Filter Testimonials
Ten Minute Consultation With a Gorgeous Baddie
My ten minute live consultation with Taj McCoy, was so helpful and straight to the point. Not only does she have a kind aura, she was able to spot what was I missing in my first page instantly, she was clear and concise with her feedback, and gave me encouraging words to keep pursuing my goal of becoming a published author. Thank you!
Kathie L Pham
October 1, 2025
Noelle Was Terrific!
Noelle first offered valuable suggestions on what to add—and what to cut—from my query letter. She then reviewed the first ten pages of my novel, providing guidance on how to enliven the writing and offering advice on developing deeper descriptions of my main characters.
Warren Cook
September 30, 2025
Hannah was professional, insightful, and kind.
She was able to pinpoint my blindspots and suggest some tweaks that will go a long way in making my opening pages as clear and polished as possible. She also offered up additional comp titles with similar subject matter and POV. Speaking with an industry professional to clear up my doubts gave me the confidence I needed to move forward with querying.
Corina
September 30, 2025
Invaluable!
The time flies, but it is invaluable to have direct feedback. I am so grateful to Jessica for walking me through her thoughts and reactions. The session provided clarity of what was working and what wasn’t and directed me in how to keep workshopping certain query lines I was struggling with. She even caught a grammar error in my first few pages that I’ve glazed over 100 times- so grateful!
Kellsie Moore
September 29, 2025
Great Feedback!
Noelle gave me such great feedback on my query! She was so nice and very constructive. She helped me talk through the changes I should make and what I should keep, and overall made me feel way more confident about what I’m sending out to agents. Thanks again!
Dallas Boudreaux
September 29, 2025
Super clear feedback
I had a great call with Erica about my query and first 10 pages. Even though I signed up for the call very last minute, she asked beforehand if I had any specific questions to focus on. She walked me through her feedback for my query paragraph by paragraph and gave me suggestions for places I could improve. Also, I had trouble connecting to the meet on my desktop, and she still spent the full 15 minutes with me, which I really appreciated.
Caitlin
September 29, 2025
The Best
Kiana was exceptional! She was very thorough and gave me the most useful advice and concrete actions that helped me completely revise my entire query letter. I’m looking forward to working with her again in the future! THANK YOU KIANA!
Cora
September 28, 2025
Clear-eyed Consultation w/ Erica
My 15 minutes w/ Erica were so helpful! She emailed the day before to ask if I had any questions or topics we should be sure to cover; she was mindful of using our time well, and she was overall friendly and positive. I left w/ 3-4 clear, actionable items to revise on my query and pages. I highly recommend Erica!
Stacy
September 28, 2025
Ismita Hussain One on One
I thoroughly enjoyed my one on one session with Ismita and learned a lot. She is rigorous, knowledgeable, and still manages to be friendly. I would recommend her without hesitation.
Douglas Wood
September 27, 2025
A Jessica Felleman Rave
I had my one on one zoom meeting (Query/10 pages) with Jessica a few days ago and couldn’t be happier with her feedback. Her insights into my query and pages were spot on. She let me know potential problems clearly but in a generous way that was not intimidating or overwhelming. Jessica is professional and approachable and I would recommend her sessions 100%.
Douglas Wood
September 27, 2025
Sometimes the first 30 pages need a boost
So far, I have received over 50 rejections to my query letter package for my middle-grade fantasy, ORANGEWORLD.` I’ve tweaked the query and first page over the past year with the help of the agents and editors from Manuscript Academy such that the most recent batch of rejections have been very encouraging and downright positive. But still no takers.
For that reason I decided to refocus on the first 30 pages and work with a seasoned editor to make them “sing.” Krista Vitola is an editor at Simon and Schuster and specializes in Young Readers. If you read her bio, you will understand my choice. Plus she was familiar with my story, having already done a query letter review for ORANGEWORLD earlier in the year. (It’s about a troubled boy who enters a magic pumpkin where every day is Halloween in search of this father’s spirit.)
So I figured it was time to slice and dice the first 7 chapters / 30 pages, and I’m glad I did.
I wish we had longer to talk. There’s not enough time in 30 minutes to cover everything, but with the written editorial notes Krista provided me a week before our appointment, I knew well in advance what I had to do. Even before our meeting, I followed her written advice and took a crack at getting to the inciting incident sooner in the first chapter, so by the second chapter readers would be well into the story. I moved scenes around. I cut extraneous dialogue. I relocated flashback memories.
We used the 30 minutes to discuss the new changes I had already made, just to make sure I understood her written notes correctly. And now I’m on my way to check and see if the changes made affect the rest of the story. Yes, there is more work to do, but it’s better than sending in the same 30 pages and facing more rejections, right?
Getting an outside point of view from a professional and paying for it, gave me the impetus to do what’s necessary to make improvements. Let’s just hope the next 50 responses from agents include several requests for “fulls.”
Krista Vitola gets an A+.
Marilyn Petrokubi
September 27, 2025
Most Impactful Ten Minutes
Wow. I was at a point in the querying process where rejections were coming in without much context, and I’d been overanalyzing my submission components to death. Ten minutes with Amy provided clarity on impactful revisions, and more than that, the path to get my arms around a fix that I feel SO excited about. Amy is deeply insightful, direct and kind. My book has a brand new opening, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to learn from Amy’s expertise. Thanks Manuscript Academy team for creating that possibility!
K A Bacon
September 27, 2025