The Author Alchemist:

Personal Writing Coach

Have you yearned to have someone give you writing feedback that you knew was in the best interest of both you and your story?

Have you wondered how you can take both your writing skills and your story to the next level?

I love coaching writers to develop their story into the best it can be, whether that is by encouraging you to dig deeper into your plot, characters, and emotions, or by helping you refine your style and sentence structure, until your story becomes a beautiful, page-turning masterpiece.

I have worked with authors in a variety of genres to make their stories shine, and you could be next!

Coaching calls are the secret weapon you can use at any point in the writing process. Need help developing a story idea? Character? Plot point? Understanding how your book should end? Just need someone to hash ideas out with who can reflect them back to you in coherent form?

How it works:

• Schedule a phone or Zoom call with me

• I’ll ask you for any prep materials I feel I need. (Usually just a brief story synopsis or outline, if you have one.)

• We hop on the call and brainstorm until your juices start flowing and you can start writing again.

Best for:

• Developing your characters and character arcs

• Fleshing out your plot or understanding any piece that is eluding you

• Making sure you’re hitting the emotional beats you’ll need for a story that resonates with readers

• Brainstorming or working through your ideas to nail down where to go from wherever you’re at

Cost: $150 CAD per one-hour session

Story structure refers to how your character arcs and plot work together throughout your story to come to an emotionally satisfying resolution. If you skip this and your structure is wrong, you’ll be paying for editing on sections of your manuscript that may need to be revised or cut completely, wasting money and time.

How it works:

• You send me an outline. It can be anything from a brief synopsis to a line-per-chapter or line-per-scene outline up to 3,000 words. The outline should show how each of your primary characters interacts with the story problem throughout.

• I analyze the outline and send you a detailed report showing you where your plot is working, and where it’s not (and why). I’ll also make suggestions for ways to fix it.

Best if you:

• Are uncertain if your plot structure is in place—something feels off, missing, or “broken”

• Know your story is missing pieces and you don’t know how to fill the gaps

• Are looking for professional editing for the first time

If you’re at all uncertain if you’ve got your structure right, this is the most economical place to start. (Also, be sure to read my free plot structure download.)

Cost: $300 CAD

If you want a bit more detailed feedback as your first editing step, consider getting a Partial Manuscript & Structural Assessment instead.

A beta read is a cost-effective way to tackle high-level issues and get a thorough understanding of what is and isn’t working in your story. It addresses plot, structure, pacing, voice, characters, stylistic concerns, appropriateness for the intended audience, and even prevalent writing habits.

How it works:

• I’ll read your entire manuscript and take notes as I go.

• I’ll send you a detailed report addressing any issues and suggest ways to fix any problems.

Best if you:

• Are pretty sure your structure is solid and you want more detailed feedback than a structural assessment as your first editing step

• Need solid feedback on the project in general so you know how best to revise

• Have received lukewarm or negative feedback from alpha readers, critique partners, or agent and editor queries, and you don’t understand what the problem is

Cost: Dependent on manuscript length and needs. Schedule your free mini-assessment for a quote. Or click here for your instant estimate.

A manuscript assessment goes a level deeper than a beta read/manuscript critique. It is often a good next step after either a structural assessment or a beta read, though more experienced authors may want to start with this step.

Like a beta read, a manuscript assessment addresses plot, structure, pacing, voice, flow, and other stylistic concerns, as well as character development, appropriateness for the intended audience, and prevalent writing habits, but in a much more in-depth way.

How it works:

• I’ll read your entire manuscript and make in-manuscript comments as I go about what’s working well and what needs improvement or clarification.

• I’ll create a detailed report addressing any issues and suggesting ways to fix them. These reports often end up being equal to one-third or more of your manuscript’s word count. They are extremely thorough.

Best if you:

• Are certain your structure and plot are fairly solid and you want detailed comments about specific things in the manuscript

• Have already had either a Structural Assessment or professional Beta Read and revised accordingly

• Are getting generally good feedback from critique partners and alpha readers, but they’ve pointed out issues you don’t know how to fix. (But consider whether a Coaching Call, Structural Assessment, or Beta Read might be a better first step.)

• Want to make your structure, pacing, characters, and plot the best they can be before investing in costly line editing

Cost: Dependent on manuscript length and needs. Schedule your free mini-assessment for a quote. Or click here for your instant estimate.

If you’re on a budget, consider starting with a Partial Manuscript & Structural Assessment.

This package includes a manuscript assessment of the first 20 pages (5,000 words) plus a structural assessment of your synopsis or outline (up to 3,000 words), and is an economical first step to start improving your story. See the Manuscript Assessment and Structural Assessment sections for what this entails.

Often, the first chapter of a manuscript tends to be the most problematic, and how the story begins, so it goes on. If I can help you begin it well (and you revise the rest to match), you will save a great deal of time and cash on editing the entire manuscript.

What can you learn from a partial manuscript + structural assessment?

