Sometimes the best thing you can do for your manuscript - whether it's a short story, an essay, a novel, a memoir, or scholarly paper - is seek feedback. As writers, editors, instructors, and writing coaches, we've had years of experience working with authors and helping them take their manuscripts to the next level. We offer one-on-one manuscript consulting, coaching, and editing services tailored to you and your manuscript! While all accomplished authors and editors, we have different approaches, backgrounds, special focuses, and hourly rates, so feel free to browse bios (below) to get a sense of who might be the best fit for you and your project. When you're ready, tell us about your manuscript and who you'd like to work with, and we'll be in touch shortly! 

Profiles with *: Limited or no availability at the moment, though in many cases these editors are still taking on shorter projects. 

A Note On Pricing & Cost: All editing and consulting work through PVWW is priced on an hourly basis (this includes the editor's reading time). After getting in touch with us, we will give you a time/cost estimate based on the specifics of your project, what you're looking for, and the available or chosen editor's hourly rate. Please be aware that most full-manuscript consultations take anywhere between 20 - 45 hours, depending on length, type of editing, how many drafts you've done, and general flow of the prose. If cost is a primary concern for you, please mention this on the inquiry form and request an editor with a lower hourly rate. We also frequently advise writers who have cost as a primary concern to consider other options, such as beginning with a smaller chunk of the project (this is often a good idea for more than one reason) or considering a workshop that offers feedback from an instructor and group, which is always more cost-effective than one-on-one work with a professional editor. Receiving comments and feedback on a smaller section of your project (whether with an editor or in a workshop setting) can, in most cases, help and inform your revision of the whole.

Want to get started? Request a Consultant and/or Writing Coach

Joy Baglio

Hourly Rate: $200

Sign up for a 2-hour consulting, editing, and/or coaching session with Joy

​Consults On
Short fiction, flash fiction, novel, memoir, genre fiction, speculative fiction, publication & submissions process, concepting/outlining

Areas of Interest
As a former literary magazine editor, I'm constantly reading and assessing short fiction on both a micro level (word choice, grammar, syntax, sentence-level mechanics, etc) and a macro level (characters, plot, story logic, big-picture themes and ideas), and I bring this same attention to craft to my one-on-one consulting work. I love dissecting stories from a technical, craft-based perspective in order to help writers understand what's working, what could be working better, and what the story is trying to be. I love a wide array of styles and genres, though I'm particularly drawn to speculative fiction as well as writing that boldly embraces plot, stakes, and has some sense of innovation, daring, and risk-taking to it. I also love helping writers better understand the world of literary magazines and the process of submitting their work, as well as all the other aspects of publishing and career. 

Joy Baglio is the founder and director of Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop. Her short stories have appeared widely, in journals such as The Missouri Review, Tin House, American Short Fiction, Conjunctions, The Iowa Review, TriQuarterly, Gulf Coast, New Ohio Review, and elsewhere. Recent honors include fellowships, scholarships, and grants from Yaddo, The Elizabeth George Foundation, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference,  Sewanee Writers' Conference, The Speculative Literature Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Ragdale, Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, and The Kerouac Project. Joy holds an MFA from The New School and is currently at work on both a collection of short stories and her first novel. She's represented by Peter Steinberg at United Talent Agency (UTA). In additional to her role at PVWW, she has served on admission boards at Bread Loaf Writers Conference and Vermont Studio Center, as an associate editor for the literary magazine West Branch, and a fellowship judge for Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. Follow her on twitter at @JoyBaglio or visit her online at www.joybaglio.com. 

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Liz Bedell

Hourly Rate: $100

Consults On
Fiction, narrative non-fiction, personal essays, memoir, literary translation, project accountability, college admissions/essays; also works with young writers.

