Update: As of May 2022, I am accepting select adult fiction editing clients to add to my personal roster. Slots are limited. If you are interested in working with me, please complete the form here.

I am currently adding new editing clients to my roster for the first time in two years. I've been focusing on my current clients and on building Blue Pen—which has been a true joy. But I truly miss working with fiction and with new voices, which is why I am currently accepting select projects. I'm looking for manuscripts that excite me and authors who are committed to growing in their craft, regardless of their publication goals.

Approach

My editing philosophy is based on the central goal of developing the best possible manuscript while supporting the author's career and craft. After editing, I want you to know that your manuscript is improved. I want you to learn something from the editing process. And I want you to feel excited about your story and what it can become.

Qualifications

I hold a bachelor's degree in English from Campbell University, am a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association, and have been a professional book editor for six years. I manage and oversee a team of editing and publishing professionals at Blue Pen. I am also an author represented by Sandy Lu of Book Wyrm Literary Agency.

Genres

I exclusively edit adult fiction. My preferred genres include literary fiction, upmarket fiction, historical fiction, horror, suspense, magical realism, fantasy, and science fiction.

Rates

Developmental editing and line editing each cost $0.04 per word. If you need a manuscript critique or proofread, we can coordinate with my team at Blue Pen.

Contact Me About Editing

From My Clients:

Writing for me is extremely personal. That’s a piece of my heart and soul locked in those pages. It’s scary to hand it over to someone you’ve never actually met, knowing they’re going to work with it. It requires a lot of trust, and Victoria is worth every drop.

I worked with Victoria almost exclusively via email and was first impressed to find her very quick to reply to all my questions and concerns. She went above and beyond making sure I understood the different levels of editing she provides, and finding the one that worked best for me. Her timeline is clear, her cost is very fair, and payment options are extremely reasonable. She even took the time to let me know when each of my payments had arrived.

As for her work, I couldn’t have been more impressed. I found Victoria an intelligent and intuitive editor. Never once was she pushy. Her suggestions did not change my work, but instead gave it highlights, helped it flow. It is truly refreshing to have a clean document I am proud to publish.

It’s not easy for me to hand my work over for someone else, let alone allow them to work it. Given Victoria’s care, fairness, kind professionalism, attention to detail, as well as her patience and wherewithal that she is handling something precious, I will continue to use Victoria for all my editing needs. I highly recommend her to anyone looking for the same.

K.L. WatkinsI Am a Traveller and others

Victoria was really helpful and encouraging. She paid good attention to details and explained well why she was making certain suggestions.

Laura HakalaDown the Creek at Low Tide

After many rejections, I almost set my manuscript aside to forget about it forever. As a last recourse, I found Victoria on Twitter and checked her website. After reading the outstanding testimonials, I gave it a shot and asked for a manuscript critique and a developmental edit. I am so glad I did! Victoria is very professional and well-organized. She obviously loves her job and cares about her clients’ success. Both edits were done with great care, and she pinpointed exactly what did and didn’t work. I greatly appreciated the assiduity behind her reports.

Thanks to her help, my manuscript has revived, and I am glad I didn’t give up. Even after her work was complete, Victoria reached out many times to check on my progress, which gave me an incentive to keep working on my revisions. She’s always available and full of expert advice. Take the chance to work with Victoria, you (and your work) will not regret it.

Safiya M.Spellbound Heiress

Victoria clearly cares for her clients. Her gentle honesty highlights improvements and reveals unexplored avenues to better your craft. Highly recommended!

Ethan CusimanoThe Gale Age

I have a Twitter account and came across Victoria there. Victoria’s tweets inspired me to find the confidence to send her my work. It didn’t take much. I had no worries going into the editing process. As it turned out, it was a very wise decision. I constantly looked forward to receiving Victoria’s advice.

Although I am in the early stages of revising my novel, completely in accordance with Victoria’s recommendations and advice I must add, I can see that Victoria’s involvement has really been essential to my potential success. You’d be silly not to trust Victoria with your manuscript.

David ChambersFair Dubs

I came across Victoria through Twitter. I hadn't previously thought about having someone critique my book and decided that I needed to know how a stranger felt about the storyline. Wanting to find out, I hired her for a critique and am glad I did.

She hands you a complete critique for the whole book and a redline copy back with her thoughts and emotions as she's reading. Intimidating? Yes, a bit. However, it is necessary and thought provoking to have someone try to lift your work to a higher level. I measured what she wrote against the feedback from my other "readers" and have found her analysis to be spot on with how they felt but never told me.

I would definitely recommend her services and will be using her again in the future. She was professional, courteous and prompt. Thank you, Victoria. Your service was very valuable to me. It's been a long time since college English classes, so looks like I have some brushing up to do.

