Hélène is a writer and editor of illustrated books for children of all ages, from babies to YA. While teaching Primary and Early Years, she gained her MEd in Children’s Literature at Cambridge University, specialising in picture books. She began her publishing career in 2015 at DK, writing and editing fiction and non-fiction books for children and teens about everything from wildlife to myths, history to engineering. Her first book, Look I’m a Scientist, won the School Library Association's Information Book Award in 2018. In 2019, she moved to Penguin Random House, where she edited dozens of books for the legendary Ladybird imprint. While at PRH, she mentored new authors as part of the WriteNow scheme. She now works as a freelance editor alongside writing her own books. Hélène is a Cornerstones market editor.

Interests: picture books, illustrated non-fiction, myths and legends, nerd culture, anything offbeat, odd, and quirky, books that make growing up feel a little bit magical

Jeevani (Jeev) C writes heart-warming romcoms and multicultural women’s fiction. A former microbiologist, she also writes as Rhoda Baxter - named after the bacterium she worked on for her DPhil. She has had novels published by Bonnier Zaffre, Choc Lit, Hera Books and HQ.  Her books A Convenient Marriage, Playing For Love and Girl Having A Ball were shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year awards. Please Release Me was shortlisted for a Love Stories award. She has 13 novels, 5 novellas and 2 non fiction books out now. Her first book was published in 2012 and her latest book is The Winner Bakes It All, published in 2024.

Jeev has given structural editorial feedback for the RNA’s New Writers Scheme for over a decade and loves seeing books that she’s worked on appear on the shelves. She runs a popular YouTube channel on how to use Canva for book marketing. She has a day job working in university intellectual property and sometimes gives talks on what to think about before signing a publishing contract. Having signed four book contracts before getting an agent, she has a good knowledge of the commercial fiction market. She is part of the team at Author Breakthrough Club where they help authors who have signed their first or second publishing contract to navigate the confusing world of being a newly published author. She is a Cornerstones market editor.

Interests: commercial fiction, romance, women’s fiction.

Richard is a prizewinning writer of fiction and poetry. In 2020, his YA novel ‘The Wolf Road’ was a book of the year in the Sunday Times, Guardian and Financial Times, longlisted for the Carnegie Award and won the Mal Peet Award. He has since published two MG novels, ‘Shadow Town’ and ‘The Republic of Dreams’, books of the year in the Times and Guardian respectively. His novels were published by Everything with Words. Richard also writes contemporary and literary fiction; his stories have been shortlisted for the Sunday Times Short Story award and won the Fish Short Story prize. He has published two poetry collections. His second, ‘The Nameless Places’, came out with Arc. From 2022-2024 he was a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of East Anglia, working one-to-one with students on their writing. He has an MA in Creative Writing from UEA, and has delivered more than 40 creative-writing workshops across the UK. Richard is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: MG, YA, Contemporary and Literary Fiction, Poetry.

Laura Marshall is the Sunday Times top ten and Kindle No. 1 bestselling author of five psychological thrillers. Her debut novel, FRIEND REQUEST, was published by Sphere (Little, Brown) in 2017 and sold over half a million copies in the UK alone. It was translated into twenty-five languages and optioned for TV. She went on to have a further three bestselling novels (THREE LITTLE LIES, THE ANNIVERSARY and MY HUSBAND’S KILLER) published by Sphere. Her fifth novel A GOOD PLACE TO HIDE A BODY was optioned for TV prior to its publication by Hodder & Stoughton in July 2024, and a sixth novel is coming from the same publisher in 2025. Laura also works as a freelance editor and mentor and has a strong instinct for commercial fiction and what makes a story spring off the page. She is a Cornerstones market editor.

Interests: commercial fiction/crime/suspense/psychological thriller

Alex writes under both Alex Campbell and Alex Cotter and has published YA and middle grade (MG) novels. Her MG titles, ‘The Mermaid Call’ and ‘The House on the Edge’, have recently been published with Nosy Crow. ‘The House on the Edge’ was chosen as a WHSmith Travel Book of the Month and she has a third MG story coming out in October 2023. Alex is also the author of YA novels with Hot Key Books, ‘Land’ and ‘Cloud 9’, with ‘Land’ being nominated for the CLIP Carnegie Award 2016.

In addition to her fiction writing, Alex is an experienced copywriter and mentor for writers across all genres. Plus, she works as an Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University. Alex is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: All YA and MG genres.

