Tim has been a published author for more than 25 years. He has also worked as a TV producer, journalist, cultural commentator, and magazine editor. His first book, 'The Scent of Dried Roses,' won the PEN award for autobiography and is now a Penguin Modern Classic. Tim's first novel, 'White City Blue,' won the Whitbread Prize for best first novel, and his second, 'Rumours of a Hurricane,' was shortlisted for the Encore Award and the Whitbread Best Novel award.

Tim's Young Adult book, 'Fearless,' was longlisted for the Guardian Children's Book award. His thriller novel, 'The Seymour Tapes,' was purchased by Sony TV last year and is awaiting production. For ten years, Tim served as the President of the Prince Maurice Award for Literary Love Stories. He has lectured at a number of universities, as well as the How To Academy, and has taught extensively for the Faber Academy and Guardian Masterclasses. Tim is a Cornerstones Industry editor.

Interests: memoir, love stories, YA, fantasy, thriller, literary fiction.

Naomi has over eight years’ experience working in children’s publishing. She began her career at Puffin (Penguin Random House) before moving to Orion, and then Hachette Children’s Group. Her previous experience as a Rights Manager brings invaluable insight into maximising a book’s sales potential and she has worked closely with both UK and international editors to develop a good knowledge of global publishing markets and trends. Naomi has a BA (Hons) in English Studies from the University of Nottingham and is a keen reader and writer. Naomi’s own books are published by HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Oxford Children’s Books and Hachette Children’s Group in the UK and have been translated into 22 languages. In 2025 Naomi was shortlisted for the Ruth Rendell Award and in 2024 her picture book Thunderboots won the Reader’s Choice Award for Picture Books at the Diversity Awards, the Derby Picture Book Award and was also shortlisted for The Week Junior Awards. She has been the children’s book reviewer for award winning family travel blog Mini Travellers and a long-listing judge and mentor for the Jericho Prize. Naomi has been working as a freelance editor and mentor helping other children’s writers to develop their manuscripts and craft for over seven years. She is a Cornerstones Industry editor.

Interests: picture books, children’s fiction.

Joanna has over twenty five years of experience in Senior positions within the publishing industry. During those years she has worked as a Commissioning Editor for Harlequin Mills & Boon, founded one of the first ever Literary Consultancies, (‘Write From the Heart’), worked as a ‘Book Doctor’ and given talks to Writers Circles across the UK and North America.

Joanna is currently employed by UCL as an Academic Lecturer on their Publishing MA course. She recently spent a year working as the Lead Researcher on an EDI project for Penguin Random House and continues to research and promote diversity and inclusion in all areas of the publishing world. For many years Joanna has also worked as a consultant ‘Book Doctor’ at the request of agents and publishers whose bestselling authors are in need of a fresh eye over their work. This fascinating, but confidential, role includes advising very well know authors who write historical fiction, crime, women’s fiction and romance, when their sales figures have dropped, or they are struggling with a new plot.

Overall, this varied career has involved Joanna in almost every element of the editorial and marketing process for manuscripts, across diverse genres, and has honed her instinctive sense of a commercially viable manuscript in today’s trade fiction market. Joanna has a forensic ability to spot potential and knows the best way to help each writer develop their plot and characters into irresistible, plausible events, places and people. As an eternal optimist and a committed editor, she always works to give constructive feedback that will encourage and incentivise. Joanna has a 1st Class BA Hons in English Literature, an MA in American Studies and holds a PhD in Black Atlantic Studies. Joanna is a Cornerstones Industry Editor.

Interests: general fiction, romance, historical, biographies, and memoir.

Kate Barker has worked in publishing for almost twenty years as an agent, commissioning editor and ghostwriter. She spent ten years at Penguin, as an Editorial Director for Viking. She has also worked for Orion, for Curtis Brown and for digital publisher Bookouture. Kate is eager to find new talent, particularly new voices in reading group, literary and commercial fiction. Like most agents, Kate is looking for stories that really stay with her. Something that tends to catch her eye is an interesting setting, be it contemporary or historical. Kate is a Cornerstones Industry editor.

Interests: crime, thriller, suspense, commercial, reading group, and most nonfiction inc memoir.

Kate has nearly twenty years of experience in the publishing industry, and is the Rights Director at a leading literary agency. She has always worked on the agency side of the business, and her career has taken her from New York to London. Helping an author realise their vision for a work is one of her many passions, as are books and reading. Her role in selling an author’s work abroad gives her a keen eye for what a manuscript needs to find a publishing home and captivate readers. She has sold translation rights for a number of bestselling writers in genres as broad as crime/thriller, women’s fiction, literary, memoir, narrative non-fiction and the sciences. Kate is a Cornerstones Industry editor.

Interests: commercial fiction, women’s fiction, rom-coms, historical fiction, crime, literary fiction, memoir and narrative non-fiction.

Antonia was an editor at Frances Lincoln for 10 years, and has translated and published several French children’s books in English. She has been an editor and mentor with Cornerstones since 2009; since then she has supported, championed and encouraged hundreds of first-time authors, and helped many to publish their debut titles, including Jane Hardstaff’s The Executioner’s Daughter,and Rachel McIntyre’s Me & Mr J. Antonia is a Cornerstones Industry editor.

Interests: fiction, children's/YA, picture books, non-fiction.

Vanessa N is an experienced editor of fiction and memoir. She started out her editorial career at Virago/Little, Brown, working with high-profile literary authors, before moving to become a Commissioning Editor at Random House, buying in and editing fiction and memoir. She’s the author of eleven novels under pseudonyms, published by Sphere, Quercus and Simon & Schuster, and has been published in thirteen countries. She is a dedicated editor and writing mentor, with a passion for helping writers find and develop their voices. Vanessa is a Cornerstones Industry editor.

