About Me

Imogen. L. Smiley is a former bookseller turned ghostwriter from Essex, UK. She is autistic, has a penchant for fantasy novels and loves nothing more than an iced coffee with her Saint Bernard by her side. She graduated from the University of Derby, in the class of 2019 with a 2:1 in Creative and Professional Writing.

During university, she tried her hand at spoken word and slam poetry, representing her university at UniSlam 2018. Since then, she has striven to continue experimenting with writing for performance, but also for the page, having a variety of pieces published in a number of literary magazines and anthologies.

Since going freelance, she has worked on several small ghostwriting projects. She is also a paid writer for the platform 'Verhaler', which offers choose-your-own-adventure style stories reminiscent of Dungeons & Dragons, and dating sims, allowing the story to change directions based on decisions made by the reader. Her fantasy novel, exclusive to Verhaler, 'A Muzzle of Rubies' is available to read here!

With certifications in marketing from Hubspot Academy, and work experience using Hootsuite and Mailchimp services, she is well-equipped to produce work fit for purpose. Since she started her freelance journey, Imogen has continued to hone her skills.

A lover of the exclamation mark, and a known novelist by nature, Imogen. L. Smiley strives to create content that tells evocative stories.

The Journey So Far...

Born in 1998, I was raised by a talk-a-lot family, who read to me constantly. I went into education with an established reverence for storytelling and books, praised by teachers for my imagination and my ability to tell stories, I was rarely seen without a book in my hand. I cannot remember a time where I didn't want to be an author.

The Story Begins...

Because of my inherent love of reading, it came as a surprise to nobody when I went on to pursue a degree in Creative and Professional Writing at The University of Derby. Attending university in Derby offered me ample opportunities to explore the arts.

It was in Derby where I began my spoken word career, representing the university at UniSlam 2018.

I graduated with a 2:1 in 2019.

After gleaning industry insight during a content writing internship, I learned my out-of-the-box approach to writing about industry concepts meant I could create informative and accessible content that was still B2B, in nature, yet accessible to consumers.

My ability to dissect and reapply industry concepts in agile project management through a new lens, elsewhere, meant that my work was unique enough to pique the interest of prospective clients for my former employer.

I went freelance in 2022, after taking on a second internship, in the publishing sector, at the literary marketing agency, The Tandem Collective, in the spring.

I have now ghostwritten four young adult books in a genre-blended series combining sports romance and time travel, as well as several other projects of varying lengths which I am unable to discuss in detail.

I am also a member of Word Tonic, a collective of Gen Z copywriters, and am building a client list for copy.

I was also hired by Verhaler, an online story writing platform to write an exclusive novel for their platform which had multiple plot threads readers could explore at their leisure. My book 'A Muzzle of Rubies' is exclusive to Verhaler and being released incrementally.

The book follows Princess Eranthys as she observes the corruption of her father's court rotting the nobility to its core, and her efforts to stop it with the help of a village boy she once knew, turned mercenary and alleged traitor, and her father's court jester...