Highland duo team up to launch CannyEdit agency to help authors

A DYNAMIC duo with the write stuff to help aspiring and established authors polish their work as close to perfection as possible have launched their own editing business.

Margaret Kirk and Vee Walker, both prizewinning Highland authors and experienced editors, hope their editorial agency will offer valuable support to local writers.

For anyone who plans to try penning a whole novel this November during the epic #NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge, they have a useful gift: "We know

that many Highland authors will be planning to take part in #NaNoWriMo this year," said Margaret. "We have a free list of canny writing tips which will help anyone – whether a beginner or an experienced writer – get off to the best start possible."

Said Vee: "We both already edit professionally and when we discovered a shared love of editing the work of others, launching our own Highlands-based editorial enterprise was the clear next step. Our quirky chosen name, CannyEdit (with its obvious pun) sums up our approach to editing: friendly, reassuring and positive but also canny, thorough and great value for money."

Margaret and Vee have already helped local, national and international authors polish their work for varied literary projects ranging from multi-novel fantasy series to intimate memoirs planned only for circulation within the writer’s family.

They will offer a wide range of editorial services including manuscript assessment and developmental editing, opening chapter reviews and synopsis and agent letter fine-tuning.

Margaret, from Inverness, won the coveted Good Housekeeping Novel Prize in 2016 for the first of her acclaimed Shadow Man crime fiction trilogy and excels at the nitty-gritty of proofing.

Black Isler Vee, whose novel Major Tom’s War was a prizewinner at the SAHR Military History Fiction Awards in 2019, enjoys the face-to-face contact of writer mentoring.

The team will accept both fiction and non-fiction work, plus memoir and short stories. All editing agreements begin with a no-commitment free discussion of the writer’s needs; rates

are competitive and can be precisely tailored to the individual task.

Margaret and Vee will be hosting a HighlandLIT editing workshop during 2024. To get your hands on a copy of CannyEdit’s Canny #NaNoWriMo Tips, please just email the team at info@cannyedit.scot.

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