• Whether you have all the pieces of your story structure in place

• Whether you have a good handle on your story problem and have set it up well

• If you have issues with voice, pacing, characters, style, and other writing habits that will bog down future editing passes

Best if you:

• Are getting professional editing for the first time and want solid feedback across the full range of high-level issues you could begin addressing before you pay for a full editing pass

• Are trying to get the most value from the least number of editing passes at the most economical price

• Are willing to do as much work as possible to clean up the manuscript yourself before having an editor work on your entire project

For partial assessments, my report is often almost as long as or even longer than your original submission. I can see a lot from a little, and I dive deep.

Cost: $450 CAD

Bundled with a Partial Developmental Line Edit: $675 $575 CAD

If you want to know how you can improve your writing chops on a down-and-dirty level and save some cash in the process, the Partial Developmental Line Edit is for you. This in-text edit on a small section of your manuscript will illuminate consistent errors in flow, clarity, structure, grammar, spelling, conflict (or lack thereof), pacing, and more. You can take what you learn and apply those changes to your entire manuscript.

Making these changes yourself will make your manuscript more readable for any successive editing pass, so you will not be paying an editor to correct consistent minor errors you could have fixed on your own. Since line editing is the slowest form of editing, addressing even some of these issues yourself before paying for a full edit can save you a lot of money.

How it works:

• You send me the first 1,500 words of your manuscript (or a longer word count we agree on).

• With Track Changes on, I make in-manuscript comments and in-text suggestions for ways to improve sentence structure, clarity, flow, grammar, spelling, and punctuation, as well as higher-level issues I see.

• I send you a summary report of the common issues I see that you can address throughout your manuscript.

Best if you:

• Are an unpublished author or early in your writing journey and would like to learn ways to improve your writing on a line-by-line, mechanical level

• Learn quickly and are willing to put in the work to revise your manuscript yourself to save money

• Have already had a Structural Assessment or Partial Manuscript & Structural Assessment done and know your main plot pieces are in place so you won’t be revising work you’ll need to remove or revise heavily later (or see bundle option below)

This is a good editing step to include before a Full Manuscript Assessment or a Full Developmental Edit to save money on either of those.

I also suggest reading Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King*, which will help you address many of these concerns even before paying for a partial line edit.

Cost: $225 CAD, or I’ll send you a quote for longer sections

Bundled with a Partial Manuscript & Structural Assessment: $675 $575 CAD

*This is a universal book link, but I am an affiliate of Amazon and Kobo. If you make a purchase from one of those stores through that link, I’ll make a few cents at no extra cost to you.

Line editing looks at your text line-by-line to improve flow, voice, pacing, consistency, and clarity. While in-manuscript comments will be made for structural and stylistic issues if they are still present, editing will focus on changing or commenting on text in the manuscript itself. Some fact checking is included, but the author is responsible for the accuracy of all facts in the manuscript.

Note: Since this is the slowest and costliest step of working on your manuscript, you will save more money in the long run (and learn a great deal more) by starting with the higher-level types of editing already mentioned before proceeding to this step.

How it works:

• I read your entire manuscript, making in-manuscript comments and in-text suggestions for ways to improve clarity, flow, sentence structure, pacing, consistency, and voice.

• I create a summary report discussing consistent issues, as well as any high-level issues still remaining in the manuscript (which should be few).

Best if you:

• Know your story is solid. You have gotten feedback from beta readers and/or prior developmental editing passes and resolved the higher-level issues in your story already

• Want to make sure you are saying exactly what you hoped to say in a way that the reader will understand

• Feel you’re ready for the next step to prepare for publication or submission

Cost: Dependent on manuscript length and needs. Schedule your free mini-assessment for a quote. Or click here for your instant estimate.

Copyediting includes checking grammar, punctuation, spelling, and consistency of style to align with an agreed-upon style standard. Includes minor line editing (sentence restructuring) for clarity. I am comfortable editing in either American or Canadian style.

This is the final editing pass before your manuscript goes to typesetting. After typesetting, you will need to have the manuscript proofread. I can recommend several excellent editors for the proofreading stage, if you wish.

Best if you:

• Have completed at least one developmental editing pass (even experienced writers benefit from a beta read or a manuscript assessment) and have resolved any big-picture issues

• Have also completed a line editing pass or are experienced enough to have resolved most line editing issues yourself

• Only need someone to clean up your work and ensure that you use words, spellings, and punctuation consistently

Cost: Dependent on manuscript length and needs. Schedule your free mini-assessment for a quote. Or click here for your instant estimate.

Ready to unlock your inner word wizard? Working with me is easy:

1. Fill out the form below to get the ball rolling.

2. I’ll get in touch within one business day.

3. We schedule your coaching call, book description project, or no-obligation free sample edit/mini-assessment and go from there.

I look forward to hearing from you!

(Psst… If you want to see if my services are within your budget, you can calculate an instant estimate here.)