Jenny Knight

Editor

Prize-winning author

Crime / Thriller / Action

Memoir/autobiography

Jenny Knight is a prize-winning author of short story and memoir, and a contributor to Kit de Waal’s celebrated Common People anthology (Unbound, May 2019). Her latest book, Wild Moon Rising, was published in June as one of the three lead titles of a brand-new imprint from HarperCollins – Akan Books.

An experienced editor, mentor, copy-writer, copy-editor and proofreader, she’s enjoyed 25 years’ successful freelancing for clients and publishers including Macmillan, Simon & Schuster and Routledge, and her writing on writing and the publishing world has appeared in Book Machine, National Writers’ Centre and Restless.

Jenny has won or been shortlisted in competitions including Bridport, Fish, Arvon, ACE/Escalator, Yeovil, Riptide and SWWJ. She is an Associate Artist with the National Writing Centre, has a degree in English Literature and Drama, and studied Creative Writing at UEA.

Instagram @jennyaknight Bluesky @jennyknight X @knightjennyk

If you’d like to work with Jenny, get in touch with our Writer Support team; tell us about your book and what you’d like support with, and we’ll help you identify your next steps.

Helped my confidence

“I found Jenny’s analysis of my (half-written) first-ever novel so helpful. She seemed to understand what I was trying to do even when I didn’t, and while she didn’t hold back from identifying the issues (which I was dreading, by the way!) she always followed it through with ideas for change or a way of tackling the problem and going forward. [...] I’m working with her suggestions now and I am so glad I took her advice, it’s helped my confidence and direction writing this book no end.”

– Katy Massey, author of ‘Are We Home Yet?’ (Jacaranda, 2020)

Expectations have been exceeded

"I really don't know how to thank you enough. My expectations have been exceeded by far."

- Ella H.

A tremendous help

“Jenny has been a tremendous help with all my novels. She brings inspiring and brilliant insights into my characters, their motivations, the pace, the story, structure, tone and dialogue, telling me where she thought I could make improvements while always completely spurring me on. She really is so good at what actually makes a book ‘work’ I’ve been nagging her to do this professionally for other writers since book one – and I’m on book five now!”

– MJ Riley, author of ‘The Bad Things’(One More Chapter, Harper Collins)

Jenny's specialties

Fiction

Contemporary

Literary (Including ‘bookclub’)

Crime / Thriller / Action

Women’s

Romance & Erotica

Comic/satire

Short Stories & novellas

Non-Fiction

Memoir/autobiography

Other Narrative Non-fiction

Subject-led Non-fiction

Why we love Jenny

Whether you want a full manuscript assessment or need someone to edit your work on a sentence-by-sentence basis, you’re in good hands with Jenny. She has a meticulous eye for detail and wants nothing more than to help you reach your writing goals. She’s taught creative writing in prisons, teaches Masterclasses for Litro and has spoken on panels and held workshops on the writing process, getting agents and dealing with rejection – including for PrimadonnaFest and the Lockdown Stay-At-Home-Fest.

What Jenny says about editing

I have such a backstory with writing – it took me 20 years from starting out to securing an agent – I’ve learned a lot I wish I’d known earlier! I’m passionate about analysing other writers’ work and find helping writers immensely rewarding – I know how hard it is to write a novel, short story or memoir, and the challenges of making it the best you can. I want to inspire writers to dig deep, produce their best work and increase their chances of reaching their goals.

I offer clear insight into what isn’t working, covering all narrative bases, but only alongside suggestions of what might work better. I’ve had my own writing editorially assessed and know how much this can help – but also how it feels! As a professional copyeditor and proofreader I’m always happy to factor in line-editing/copy-editing if required.

I love stories about women, sex, death, family, midlife, working-class experiences, WWII and also short stories. I also love memoir, narrative-non-fiction and have worked on an array of topic-led books.

By purchasing any of these products, you'll have the opportunity to express your interest in working with Jenny.