Meet our editor, Brooke Lyons

I am a book person through and through. Like the rest of the Amba Press team I discovered the magic of words at a young age. And now, I think I have the best job in the world! 

I got my start just out of uni with an editorial traineeship at Lonely Planet. I went on to become managing editor at Wiley before doing a stint in marketing communications at two of Australia's top universities. I left the corporate world in 2016 to start my freelancing consultancy. I've edited books for many leading Australian publishers including Allen & Unwin, Affirm Press, Pearson Education, Wiley, Pan Macmillan, the National Library of Australia and, of course, Amba Press. I’m fully qualified with undergraduate and graduate degrees in editing, publishing and communications from the University of Melbourne and RMIT.

I work from my peaceful office in the 130-year-old home I share with my partner, in the goldfields city of Ballarat, Victoria (Wadawurrung country). We moved here from Melbourne five years ago. Our cat, Sooty, is my trusty sidekick (he is a good boy and mostly sleeps on his bed next to me while I work).

I met Amba Press Publisher and Founder Alicia in the early 2000s when we were studying RMIT's brilliant Graduate Diploma in Editing and Publishing. We reconnected when she launched Amba, and once I saw the types of books she was publishing I couldn't not get on board! I highly value learning and personal development and am fascinated by the teaching profession. It's extremely fulfilling to work on books that facilitate better learning (and life!) experiences for young people, and support those wonderful tireless adults who educate them. It's also a joy working with Alicia and the rest of the Amba team. It's important to me to work on quality books written by exceptional people with an important message to share, and that's exactly what Amba is all about. Alicia is a trailblazer in the education publishing space and I couldn't be more proud to support her. 

There are so many things I enjoy about this job. Perhaps the most gratifying part is sending an edited manuscript to an author and hearing that they are overjoyed with my work. When I am editing, I'm analysing the words with the reader in mind, smoothing the way so they can get the most meaning out of the book – while also retaining the author's inherent voice and style. So when an author says to me, 'The edited book sounds like me, but better', that's a great feeling!  

I also really enjoy the deep connections that often form between author and editor, even if our time working together is relatively short. It is very satisfying to guide authors through what can feel like a terrifying and intimate process, and then see their joy when they hold a copy of their book in their hands at the end.

When you are not whipping our manuscripts into shape, what do you do with your time?

I have a lot of different interests. I'm a gardener – if it's a sunny day you'll probably find me sitting in the dirt with grubby gloves on, planting seedlings or pulling weeds. I'm a maker – knitting is my current obsession, but I enjoy lots of other crafty pursuits including sewing my own clothes. I also enjoy maintaining my mind-body connection through movement – yoga, bike riding, Pilates and, my favourite, roller skating! I skate twice a week with a local group and it's the best fun. And, of course, I am always reading.