Areas of Interest
Aon scéal? That casual Irish greeting, which translates roughly to “what story is on you?” or “what is your story?”, guides how I work. An experienced teacher and writing coach, I love  collaborating with writers in service of the story they are telling, whether that is a character-driven novel, a piece of creative nonfiction or a personal essay.  My process puts the writer, their goals and their questions at its heart.  I engage closely with your writing at both the sentence level and in terms of its overall structure, and welcome conversations about the joys and challenges of revision. A long-time college advisor, I’m also available to work with students drafting their college admissions essays.

LIZ BEDELL's recently completed novel, The Space Between, was shortlisted in the 2019 William Faulkner William Wisdom Competition, Novel-in-Progress category. She is a co-editor of Embody, a weekly feature column at The Maine Review. She holds an MFA Fiction and Translation from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and an MA in English from Middlebury College. She writes and teaches in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts.

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Leonora Desar

Hourly Rate: $125

​Consults On: Flash fiction, short stories, novellas, novels, personal essays, memoir, journalism, line and big picture edits, defeating writer’s block and developing a writer’s practice, coaching with generative prompts 
 
​Areas of Interest: I love creating a supportive environment and helping writers grow. I edit works in progress as well as help writers generate new work. When editing, I’ll ask you to describe your intention, or what you are trying to say, and help you translate this to the page. I will help you to craft killer sentences. I have a background in flash, where every word and image has to hold its weight. I am also passionate about big picture issues—characterization, pacing, interiority and dialogue, emotional resonance—that sense of wow, or connection with a work. In addition to detailed feedback on the macro and line level, I offer writing prompts, strategies for defeating writer’s block, and reading suggestions tailored to your interests. 

Leonora Desar’s fiction has appeared in places such as River Styx, Passages North, The Cincinnati Review, Black Warrior Review, and Columbia Journal, where she was chosen as a finalist by Ottessa Moshfegh. She has been selected for The Best Small Fictions 2019 and 2021, Best Microfiction 2019, 2020, 2021, and the Wigleaf Top 50 (2019, 2020, 2021). She was a runner-up/finalist in Quarter After Eight’s Robert J. DeMott Short Prose Contest, judged by Stuart Dybek, and Crazyhorse’s Crazyshorts! contest. Her journalism has appeared in Psychology Today, WomansDay.com, Parenting magazine, WomansDay.com, Business Insider, and others. She holds an MFA in fiction from NYU, where she taught creative writing, and an MS from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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Anita Gill

Hourly Rate: $100

Consults On: personal essays, memoir (both short-form and book-length), writing coaching, publication & submissions process

Areas of Interest: My first love is nonfiction, in particular the personal essay or memoir. I love to witness a writer parsing out their memory, to make sense of what happened. My role as the Nonfiction Editor at Hypertext Review allows me a chance to read submissions to see if they have been edited enough for publication or if they still need work. When working with clients, my goal is to understand what you are trying to accomplish in your writing and provide you with meaningful feedback that provides you a roadmap on how to revise. Whether it is an essay or a book, my feedback is primarily developmental (plot, structure, voice) but I also will give attention to other particular issues if requested in advance. I am drawn to personal essays and memoir with a strong narrative arc and an engaging voice, and I am happy to help with both traditional memoir and experimental work. The world of publication is littered with rejections. I also enjoy helping to demystify the submissions process and assist clients with making manageable strategies for getting their work published.

ANITA GILL is a Fulbright Scholar whose work has appeared in The Iowa Review, Kweli, Prairie Schooner, The Offing, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Her writing has been listed as Notable in Best American Essays and has won The Iowa Review Award in Nonfiction. She holds an MA in Literature from American University, and an MFA in Writing from Pacific University. She currently serves as Nonfiction Editor for Hypertext Review while working on a novel. Find her online at www.anitagill.ink.