Interests: literary fiction, commercial women’s fiction, historical, suspense, book club fiction, and memoir.

Frances Moloney has worked in children's publishing for over ten years. Starting out as a bookseller at Waterstones, she has worked for some of the world's largest publishing houses, Simon and Schuster and Hachette, and with independents Nosy Crow, Flying Eye and Knights Of, amongst others. She has worked with a range of bestselling and award-winning children's authors such as Holly Webb, Jonathan Meres, Pippa Goodhart and Berlie Doherty. Her debut novel for middle grade readers, The Mystery of the Missing Mum, is published by Pushkin Children's in August 2022. Frances is an Industry editor.

Interests: Books with heart. Children's, middle grade, series fiction, young adult, teen, tween and picture books.

Anna is a children’s book editor with over ten years’ experience in the industry. She began her career at Scholastic Children’s Books, developing the illustrious lists for both Scholastic Fiction and the boutique literary imprint Marion Lloyd Books. In 2013 she moved to Orchard Books, managing a wide range of bestselling series, middle-grade and YA fiction. She was recently nominated for the Branford Boase Award 2019 for her work on the Grandma Dangerous series. Anna is a Cornerstones Industry editor.

Interests: Young fiction, middle-grade and YA, particularly commercial fiction, literary fiction, tearjerkers, magical realism, quirky reality-benders, inspirational coming-of-age and overcoming-of-odds stories.

Becky has over eight years’ experience in the publishing industry. She started her career grading and passing the more promising submissions through to a literary agent. Since then, she’s worked in both an editorial and PR capacity. On the PR side, she worked at two major publishers – Transworld (part of Penguin Random House) and Headline (part of Hachette). She worked with a variety of fiction and non-fiction authors, across a variety of genres. She helped launch the career of debut authors such as Shari Lapena and Karen Hamilton, as well as working with brand women’s fiction, crime/thriller and literary authors. She attended in-house focus and acquisitions meetings, so has a strong idea of what publishers are looking for on the industry side of things. Over the last two years, she’s been working on a freelance basis, in both an editorial and PR capacity. On the PR side of things, she works independently with authors, as well as for agencies such as Midas PR, working mainly with fiction authors across all genres. Editorially, she works with aspiring and self-published authors, as well as on a project-by-project basis with traditional publishers. She prides herself on giving thorough, in-depth reports, and loves to see the improvements an author makes with editorial feedback. She is also an author in her own right - her novel, ONE MOMENT, sold in multiple global territories and will be published in the UK in 2023 and the US in 2024, where it was pre-empted as part of a two-book deal in a six figure deal. She is represented by Sarah Hornsley at PFD. Becky is an Industry editor.

Interests: Thrillers/psychological thrillers, crime, women's fiction, commercial fiction, contemporary literary fiction, YA of all genres.

Nicola has over twenty years’ experience in the book industry, both as an editor and an author. She began her career at Hodder & Stoughton, home of Stephen King and John le Carré, where she launched the careers of bestsellers Max Pemberton and Rae Earl. She is the author of eight novels, most recently with Penguin, including two Irish Times bestsellers and one winner of the RNA Festive/Christmas Romance prize. She is a consultant editor for the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Curtis Brown Creative and HarperCollins among others. She is a Submissions Editor for the Cornerstones scouting programme and has taught fiction craft classes at the City Literary Institute. She has helped many Cornerstones authors on their journey to publication including Annette Sills, Kathleen Whyman and Fenella Forster. She loves working with debut authors, identifying their strengths and developing their talent with a rigorous but always encouraging reports. Further, Nicola now works for a leading literary agency, editing and assessing submissions across a range of genres from popular psychology to literary fiction, romance, historical fiction, crime and thrillers. Nicole is a Cornerstones Industry editor.

Interests: memoir, historical fiction, romantic and commercial fiction, reading-group fiction, psychological suspense, thriller, crime, saga.

Lucy has been editing and writing children’s books for 25 years, and is Managing Editor for children's publisher Farshore. She has been published by Hodder, HarperCollins, Stripes and Scholastic among others, and writes across the age range, with her most recent work in the younger middle-grade genre. She is the author of the Teach Yourself title Get Started in Writing an Illustrated Children’s Book (November 2016, John Murray/Hachette) and a regular contributor to The Children’s Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook. She has been with Cornerstones since 2015. Lucy is a Cornerstones Industry editor.

Interests: Children's and YA fiction, particularly humour, animals, magic, romance.

Vicky is a freelance development editor working for publishers (including Oneworld, Little, Brown, Bookouture, Legend Press and RedDoor Press), agents and authors across a range of genres including literary fiction and narrative non-fiction, crime and psychological thrillers, women’s commercial fiction, historical sagas and series. She has worked in publishing for over thirteen years, and was Senior Fiction Editor at Myriad Editions for seven years, launching the careers of award-winning debut authors who went on to become New York Times and Amazon bestsellers. She has a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Sussex and read for literary scout Sylvie Zannier-Betts before working in-house in rights and then becoming a commissioning editor. She won the Independent Publishers’ Guild Young Independent Publisher of the Year Award in 2013. She also teaches creative writing at workshops for universities and mentors writers through the publishing process from planning to completing a novel and publishing strategy. Her training as a commissioning editor means she is quick to spot potential and she enjoys working with an author to develop that promise, ensuring every book is as strong as it can be and has the best possible chance of success in a competitive market. Vicky is a Cornerstones Industry editor.

Interests: Contemporary and historical literary fiction, women's commercial fiction, psychological thrillers, memoir, literary non-fiction and short stories.