Hachette UK's Changing the Story Freelancer Trainees Announced

Hachette UK has announced the five winning candidates who will be taking part in the Changing the Story Freelancer Training Programme, each receiving fully funded editorial freelance placements. 

After reviewing 665 applications from a broad range of candidates, the five winners include a poet, government workers, parents returning to work, multi-hyphenates, and those working in parallel industries.

The scheme, created in partnership with Publishing Training Centre, will offer all those who didn’t make the final five up to 50% off PTC courses for the next six months.

The first training session was held on the 27th October and will be running throughout November. The winning candidates will be receiving Proofreading, Copyediting, Editorial Project Management and Grammar and Punctuation training through the Publishing Training Centre. 

The second phase will give each trainee the opportunity to put their skills into practice on freelance editorial scenarios, working alongside a mentor at Hachette UK to give them the best foundation for launching their freelance career.  

 

More about the five winning candidates:

Antonia-Joy Akoto has had her debut collection of poetry, Unmothered published at a small press, and is looking to supplement her creative writing work with freelance editing. 

Meher Iqbal has worked in government for four years and is currently Head of Office to a Director. She is excited to network and work on books from underrepresented communities.

Fleur Tizard has worked as a copywriter, social media manager and occasional academic proofreader while harbouring a life-long desire to be a book editor. Since becoming a mum, she has also been seeking flexibility, so working with Hachette on freelance editorial projects would be a dream come true.

Priana Chrishanthan runs her own Etsy store and is currently completing a degree in Criminology. She plans to establish a thriving freelance career with the training we are offering and cultivate a reputation for delivering excellent edits.

Lara Anisere has experience as a freelance staff writer, personal assistant, receptionist and has written artist bios for Julie Adenuga and Slowthai. She is excited to leverage the skills she learns with the PTC to embark on a successful freelance editorial career and help bring authors' stories to life.

Also, launched alongside the programme, Hachette UK’s Freelancer Database has now hit 1,000 new entries and remains open to freelancers to share their details and experience by completing a form, which can be accessed here.   

Created in partnership with Inspired Selection and The Publishing Training Centre, the Changing the Story Freelancer Training Programme is designed to make publishing more accessible as part of Hachette UK’s commitment to Changing the Story. No experience is required, though the desire to work in a freelance capacity is essential. 

More information about The Changing the Story Freelancer Training Programme and the Hachette UK freelance database can be found here.

For more information, contact Maura Wilding, Communications Director, Hachette UK: [email protected] 

 

About the Changing the Story Freelance Training Programme

This training will take place over several months and will have two phases. Applications can be made via the Hachette UK website: https://www.hachette.co.uk/landing-page/cts-freelancer-training-programme/

 

Phase One: Training

Hachette UK will fund the cost for successful applicants to attend in-person training, or virtual depending on accessibility requirements, run by the Publishing Training Centre that will cover project management, proofreading and copyediting, to include:

• 1-day Proofreading training and notes 
• 1-day Copy-Editing training and notes 
• 1-day Editorial Project Management 
• Half-day Grammar and Punctuation 

In addition, Hachette UK will fund the cost for each successful applicant to receive the distance-learning course on Successful Editorial Freelancing as well as e-learning modules on topics that will support the training you work through, outlined here: E15 e-learning modules package. 

 

Phase Two: Putting it into Practice

The second phase will allow each successful applicant the opportunity to put their skills into practice by working alongside a mentor at Hachette UK to give them the best foundation for launching their freelance career. 

 

About Hachette UK: 

Our mission at Hachette UK is to make it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment, and opportunity. 

We are one of the UK’s largest publishing groups and the market leader in e-books, with 12 autonomous divisions and over 50 imprints with a rich and diverse history. 

We publish thousands of new books across the group every year and our authors include Michael Connelly, Alice Oseman, John Grisham, Val McDermid, Stephen King, Stieg Larsson, Nelson Mandela, Stephenie Meyer, Ian Rankin, J.K. Rowling and Malala Yousafzai.

Our award-winning adult publishing divisions are Little, Brown, Orion, John Murray Press, Dialogue Books, Hodder & Stoughton, Headline, Quercus, Bookouture and Octopus. Hachette Children’s Group publishes a diverse range of books for children of all ages and Hodder Education is a market leader in resources for both primary and secondary schools. In 2022, we welcomed Paperblanks, the second-largest premium stationery brand in the world, to our group. 

We have offices around the UK, including our headquarters in London and the Hely Hutchinson Centre (HHC) for distribution in Didcot. We have subsidiaries in several other regions, including Australia, India, Ireland, Jamaica and New Zealand.

 

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