Author
Helen Croydon
Writing Coach
Ghostwriter
Personal Brand Consultant
Writing Coaching and Consultancy
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Most people have a book idea, few people can visualise its structure.
I coach aspiring authors to develop their idea into a definitive genre; and consult on any aspect of the process from planning, to finding publishers, to writing a synopsis to book PR.
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What is writing coaching or consultancy?
Writing coaching is one-on-one guidance on all aspects of your writing process – from brainstorming through to publication. Consultancy is similar but involves less hands-on reviewing of your words, and more advice on things like options for book formats, how to get published or how to PR a book. My sessions are always bespoke to a client’s needs and usually involve a bit of coaching and consultancy.
Writing coaching or book consultancy provides a headstart for people who want to write themselves - because they enjoy it, have the time to dedicate to it, and want to retain their voice - but who don’t have access to professional feedback on their writing and the viability of their ideas.
This depends on what you are trying to write and what stage you are at. If you are a professional and developing a business book or a white paper to showcase your authority in your field, then your priorities should be accuracy, succinctness, originality and how to reach your target audience to maximise the credence that being an author brings.
If you are an individual writing a memoir because you want to pass something on to your family, or you are developing a guidebook on your passion-hobby (I recently coached someone developing a book on foraging!), your pain points will be entirely different.
It may be that you have an abstract idea and you want to explore options for different formats. Perhaps you have a manuscript draft already but you want input on the structure.. Or if could be that you want impartial advice on the pros and cons of self-publishing versus traditional publishing, versus hybrid publishing.
What does writing coaching achieve?
How does a writing coaching session work?
My writing coaching is done online in one-hour sessions, structured according to the issues that you want help with. My fee for each session includes my time to review up to 2000 words of any of your work ahead of sessions. If there is more that this to review, I charge an additional fee.
The minimum amount of coaching or consultancy sessions is five. This is because it takes me a lot of time and mental energy to fully understand your work and what you want to achieve, so any less than five sessions, won’t be efficient for either of us.
Want more input than coaching? Then consider my book ghostwriting services, or, if it's content for a business, my thought leadership and corporate writing.
Case Studies and Testimonials
Consultancy for business book promotion
Tae Hea Nahm and Bob Tinker, a duo of entrepreneur and investor, were writing the second book in their Survival to Thrival series, for tech entrepreneurs.
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They sought my help to explore new digial formats for the book including an audio book, publishing options and a PR plan.
"Helen has been the missing link for me becoming a thought leader for building enterprise leaders. Helen complemented my domain expertise by driving awareness and branding. She got me a high-profile speaking engagement at Collision and helped me write articles around my books and placed them in publications targeting entrepreneurs. I enjoy my weekly call with Helen and am impressed by her follow through."
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Tae Hea Nahm, VC investor and author
Coaching for business book development
Nick Ross, a leadership retreat facilitator, sought my help to formulate his ideas for a book aimed at ethical business leaders. He wanted to lift the deep personal development work which he coaches on his retreats and transpose it to the written form.
This project is ongoing and his book is expected to be released in Autumn 2024
"Working with Helen on my first book manuscript has been an extremely rewarding, and helpful experience. Our regular conversations, alongside her very detailed and precise editing support, have helped me achieve a depth of clarity and precision with the core message of the book I could not have found on my own.
Alongside that, I have found her guidance in teasing out the core thread that holds the work together invaluable. She has patiently helped me better identify my audience and encouraged me to consider their expectations more deeply in ways that have not compromised what I want to say. I now have a much greater sense of the craft of writing and the benefits for me both personally and professionally have been enormous. My sincere gratitude Helen!"
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Coaching for writing memoir
As well as privately coaching numerous clients in developing a memoir, I served as a part-time writing tutor at City Lit College, where I designed and taught my own unique course on writing autobiographical work (such as memoir or biography). Below are some testimonials from my students.
"Brilliant. I felt overwhelmed by the task before, so the advice about writing notes to start with has really helped me."
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"I loved the session on how close to real life memoir really has to be. The balance with storytelling and the examples in current books were particularly useful."
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"Thank you for taking an interest in all of our stories and your patience in answering everyone's questions. I enjoyed learning from a real author."
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My students, City Lit memoir writing course
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