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Ingrid Cranfield
Hello and welcome to my website.I’m a very experienced editor, proofreader, writer, translator and reviewer.I am thoroughly professional and conscientious to a ‘t’ (or any other letter you may prefer).
You may find other people or companies who profess to do the same kind of work and possibly charge less (though I doubt it). But because of my decades of experience, I work fast, so I may spend fewer hours on your order than other people, which means it costs you less.
Do have a look at some of the records of my work and the testimonials I have received.
And then please contact me for estimates, prices, timings or advice on what I can do for you.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Ingrid Cranfield
Editor. Proofreader. Author & Writer. Translator. Literary Consultant. Language Specialist. Teacher.

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Fabulous
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Rigorous and energetic editing
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Meticulous checking and editing
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High quality editorial work
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Brilliant editing, magnificent Job
There are hundreds of us about, so why choose me?
I like to say I was born with a pen in my hand. It’s nearly true. I was brought up bilingual and the conversation in my house when I was a child came back to words so often that we kept a dictionary on the dining table for reference during mealtime arguments.
I’m the author of 13 non-fiction books, for children and adults, and I learnt editing and proofreading the hard way: reading the proofs of my own books.
Since then, I have worked on books, papers and articles too many to count, for clients all over the world too many to mention.
I have also:
- given support in literacy, including teaching English grammar and usage, to students at further education colleges
- taught editing to graduates on a Professional Diploma in Publishing course
- devised, led and taught the only Editing and Proofreading course at a further education college in the UK
- taught trainee teachers in the final year of their course, setting and marking their written assignments.
I am:
- a remote editor for www.scribendi.com, a Canadian-based editing and proofreading service.
- painstaking and conscientious and always give of my best, as my clients’ testimonials will verify.
- also very good at the job.
Services I deliver:
Proofreading
On paper or on screen, with or without the standard proofreading symbols beloved of printers
Copy editing
Of all kinds, on paper or on screen, including websites
Translations
From French and German to English
Tuition
On the subject of English language & Editing and Proofreading
Publicity Writing
Writing of blurbs, press releases, synopses and other publicity material
Writing advice
To students at all levels, including advice on thesis and dissertation writing and academic referencing
Editorial advice
On content, organisation, argument, plot, dialogue, language, continuity, suspense, character … you name it
Appraisals and advice
For authors looking to get their books published
Not to mention writing book proposals, indexing and producing compilations of house styles and guidance for journal contributors.
As a result of demand and long, hard experience, I am something of a specialist in work by writers whose first language is not English.
If you’re looking for someone with knowledge or experience of a particular field, please see my Specialisms section below.
For my current rates, please click here.
Specialisms
Being a skilled and experienced editor, I can and do take on virtually anything and have successfully tackled some particularly difficult editing and translation tasks.
One publisher, Thames & Hudson, knowing my liking for a challenge, often saves their ‘most hideous’ jobs for me.
Still, if you’re looking for someone with a more than passing knowledge or experience of a particular field, please read on.
The following are some of my specialisms and I have written and edited books, articles and papers on all of them. Click the subject to find out more
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- I have been a school governor for nearly 27 years, and sit on three school governing bodies, on one as Chair.
