WHO THE HELL AM I AND HOW CAN I HELP YOU?

I have a singular and proven talent for reading other people’s work and knowing exactly how to deepen and improve it. My sense of character and story are born from a wide range of academic and work experience—not just as a writer, but from a lifetime of reading, and years working in theater, film, television, and publishing. My bedside manner is supportive but demanding, the product of countless workshops and a stint teaching Freshman Composition at USC.

I hold a B.A. in English Literature from Yale, and a Master’s in Creative Writing from USC.

References are available upon request.

SERVICES AND RATES

I offer two levels of service.

1) Holistic manuscript coaching

One writer I work with calls my approach “architectural,” because I focus on shoring up the internal logic of the pieces I read. I pride myself on picking out my writer’s intentions, and amplifying those intentions with my comments, not subsuming them with my own aesthetic interests or tastes.

As I read your manuscript—essay, article, novel, or screenplay—I will mark it up liberally on the page. Then I’ll return it to you, along with a detailed letter describing my suggestions for reworking your project. How does the academic argument stack up? How does your story rise organically out of character belief and action? How can we make every line of your screenplay resonate with meaning while hewing to strict economies of format and form?

I do minimal line-edits in when I read holistically—at this level of service, I am more likely to point out that a sentence or paragraph needs reworking or clarification then to actually rework or clarify it for you.

Rate: $2.50 per page.

2) Line editing

In addition to holistic coaching, I will line edit your work carefully should we both agree your project needs sharpening at the sentence level. Line editing services include copy editing, proofreading, and extensive stylistic attention.

Rate: $2.50 per page (in addition to holistic coaching charges).

WORK PROCESS

1. First, we will discuss your goals via phone or email, and agree on the proper approach for your work.

2. Then, you will send me two copies of your manuscript: one hard copy, through the mail, and one digital copy, via email, in MS Word or RTF format.

Your work should be formatted according to the conventions of your genre. Prose should be submitted double-spaced, in basic 12-point font (such as Courier or Times New Roman). Your project’s word count should appear on the title page.

Screenplays should be presented according to industry standards.

3. Once I receive your manuscript, I will look it over and determine my fee based on page count* and level of service required.

4. Next, we’ll agree to commence work, I will invoice you, and you will send me the first half of my fee via PayPal as a deposit for services.

When I receive payment, I will set my schedule for your project, and let you know when you can expect to receive my notes. Because I take on a limited number of clients at any one time, I can guarantee one-month turnaround for manuscripts up to 500 pages.

5. Upon completion of work, I’ll send you the first page of my evaluation. Once you send me the balance of my reader fee, I’ll send you the complete evaluation in addition to your manuscript.

Following receipt of my comments, you are welcome to email me or call me with questions and to request further clarification of my notes as long as you are reworking that draft of your project. Should you wish me to look at later drafts of the same project, a new, discounted contract can be negotiated for those services.

* A note about determining page count:

Because the choice of font can alter the page count of a single manuscript dramatically, I determine page count based on the total number of words per project, then divide that number by the industry standard of 250 words per page. By this formula, a manuscript of 100,000 words is calculated to run 400 pages, regardless of which font you choose.