors

Examples of work undertaken

Henry McDonald, Two Souls (2019); Cormac Moore, Birth of the Border: The Impact of Partition in Ireland (2019); Seán Harnett, Client Confidential: Spooks, Secrets and Counter-Espionage During the Celtic Tiger (2019); Educate.ie, Excellence in English 2021: Language and Literature, Leaving Certificate; Educate.ie, Excellence in Texts 2021: King Lear, Leaving Certificate Higher Level, Educate.ie, Kingdom 1: Junior Cycle English, Richard O’Rawe, Northern Heist (2018); Martin Dillon, Crossing the Line (2017); Richard O’Rawe, In the Name of the Son (2017); Fiona Whyte and Seán Malone, Without a Doubt (2017); Jennifer Birkett, Samuel Beckett: Undoing Time (2015); Christopher Fauske, Louis MacNeice (2015); Eimear O’Callaghan, Belfast Days: A 1972 Teenage Diary (2014); Bryan Fanning and Tom Garvin, The Books that Define Ireland (2014).

Additional information