- For over 40 years I have been associated, as Chair of Chief Executive’s Working Group and Member of Council, Trust Board and Board, with the development training organisation Endeavour Training (www.endeavour.org), working with it on publicity, marketing, PR, funding and promotions.
- I have recently become one of a small handful of Local Leaders of Governance in the London Borough of Enfield, in which role I advise and mentor schools that are in difficulty, such as poor Ofsted ratings and numerous changes of staff.
- I am a Trustee of Enfield Parents and Children and on the Advisory Boards of Lower Edmonton Children’s Centre and Enfield Temporary Accommodation Play Project.
- As a local Councillor, I chaired the Children’s Services Scrutiny Panel in the London Borough of Enfield.
- I am a qualified teacher and have taught in further education colleges for 10 years, as well as giving private tuition.
Education in its widest sense has therefore been a preoccupation of mine throughout my working life so far. I believe that not everyone will thrive in conventional, mainstream school education, but that everyone is good at something, and that everyone matters. Catching young people early, building their self-esteem, encouraging them to contribute to society, rather than take from or abuse it, and showing them how to make the most of and take pride in their natural abilities is the key to diverting them from crime, substance misuse and alienation and turning them into sympathetic, positive citizens.
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I am author of The Challengers: British and Commonwealth Adventure since 1945, Skiing down Everest – and other Crazy Adventures, and editor of several editions of Off the Beaten Track, later The Independent Traveller’s Handbook (UK)/The Traveler’s Handbook (USA).
- I have a substantial archive of material on British exploration and adventure postwar, and many contacts in the field.
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I am the author of Georgian House Style and Art Deco House Style.
I was a Senior Editor at The Dictionary of Art, a 34-volume encyclopaedia published in 1996 by Macmillan Publishers.
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- I have edited books on destructive and terrorist cults.
- I am associated with Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (www.dafoh.org) and have chaired seminars in the British Parliament on the subject of forced organ harvesting.
- I have edited books on destructive and terrorist cults.
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I served as an elected Councillor and latterly Deputy Mayor of the London Borough of Enfield, as well as
on the Council’s Planning Committee and the Commission to Investigate the Causes of the Disturbances (elsewhere known as ‘riots’) in Enfield in 1911.- I had the original idea for and helped establish a community hub in the ward in which I served as Councillor.
- I am associated with numerous community organisations and am the lead in the allocation of external funding from government sources.
Rates
My rates are in line with industry standard. I will sometimes accept a fixed sum for a job, rather than an hourly rate.
Hourly rates are also negotiable, but here is a guide to my current rates:
Proofreading ………………. £21.00/hr
Copy editing ………………. £25.00/hr
Substantial editing, rewriting, development editing ………………. £27.00/hr
Specialist editing, e.g. of a text written by someone with a poor command of English, or a complex scientific or mathematical text ………………. £27.00/hr
Project management ………………. £29.50/hr
Indexing ………………. £24.00/hr
Teaching, training, lecturing ………………. £35.00/hr
Translation, per 1,000 words ………………. £60.00
For precise rates for your job, please contact me for a friendly discussion.
I am fast and efficient but also thorough. This means that I can often do in an hour what a less experienced editor, charging less, would take two hours to do. Choosing someone cheaper could be a false economy for you, the client.
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Fabulous
-
Rigorous and energetic editing
-
Meticulous checking and editing
-
High quality editorial work
-
Brilliant editing, magnificent Job
‘Brilliant’. ‘Faultless’. ‘Perfect’.
Meet some of my customers to see why and how my services have impacted their lives.
I would like to thank Ingrid Cranfield, who patiently and competently edited not only my first book, Masoud: Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, but this one as well, dealing with my poor English, many Iranian words, idioms and expressions, and my tendency to labour the points on which I felt most passionately.

