RICHARD GIBSON
Freelance Writer and Editor
Contact:
writer@richardgibson.org
Personal statement
Freelance writer, with articles published in UK and Irish newspapers, magazines, partworks and business-to-business publications.
Having provided copy for a number of computer magazine tutorials and children’s illustrated publications, my writing style is designed to make even complex topics engaging, easily understood and free of jargon.
I also have more than 20 years’ experience as a professional newspaper sub and production editor, and I guarantee that all copy is submitted well in advance of deadlines – factually and legally accurate, clear, grammatically correct, and free of typos, literals and spelling errors.
Key Skills
• Experienced at writing news stories and features, long and short
• Seasoned interviewer, adept at putting subjects at ease
• Skilled in writing advertising copy
• Able to project-manage publications, papers and reports through the entire
production process, from commissioning to print
• Proficient copy editor and proofreader
• Quick and thorough, and able to deliver copy on time
• Proficient in QuarkXpress, CopyDesk, InDesign and InCopy
Employment History
(2000 – Present)
Features writer:
Regular features for St James’s House Publishers
‘Let There Be Light – Efficiently’ – article for Guardian Technology section
‘Church of an Artistic Mind’ – article for the Irish Times newspaper
'Woody Harrelson: The Cowboy Way' – feature for Film & TV Week magazine
Robotics at Work, PC Action Games and PC Success – De Agostini partwork series
’Allo! ’Allo!’ – GE Fabbri partwork series
‘Create a Newsletter in Word’; ‘Draw Animations in Powerpoint’; ‘Word
Tips and Tricks’; ‘Email Tips and Tricks’ – tutorials for PC Advisor magazine
News and features for the Bray People newspaper, Ireland
Arts listings for Livewire and Hot Air magazines
Copywriter:
Daily Telegraph Advertising and Marketing Departments
St James’s House Publishers
Fiction and drama:
‘Gentlemen and Players’ – radio play for RTÉ Radio, Ireland
‘Mamba! Mamba!’ and ‘Sausages in Leipzig’ – short stories: for
Sunday Miscellany – RTÉ Radio
‘Estelle’s Pink Shoes: The Passions of Hector Berlioz’ – staged reading
for Jill Freud and Company
'An Afternoon at the Theatre' and 'Summer Blooms' – short stories for
Woman's Own magazine
Freelance sub-editor:
The Week Junior
Science & Nature
St James’s House Publishers
Financial Times Special Reports, World
Guardian Review, G2, Family
Observer Review
Sunday Times Regional Desk, Business
The Times newspaper
The Irish Times newspaper
The Times Magazine
The Banker magazine
Esquire magazine
Classic FM Magazine
BBC Music Magazine
Dentistry Magazine
TV Times
Auto Express
Responsibilities:
• Cutting and fitting copy
• Editing copy for sense, typos and literals
• Checking facts and legal issues
• Uploading pages to the web
Freelance Production editor:
MacUser magazine
Responsibilities:
• Commissioning copy and artwork
• Flat-planning, chasing and subbing copy, managing an editorial team
and seeing pages through to print
(1997–2000)
Writer and editor at M-Press Publishing (producing partworks,
magazines and illustrated books,
Wrote several volumes of the mini-book series, In Classical Mood, and
edited a number of sections of the partwork, Secrets of the Universe
Responsibilities:
• Commissioning copy and artwork
• Flat-planning
• Chasing and subbing copy
• Managing an editorial team
• Seeing pages through to print
(1994–1997)
Joined the editorial team that developed Minx magazine for EMAP,
contributing ideas and putting together dummy features. Worked on several issues
following the launch.
Acted as chief sub at Slimmer magazine for six months’ sabbatical cover.
Freelance production editor on The VAR and Network Reseller (IT industry
magazines), for Dennis Publishing
Responsibilities:
• Commissioning copy and artwork
• Flat-planning
• Chasing and subbing copy
• Managing an editorial team
• Seeing pages through to print
Education
BA in English and Drama at the Central School of Speech and Drama/ Westfield College
Diploma in journalism at Westminster College, London
CELTA Certificate (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) – International House, London