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Celia Jeffries

Hourly Rate: $100

​Consults On
Memoir, fiction, nonfiction, and personal essays

Areas of Interest
Every editing project centers on the writer and the story: What do you want to say and how do you want to say it? I love the collaborative relationship in which editor and writer question the greater purpose of a piece of writing and work closely to identify the elements that can bring that purpose to life. My editing background includes copy desk deadline work for a regional newspaper, year-long manuscript development work for a Houghton-Mifflin series, and consultant reading for an independent press. ​

CELIA JEFFRIES novel, Blue Desert, was published this April. Her work has appeared in numerous newspapers and literary magazines including Westview, Solstice Literary Magazine, and Puerto del Sol, as well as the anthology Beyond the Yellow Wallpaper. She has received grants from Turkey Land Cove Foundation, The Massachusetts Cultural Council, and La Muse. Jeffries holds an MA from Brandeis and an MFA from Lesley University. She has worked with writers at all levels, from elementary school to university both here and abroad, and in many different communities, including incarcerated, literacy, and ESL programs. Celia has offered numerous PVWW workshops including a year-long PVWW memoir manuscript group and a year-long PVWW manuscript revision group. 

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Gemma Leghorn

Hourly Rate: $100

Sign up for a 2-hour consulting, editing, and/or coaching session with Gemma

Consults On
The novel, short fiction, CNF, graduate school and residency application essays

Areas of Interest
As an editor, it’s my goal to help distill the essence of what a writer most wants to say, and find a way for the narrative to say it, too. I'm particularly interested in stories that  grapple with the complexities (and fickleness) of the human experience--relationship stories, family stories, and stories of the self. I enjoy working with people in all stages of the writing process, but especially writers who have hit a point in their manuscripts where they feel stuck, unsure, or doubtful. In addition to providing manuscript consultations, I coach writers who want ongoing creative support. I also consult with writers who are gathering their materials for graduate schools or residency programs. I truly love getting to know other writers through editorial partnerships and have great appreciation for the deep, trusting collaboration these partnerships require. ​

Gemma Leghorn earned her MFA in fiction at UMass Boston and her B.A. in English at Bowdoin College, where she also studied poetry, creative nonfiction, and journalism. She worked at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown for a decade and has spent six years working as a freelance editor and writer. Her work has been published in magazines and journals including Provincetown Arts, Art New England, and Topography, and she helped establish the Cape Cod Poetry Review. She is currently working on a novel. ​

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Giulietta Nardone

Hourly Rate: $90

Consults On
Personal Essays, Flash Nonfiction, Humor, Theme Development, Endings and Publication Process.

Areas of Interest
I love collaborating with writers to discover what their stories are really about. Down we go through layers of mindset and memory to liberate buried meanings to their rightful place on the literary surface. If you need encouragement to send your work out for publication, I'm your getting-over-fear gal. I've been where you are now and where you can be with some simple self-belief adjustments. Got a sixth sense for endings. Instead of making them a tacked on afterthought, we structure your stories to make them an inevitable forethought.

Giulietta Nardone had collected numerous degrees in Anthropology, Sociology and Graphic Design as well as taken gobs of art classes. Her stories have appeared in publications such as Psychology Today, Boston Globe Magazine, Christian Science Monitor, Skirt! Magazine,  Purple Clover, Chicken Soup for the Soul and broadcast on NPR. 

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Francine Puckly

​Hourly Rate: $100

​Consults On
Novels, memoir, creative non-fiction/personal essays, story conceptualization, outlining, project planning, and goal setting.
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Areas of Interest
My main areas of focus are young adult and middle grade fiction across all genres, fiction, and non-fiction picture books, personal essays, and women’s contemporary and historical fiction. I am able to provide clients with editorial feedback at any stage of the process, from initial conceptualization to the final read-through and fine copyediting. I can also assist writers with the query and submission process. 