— Masoud BanisadrAuthor of Destructive and Terrorist Cults: A New Kind of Slavery
I appreciate, as ever, your meticulous checking and editing on the book.

— Commissioning editorThames & Hudson Publishers
Thank you so much for your prompt reply and the high quality of editorial work on both pieces!
You are a star! – Not only the efficiency, but also your high quality editorial work, as well as your decisive manner!

— Dr Xiangqun ChangGlobal China Forum and Editor of the Journal of China in Comparative Perspective
Many thanks indeed for your prompt, detailed, and extremely helpful report, which will make editing our first draft so much easier. You have gone beyond your official remit, and we are very grateful to you for doing so.
– Co-author of a comprehensive history of 20th century England
Thank you so much, as usual, for your help and unrivalled guidance 🙂
I require your usual faultless editing and more importantly your opinion.
You’re an angel, thank you.

— Keith FoskettAuthor of The Last Englishman and The Journey in Between
Thanks to Ingrid Cranfield for her rigorous and energetic editing of my text, for which I am very grateful.

— Alastair Fuad-Luke, authorThe Eco-Travel Handbook
Love your work. Thank you.
Yet more brilliant editing: you really have put a hell of a shine on the story.
By God, you’re good! I have to say, you are doing a magnificent job.
— Irish novelist
It all starts with the manuscript. We need to like our books and we’re not fussed about genre, age range or the colour of the writer’s eyes. Show us a manuscript worth reading and we’ll jump at the chance. Ingrid Cranfield, our favourite editor, doesn’t mince her words. Every manuscript which passes through her hands gets the full wash, cut and blow dry. She’ll deal with colour and highlights too. Does she actually hate bad spelling and grammar? When she’s done, when that poor author has recovered from the haircut, that’s when we move on.

— Triple Point PressIndependent Publisher
- From private students and clients of anonymous editing and proofreading service
- From students on my Editing and Proofreading course
“Thank you for an enjoyable and stimulating lesson.”
“[Student] is so confident and doing so well now – and it’s all because of you!”
“Absolutely fantastic proofreading! It was well beyond my expectations.”
“Editor […] proofread Part 2 already. I loved the quality of the edits, and would love to have him/her proofread this!”
“Very good! Our manuscript was really carefully considered, and the comments provided were clear.”
“Thank you for your previous editing, I found it very useful, especially comments about improving the document.
“Thank you. Your work is amazing – perfect.”
“I’m very happy with the job [Ingrid Cranfield] did for me on the latest two chapters of my book. I can’t conceive of presenting written material to the public without such dependable editing and proofreading. Thanks for your work and there is more material coming your way.”
“I need to submit this article by tomorrow. I divided it into two parts because otherwise I will not be on time. This is the first part of the article. I selected [Ingrid Cranfield] because a colleague of mine advises me that he/she is fast and does very good editing and reviews.”
“Thank you very much for reediting the revised document. Your service is nothing but excellent. Thanks again!”
“Ingrid, you are brilliant! I so enjoyed our classes – I feel stimulated and more creative than I have done in years.”
“Well, I got the traineeship at [a well-known publisher]. Success! I have no doubt that your expert tutelage helped me to succeed. Thank you. It is sometimes hard to be sincere with words, especially in the electronic form, but my sentiment of gratitude is heartfelt. For the interview, I had to do a proofreading test. I was told that I didn’t need to use the correct symbols, but I did anyway. I thought I did a good job, evidently so.”
“I am thoroughly enjoying our classes at the moment; it never seems like we have been there for three hours.”
“Thanks once again for all your enthusiasm and passion for the written word – it’s infectious!”
Southgate College, London
And finally, a very special testimonial …
From: [name]
Sent: 29 January 2012 21:04
To: Cllr Ingrid Cranfield
Subject: Thank You
Dear Councillor Cranfield
I wanted to write to thank you. I am about to move house and as I was sorting through my papers I found a letter you wrote to me in August 1999. I had just turned 12 years old. Before my 12th birthday I had sent you a copy of a ‘novel’ I had written called ‘The Same Moon’. You read it and took the time to proofread it and send me several pages of encouraging comments, thorough notes on my grammar, characters and plot and advice on how to develop my writing.
I wanted to thank you for this. You took time to encourage and advise a young girl with sensitivity and honesty in an area that meant a lot to her.
I went on to read Law at university and qualify as a barrister, but I changed career into education and will soon commence work as an English teacher in the state sector. I still write in my spare time, though, and I am currently working on a novel which I plan to send to agents by the close of this year.
I wish you the very best and just wanted to thank you for the work you did for me back in 1999!
Kind regards

Start making your writing better today!
Ingrid Cranfield is the editor for you
Comments or questions are welcome.