All Genres & Manuscript Lengths • All Types of Editing •
Coaching • Publishing & Query Letter Consultations • Beta Reading
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 to seek feedback.
As writers, editors, instructors, and creative 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.
When you're ready, we offer 2-hour editing / coaching packages that can be directly purchased on this page. All editing / coaching packages are priced at each editor / coach's individual hourly rate. These 2-hour sessions can be any mix of editing and coaching, but are limited to two hours of the editor / coach's time.
While all accomplished authors and editors, we do 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.
Two-Hour Editing
and/or Coaching Sessions
Interested in an editing / coaching session but unsure how you'd use the time? Here are the options!
-
Editing Only: Your editor / coach will review approximately 10 - 15 double-spaced pages* in standard formatting, and offer light margin and line comments, and brief written and/or bulleted overall feedback on what's working well and what could work better. (*Refers to prose pages, in standard formatting. For poetry and/or hybrid work, your editor will let you know the equivalent page/word limit.)
-
Coaching Only: Your editor / coach will meet with you over Zoom (or phone) for two separate hour-long sessions. Coaching sessions can be used to talk about your writing and creative goals; answer any questions you have on craft, process, publishing, etc; talk about ways of overcoming writers block, goal-setting, reading recommendations, building a writing routine and/or anything else related to writing that you'd like to discuss and/or learn! Please note: If the full session (2 hours) are both used for coaching, then no work will be reviewed by your coach outside of the session.
-
Combination: Your editor /coach will spend approximately half of the session (1 hour) reading up to 10 pages* of your work, then meeting with you on Zoom (or phone) for the remaining hour to discuss your work. While your editor / coach may choose to still leave light line comments on your work, this should not be expected as most of the feedback will be delivered during the second half of the session. (*Refers to prose pages, in standard formatting. For poetry and/or hybrid work, your editor will let you know the equivalent page/word limit.)​
New to working with an editor or coach?
Here's what to expect
-
Choosing an editor / coach: We encourage you to browse our editors / coaches below and choose who to work with based on their genres, areas of interest / topics, experience, rate, as well as who you feel drawn to work with. Feel free to sign up for multiple sessions with different editors / coaches if you choose! Though if it is your first time working with someone, please ONLY sign up for a single session with them. Two-hour editing / coaching sessions are priced at each editor's individual hourly rates, and the two-hour session is our smallest package for editing / coaching work.
-
After you purchase your session: After signing up for a session, you are all set! Your editor / coach will reach out to you (via the email address you provided upon checkout) within seven days in order to learn more about how you'd like to use the session (either editing, coaching, or some combination of the two) as well as to schedule your session. They will have access to all the information you provide in the scheduling form.
-
Let your editor / coach know your preferences: PVWW editors have different styles and ways of working, and all editing and coaching work is tailored to your needs. When your editor / coach reaches out to you after you, make sure you and your editor/coach are on the same page about what you're hoping to get from the session before work together begins!
-
Formatting for prose writers: If you choose to use part or all of your session for feedback and review of your work, make sure all pages emailed to your editor / coach are in standard formatting (double-spaced, 12 point font, Times New Roman, one-inch margins, and saved as a Word Doc.)
-
Disclaimer on page numbers: Please note that the number of pages listed above is an estimate and may vary slightly based on factors such as the density (roughness or smoothness) of the prose, the kind of editing needed, individual reading speed, etc. While your editor will do their best to fall within or near this range, editors are not expected to go outside of the time parameters, if they have already spent the full amount of time on your work.
-
Disclaimer on publishing consultations: While your editor / coach may be happy to provide publishing advice and recommendations, please be aware that editing and coaching is always from an angle of helping you make your writing as strong as it can be, and that we do not in any way guarantee publication (which no legitimate editor, coach, or service will guarantee). We are happy to make recommendations, guide, and consult on the submissions, publication, and querying processes, but we are not a service that assists writers directly in submitting work or querying. We also highly encourage anyone seeking editorial or coaching services to first approach this work from the angle of making the writing as strong as it can be, rather than with a goal of publishing.
-
Longer manuscripts: All new clients MUST begin editing / coaching work with a 2-hour package. If you are interested in editing of a longer manuscript, we require that you begin with the purchase of a 2-hour package first, where you and your editor/coach can begin to look at your longer manuscript. We require this in part to make sure that you and your editor are a good fit before a greater investment is made. ​
Want to keep working with your coach or editor?
Here's what to do if you're a returning client:
If you want to continue working with your editor / coach after your initial session, you can book more time with them, either another two-hour session, or you can talk to them about a longer session (which can also be booked here, though you should clarify the number of hours needed with them first). Please note: Before purchase of more than two hours, you MUST touch base with your editor/coach and make sure they are available for the work you'd like to do. All coordination must happen first with them. If you would like review and/or editing of a longer manuscript project, you must receive an estimate from the editor you are working with before payment is made.
Book a session with an editor.

