Welcome to my website. My name is Carol Usher and I provide publishing services for both print and digital resources for science and education. I aim to help make science clear and accessible for everyone. I have over 23 years in publishing, experience of biological research and teaching science in secondary schools and at post-16 colleges.

I can help you with any stage in the publication of educational resources from commissioning to publication. I ensure that they meet quality standards and are produced within schedule and budget.

I will listen to your needs and make sure I really understand your vision. Through building good relationships with your authors, I can support and facilitate them to write quality material; deliver on time and have a positive writing experience.

How I help

  • Research and commissioning – find out what your customers want through surveys and interviews; write author, reviewer and editorial briefs; recruit, brief, agree fees and schedules with authors, reviewers and editors.

  • Author management – help authors to meet schedules; work with authors to ensure quality material that meets the brief and resolvedifferences between authors and editors.

  • Content development – work with authors to ensure material is suitable for the target audience, lively, engaging and organised logically; remove ambiguity and inconsistencies; check for plagiarism; manage extent, level of illustration, and text permissions.

  • Editing – edit any text for both online and print mediums from technical reports for government agencies to science books for children with a prescribed reading level. This includes substantive editing and rewriting, cutting through wordy text and preserving meaning. I have experience of developing and working with Word© templates, online and offline templates for digital resources.

  • Proof-reading – check layout, typographical errors, consistent and correct use of terms and units.

  • Writing – provide clear, lively and engaging material for adult reference and young people.

All projects and consultations are confidential. Each editing project includes full English grammar, consistency, comprehension, punctuation, and spelling checks. I will always communicate fully and regularly with you.

About me

I first set up Clearwordz in 2000. I was very excited to be able to offer my science, writing, editing and teaching experience to publishing clients.

I started by editing and summarising Energy Technology Support Unit (ETSU)/DTI sponsored reports and research proposal abstracts. Clearwordz also acted as project editor for Discovery Books Ltd, taking series’ of KS3 library books from author recruitment through to final disc. These included series’ of books about the periodic table, weather, materials and history of medicine.

In 2005 I went to work for the educational publisher Nelson Thornes Ltd, working on GCSE Science as a production editor, A level Sciences as a development editor, then as course publisher for Nelson Thornes Distance learning.

In 2009 I resurrected Clearwordz again, and I now aim to provide effective publishing solutions for my clients.

I am based in Lea near Ross on Wye in Herefordshire. I am passionate about the natural world and set up and ran a wildlife watch group. I love being outdoors on my bike, walking or swimming, gardening, playing with my grandsons, singing and making things.

Qualifications:

  • Commissioning and list management course (Publishing Training Centre)

  • Various courses including: Writing multiple choice questions, Editing in Word, Copyright and permissions clearance

  • PGCE Secondary Science – Open University

  • Ph.D. Relationships between leaf development, carbohydrates and vernalisation in cauliflower – Nottingham University

  • BSc. (Hons.) Agricultural Botany – Leeds University

Current and Previous Clients

Cambridge University Press

Oxford University Press

Harper Collins

Hodder Education

Pearson

Dorling Kindersley

QBS

York Press

Anaya (Spain)

Haremi

Global Blended learning

Newgen

Just Content

Westchester

  • It’s fantastic working with Carol. Being both a Science and editorial specialist you know that your project is in safe hands. We’ve really been impressed with Carol’s collaborative approach; she’s made a huge effort to be part of the team, which has made a big difference. Carol’s willingness to adapt to changing requirements on the project and formulate new processes makes her an incredibly valuable freelancer.

    Elizabeth Munns (GCSE Science Homework Practice and Support ActiveLearn and Student Book, Exploring Science Working Scientifically (KS3) ActiveLearn Years 8 and 9; editorial management for Pearson Education)


  • Carol manages complex editing and writing tasks professionally, and has a broad knowledge and understanding of science education. She is easy to work with and very reliable.

    Angela Hall (21st Century Science GCSE Biology (2011) workbooks; substantive editing and writing for University of York Science Education Group)

  • I met with Gary yesterday and he was full of praise for you and your input into the text… Gary actually said that you were the best editor he has had, and him and Terry have appreciated your suggestions and solutions to improving the text along the way and in response to review feedback.

    Lucy Mills (Professional Chef Level 2 Diploma; author management and development editing for Cengage)

  • Thank you very much for all of these and for all your hard work on the IGCSE practice books – it’s certainly not been the easiest project to have worked on and you’re help is really appreciated by me and the others here at CUP.

    Heather Mahy (IGCSE Mathematics Practice Books; development editing for Cambridge University Press)

  • Neil Rippington was very complimentary about you and saying what a great job you had done on the book and how supportive you had been and made this very clear in his speech thanking you. Thank you for doing such a great job.

    Linden Harris (Professional Chef Level 1 diploma; development editing/ author management for Cengage)

  • You’ve been an excellent addition to our freelance team and many thanks indeed for all your (very) hard work.

    Claudia Bickford-Smith (Biology textbook writing consultancy in Mongolia and IB Mathematics projects; development editing for Cambridge University Press)