A few weeks ago I put out a short survey: if you’ve worked with a writing coach, editor, or course — mine or anyone else’s — I wanted to hear about it. What it cost. What changed. What you’d tell another writer before they signed up for anything.
This isn’t a finished report. It’s early — eleven responses so far, from writers at every stage, working with everyone from small MFA-adjacent programs to $6,000 mentorships to, in more than one case, ChatGPT. I’m publishing what’s here now because it’s already interesting, and because I’d rather show my work as it comes in than wait and present something polished after the fact. I’ll update this page as more responses arrive.
What people have invested, and how it went
| Coach / Program | Investment | Satisfaction (1-10) |
|---|---|---|
| University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies + private mentorship (J. Kent Messum) | $6,000, 2 years | 8 |
| Steven James & Robert Dugoni — Novel Writing Intensive retreat | $2,800 | 10 |
| Lisa Cron (1-on-1) | $3,000 | 7 |
| Colgate Writers’ Conference (3x) | ~$2,500 per week | 9 |
| April Davila (craft + mentorship) | Time only | 9 |
| Daniel David Wallace summits + ChatGPT as editor | Free | 9 |
| ChatGPT (self-directed) | Free | 7 |
| Seth — year-long coaching | $5,000, 1 year | 9 |
| Seth — Pro Writing Aid Summer Novel Camp session | ~1 hour | 9 |
| Seth + Lynn Stegner (Stanford Creative Writing Program) | Mostly time | 7 |
| Seth (1-on-1) | ~$4,000 | 10 |
A small sample, and one that’s naturally weighted toward people already in my orbit — worth being upfront about that rather than pretending otherwise. I’m actively working to get responses from a wider pool before drawing any firm conclusions.
A few things that stood out early
Structure without follow-through was a repeated gap.
More than one respondent described getting solid instruction on individual scenes or techniques, but no guidance on pulling a full manuscript together. One writer, after two years and $6,000 in a certificate and mentorship program, put it this way:
“My mentor only worked with me on individual scenes and polishing, but didn’t go into revising the entire work, so I got overwhelmed when I pasted the scenes together and it was a mess.”
AI tools are already part of the picture, for real reasons.
Two respondents described using ChatGPT as a working substitute for a coach — not as a novelty, but out of necessity. One was direct about why: “I use Chat because I’m a senior on a fixed income.” Another, writing from South Korea, called it useful “like a teacher,” alongside podcasts and craft videos, while noting its limits: “Chat is a terrible writer and probably a terrible editor, so my challenge is weeding through suggestions.”
Cost came up unprompted, more than once.
Nobody was asked directly about affordability, but it surfaced anyway. One respondent, further along in the craft but limited financially, wrote: “I’ve come to learn that a book coach is essential but also a barrier to entry … I cannot afford what every single one of these people are asking for.”
Worth sitting with, regardless of what else this survey eventually shows.
Small, in-person, and specific tends to be remembered well.
The highest satisfaction scores so far cluster around small-group, in-person formats with direct feedback — a week-long retreat with a 15-person cap, a Novel Camp session focused specifically on pacing and scene revision. Several respondents pointed to a specific technical shift (verb choice, scene-by-scene analysis, cutting ruthlessly) as the thing that actually moved their writing forward, more than general encouragement did.
Those two findings — cost as a real barrier, and small/live/specific feedback as what actually sticks — are part of why I started running free live office hours for anyone who’s taken one of my courses and joined the private student Facebook group. It’s a standing space to bring an actual scene and get eyes on it, live, at no added cost. More than one person there has told me it’s the single most useful thing they’ve gotten out of working with me — not because it’s fancy, but for the same reasons showing up in this data: it’s small, it’s specific, and money isn’t the thing standing in the way of getting help.
Where this goes next
I’ll keep updating this page as more responses come in — the goal is a genuinely useful, honest picture of what’s worked for writers, not a highlight reel. If you’ve worked with a coach, editor, or course on your writing, I’d still love to hear from you:
Takes about 5 minutes. If you’ve worked with more than one, feel free to fill it out again for each.
And if you’re already in my Facebook group, you know where to find office hours. If you’re not, and you’ve picked up one of my courses, come join us. The link is in the first module of your course.