Hourly Rate:
$200
Joy Baglio
Consults on
JOY BAGLIO ​is the founder/director of Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop (PVWW). Her short stories have appeared widely, in journals such as The Missouri Review, Tin House, American Short Fiction, Conjunctions, and elsewhere. Recent honors include fellowships and residencies from Yaddo, Ragdale, The Elizabeth George Foundation, Bread Loaf, Vermont Studio Center, Ragdale, The Kerouac Project, among others. Joy holds an MFA from The New School. Find her online at www.joybaglio.com.
Short fiction, flash fiction, novel, memoir, genre fiction, speculative fiction, publication & submissions process, querying / agents, 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.

Hourly Rate:
$125
Leonora Desar
Consults on
LEONORA DESAR’s fiction has appeared in places such as River Styx, Passages North, The Cincinnati Review, and Columbia Journal, where she was chosen as a finalist by Ottessa Moshfegh. She has been selected for The Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction, and the Wigleaf Top 50. Her journalism has appeared in Psychology Today, WomansDay.com, Parenting magazine, Business Insider, and others. She holds an MFA in fiction from NYU and an MS from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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.

Hourly Rate:
$110
Carolyn Zaikowski
Consults on
CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI writes and publishes in all genres. She 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 also a death doula.
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.

Hourly Rate:
$80
Neil Richard Grayson
Consults on
​NEIL RICHARD GRAYSON was raised in the woods of upstate New York. Since then, he’s been a schoolteacher, video game designer, rock climbing instructor, bartender, and cross-country hitchhiker. He holds degrees in English & Education from SUNY Potsdam, and an MFA from Ohio State University. His fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in CutBank, HOBART, StoryScape Journal, Fiction Southeast, among others. He’s been awarded fellowships from The Kenyon Review, Community of Writers, and Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing, and was recently nominated for a Pushcart.
Short stories and novels, essays and memoirs, idea-driven pieces and odd, conceptual forms, speculative and slipstream stuff, writing process/accountability, thematic and continuity problem-solving, structure, submitting to lit mags.
Areas of Interest
I love talking about thematic undercurrents, psychological trappings, and the lyricism and rhythm of sentences. I think I tend to abide by that Anton Chekhov line about how art doesn't answer big questions, but instead, tries to ask them in their fullest complexity. More than anything, whether I'm working on a supershort story or a book-length epic poem, I'm always on the hunt for the piece's emotional and intellectual core--the handful of ideas that feel most urgent to the piece, and whose interactions form a sort of engine that propels it. I love to read work that feels like it's in urgent conversation with the present day--right now, I'm really excited by writing about maleness, about whiteness, and especially about America.

Hourly Rate:
$100
Gemma Leghorn
Consults on
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 eight 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. ​
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. ​

Hourly Rate:
$100
Gail Thomas
Consults on
GAIL THOMAS is the author of five books of poetry. Trail of Roots won a Seven Kitchens Press chapbook prize, and Odd Mercy, chosen by Ellen Bass, won the Charlotte Mew Prize of Headmistress Press. 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, among others. Gail has been a fellow at The McDowell Colony and Ucross.
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. I frequently teach and speak at conferences and poetry festivals, as well as read my work widely in community and academic settings. ​
"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