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Francine Puckly holds a BS in Communication and Master of Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. She writes young adult contemporary and historical fiction and is co-founder of 24CarrotWriting.com. She is the lead writer and editor for a Department of Defense contractor, creating and editing vital content for service members and their families. Her publishing credits include The Word-A-Day Vocabulary Workbook (Adams Media/Simon and Schuster) and more than 50 humor essays which have appeared in a number of regional magazines, newspapers, and college publications. She has completed a collection of personal essays and two young adult contemporary fiction novels. She is currently at work on a young adult historical fiction novel set in the 1920s.

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Sara Rauch

Hourly Rate: $100

Consults On
The novel, short fiction, flash fiction, literary fiction, speculative fiction, romance,  creative nonfiction, memoir, YA

Areas of Interest
I'm particularly drawn to character-driven work that has a strong relationship to language. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't relish a good plot - I do! Whether I'm working with short or long forms, fiction or nonfiction, for me editing is about diving into the depths of the story - encompassing both overt and subtle elements - and allowing the story's voice to find its truest expression. I'm well versed in the "rules" of what makes "good" writing, but I'm more interested in helping a writer use - traditionally or experimentally - all the tools in the craft toolbox to make their work sing. 

Sara Rauch is the author of the story collection WHAT SHINES FROM IT, forthcoming from Alternating Current Press in 2020. She has worked as an editor for an independent book publisher, a literary magazine, and currently as a freelancer. She holds an MFA from Pacific University and lives with her family in Holyoke, MA. 

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Arya Samuelson

Hourly Rate: $100

Consults On: Fiction, long-form memoir, personal essay, hybrid projects.

Areas of Interest: My favorite subjects to write and read relate to bodies, desire/sexuality, queerness, illness, art-making, family relationships, and ancestral inheritances. (Some favorite books: Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden, Sula by Toni Morrison, Cleanness by Garth Greenwell.) I love coaching writers around writing their way of a rut! I approach editing as a conversation that invites you to dig deeper and uncover "the story beneath the story." I believe the process of writing leads us to what we're really trying to say, and my goal is to help you map the deeper story inside your project and guide you toward its fullest, most potent expression on the page. I'm especially attuned to and excited about embodied writing - sensory, visceral, writing that jumps off the page and into the reader's body - and can help you on the sentence/scene/manuscript-level to elevate your writing to its maximum aliveness. I bring compassion, command of craft, and a powerful dose of curiosity.

ARYA SAMUELSON is the winner of the CutBank’s 2019 Montana Prize in Non-Fiction, awarded by Cheryl Strayed. Her work has also been published in Columbia Journal, New Delta Review, Entropy, The Millions, and Hematopoiesis Press. She holds an MFA from Mills College and has been studying at Lidia Yuknavitch’s school of Corporeal Writing since 2017. Arya has worked as a grant writer, literary editor, sexual assault advocate, and case manager for homeless adults. She writes across all genres and is currently working on a novel.

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Kate Senecal

Hourly Rate: $100

​Consults On: The novel, short fiction, memoir, creative nonfiction/essays, YA, literary fiction, genre fiction

Sign Up for a basic consulting / editing / coaching session with Kate (2 hours)

​Areas of Interest
I love character driven fiction - short or long, but particularly love the deep dive of coaching someone while they work through their novel. I'm attracted to bold and brave fiction that confronts the human condition with honesty - sentences that don't shy away from the drama and wildness of the heart. I love a crazy sentence as much as I love an impactful, simple one. I'm particularly skilled in helping writers find systems that work for them in developing balance between deep understanding of craft as a functional, grounding force and the illusive, dreamlike nature of the intuition. It's always a deep privilege to support writers in making their stories - fiction or not - the best versions of themselves. 

Kate Senecal is the Assistant Director of Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop, a Grub Street writing instructor, and a workshop facilitator for Writers for Recovery in Vermont. She received an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and her fiction has been published in The Laurel Review, The Foundling Review, and in Storychord.com, where she was the fiction editor for two years.

