Richard Roper - Editor
Richard is an author and experienced editor, having worked as a senior commissioning editor for non-fiction at Headline (part of Hachette UK), where he published several Sunday Times bestsellers.
His debut, Something to Live For (commercial reading group fiction), was published by Orion (UK) and Penguin (US), and has sold in twenty languages & been optioned for TV. His second novel, When We Were Young, came out in 2021, followed by his third, This Disaster Loves You, in 2024.
As an editor at Headline, he worked mainly in biography and narrative non-fiction. He has published memoirs by comedians James Acaster, Miles Jupp, Katy Wix, and Joel Dommett. He has also worked with the likes of Dave Davies of The Kinks, sports stars Steven Gerrard and Andy Murray, brands like Downton Abbey, and quirky narratives such as A Tomb With a View by Peter Ross.
Find Richard on X here: @richardroper
If you’d like to work with Richard, 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.
Testimonials
- Evan P
- Ollie S
- Alex E
- Juan L
Why we love Richard
Richard gives the perspective of a publisher, an author, and an editor. His knowledge of the publishing business make his insight on marketability and commercial appeal invaluable. Richard is thorough, upbeat, and incisive in his reports. Whether you’re writing nonfiction or commercial fiction, you’ll be in safe hands with him.
What Richard says about editing
As someone with a foot in both camps as author and editor, I am experienced at all stages of the publishing process. As an editor, I’ve always enjoyed helping writers solve the puzzle of how to make a book work. Now that I’m also an author, I know how important it is to put empathy and kindness, as well as constructive criticism, at the heart of feedback.
My fiction journey was far from straightforward. Having had my work rejected by agents and publishers, I know how hard it is to keep going. Now that I’ve got there, I really do relish the opportunity to help others get over the line – whether that’s assessing manuscripts or polishing things up with a line edit.
In fiction, my taste is on the commercial side. I particularly enjoy ‘reading group’ books, romcoms, comedies (especially dark ones), and anything a bit quirky. For non-fiction, I work right across the spectrum: from memoir to travel writing, sport, music, journalistic narratives, true crime, and anything in between.
What Richard works on
Manuscript Assessment
Agent Submission Pack assessment
Post-editorial guidance
Line-editing
Proof-reading
Genres Richard specialises in
Richard's published books
Something to Live For
Optioned for TV.
MEET ANDREW.
Everybody likes Andrew. But they don’t really know him. They know what he’s told them – that he’s happily married with two kids. Living the kind of life that’s either so boring it’s true, or so perfect it’s a lie…
ENTER PEGGY.
Peggy arrives in Andrew’s life in a burst of kindness and possibility. For the first time in ages, Andrew feels alive again. So now that he has everything to lose, can he risk it all and tell Peggy the truth?
When We Were Young
A tender and funny story about wanting to go back – when you know it’s time to move on.
———
Theo has been living in his parents’ shed, nursing a broken heart and a wounded ego, convinced life can’t get any worse. Then he gets evicted on his 30th birthday. Theo thinks he’s done with the real world – until it shows up on his doorstep…
Joel is a successful TV scriptwriter, still in love with his teenage sweetheart. A proper grown-up – and yet he’s falling apart at the seams. He’s headed home to reconnect with best friend Theo – except they haven’t spoken since the summer they turned 16.
One of them is keeping a secret, and the other is living a lie. But can the promise they once made to walk all 184 miles of the Thames Path help them find their way back to the truth – and to their friendship?
This Disaster Loves You
Twenty years of love. Seven years of absence. One journey to find out what happened.
Brian’s wife, Lily, disappeared from his life without a trace six years, eleven months, one week, and two days ago, but Brian never lost hope. Since her disappearance their once beloved English pub—and Brian’s livelihood—has been crumbling piece by piece. As the anniversary of her absence approaches, Brian desperately needs a sign. One doom-scroll on his business’s reviews later, he finds it: an active TripAdvisor account for PinkMoonLily1972 that he knows in his heart is his Lily.
Interspliced with Brian’s journey to find Lily is the story of their love—how it started, and the twists and turns that brought them to this moment. As Brian jumps from one destination to the next to find Lily, and the truth behind their story comes into focus, Brian comes back to life with the help of Tess, a sarcastic, kind, and surprising traveling companion. But in order to move forward he’ll need to decide—stay in the past or take a chance on something unexpected.
