Meet our mentors

Karin Hosking AE

Karin is an accredited editor who has worked in research and academic settings at universities and the CSIRO for many years. She has edited all kinds of documents including reports, journal papers and books. Her freelance editing business is focused on academic editing. Since 2012 she has copyedited over 140 theses and around 200 journal papers from a huge range of disciplines and universities. She can mentor in all aspects of academic copyediting and proofreading, and freelance business management.

Rhonda Daniels AE

Rhonda is an accredited editor based in Sydney. She has a BSc (Hons) and PhD in management and worked as an academic and researcher in universities and government before setting up her editing business in 2014. She has an academic editing focus and edits academic, research and policy material, such as theses, journal articles, research reports, research proposals, policy papers, business cases, grant applications and job applications. She can provide guidance on starting and running an editing business, including setting up a website. She is a member of IPEd’s Standing Committee on Academic Editing and the Pay and Conditions Standing Committee, and wrote the report on IPEd’s 2021 survey of editors’ income and business practices.

Dr Linda Nix AE

Linda is a very experienced editor who has worked both freelance and in house, in various publishing roles. Her editing specialties include law, academic and fiction (both literary and genre). She is also a technical writer and book designer, and has run workshops for both writers and editors on various topics including publishing, editing and grammar. Linda can mentor in all levels and most types of editing, including manuscript assessments and skills required for accreditation; editing and publishing processes, tools and workflows; book design for print and digital formats; accessibility in publishing; and freelance business practices.

Juliet Richters AE

Juliet is an experienced freelance editor who has also worked as an academic and researcher. She mostly works with government clients and NGOs on various documents, such as discussion papers, research materials, grant applications, journal articles and book manuscripts. She has strong grammar skills and understands the difficulties of authors with English as a second language. She mentors in copyediting, proofreading, plain language editing and indexing, and can also provide advice on setting up and running a freelance business.

Vicki Snowdon AE

Vicki is an accredited editor with qualifications in technical writing, security and training/assessment. She works with corporate and academic clients, including as the copyeditor for the Australian Journal of Islamic Studies. She edits journal articles and theses for students and writers with English as a second language. She has worked with various corporate organisations (full-time and freelance) including in the security, medico-legal and banking industries, and can mentor those who are looking for help to set up a freelance editing business.

Judy Gregory

Judy works as an editor, writer, ghostwriter and writing educator in the government, community and university sectors. She has a PhD in information design and teaches workplace writing at UQ, QUT and a range of Queensland government departments. Her editing work includes academic papers, text books, annual reports, awards entries, technical manuals, frameworks and promotional materials – pretty much anything in the nonfiction space! She can also advise mentees about starting and running a business.

Jacqueline Kent

Jacqueline is an author and editor with decades of experience, both in house and freelance. She works in both fiction and nonfiction and can mentor in manuscript assessment, structural and copyediting. She is a former recipient of the Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship and a former president and honorary life member of the NSW Society of Editors. She holds a BA and a Doctorate of Creative Arts from the University of Technology Sydney, and is an award-winning writer of biography, memoir and young adult fiction.

Jess Cox AE

Jess is an experienced nonfiction and academic editor who has worked on a range of books in gardening, cooking, DIY, parenting, health, narrative nonfiction and self-help. She has also edited non-book publications such as diaries, calendars, and oracle and tarot card sets. She has worked in house, where she honed her skills in project management, taking books from concept to finished product. As a freelancer, focuses on structural editing, copyediting and proofreading books and other nonfiction works such as journal articles, and masters and PhD theses.

Kellie Nissen

Kellie works as a full-time freelance editor, mainly with authors of fiction, children’s literature and memoir. She also works with small business owners who are looking to write a book about themselves as a way of promoting their business. Most of her work comes via word of mouth, referrals and repeat clients. As a former teacher, Kellie has highly developed mentoring skills, and she holds a Certificate IV in Professional Writing and Editing in addition to her degrees in education. Kellie mentors in all areas of fiction editing, including manuscript assessment, structural editing, copyediting and proofreading. She can also provide advice about establishing and running a business.