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Gail Thomas

Hourly Rate: $100

​Consults on:
Poetry chapbooks and full-length manuscripts, poetry publishing, residency and fellowship applications; ​also works with young writers.

Areas of Interest:
I enjoy helping writers revise and polish their poems with an eye to assembling a body of work. Whether poems are narrative, lyric, formal or experimental, there are elements of craft and formatting that can be used to make the work stronger. I am an experienced teacher and writing coach with a deep understanding of the publishing process. I also have been a screener and judge for national poetry contests.

Gail Thomas’ published books are: Odd Mercy, Waving Back, No Simple Wilderness: An Elegy for Swift River Valley, and Finding the Bear. Odd Mercy, chosen by Ellen Bass, won the Charlotte Mew Prize of Headmistress Press, and Waving Back was named a Must Read by the Massachusetts Center for the Book and Honorable Mention by the New England Book Festival. Her work has appeared in many journals and anthologies including The Beloit Poetry Journal, Calyx, The North American Review, Italian Americana, and Valparaiso Poetry Review. Individual poems have won prizes including the Naugatuck River Review’s Narrative Poetry Prize and the Pat Schneider Poetry Prize. Gail has been a fellow at The McDowell Colony and Ucross. She lives in Northampton and is recently retired from Smith College. She teaches, speaks at conferences and poetry festivals, and reads her work widely in community and academic settings.  

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Carolyn Zaikowski

Hourly Rate: $100

Consults On
The novel, short fiction, poetry manuscripts, hybrid and experimental texts, short and book-length nonfiction, project planning.

Areas of Interest
As a reader and writer, I am steeped in many forms, and I love helping people attain depth and three-dimensionality in their work. For short fiction and novels, I am especially interested in lyrical prose, voice, character building, and the psychological elements of narrative. I’m also well-versed in, and very enthusiastic about, hybrid/cross-genre methods and both classic and experimental forms of poetry. Finally, I love personal and sociopolitical nonfiction of all lengths, with a background and special interest in gender, disability, social justice, trauma and healing, meditation and spirituality, travel, animals, and death studies/thanatology.

Carolyn Zaikowski is the author of the hybrid novels In Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2016) and A Child Is Being Killed (Aqueous Books, 2013). Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, PANK, West Branch, DIAGRAM, Everyday Feminism, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is currently an English professor and volunteer death doula. 

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Testimonials

What Writers Are Saying About Our Manuscript Consulting & Editing Services

"I'd gotten more than a dozen manuscript requests from agents, but ultimately no offers of representation. Where was the novel going wrong? I turned to Kate Senecal, who was able to give me bird's-eye-view feedback of the manuscript, helping me to see the things I couldn't because I'd been steeped in it for so long. Her assessment was invaluable, and it took my novel to the next level." 
- Meg Tady, author of the forthcoming novel Super Bloom

"After the very satisfying restructuring/content coaching was finished on my memoir with Joy (Baglio), I sent my manuscript to Liz Bedell for fine-tuning/copy-editing. She couldn’t have been a more perfect fit. Besides the sheer serendipity of her love of choral singing (a starting point of the love story in this book), she has an ear for the music of words, and went far beyond the minutia of punctuation, syntax, and word choices. She read between the lines when something seemed off to her, and helped me understand why. I so enjoyed the rapport we immediately felt in our personal as well as professional relationship, and she has given me continued warmth and support as I move forward with a publisher."
- Julie Scolnik

"Sara [Rauch] was very professional, stuck to the timeline she gave me, read my manuscript I feel very thoroughly and gave me detailed, thoughtful feedback and advice. She definitely helped me see how to move forward with my manuscript. I would recommend her highly."
- Jim Henry

