Services for Writers
mentoring, manuscript assessment, developmental edit, and more...
Whether you are new to writing, a published author, or somewhere in between, I can help you to develop your craft, polish your manuscript, and navigate submission and publication.
I work with (most) fiction as well as non-fiction and memoir.
If you’d like to know more about any of the services here, and how they might help you to progress your manuscript, please contact me for an informal, no-obligation discussion.
I’m based in the UK but work with clients all over the world.
Payment plans and bursaries are available.
If you don’t see exactly what you need here, we can build a package for you.
You can also buy vouchers for my services, as a gift for the writer in your life - please email me for details!
Pick my brain!
If you have a particular plot point to wrangle, want some feedback on a section (up to 5,000 words of your novel), or need a second opinion on any element of your work, this one-off mentoring session could be for you.
Cost is £108 (£90 plus VAT), including a read of up to 5,000 words.
Slots are available Monday—Thursday, 10am-4pm, or by arrangements at evenings and weekends. I’ll always do my best to work around your requirements, be they childcare, work, or timezone!
Please contact me to book.
Submission Package Review
There’s a lot of advice around about how to prepare your submission/query package.
Most of it’s good.
It can also be overwhelming.
If you try to follow it all, your brain might explode. Or (perhaps more likely) you can do everything right, but end up with something that doesn’t do you or your work justice.
I will read your first 5-6,000 words, your synopsis and your cover letter. I’ll send you notes and edits. And we’ll then have a call to discuss your submission, my suggestions, and your strategy.
This service costs £198 (£165 + VAT).
Zoom workshops
I offer Zoom workshops on plot, character and other elements of writing. These cost £50 and appropriate for all levels of experience. They run in autumn and spring. You’ll find the latest timetable and booking info here.
Mentoring
Support. Expertise. Accountability.
Whether you have the beginnings of an idea, or five versions of the same manuscript; whether you are suddenly stuck, or feel as though you keep running into the same wall; if you know your manuscript could be better, but you don’t know how to get it into shape:
it could be that mentoring is the right approach for you.
I’ll make sure I understand what you want to achieve, and then I’ll support, challenge and advise you as we work together to get you to your goal.
Slots are available Monday—Thursday, 10am-4pm, or by arrangements at evenings and weekends. I’ll always do my best to work around your requirements, be they childcare, work, or timezone!
An initial 12 sessions, spread over up to a year, cost £1,140 (£950+VAT).
If you have a Manuscript Assessment, Developmental Edit or Line Edit, you can add 3 mentoring sessions, spread over up to 6 months, to get your manuscript to a place where you feel it’s ready for the world. The cost is £300 (£250+VAT).
Manuscript Assessment
Do you want someone with fresh eyes and writing expertise to read your manuscript and give you an honest assessment of what’s working, what isn’t, and what you could do next? Then a manuscript assessment could be just the thing.
This is especially useful for a draft you aren’t sure if you’ve finished, might have almost-finished, or have got to the end of, but it’s somehow… not there.
I’ll read your manuscript, and write a reader commentary and a report on it. We’ll then have a call to discuss and thrash out ideas for your next draft.
The cost for a report, reading commentary and Zoom call is £18.00 (£15.00+VAT) per 1000 words. I can look at partial manuscripts from 5,000 words up.
Add three mentoring sessions to support your next draft for £300 (£250+VAT).
Developmental Edit
Maybe you’ve finished a draft and can’t see how to make it better.
Maybe you’ve had conflicting feedback and you don’t know which advice to take.
Maybe you’ve been working on your novel for so long that you can’t see the wood for the trees.
A developmental edit might be what you need to move you on.
I will read your manuscript and prepare an in-depth report covering all major aspects of your work. I’ll also comment on key moments through the manuscript so you can see what’s working and what isn’t. As I work I’ll prepare a separate commentary to give you insight into what the reader might be thinking as they read. We will also have a phone or Zoom call to clarify, discuss, and help you to make a plan.
The cost of a developmental edit, including annotated manuscript, in-depth report, reading commentary and Zoom call, is £21 (£17.50+VAT) per 1,000 words. I can look at partial manuscripts fron 5,000 words up.
Add three mentoring sessions to support your next draft for £300 (£250+VAT).
Possibly I would like to work with you, but not on a manuscript as such, as I'm not sure that my book will be out until May, and I certainly don't want to jump into doing another one right away. But, perhaps your experienced eye could help me see a way forward, to incorporating writing into something else, other than another book. Perhaps marketing ideas, unless that is not your thing? Sometimes I think it would just be nice to talk things over with an established author and someone who might be able to see the woods for the trees in my particular forest. Quick exploratory Zoom?