Squaw Editorial Agency

Squaw Editorial Agency is run by Sarah Quigley and Antoinette Wilson, who offer editorial and production services to writers and publishers. With years of diverse experience in book publishing, we offer a sharp eye, a fresh perspective, skillful use of an electronic red pen, lightning-fast layout and efficient management of the smallest to the most demanding projects.

Editing
Squaw offers a full editing service for both fiction and non-fiction works. Having worked closely with both authors and publishers, we have many years of collective experience. Email us your manuscript, and we will offer constructive suggestions on content, structure, and length, resulting in a shaped and polished book. Alterations can be entered electronically into a manuscript, for fast and easy tracking.

Page layout
Using the Adobe software InDesign we can either take your page design concept and produce a full layout according to it, or we can present you with page design concepts of our own and, once you’re happy with the look of the pages, complete the layout of your manuscript ready for proof-reading and/or printing. If your book includes images we’ll require print-quality digital scans, which you can send by email or by Skype, depending on quantity and size.

Proofreading
Before a manuscript goes to print, there are often a myriad of small errors to be picked up. We offer a thorough copy-editing and proof-reading service, correcting punctuation, grammar, and spelling, to result in a clean, 100-percent ready-to-print manuscript. We are able to copy-edit electronically, in Word or PDF files, for a quick cost-effective clean-up of last-minute problems.

Project management
Whether you’re from a large publishing house or you’re producing your own book, we have the expertise to take your text and images from manuscript pages to print-ready PDF document. We can pick up the production management at any point you choose: whether running it from beginning to end or from a specific stage. We’d provide you with a negotiable quote that itemises each section of the production process.

Manuscript assessment
After many years’ working as readers for publishing houses, we bring a sharp and experienced eye to fresh manuscripts. As part of our assessment service, we offer both a close reading of a potential book and a comprehensive report, identifying possible problems (e.g. with plot or structure) that might prove a barrier to publication. Before beginning a job, we always offer a negotiable quote, followed by a reader’s report, and subsequent consultation with the author or publisher.

How we work

Like almost any agency or publishing house these days, Squaw Editorial Agency operates online. We correspond by email, send and receive manuscripts by email, and we key in our editorial and proofreading changes on-screen into Word or PDF documents that can be assessed and altered by our clients and returned to us by email. We usually print a working copy of a manuscript for the first read-through and edit because we believe in doing a job well and, as remarkable as computer technology is, it remains easier for editors to spot errors on the printed page than on the computer screen.

The benefit of modern technology, however, is that working with clients on the other side of the planet is little different than being just down the road. We've established an efficient and productive method of working for clients anywhere in the world, so that our skills will be as useful to you as if we were working in the office next door.

If you'd like us to quote on one or all of the production stages mentioned on this page, please send an email to info@squaweditorial.com. Provide a brief summary of your project and the work you require and we'll let you know what information we need in order to supply an accurate as possible quote.

About us

Antoinette Wilson

Antoinette has worked in publishing for 15 years, beginning her career with Hazard Press in New Zealand, where she managed the editorial and production departments. She spent two years working in Australia with Random House Australia and then Pluto Press, before returning to Hazard to take on the role of Associate Publisher. In 2004 she moved to Argentina, from where she continued to work for Hazard Press as a project manager and editor, until starting Squaw Editorial Agency with Sarah in 2007. In 2011 she returned to live in New Zealand, and is now based in Auckland.

Her experience of both small business and multinational publishing have seen her develop a range of skills encompassing all aspects of publishing, particularly in project management, editing and layout. She has managed the production of over 150 books, and successfully represented authors at book fairs in Frankfurt, London and Sydney.

Sarah Quigley

Sarah has a Ph. D. in English Literature from the University of Oxford. Since graduating twelve years ago, she has worked concentratedly in the fields of writing and editing. She worked as a copy-editor on a newspaper in San Diego for a year, before moving to Berlin in 2000 on a writing residency. Since then, she has been based in Germany, working as a freelance editor and publishing her own poetry and fiction (Penguin UK, Virago). She has extensive experience as an editor, copy-editor, and proof-reader.

Working closely with editors on her own novels has given her invaluable experience in shaping and refining a work. Previous and present employers include Oxford University Press, Taschen UK and Taschen Germany, and DuMont Literature and Art Publishers. She has worked on many books of both fiction and non-fiction, and over the past four years has been particularly involved with fine-art texts and catalogues for museums and galleries.