Your writing mentor, Helen Francis
About Helen
Helen Francis has worked in publishing for twenty years. She was a fiction editor at Faber and Faber for eight years, where she was also in charge of the audio book list; she was a fiction editor at Head of Zeus for two. She also ran the classics list at Vintage, Penguin Random House, and was a freelance commissioning editor for Arcadia Books.
She has worked at literary agencies Abner Stein and MMB Creative, and has also worked as an international book scout advising foreign publishers on which English-language books they should translate and publish in their own territories; this was based in both Barcelona and the UK.
She has taught creative writing and editing to undergraduates at Bath Spa University, and is currently a tutor on the Jericho Writers Ultimate Novel Writing Course. She currently combines her role as a tutor with freelance editing and author mentoring.
Authors she’s edited and published include Victor Lodato, Joe Thomas, Sophie Hardach, Helen FitzGerald and Michelle Paver.
Why Helen loves mentoring
I’ve worked in publishing for many years now, and encouraging writers, and helping them to shape their work, is the aspect of the job I enjoy the most. It’s common for writers to find themselves stuck – they become so close to their own work, having read and reread it so many times, that they struggle to see the wood for the trees. Whether it’s an extensive re-write involving line-by-line edits, a general structural edit to address issues with the novel as a whole or minor tweaks to a book that is nearly submission-ready, I find it incredibly satisfying and enjoyable to help a writer really bring out the best of their book.
My work as an international book scout – something I continue to do part-time – requires me to read a wide variety of genres of fiction and non-fiction which is currently out on submission in the UK or has recently been sold to a publisher, and to write reports for our international clients on which books I think might work in their territories. This not only gives me a great insight into everything that’s currently happening in the publishing industry, it means I know what is working, and what is current across literature as a whole, across all different genres.
I’ve done extensive copy-editing and proofreading, for publishers such as Bloomsbury, Faber, Penguin Random House, Orion, Quercus, Profile and Head of Zeus, and I gain a great deal of pleasure from meticulously going through a manuscript to iron out mistakes, spot continuity errors and apply professional house-style.
Why we love Helen
At Jericho Writers, we’re a team of authors, just like you. Four of us are published by the Big 5, while others are deep in the writing process, honing our craft alongside the writers we support. We work with expert book coaches and carefully chosen mentors, selected for their ability to guide writers through every stage of their journey. It’s this approach that has helped countless authors launch their careers, sign with top literary agents, and even become Sunday Times Bestsellers.
Helen is a long-standing editor and Ultimate Novel Writing Course tutor with bags of publishing experience to help perfect your manuscript. Her credentials speak for themselves!
