Paul Fishman, freelance writer and editor
I’m a freelance writer and editor working with clients across the UK and internationally.
Writing
I write features, reviews and stories, and work on information-rich (e.g. educational), non-advertising projects as a copywriter. My writing interests include history, literature, TV and film, science, and food and drink.
Editing
I copy-edit journal articles, books and associated academic text; edit and rewrite copy for magazines, educational material and websites; provide editorial advice. I’m equally comfortable editing work by non-native English speakers and sophisticated native speakers.
Clients and credits
Past and present clients include: Bauer Media, blu inc, Exeter Premedia, Future plc, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), IOP Publishing, LargeNetwork, LSE Press, the Microbiology Society, Rathbones Group plc, Refraction Media, Research Media, SAGE Publications and the University of Bristol.
Writing credits include: Alderman Lushington, All About History, Chroma, Empire, International Innovation and related titles, Nudge Books, Politics Means Politics, Rathbones Review, Shiny New Books, Spelk, Technologist and Waterstone’s Books Quarterly.
Note: I launched a Substack in 2024 at fishmandeville.substack.com. You can read what I’ve published to date (and subscribe) for free now.
More information and contact
A more CV-like professional profile is available on LinkedIn, and a full CV and references are available on request.
Please contact me if you have seen seen anything on the site that interests you, or if you would like to work together.
Freelance or freelancer?
Both are correct and in the Oxford English Dictionary. Freelance (‘free lance’) came first, starting as a 19th-century term for something medieval: ‘a type of military adventurer, typically of knightly rank, who offered his services to states or individuals for payment, or with a view to plunder; a mercenary soldier’. Some time after it took on its current meaning(s), e.g. ‘A person who makes himself or herself available to be engaged for work on particular assignments or projects, rather than being engaged on a long-term or permanent basis by a single employer’. Freelancers was occasionally used as a synonym for the first meaning of freelance in the 19th century, but became much more common as an alternative to the modern ‘freelance’ in the 20th century. I’d guess that freelancer is now more popular than freelance. Still, I like the connection with freebooting, roguish knights and prefer the older etymology, so I always call myself a freelance. I don’t mind if others differ, so long as we understand each other.
Quoted definitions taken from the Oxford English Dictionary.
Paul Fishman 