Sumudu Narayana

Sumudu is a professional member of IPEd who has been working as a freelance editor since 2017. Her main area of work is fiction (although she also edits biomedical and medical content). She works as a manuscript assessor for Writers SA, Writers Victoria, the Manuscript Appraisal Agency and AJC Publishing, as well as working directly with self-published fiction authors. Genres include general fiction, fantasy and romance. She is experienced in overall document assessment, structural editing and copyediting. She can help mentees with fiction editing technique and skills and resources. She can also advise on starting a business and establishing good client relationships.

Ian See

Ian is a senior editor at University of Queensland Press. He has a lot of experience working across adult literary fiction. He joined UQP after working with Text and The Saturday Paper. Previously, he taught at RMIT and also worked at Scribe Publications early in his career.

Melanie Dankel AE

Melanie is an accomplished editor with a career spanning over 20 years. She has worked both in house and freelance, working on books, blogs, reports, journal articles, websites and a range of other materials. She works primarily in nonfiction in areas such as travel, histories, cookbooks, gardening, business, health and medical sciences and fashion. She has expertise in editing, proofing, indexing, project management and working with authors.

Nicola O’Shea

Nicola is an experienced editor based in NSW. She has had 2 separate in-house stints at HarperCollins Australia, first as a project editor and later as a senior editor, working on both fiction and nonfiction books. A freelance editor since 2004, Nicola does structural editing and copyediting for a range of mainstream publishers and structural/developmental editing for private clients. She has lectured in editing at UTS and the University of Sydney. She runs online courses for editors and is a regular contributor to IPEd’s professional development program.

Linda Funnell

Linda has extensive experience as an editor and publisher, both inhouse and freelance, specialising in fiction (popular and literary) and narrative nonfiction (memoir, biography, history, politics, true crime). She was managing editor at Pan Macmillan from 1993 to 1996; fiction publisher with Random House from 1996 to 1999; and publisher with HarperCollins from 2000 to 2010. Since 2011 she has been a freelance editor and publishing consultant, taking commissions from trade publishers and individual authors, as well as presenting courses in writing, editing and publishing.

Kate O’Donnell

Kate is an experienced editor who works in fiction and nonfiction. She has worked in house and freelance and has expertise in structural/developmental and copyediting, proofreading, manuscript assessment and project management. She has a BA in English Literature, Theatre and Music, and in Musical Theatre Performance, and an MA in Professional Writing and Editing from UTS.

Charle Malycon

Charle is an accomplished editor with a career spanning 20+ years. She has worked freelance and in house for corporates, NGOs and in publishing. She has experience in a range of commercial sectors, including health, property, finance, technology, marketing, advertising and digital media, as well as fiction and nonfiction trade publishing, literary fiction and poetry for both large and small presses.

Cheryl Ann Ballantyne

Cheryl has worked as a freelance editor since 2020. Her work has been mainly in the academic sector, editing research theses (masters and PhD), papers for publication in journals and research reports. Before freelancing, she gained editing experience through supervising international students undertaking PhD research. She has also had a long career in the NSW Department of Education where she regularly edited correspondence, training materials, policies, procedures and other online and print publications. She holds a PhD, Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, a Graduate Certificate in Management, and she completed her undergraduate major in linguistics.

Melanie Sheridan AE

Melanie is an accredited editor who has had a varied career working mainly in newspapers, magazines and similar publications. She has expertise in both print and digital formats and has worked with clients in the arts, media and health sectors. She has edited programs for the Melbourne Theatre Company and Melbourne International Film Festival, a union members’ magazine, newspaper supplements and numerous publications for health practitioners. She has taught editing to postgraduate students at Melbourne University, and also high school students and adults engaged in continuing education.

Sue Pavasaris

Sue has nearly 30 years of experience as a professional editor, working on everything from arts and scientific publishing to government websites. She was a writer and editor for the online Australian Government Style Manual and a member of the working party that revised the IPEd standards for editing practice. She started her career working as a freelancer for Jacaranda Wiley in Brisbane but has also worked in house for government agencies in Canberra. She has a master’s degree in journalism and information management (specialising in information architecture for websites). She does occasional freelance commissions for local authors in the Byron Bay area and is keen to pass on her knowledge and skills to a new generation of editors.

