Editing Services

Sooner or later, every professional writer accepts one fundamental truth: craft is everything.

A great cover is important, as is a solid marketing plan, but they won’t save you from a story that bores people.

Sure, your friends and family will buy your book, but will they actually read it? Will they tell others about it? If you want to earn a living as a writer then you must develop a fan base. You’ve got to give people a reason to buy (and talk about) your current novel, and anticipate your next one.

So, what makes them do that? The answer is simple: it’s your mastery of the craft. It’s how well you can tell a story. It's not about how pretty your sentences are. 

Fine line writing is part of the craft, of course, but it's not the most important part. Being a professional novelist isn't about writing great sentences. It's about telling great stories. This is a tough pill to swallow for most of us (it was for me, anyway) because we were taught to focus on sentences (verb choice, metaphors and the like); no one even mentioned that stories have structure.

Most books sell about 250 copies (that's to your friends and family who buy but don't read, and don't recommend). Because I've applied the principles of storytelling to my last novel, Masquerade, it has sold more than 20,000 copies in 46 countries (and counting). That's almost entirely word-of-mouth sales. (My total marketing spend is less than $3,000 during one promotional blitz.)

The best news is that there aren't that many storytelling principles to learn. Yes, the craft can seem daunting but when you have an experienced writer and editor showing you the ropes, what once seemed overwhelming is suddenly quite manageable.

It doesn’t matter where you are in your creative journey, or how much you already know (or don’t know) about story theory. The only thing that matters is that you make a decision to improve your craft so that you can write better stories in less time.

If that sounds good to you, click one of the options below to learn more. 

MANUSCRIPT EVALUATION

An objective evaluation of what works, and what doesn't work, in your manuscript.

DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING

Learn to write better stories in less time.

STORY NERD PODCAST

Demystifying story theory so writers spend less time studying and more time writing.  

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Client Feedback

I could have floundered around for another seven to ten years and not made as much progress as I did in that intensive hard work six months that I spent with Valerie.

Every week I had focus. I knew what I needed to get done and it was like a deliberate practice, but it had a framework around it. I just found myself looking forward to sitting down and writing. When things started to sink in, I felt more confident to be honest with you.

If you are like me and you’re time poor, but you really want to make improvements quickly, then individual coaching is the way to go. Don’t flounder, don’t waste more time. Just make sure you’re using the time you have in the best way possible.

Melanie H.

I’ve been on with the project for about four years, and I was absolutely at the end of my tether. I just knew that if I couldn’t get somebody to help me kick it into shape, then I was just going to keep repeating over and over the mistakes I’d been making.

It was like, I want to do it, I want to do it well. I don’t want to give up. But at the same time, I don’t want any more of my life wasted. I knew I needed the professional support to get me over that hurdle, really.

The sooner you learn these things, the more productive you’re going to be and the more satisfying it’s going to be.

Barbara M.

What I loved from the Editor Roundtable podcast was how Valerie were like a dog with a bone. I mean, she just interrogated to death but in such a fun way. She laughs a lot, as much at herself as anybody else. It’s fun, but at the same time, if she’s got a point to make, she’s got evidence and it’s done in a fun, very progressive and productive way. And I really like that.

Barbara M.

I just wish I had discovered Valerie and Story Grid years ago. I think a lot of the mistakes I made along the way and just getting that first draft down I mean, I think I had to do that just to get it out. But I think if I understood story a little bit more as I was doing it, it would have saved me a lot of time.

Valerie is the best.

Kathy M.

It’s good. It’s really good, Valerie. You’ve seen the problems with my manuscript but unlike me, you’ve managed to work around them. What a relief! Some of these things I’ve been thinking about for years now.

Vanessa A.

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