Gillian Holmes

Gillian Holmes has been working in the publishing industry for nearly 30 years.

Starting as an editorial assistant at Simon & Schuster, where she worked on commercial fiction and non-fiction, working with authors such as Jo Brand, Jonathan Ross and Jane Goodman. She also discovered a couple of books on the slush pile, one of which – Away Days by Keven Sampson – which became a bestseller and was later made into a film. Later, as an acquiring editor in charge of film and TV tie-ins she oversaw franchises such as Star Wars and Buffy the Vampire Slayer – and even has a vampire named after her in one of the books. She has worked with bestselling authors like Alan Titchmarsh and Jackie Collins. 

Gillian’s first love has, and always will be, commercial fiction. She worked as an acquiring editor at Penguin Random House for the Arrow Books imprint, where she acquired authors such as Katie Flynn who, before her death, was the bestselling saga writer in the country. She also worked with bestselling authors Kathy Reichs, Dorothy Koomson, Cathy Woodman, Tony Parsons, Jane Corry, Katie Price and Amy Silver (aka Paula Hawkins). Most recently Gillian has been working with bestselling authors Dorothy Koomson, Rosie Goodwin and Amanda Prowse, as well as helping new writers who are just starting out on their writing journey. Including Louise Mumford, whose first book, Sleepless, was so phenomenal, she recommended it to her contacts in the publishing industry. Louise has now just signed her second two-book contract with HQ.

Editor by day, saga author by night!

Writing as Ginny Bell, Gillian’s WWII saga series set in Dover was sold to Bonnier Zaffre in a three-book deal in 2019. The Dover Café at War was published in 2020, with The Dover Café on the Front Line coming a year later. The Dover Café Under Fire published September 2022.

Working on both sides of the fence has been enlightening. Anyone would think that an editor should be able to spot the fatal flaws in their own writing a mile off. Unfortunately, Gillian has discovered this is not the case. And though she may be very capable of editing someone else’s novel, when it comes to her own… well, let’s just say professional help is always needed.

Reviews: 

‘I cannot thank Gillian enough! Her sensitive thoughts on my work (and careful unpicking of my convoluted sentences) have been invaluable. A pleasure to deal with and an absolute star!’ Louise Mumford

‘Gillian, you kick ass.’ Anne Howes

‘With any editor one asks oneself, “Did they make a difference?” and Gillian has done that in spades.’ Martin Lee

Sylvia Plath famously said, ‘The worst enemy of creativity is self-doubt.’ It’s an editor’s job to silence your internal critic and help you achieve your writing goals.

—Gillian Holmes