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Hayley Webster

@hayleythough.bsky.social
1.3K followers 1K following 192 posts

Author. Editor. Autistic. ADHD. Sea/ trees/ food/ songs/ sky. Jessica Fletcher Adjacent. Many Special Interests. She/ her. Agent: Julia Silk. Nosy Crow, Trapeze, Usborne books.

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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Thank you. Big hug to you too. You're brilliant.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Thank you.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
"Does a person have to come across well in a video or on a panel to be a good writer? Do they need to be part of a group of people who look the same, talk the same, and produce the same content online to show they belong?" open.substack.com/pub/hayleywe...
open.substack.com
Object 5: A payslip
This entry into the Touch Points cabinet is a future item - a regular payslip for a cohesive life.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Hi there, not a new writer. An enthusiastic one.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
This week's entry is Snow-White and Rose-Red from Ladybird's Well-Loved Tales (1969, 1970s reprint). Lots of ruminations about roses, authentic gestures, and an unexpected and specific thank you to my late mother. open.substack.com/pub/hayleywe...
open.substack.com
Object 4: Snow-White and Rose-Red
This week the entry into the Touch Points cabinet is a book from childhood that I repurchased when I found out I was expecting a child of my own.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
The £250 no notes/ pure Zoom is also popular but jumping into a Zoom with no idea of the shape of the conversation beforehand is rather bold.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Or, you could buy this service for yourself. Read testimonials here. www.hayleywebsteredits.co.uk/testimonials
hayleywebsteredits.co.uk
Reviews 1 — Hayley Webster Edits
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
You could buy this service for someone you love as a gift. Is there someone in your life who'd love their manuscript developed by a professional author and editor? DM if so. (Happy to create a printable voucher to put in a card for Christmas Day). You'd only need pay the booking in amount.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
I agree. I started this service because people really didn't have the money for a 10 pages of notes service and this has ended up being the one I most enjoy now.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
If you are thinking of getting a developmental edit for your manuscript - for traditional publishing, self publishing, or agent submission - the £450 service can be booked up to 6 months in advance. You pay half to book in and half on delivery. It comes with 2 pages of notes and an hour's Zoom.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
3) Definitely price. £450 for a full manuscript appraisal and developmental edit from an experienced professional who is published themselves, feels good.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
2) The notes are substantial enough to create real thinking points/ change in the manuscript and the Zoom allows greater depth. It feels like a dialogue rather than prescriptive.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
1) Price. People do not have big amounts to spend on developing their work even if they want to. This service is £450 paid in two amounts of £225. They know they are getting massive value for money. And are happy with the depth and quality of my notes and feedback.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Looking over a year of fiction and memoir editing, my most popular service by far is the Developmental edit/ appraisal with 2 pages of notes and an hour in depth Zoom where the writer makes lots of notes of their own. Why is it so popular?
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Ok so it's tomorrow. I had to read some Padadise Lost before I finished it.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Today! Day late because of course I had to go and reread some Grimm's and got carried away.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
I saw a snail on a windowsill this morning.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Last week I wrote this about the transformative power of ear defenders for adult me, and how if I'd had them as a child they'd have spared me real pain. open.substack.com/pub/hayleywe...
open.substack.com
Object 2: Pink ear defenders
This week I ask what parts of you do you filter because you want to, and what parts do you filter to fit an idea of who you were told you should be? I write the Touch Points cabinet one object a time.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Funny only last week I wrote about the transformative power of ear defenders and how child me would have been saved real pain if I'd had them. open.substack.com/pub/hayleywe...
open.substack.com
Object 2: Pink ear defenders
This week I ask what parts of you do you filter because you want to, and what parts do you filter to fit an idea of who you were told you should be? I write the Touch Points cabinet one object a time.
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Reposted by Hayley Webster
Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
This week on Touch Points I add an imagined future rocking chair to the cabinet, asking how your good sensory memories impact what objects you bring to your future. open.substack.com/pub/hayleywe...
open.substack.com
Object 3: Wooden rocking chair
This week I ask what parts of you do you put off until the future, and how can objects you don't own yet play a part in that imagining? And why I love the sensation of rocking.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
I also wonder, now, how the interiors of Brambly Hedge and Beatrix Potter that I obsessed over as a child, didn't spring to mind while writing this. That's the thing about Touch Points. I never know where the objects will take me (or forget to). open.substack.com/pub/hayleywe...
open.substack.com
Object 3: Wooden rocking chair
This week I ask what parts of you do you put off until the future, and how can objects you don't own yet play a part in that imagining? And why I love the sensation of rocking.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
This week on Touch Points I add an imagined future rocking chair to the cabinet, asking how your good sensory memories impact what objects you bring to your future. open.substack.com/pub/hayleywe...
open.substack.com
Object 3: Wooden rocking chair
This week I ask what parts of you do you put off until the future, and how can objects you don't own yet play a part in that imagining? And why I love the sensation of rocking.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
In this week’s Touch Points I ask what does an imagined object mean in the story of your life, how do our memories form an imagined future, and why on earth do I not own a rocking chair? open.substack.com/pub/hayleywe...
open.substack.com
Object 3: Wooden rocking chair
This week I ask what parts of you do you put off until the future, and how can objects you don't own yet play a part in that imagining? And why I love the sensation of rocking.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
Thank you for reading!
