MEET THE TEAM
Cecily Blench
Copy-editor and proofreader
Cecily is a freelance writer and editor. Originally from Herefordshire, she studied English Literature at the University of York and worked for several years at an independent publisher in London. She also writes historical fiction. Her first novel, The Long Journey Home, set in Burma in 1942, won the 2019 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for unpublished manuscripts and was published in June 2021. Her second novel, Secrets of Malta, a story of women, spies, and a world at war, was published in February 2024. Cecily also edits for Fabled Planet, our sister brand for fantasy and science fiction writers.
If Cecily were stranded on a desert island, the historical novels she would want with her are The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, which is probably her favourite novel and gets better each time she reads it, and the Regeneration trilogy by Pat Barker, in which Barker’s depiction of the First World War is brilliant and heartbreaking.
“Cecily’s copy-edit of my novel was impressively thorough, and I would be happy to recommend her to other historical fiction authors looking for a professional, knowledgeable copy-editor. She has an excellent eye for detail, and I appreciated the comprehensive style guide she put together for my book.”
“Cecily did a wonderful job of copy-editing my manuscript. Her work was exceptional and she delivered the project in a timely manner. She went above and beyond what I expected from a copy-editor – catching factual errors, improving dialogue so it felt natural, and pointing out subtle differences in phrasing between American and British speakers.
As I worked through her edits, I often felt like I was taking a masterclass in grammar. Her suggestions greatly improved the flow of the prose, and the result is a much more polished novel. I would recommend Cecily to anyone in need of copy-editing.”