How I Work

You might need an objective, critical eye to tell you if your material has commercial potential. Maybe you know your book is too long or lacking suspense. Perhaps this is your first novel and you aren’t sure how to structure your story or from whose point of view it should be told. I can help you with these issues and many more.

First we’ll discuss what type of service is right for you, your material and your budget. After reading your material, I’ll e-mail a set of constructive, thorough notes detailing the issues you need to address in a revision be it: structure, point of view, character or scene development, conflict, tension, dialogue, pacing…whatever may be holding your story back from being the best it can be. Giving you examples, I’ll suggest the areas to work on first, and then go into very specific page notes. We’ll have another phone conversation (or meet in person if that’s feasible) to discuss the notes and make a plan of action.

I return my evaluations within three-four weeks of reading the material and use the utmost discretion and confidentiality when working with writers.

I also offer coaching for help maneuvering the publishing world. If your manuscript is complete and ready to be sent out, I can help you make a plan, offer query letter advice, guidance on agent or small press lists. If you have sold your book to a publisher, Congratulations! I can help steer you and offer marketing tips so potential readers will know about your new book.

For most writers, working with me revs them up and gets them excited about their story again. It might give you some new ideas for scenes or help to clarify a problem area that you suspected was there all along but were afraid to address. Hopefully it will give you a nudge to go on to the next step, taking your novel, memoir or screenplay to the next level.