Helen Johns

Hello! I’m an expert in the written word, providing editorial services to authors, publishers and businesses, helping them create polished, impactful content that connects with their audiences and achieves their goals.
My extensive experience includes working on books, academic articles, business newsletters, blogs and personal memoirs. This means I can provide versatile and creative editorial support tailored to your project, with helpful advice, encouragement, and meticulous attention to detail.
I can help you craft clear, compelling, and error-free content that resonates with your audience. These are the key services I offer:
Editorial support: providing expert feedback on subject coverage, structure, flow, readability and tone
Copy editing: making in-depth checks for consistency, clarity, and relevance; ensuring grammar, syntax, diction, spelling and punctuation are correct; reducing over-long sentences and paragraphs where required; double-checking text references and ensuring footnotes are accurate; removing unwanted formatting and ensure fonts used in headings and text are consistent throughout
Proofreading: undertaking a final check for spelling and punctuation errors in headings and body copy; reviewing for consistency of headings, references and pagination; ensuring font consistency; addressing missing or repeated text; verifying source references, captions to diagrams and illustrations
My background includes working for publishers such as Penguin Books, Macmillan and Heinemann. I’ve also worked as marketing and business development manager for a top twenty accountancy firm but in 2009 decided to set up my own business specialising in editorial consultancy. Recent projects have included editing the memoirs of an eminent neurosurgeon, drafting newsletters and press releases for the International Stress Management Association, and editing a book on infrastructure development in Africa.
I attend Indie Book Fairs, which promote self-published authors, and business networking events in my local area of South Oxfordshire.
I’m proud to have been awarded as a winner in the SME 500 Awards 2025, and as a winner in the Global 100 Business Excellence Awards 2026.
My writing skills come in useful as part of the voluntary work I do in my home town of Thame: I write press releases for Thame Players Theatre Company (who own the popular Players Theatre, run entirely by volunteers), and help to promote our guided Midsomer Walking Tours of Thame (a major destination for Midsomer Murders filming locations).
When I’m not working, I love listening to classical music and reading crime thrillers. I’m also a foodie who loves cooking.

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