Editorial services
Editorial services
Maybe you’re working on a novel and you don’t know how to progress. Or you have an idea for a non-fiction project or memoir and you’re looking for direction in developing your vision. Or — you’ve finished a book and you know it needs a little more polish. Whatever your needs, I know I can help.
As a teacher of creative writing (for the Faber Academy and on the prestigious MA programme at Goldsmiths College) I know what it means to allow writers to find their voices — that’s what editing is, at is best.
Whatever your goals, I have the skills, willingness and empathy to help you reach them. I have guided a great many authors behind the scenes and have a strong track record of steering writers towards representation and publication. Contact me and we can tailor a programme that suits you — so that you find your authentic voice as a writer.
What writers say
How do I love Erica’s editing? Let me count the ways.
She has an unerring eye for detail together with an extraordinary sense of the big picture. She is whip-smart yet non-prescriptive and kind; not so much an iron fist but a sharp blue pencil in a velvet glove. Trust me, your work won’t feel its jab, and much like the effect of the injection unnecessarily feared, your work will be much healthier for it.
She has years of experience as a top editor at The Times. She is also funny, which makes a world of difference. In short, she is the editor of one’s dreams.
Neel Mukherjee, whose most recent novel Choice was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize in 2024. His first novel A Life Apart (2008) won the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Award for best fiction, and his second The Lives of Others, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2014.
There are few more discerning readers than Erica Wagner. Whatever your voice, whatever your subject, you will have the full benefit of her writerly instincts and industry know-how.
Hand over your work and prepare to be dazzled.
Paddy Crewe, whose novel My Name Is Yip was longlisted for the 2023 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, the Authors Club Best First Novel Award and the 2023 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. His second novel, True Love, was published in 2024.
I would recommend Erica’s editorial services without reservation.
Her understanding of the art of narrative combined with her unrivalled industry experience is a formidable and winning combination.
Carole Hailey, author of The Silence Project, shortlisted for the Bridport Prize Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award 2020 and highly commended by the judges. Scenes from a Tragedy, her second novel, will be published in March 2025 by Corvus
Finding Erica’s help when I was writing Soundings opened up worlds for me.
Her expert early view on voices I experimented with — from that of a 19th-century whaling captain to a whale — transformed and honed my approach. With a range spanning memoir, historical writing and poetry, Erica gave authoritative and empathetic feedback on everything I could think of attempting. An inspirational writing tutor, Erica also provided practical exercises to help words flow and some of the book’s first passages were written in her workshops.
Doreen Cunningham, author of Soundings: Journeys in the Company of Whales, Winner of the Royal Society of Literature Giles St Aubyn Award, shortlisted for the Pat Kavanagh Award, the Eccles Centre and Hay Festival Writer’s Award and longlisted for the James Copper Wainwright Prize for Writing on Conservation