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
If you listen to books on Spotify and want a Christmas listen why not give One Christmas Night a go. open.spotify.com/show/7tmZHq7...
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Ah, that's terrific!
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Thank you for sharing!
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
THANK YOU!
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
Thank you for reading Susie. And thank you for sharing too xx
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
This week in Touch Points I ask what parts of you do you filter out because you were taught to, and what parts do you want to keep or reclaim? I write the Touch Points cabinet one object at a time, where the senses, memory and material things meet. open.substack.com/pub/hayleywe...
open.substack.com
Object 2: Pink ear defenders
This week I ask what parts of you do you filter because you want to, and what parts do you filter to fit an idea of who you were told you should be? I write the Touch Points cabinet one object a time.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
Object 1 is in the Touch Points cabinet. open.substack.com/pub/hayleywe...
open.substack.com
Object 1: Snoopy pencil topper
Touch Points is a weekly, personal cabinet of curiosities, real and imagined, from the past, present, future and books. I write the cabinet, one object at a time.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
If you're looking for an experienced developmental editor I've worked with authors at all stages of their writing life to create a range of affordable options to suit each author's needs/ circumstances/ career stage. See www.hayleywebsteredits.co.uk for service menu, FAQs and testimonials. Or DM.
hayleywebsteredits.co.uk
Hayley Webster Edits
Hayley Webster Editor
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
What if every object were a portal — a small, solid piece of time? Each week, I open one from past, present and future, or from a book. Together they form a quiet museum of feeling, a tactile and sensory history, and ask why do some ‘things’ endure? substack.com/@hayleywebst...
substack.com
A personal cabinet of curiosities, written one object at a time.
Introducing Touch Points, a weekly reflection on objects real and imagined from the past, present and future. Welcome to this museum of a material life connecting memory, history and the senses.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
Ah thank you Susie! X
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
A new weekly substack building a museum of objects, past, present, future. substack.com/@hayleywebst...
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
Not new now, have had 7 books traditionally published. Hello!
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
My pricing is refreshingly fair. Get a no-notes novel appraisal - where you take notes from our hour Zoom conversation — for as little as £250.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
😍 honoured!
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Reposted by Hayley Webster
Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
“…The proof of this approach is that my newly edited MS gained me a great agent!” "…she understands the challenges and what you are aiming for, has brilliant, insightful suggestions and most importantly, is wonderfully supportive…” www.hayleywebsteredits.co.uk
hayleywebsteredits.co.uk
Hayley Webster Edits
Hayley Webster Editor
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Reposted by Hayley Webster
Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
“…really seemed to get my writing in a way that felt transformative to my process.” “…Hayley's approach to editing is kind, warm, but also exceptionally thorough.” “…found her notes on my novel to be brilliant, useful, imaginative and encouraging.” www.hayleywebsteredits.co.uk
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Exactly!
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
I remember. Hello!
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
“…The proof of this approach is that my newly edited MS gained me a great agent!” "…she understands the challenges and what you are aiming for, has brilliant, insightful suggestions and most importantly, is wonderfully supportive…” www.hayleywebsteredits.co.uk
hayleywebsteredits.co.uk
Hayley Webster Edits
Hayley Webster Editor
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
“…really seemed to get my writing in a way that felt transformative to my process.” “…Hayley's approach to editing is kind, warm, but also exceptionally thorough.” “…found her notes on my novel to be brilliant, useful, imaginative and encouraging.” www.hayleywebsteredits.co.uk
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
I love working with #selfpublished authors on series of books in the UK and the US and they return to me time and time again. "...astute and passionate and really seemed to get my writing in a way that felt transformative to my process." www.hayleywebsteredits.co.uk/
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
I offer packages with 8+ pages of detailed notes and also a no notes option where the writer types up notes from our Zoom themself. All work comes with a Zoom or phonecall as part of the price. www.hayleywebsteredits.co.uk #editor #edits #bookdoctor #bookmentor #developmentaleditor #novelappraisal
What might surprise you about my work?
I read each manuscript three times and the first time I make no notes and read it purely as a reader.
The no written notes by me option where you write up our Zoom conversation  can be as little a £250 for a whole novel.
Every writer who’s worked with me on developing their first three chapters has been asked for the whole manuscript by agents.
Some writers hire me to read their books and write their synopsis as they find that the hardest bit.
Some writers hire me to edit as they write the first draft, submitting three chapters at a time and a discussion via Zoom.
I have developmental edited several series by self published writers.
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
Are you looking to take your writing more seriously, in a new direction, or polish what you have? I have worked with 100+ writers and know how to make your work shine. I charge fairly based on the work I do NOT based on my publishing history, and for all budgets #editor www.hayleywebsteredits.co.uk
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
I've updated my editing website and I must say it's looking Very Nice Indeed. www.hayleywebsteredits.co.uk
hayleywebsteredits.co.uk
Hayley Webster Edits
Hayley Webster Editor
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
Dont get rid of your deleted paragraphs though. A top tip is to have a document you put all your cut paragraphs and good sentences into, then you can steal from yourself at a later date. #editing #editor #writingtip
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Hayley Webster @hayleythough.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
One of the top changes I suggest with writers is to take out the paragraphs you wrote at the beginning/ are most proud of. So many times that's you writing yourself into the book OR proving to yourself you can make a terrific sentence. I spot them, as they stand out! #editing #editor
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