"I have only superlatives when it comes to describing my working with Joy [Baglio]. When I discovered her profile, I instinctively knew she was my person. Her immediate positive response to my project propelled me to finally bring a work begun decades ago to where it should be. I can safely say that it is entirely because of her that an agent is extremely excited about helping me find a publisher. All along the way, her intelligent and sensitive reading helped me organize, restructure and make my story work. It meant so much to me that she really felt the emotion in the memoir, and we worked so well together! I loved the Google Doc system, and found our back and forth over highlighted sections was brilliant. She was tough when she needed to be, and held her ground when I tried to argue a point! I especially was touched at how involved she was with my query process, and finding an agent. She really went the extra mile and I will be forever grateful. Already, imagining how I will thank her in my acknowledgements." 
- Julie Scolnik, Founder/Director of Mistral Music

"Joy  [Baglio] gave me extremely thorough and helpful feedback, both in conversation and in written comments. I’m so excited to have worked with her because not only is this story much better, I learned so many things I can apply to my next stories. Working with Joy was a great investment!"
​- Sam Ruhmkorff

"My experience with Kate [Senecal] was fantastic. Her enthusiasm about my project was contagious, and it gave me the confidence I needed to bring my work to the next level. Her advice about how to improve my writing was also immediately actionable. As a result of our couple of conversations, I feel much clearer about where I'm headed, and my writing has greatly improved."
- Katherine Golub, Founder of Core Brilliance Academy

"Joy [Baglio] has a keen editor's eye and a thorough instinct as to what is needed to improve a flash fiction piece, in my case. She doesn't hold back from offering radical changes when necessary. I respect her for that, and always enjoy working with her to improve my writing."
- Stephanie Shafran

"Carolyn [Zaikowski] was great! I asked for big-picture feedback, and that's exactly what she provided, including some smaller comments directly in the text which were helpful too. It was especially gratifying to me that she could tell both what I was aiming for and what I needed to do (more of, less of, differently) to achieve that aim."
- Hanne Watkins

"I was in a stuck spot, sitting on a draft of memoir that I knew needed to go somewhere, but didn't know where. Kate [Senecal] offered me well lit-paths forward and surpassed my expectations with her clear, thorough, and compassionate feedback. I would highly recommend her to anyone seeking edits at any stage of a fiction or non-fiction project. Kate identified and clearly communicated what was and was not working in the manuscript in a way that left me feeling relieved and understood. I am eager and well-equipped to continue with this project, now able to see aspects of myself and my writing that previously eluded me."
- Anne Zager

"Joy [Baglio] is an exceptional reader and editor. Not only is she thorough with grammatical edits, but she's also terrific in critiquing my stories from a craft perspective. Be it character motivation, the veracity of dialogue, stakes, overarching themes, or other aspects of story-building, she has a keen sense of what works and what doesn't, and my stories are so much stronger for her feedback."
-Maria Lioutaia, 2016 Tin House Scholar & NYU MFA candidate

"Joy [Baglio] is an amazingly thoughtful and astute reader and editor. Best of all, she is incredibly encouraging and positive. Though she gives specific feedback on where to improve, it is always constructive and helpful. She gave me some of the most methodical and specific edits on a short story I wrote, which made a world of difference to the piece. Thank you Joy!"
- Hayley Phelan

"I enthusiastically recommend Joy Baglio's skills as an editor, having presented her with a sprawling, 25-page short story I'd been working on for a long time...Joy's work on the story helped tip me in the direction of turning this dense and confusing piece into what it wants to be: a novel. I'm keeping her notes and questions in front of me as I now proceed to write it."
-Maureen Henderson

"Joy [Baglio] has a great attitude. She offers her skill and experience in every aspect of the editor-author relationship. Grateful for her hard work!"
-Christina

"Joy [Baglio] provides invaluable feedback! She has a knack for interpreting a writer's intentions. She knows the story you're trying to tell. She knows its strengths and its weaknesses. Her expert advice will help you fix things in your story that are broken, as well as things you didn't even know needed fixing. She is a brilliant mind, a great communicator, and a very sweet person. I'll definitely be sending my future projects her way."
-Drew Rogers