Thank you for stopping by to check out my services and who I am. You want success. I want it for you. To help success happen, I recommend you create a motto for yourself. Let it guide you. Get serious about this writing talent you have! Here’s my motto I’ve worked under for years:
Write with joy, and finish with finesse.
What do my critiques and coaching involve?
Critiques:
My critiques are “developmental editing,” meaning they are thorough. You receive an assessment page by page that looks at everything from punctuation to style to story elements.
I look for “clutter” and clichéd words and situations. Your plot, characters, setting, style, and more will be scrutinized. I weigh in with marketability factors and advice.
My critique fee includes one look at your revision and answers to your questions. You can send one page or many pages; I’m flexible.
Coaching:
Coaching for me means helping the writer at any stage or with any challenge in the process of starting, developing, finishing, revising or polishing a manuscript or script. It can also include marketing advice, such as an assessment for a strategy in looking for a literary agent.
Have you been passed on too many times by agents, editors, or publishers? I pinpoint “why” and how to fix things if fixing is indeed the issue. Sometimes the writer just hasn’t found the perfect match yet in the marketplace and thus I help you discern what’s going wrong and right with your writing and marketing strategy. Maybe your query letter isn’t effective, so let’s fix that.
Coaching often includes helping you set up a schedule for writing—one that you can stick to. We can arrange for weekly or monthly check-ins.
Coaching certainly means I’m there to answer your questions as well as cheer you on. We all need someone behind us who believes in what we’re doing. Coaching can also help those writers who have serious issues with their word count and are panicking; I’ve helped many writers increase or decrease the word count.
How does a writer work with me? What do you send?
Please write to me via email first without sending attachments.
Let’s plan to “try out” my professional assistance before you send or pay for a whole manuscript upfront.
I ask my clients and students to first email only a small portion, such as the first five or 10 pages or a chapter. Get a feel for what I can do for your writing before making a big commitment. Sometimes I can’t help you because you’re ready for agents, editors, or producers and you just haven’t recognized your talent level.
For those interested in coaching, please send me a short overview in an email of what you have, what the challenges have been, and what you wish to accomplish. If you’ve met me through a conference or course, please let me know that, too.
I work via email, but our interaction might include the occasional phone call, etc.
My focus is on QUICK problem solving guided by the writer’s wishes and needs.
I work hard to help you be proud of what you write and find success.
What does it cost? What’s free?
Critiques (developmental editing)
Fiction–$6/double-spaced page in 12-point Times New Roman, one-inch margins. I critique picture books, middle-grade books, YA, and all genres of adult fiction except pornographic material.
Scripts–$4/page in correct format.
Coaching
$135/month (negotiable depending on workload involved)
Free stuff
Quick looks—as time allows—at a query letter or one-page synopsis. Email first about my availability.
Questions? Contact me at christinedesmet.author@gmail.com or message me at my Facebook page.
Testimonials
“I can’t imagine writing a book without Christine DeSmet as my coach. Her feedback is respectful, honest, and objective, always with my best interest at heart. Her mentorship enhances my vision and writing voice. Publication after publication, Christine’s literary savvy translates into award-winning books for me.”
~ Laurie Buchanan, author of the Sean McPherson novels
“Publishing an award-winning novel would still be a dream without Christine DeSmet’s insightful and encouraging coaching. She took a retired fire captain with no literary background and patiently guided me through a marketable novel.”
~ Greg Renz, Beneath The Flames
Christine DeSmet: Author 