Dr Jennifer Rowland

With degrees in science, economics and teaching, Jennifer is a highly credentialled professional who works as an academic editor for a Nordic university editing service. She also undertakes freelance editing projects and has worked as a medical writer in the biotech industry. She reviews content from all academic disciplines, including papers, theses, and funding applications. She also teaches research skills, writing and presenting for university graduates. She completed the IPEd accreditation exam in 2021 and mentors in manuscript assessment, structural editing, proofreading and accreditation.

Dr Campbell Aitken

With a PhD in geography and a background in economics, engineering and medical science, Campbell is a freelance editor, who has been editing for 35 years. He works mostly on academic writing, such as PhD theses, journal article manuscripts, reports, grant applications, and the occasional book. He also works for government bodies, NGOs & corporates, mostly in the health sphere. He mentors in all aspects of editing and can also provide guidance about setting up a business, client relations and editing technology.

Emma Driver

Emma is a freelance nonfiction editor who has been editing since 2004. She spent seven years working in house at NewSouth Publishing as a project editor. She started in legal publishing, moved into education editing, and now works freelance doing structural and copyediting, and proofreading. She counts Allen & Unwin, Echo Publishing and NewSouth Publishing among her clients. Her main focus is trade nonfiction, including memoir, history, biography, environment, etc.

Rob Sheehan

Rob has worked as a freelance editor for 25 years, mostly in the education and not-for-profit sectors. He has worked with: government departments and agencies, consulting firms and academics. He has edited about 120 PhD theses and worked with authors and co-authors of books ranging from manuals for school teachers to landscape architecture and higher education leadership. He mentors in all aspects of editing, including setting up a business.

Maryanne Park AE

Originally trained as a mechanical engineer, Maryanne is an editor who focuses on maths and science. She regularly edits high school textbooks and has undertaken various other projects, including technical writing work. She has experience working with digital books (HTML and LaTeX) and InDesign files. She has been a marker for IPEd’s accreditation exam and is an expert in accessibility, having contributed to “Books without barriers: a guide to inclusive publishing”. She mentors in copyediting and structural editing, accreditation and technological aspects of editing.

Cynthia Troup

Cynthia is an accomplished editor, researcher and writer with an established creative practice. Her work focuses on scholarly and nonfiction writing in the arts and humanities. She has lectured in writing and literature at Deakin University and held various positions at the University of Melbourne. Throughout her career, she been a coach and mentor to other editors and writers, including early-career academics for whom English is an additional language. She has been a freelance editor for over 20 years, working on a range of projects, including academic books, monographs, journal articles, art catalogues and other bespoke publications.

Cathy Vallance

Cathy has over 15 years of in-house fiction editing experience. She has worked in children’s publishing for most of that time. She was an editor at Steve Parish Publishing and now works for University of Queensland Press. She was recently appointed to the role of Children’s and YA Publisher. She mentors in manuscript assessment, structural and copyediting and proofreading, and can provide guidance and advice on all aspects of the publishing process.

Interested in being a mentor?

While IPEd’s Mentoring Program offers opportunities for mentees to learn from experienced editors, participation in the program also benefits mentors.

Mentors get the chance to collaborate with emerging editors, exchanging ideas with younger editors they may not otherwise have had the opportunity to meet. Many mentors discover that sharing their knowledge with willing learners can be very rewarding as it reminds experienced editors just how much wisdom they’ve accumulated over their career. 

Many mentors develop a renewed awareness of the editing skillset during mentorships, with some reporting that mentoring can be a kind of self-learning. Mentors find that explaining a concept to someone else can reinforce their own conceptual understandings and provide  new insights. Mentoring also exposes mentors to the current experiences of early-career editors and underlines the importance of training and quality learning experiences for all editors. 

Quality mentorships benefit the entire editing profession. By increasing the skills of both mentors and mentees, the program helps safeguard the reputation of the profession as a whole.

If you have skills to share and would like to be a part of the IPEd Mentoring Program, please complete the form for mentors and the committee will be in touch soon.