“With close attention, writing grows.”

1. Mentoring

It’s wise to enter the market with a well-honed, thoroughly examined manuscript that carries readers along with a sure and compelling voice. This will increase your changes of seeing your book in print. Whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction, our work together will hone your awareness and skills and strengthen your manuscript. I’ll teach you throughout the process, editing and offering guidance on all aspects of craft as needed, supplying insightful and detailed comments, and making suggestions on how to further develop your intentions into a powerful work. Some writers give me, say, twenty pages every month or two, which I’ll comment on and we’ll discuss, while others provide, for instance, a four-hundred page draft for me to review closely and discuss with them. I work with drafts at every stage.

After decades of writing and mentoring writers, I see that this is true: We each have one story to tell above others, a story given to us by our particular placements in life.

What distinguishes me from many other editors is how much I honor authors’ intentions and work to enable them to do as they wish. It’s my job not to decide what story you should tell, but to help you tell the story you want to tell. There are always ways of making that story more powerful by improving the craft and further developing the story’s momentum. Big changes are sometimes necessary, and I will recommend them when they are. But fundamentally I aim to give you the tools to write the story you need to write. I’ll help you build that story into a far stronger one, with an approach tailored to you and your manuscript. What you learn will improve all the writing you do. And the deadlines, email check-ins, encouragement, and insights I provide can ease the isolation of writing.

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2. Reaching Out
to Literary Agents

3.Planning & Preparing
for Your Book Launch

4. Bringing Your Book
to the People

Writing a good query letter requires seeing your manuscript and yourself from the outside and knowing how to frame them so your reader will think and feel, “I must read more!” My debut novel’s query got manuscript requests from nine of the twelve agents I approached. I’ll guide you in creating the query and synopsis, edit them as many times as you’d like, help you select agents to approach and communicate with, help you choose pubshing-house editors to suggest (if you get an agent), and guide you through the phases of the submission process, including evaluating agent and editor offers. Since many agents do an online search for writers whose queries interest them, having a publicly visible platform by this stage is useful. This means creating pages on social media and an author website. I can offer input as you create that platform.

The next phases are similar for traditional and self-published authors. For those whose books I’ve helped shepherd to this point, I offer help with changes to the manuscript suggested by a publisher (if applicable), copyedit, respond to book-design suggestions, and talk with you about working with marketing and publicity departments and/or doing your own outreach. In the year prior to publication, I’ll help you choose plan and prepare. Tasks can include gathering contacts and other resources, choosing how you’ll seek attention, planning events, setting up social media and an author website, encouraging pre-orders, identifying and getting your book to possible reviewers, writing essays for possible publication to help bring attention to your book, and more.

It’s time to celebrate, then get back to work. Through periodic check-ins, I can offer input and support as you gather the accolades your book inspires, prepare for author talks and book-group visits, continue to seek publicity and reviews, post on social media, encourage sales, keep your spirits up, maintain records of publicity and contacts, gather names for your mailing list, and more.

Since my debut novel was published in May 2017, I’ve been featured at over two hundred events across the eastern seaboard and midwest, and the book has been widely reviewed in places large and small. My work and the assistance I obtained greatly increased publicity, reviews, sales, and readership. This took a few thousand hours of planning and work, and I’ll share what’s applicable for your situation with you.