Susan F. PruittFall From Grace: An Ordinary Angel Book 3

Working with Victoria Griffin has been an enjoyable and productive experience. I chose Victoria as my editor after we crossed paths on social media. Through the social media format, I was able to read many of her tips and insights into the editing and publishing world. Her honest and straight forward approach to the editing process along with her clear passion for writing won me over.

Victoria's editorial comments not only improved my manuscript, but they also helped me open my mind up to plot and story possibilities that I had previously struggled with. Working with Victoria was one of the highlights of my writing process. Both excited and nervous, I handed my manuscript over to her and waited anxiously for her comments. Victoria was professional, kind, and direct about what needed to be done to make my manuscript the best that it could be. Her edits arrived in a timely manner and gave me a fantastic guideline of how to proceed with my manuscript.

​Any writer looking for quality editing with honest feedback, should look no further than Victoria Griffin and Blue Pen Editing services.

Tanya WilliamsBecoming Mrs. Smith and others

This was my first manuscript and I had no idea what to expect during the editing process. My biggest concern was finding a reputable editor who would take the time and be thorough in order to ensure my manuscript was ready for publication. I chose Victoria because she genuinely seemed to take a vested interest in my story. She really took the time to listen to my story, and her emotional interest was clearly evident.

I felt confident that she would handle my story with care. I did not feel that she would treat me as though I was just another edit or number. She was very empathetic to my needs and my story. Victoria was very responsive and helpful throughout the entire process. She promised me a completion date and did not miss that deadline. She is very professional and she seemed to show a general emotional interest in my project.

Timothy H. Hilke IIII Am Not Broken

Working with Victoria was a very positive experience. I opted for a manuscript critique, and it was delivered promptly, in advance of the promised date. I’d asked a few specific questions in advance (mostly in relation to whether she felt I’d successfully addressed a few suggestions made to me in an agent’s R&R) and she ensured these were addressed within the critique. Afterwards, Victoria was happy to answer my follow-up questions.

Prior to the edit, I felt like I’d taken the manuscript as far as I could. I felt like it was almost there, but needed one extra push, following several full requests from agents that resulted in positive feedback but ultimately, a no. I was unsure about whether some recent changes I’d made had made things better or worse, and I’d received some conflicting views from CPs, etc.

I really wanted someone who was objective, professional and knew what they were talking about to take a look with fresh eyes and tell me what was and wasn’t working and make a few suggestions to take the manuscript to the next level without sending me back to square one. This was exactly what I got.

The interesting thing about Victoria’s suggestions for changes and improvements was that there were actually relatively few of them. Her analysis of the manuscript went systematically through a long list of areas, such as characters, dialogue, pace, etc. In several of these, the conclusion was that the MS was more or less fine as it was. This almost sounds like a negative thing in terms of getting value from an edit, but it was actually very much appreciated. I’ve worked with some people who seems to think that the more criticisms—however minor or subjective—the better. It was incredibly reassuring to be told that most aspects were working, and for a clear line to be drawn between aspects that did and did not need work, so I could focus my efforts. I suspect that if I’d sought the same critique a year previously, the list of things that needed work would have been much longer.

Where changes were suggested, they were clear and easy to understand, and Victoria explained why she was suggesting them and made clear which ones she thought were crucial and which she thought were more minor. It was clear that she’d read the MS in detail, really engaged with it, and thought very carefully about all the different elements.

I definitely think the critique helped to improve my manuscript and, though there’s no solid good news yet on the agent front, to get me to what I think of as a 'final final' draft.

It can be hard to justify splashing out on the costs of an editor and just as hard to pick one from all the different people offering services. I would say that a good editor really makes a difference, and I suspect that if I’d used Victoria’s services at an earlier stage in the process, it’d have saved me a lot of self-editing trial and error.

Georgiana DerwentThe Dictator's Wife

Being my first book, I didn't know what to expect from editing. My biggest fear was being told I wasted my time putting the book together, which of course didn't happen. As an editor and writer, Victoria knows both sides of the process, which showed in the way she handled my work. Her personality also seems to be very energetic and driven. I have more confidence submitting my book to an agent knowing it has been prepared by a professional.

Victoria is convenient for anyone, especially those with busy lifestyles. She looks at her job as a service and treats her clients with respect. Editing definitely improved my manuscript. Victoria helped me create a precise description for my reader and eliminated much of the "fluff" that would have been distracting. Eventually, you have to realize writing a book is not an individual task, and you have to hand it over to an editor. Victoria will handle your work professionally and with care.

Jeffrey BrownOur Story