Poetry manuscripts, full-length and chapbook: I will respond to poem order, sections, overall title, poems to omit/include, and provide some line edits. My process involves printing out and re-ordeirng the manuscript, noting the strongest poems, and writing a response commenting on themes, motifs, and elements of craft. Price depends on page count and amount of line edits required, as well as grammar/punctuation errors, but generally runs $300-$500.
Smaller batches of poems: I’m happy to read and respond to batches of poems, in an ongoing capacity or once. My responses include pointing out what’s working as well as making suggestions and asking questions.
Prose: While my primary expertise is poetry, I also write and teach creative nonfiction. I’m happy to look at individual essays, from flash to full-length. For a chapbook or full-length manuscript, we would need to confer about what sort of response would be most helpful to you.
We will work out the best way to communicate about each project. The default is email, but we can arrange in-person meetings, video calls, or instant messaging as needed.
Please contact me using the form below for more information, scheduling, and prices. My standard fee is $60/hour.
NOTE: I have 20+ years experience teaching creative writing (poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction) at the college and university level, and over 10 years as co-founder and editor of a literary magazine and chapbook press. I focus on helping writers accomplish what they want to do, rather than dictating a particular aesthetic or approach. This blog post of mine might help explain my philosophy.
TESTIMONIAL: “I had been writing poetry for about 10 years and had a number of my poems published in mostly local journals. I realized my next step was to get a chapbook published, easier said then done. I had sent out my manuscript to several publishers without success. I was told often that I needed a theme and that the poems were all OVER THE PLACE and very difficult to combine in any one manuscript. I was becoming frustrated because I wasn’t able to objectively look at my work, see my best writing and see which poems could be grouped together to make a whole. I was lucky enough to get the help I so badly needed from Katie Riegel. She read all the poems I had written and did what other professional writers couldn’t do. She identified my best poems and made suggestions and comments on them that made them even stronger. She also was able to identify 3 themes which although different were able to be side by side speaking to each other! No other reader was able to do this. Her line by line analysis of each poem led to a chapbook which had been given the kind of detailed attention that publishers look for. I am happy to say that the finished chapbook, Ripe, has been accepted for publication by Finishing Line Press and should be available in a few months. (Now available!) This acceptance happened after only a few months of Katie and I working together. I don’t believe this would have happened without her excellent guidance in every aspect of writing poetry. I am so grateful for her help and recommend her unreservedly!” –Evelyn Ann Romano
Katherine (Katie) Riegel 