Bethany is a former Senior Editor at Penguin Random House, where she was involved in the WriteNow mentoring scheme and the #Merky Books New Writers' Prize. She has ten years' experience in the industry, working at both commercial and independent publishing houses. Bethany has worked on non-fiction by authors such as David Attenborough, Stacey Dooley and Ray Mears, and novels by Jenny Colgan, Rachaele Hambleton and Adam Hills. She has an MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) from the University of East Anglia and regularly teaches creative writing summer schools and weekend courses. Bethany is a Cornerstones market editor.

Interests: memoir, narrative non-fiction and contemporary fiction.

Clem (she/her) is a Bonnier Books UK editor based in Scotland. She has an MLitt in Publishing Studies from the University of Stirling and a BA in Creative Writing and English Literature from the London Metropolitan University, and was longlisted for the 2019 Mslexia Novel Competition. She has worked as a freelance developmental editor, copy-editor and proofreader in genre fiction for nearly a decade, and now edits and commissions fiction for Black & White Publishing and Ink Road within BBUK. Her favourite genres are YA, fantasy, commercial fiction and (cosy) crime. When she’s not at work or writing her own novels, she spends her time wild swimming or renovating her cottage with her husband. Clem is a Market editor.

Interests: commercial fiction, YA, fantasy, crime and romance.

Isobel is a freelance reader and editor with a broad range of experience in the publishing industry. As a reader for literary agencies for over five years, she specialises in in-depth, market-focused and approachable feedback that aims to help writers strengthen their manuscripts and bring out their full potential. After graduating and working as a bookseller, Isobel worked in International Sales at Canongate and Translation Rights at Curtis Brown. She now reads for leading UK literary agencies across everything from commercial to literary, romantasy to historical (working on multiple Sunday Times bestselling manuscripts), as well as for literary scouts, where she specialises in SFF, MG and YA.

Interests: upmarket/book club and literary fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction, adult commercial (women’s, historical), MG, YA and crossover.

Ericka was born in Hertfordshire, and has lived in Brighton for over half her life. Her debut novel, Dog Days, was published by Doubleday in 2021. Her second novel, Goodbye Birdie Greenwing, was published in 2024. Ericka is an award-winning blogger, and her weekly ‘Fresh voice’ column for the Argus Newspaper won Columnist of the year in the Regional Press Awards 2015. She completed the Faber Academy 2018-2019, and runs writing classes for secondary school children as well as mentoring services. Ericka is a very keen fiction reader and dog lover, and is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: commercial and literary fiction – anything character led!

Lou has helped countless numbers of writers with written and one-on-one feedback and has over 25 years’ experience as a tutor. She studied Drama at the University of East Anglia, taught Drama, then returned to UEA to do their MA in Creative Writing, publishing two novels with Headline Review, The Water’s Edge and The Haven Home for Delinquent Girls. Lou then did a PhD, went travelling, and started a family while working full-time as a university lecturer. She left her job in 2017 to find more time to write. Poetry credits include Perverse, Rialto, Under the Radar and Shearsman, and her short story collection, Unusual Places, came out in 2018. She has since self-published several guides to the writing process. Lou currently teaches Creative Writing part-time for the Open University and has worked with New Writing South and Creative Future as well as several other community organisations. She is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: Quirky or weird fiction, coming of age stories, literary fiction, murder mysteries, self-help, short stories, neurodivergent or LGBTQ+ writing.

Jo has worked in literary agencies for over ten years and most recently was the Children’s Literary Agent at The Blair Partnership where she looked after a list of picture book authors and children’s non-fiction and fiction authors across the age range from 5 to YA. She has discovered and secured deals for many prize-winning and notable writers including Helena Duggan, Katy Birchall, Kieran Larwood, Sir Chris Hoy, Dawn Coulter-Cruttenden, JJ Arcanjo, Oli Hyatt, Nicki Thornton, Earthling Ed and PA Staff. Spotting commercial fiction has given Jo a strong sense of what works well in the children’s market. She thrives on working collaboratively and creatively with authors at any stage of their writing career. Jo is a Cornerstones market editor.

Interests: children’s fiction from young (5-8), through middle grade and teen to YA fiction

Nick is a fiction writer and freelance editor. His first novel, comic coming-of-age story Saint Valentine, was published by Transworld in 2003; former Children’s Laureate Jacqueline Wilson said of its protagonist: ‘I wish I’d invented him.’ His creepy middle-grade Molly Thompson series, published by Walker Books, has been optioned for television by Netflix. He was a regular columnist for a national magazine for over a decade, and has been an English teacher and Academic Learning Mentor. Nick is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: middle grade and YA fiction, mystery, horror, humour, fantasy, coming-of-age stories, memoir, self-help and personal development.

