Mentoring and consultations provide you with experienced, professional support and guidance to help you reach your writing goals.
Sometimes, the best way to reach your destination is with an experienced navigator by your side.
Are you feeling stuck? Unsure how to proceed? Are you struggling with the momentum and focus required to progress your manuscript? Are you wanting to know whether your book idea is a goer?
A consultation with an industry professional offers you the opportunity to discuss your ideas, explore options, consider potential issues and pose questions. This can be extended into a mentoring relationship, providing on-going support and guidance.
Getting advice early on in the life of a project can be pivotal in helping your intentions become a reality. And sometimes talking through a book idea before you commit months and years to it can save you a lot of time and effort in the long run.
If you have made a start and have material such as a synopsis, a chapter outline (or part thereof), and some chapters, we will read your work and prepare discussion notes prior to the consultation.
Our consultations are tailored to your needs, whether the focus is on the writing (editorial consultation) or, if you are self-publishing, on the end product (publishing consultation).
Our mentoring service extends an initial consultation into an ongoing relationship providing support, guidance and encouragement to help you achieve your writing goals. There is no one size fits all. You may have a work in progress and want ongoing feedback to make sure you’re on the right track. You may want help to structure not only the work itself, but your writing practice.
Whether you opt for weekly, fortnightly or monthly sessions, or you need more flexibility, it is good to know there is someone who can guide you along the way offering personalised feedback.
You and the mentor together decide on a writing goal for each session. This work is sent to the mentor prior to the session. Discussion notes are sent to you in advance of the session, where relevant.
Get in touch for further information.
We work with book-length manuscripts and short-form writing (essays, short stories, novellas). We are experienced with fiction (literary, popular, genre fiction), narrative non-fiction (e.g. memoir, travel, history, personal essay), general non-fiction (e.g. personal development, reference, health) and children’s books (picture books, middle grade and YA). Get in touch if you have any questions about the genre of your manuscript.
We believe this is really a question that only the writer can answer. We are able to let you know what is working and what is not working in the current draft, and to offer guidance on how to make the manuscript more likely to be of interest to an agent or publisher by developing the text further. It is then up to you as a writer to decide whether you think it is worth putting the required work in. Our aim is to provide you with feedback, advice, suggestions and critical engagement so that you can answer the question of whether it is worth pursuing yourself.
We have some contacts in the publishing world, and if we feel a manuscript will interest a certain agent or publisher, we will use those contacts to help the writer. However, most writers we have worked with have made their own connections with publishers and agents.
We begin with an initial consultation between you and the mentor where the mentor gives feedback on submitted material preceding the session. This allows you to have a sense of the type of engagement the mentor has with your work. After the initial face-to-face session, you can decide whether you would like to continue with the mentoring relationship.
We have an hourly rate to cover the session and any required reading time. You can buy a block of 2–10 hours up front. Time spent reading and discussing the work varies according to how much material is sent for review, and how much time is needed to discuss it. Get in touch for our fees.
Most of our consultations and mentoring takes place by phone or Zoom, whichever you prefer. In person sessions are an option if you live in the same city/town as the mentor. Laurel Cohn and her team are based in Australia, scattered across metropolitan and regional areas of NSW and Victoria.
‘I’ve been meaning to write to you for ages, but have been flat out with the promotion and launch of A Dangerous Daughter. You’ve been an enormous help and inspiration to me all through the painful months of draft after draft, keeping me going when my confidence flagged, and finding flaws that I missed myself. Thank you again for all your help.’
‘When I first began the process of writing my book, which eventually became The Rhythm Diaries, Laurel got me on the path. Her guidance was clear, precise, well-informed and was generously offered to me. I learnt so much from her in terms of the very broad areas that writing, editing and publishing. A thousand questions asked by me and a thousand answers given! She has a great eye, mind and heart.’
‘After implementing Laurel’s advice about structure, tone, flow, backstory, what stays and what goes, my manuscript took off! Without Laurel’s guidance, I doubt Breaking Through the Pain Barrier would be in its second print run six weeks after it launched. Thank you, Laurel.’
‘Laurel is practical and motivating in her approach; somewhat intuitive too. I enjoy working with Laurel as I know she understands what I am trying to achieve in completing my first book.’
‘I’ve just received an advance copy of the book and I’m ecstatic with the finished product. Laurel, I can’t believe how lucky I was to find you on the internet. Your knowledge of the editing and production process was invaluable. Thanks so much for your help and advice with all the small details that have made the book so clear and so easy to read. It was great to have your help throughout the production and printing process too. Whenever I was unsure, you were always there.’
‘I’m so very grateful for the editing advice and support you gave me while I journeyed along the road to self-publication.’
‘Thank you for the feedback and incredible insights – they are (as always), much appreciated. You are SO good at what you do and I really enjoy learning from you. I remain in awe of your critical thinking process whenever I receive your feedback, and it always helps me find my way to the next level.’
‘I always come away from our sessions inspired and uplifted – with greater clarity and ready to make my next steps with this crazy manuscript of mine. Truly, working with you is the best decision I have made re my writing.’
Laurel Cohn and her team offer comprehensive editing and manuscript development services, as well as mentoring and consultations to help you realise your writing goal.
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‘I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which I live and work, the Midjungbal of the Bundjalung, and pay my respects to Elders past and present. For thousands of years the First Peoples of this Country have understood the power of story to shape and reshape our understanding of ourselves and our world, a continuing practice from which we can all draw inspiration.’ Laurel Cohn