Annabel is an Oxford University English graduate and a multi-award winning children’s author whose work is published in over twenty countries. Her first novel, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, won the Branford Boase Award for most outstanding debut in 2011, and was shortlisted for several major literary awards including the Carnegie Medal. Her second book, Ketchup Clouds, was named the Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year in 2013 and won an Edgar Award in the USA for best young adult fiction. Her third novel, Silence is Goldfish, was published in 2015 to great critical acclaim and her fourth novel, The Last Days of Archie Maxwell, was published in November 2017. She has also recently signed a three-book picture book deal with Hachette. Annabel has tutored on Arvon courses and has been a guest lecturer at Bath Spa and Sheffield Hallam Universities on their creative writing courses, and is a regular reviewer of children and young adult fiction for The Guardian. Annabel is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: children's fiction, young adult fiction, picture books.

As a former broadcast journalist and producer for the BBC, Judith has worked with both published and unpublished writers, conducted writing workshops and competitions, and produced a book of children’s short stories for BBC Children in Need. She works for publishers including Oxford University Press and the Jacaranda Literary Agency in Singapore. She was the editor of Tiny Feet, Tiny Shoes by Adeline Foo which won the Asian Children’s Book Award in May 2017. She is an Associate Tutor for the MA Publishing Course at the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies at Oxford Brookes University, and was recently made a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She mainly works with children’s books, especially Middle Grade fiction and picture books but has also recently worked with self-published authors on adult fiction. Judith is a Cornerstones market editor.

Interests: children's, middle grade fiction, YA, picture books, chapter books for early readers

Susannah worked for seven years at Rogers, Coleridge and White literary agency with a UK agent and in Foreign Rights with clients such as Francesca Segal and Owen Sheers. She was Managing Editor of the Jewish Quarterly for five years publishing work by writers including Naomi Alderman, Cynthia Ozick and Adam Foulds. Susannah is a Cornerstones market editor.

Interests: Literary fiction, commercial fiction, women's fiction

Will’s writing on travel, culture, politics and other subjects has appeared on sites including BBC Travel, Slate, OpenDemocracy, the Calvert Journal and Roads and Kingdoms, among others. He is also the founder and editor of the culture and travel site Deep Baltic. He has completed a large number of reports and successfully mentored a range of authors for Cornerstones over the last few years, including guiding Daniel Godfrey’s New Pompeii (Titan Books) to publication. Will is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: contemporary adult fiction, literary fiction.

Terri is the award-winning author of The Oaklands Manor trilogy, the Penhaligon Saga, and the Fox Bay Saga. She currently writes family sagas for Little, Brown, and crime thrillers for Hobeck Books. Terri has also self-published The Lynher Mill Chronicles, a series of Mythic Fantasy books, and as a hybrid author she is keen to help writers at all stages of their careers find the perfect path for their work. Terri is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: crime/thriller, historical fiction, family sagas, women's fiction, fantasy, commercial fiction.

Ayisha began her publishing career at Penguin Random House, joining Cornerstones Literary Consultancy as editorial assistant in 2010 where she became managing editor within her first year. She holds an MA in Creative Writing and her debut novel, Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, Bonnier, was published in January 2016, a WH Smith’s Fresh Talent pick. This Green and Pleasant Land was published by Zaffre Books in 2019. She now writes full-time and also works as a ghostwriter. Ayisha is a Cornerstones market editor.

Interests: General Fiction, Commercial Fiction

Em is a novelist and prose fiction author with an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University. Their debut novel, And This is True, was published by Sceptre in 2010 and shortlisted for The Dylan Thomas Prize, The Saltire Scottish First Book Award and the Readers’ First Book Award at Edinburgh’s International Literary Festival. Their second novel, In Search of Solace, was published in 2014 (Sceptre) and longlisted for the Green Canation Prize and the Folio Prize. Em has coordinated and facilitated creative writing workshops, mentoring sessions, writing retreats and gives talks to schools, universities and extracurricular groups about the writing and publishing process. They have been a freelance literary consultant since 2009. Em is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: adult commercial or literary fiction (any genre), experimental writing, character-based novels, themes on identity, familial conflict, nature writing and memoir, landscape and the environment, spirituality, mindfulness.

Mark is the author of three thrillers and a former specialist in Technology Disaster Recovery for oil companies and global banks. He is member of the author touring group ‘Four Blokes In Search of a Plot’, a show which performs in theatres and arts venues around Scotland, which writes a very short crime novel live on stage, while discussing all the aspects of being a writer. He has appeared at festivals across Scotland and was invited to Thrillerfest in New York for three years running. He is represented by a leading London literary agency. Mark is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: Crime, thriller, techo-thriller, speculative, psychological, commercial fiction, fantasy and science fiction.