How VRS CRFT works:
VRS CRFT offers a wide variety of services for poets.
Sometimes community workshops, critique circles, and even MFA programs are not enough. We live in a world of distractions and a Poetry Coach can assist you in meeting your personal goals.
We begin with an email discussion. You explain your personal background, experiences with poetry and the poetry community, your favorite poets and poems (as well as other writers and literary works), and any information that you feel will assist in explaining what you expect of a Poetry Coach.
Next we discuss what services are right for you. In general, it is recommended you begin with a submission of 1-6 poems or low price à la carte service.
Payments may be made via Venmo/Cash app/ PayPal (etc) or by personal check.
General Services:
1 Poem: Formative feedback. Line edits. — $20
6 Poems: Formative feedback. Line edits. — $100
Application Sample (10-12 pages of poetry): Comments and suggestions for revision. — $250
Chapbook (18-32 pages): $500 base price (query to discuss specifics)
Full-length Collection (48-64 pages): $1200 base price (query to discuss specifics)
(Those interested in receiving feedback on a full-length collection should first submit a sample of at least 6 poems to receive feedback. If you are then interested in working with me on organizing your full-length collection the price of initial feedback (up to $25) will be credited toward work on your collection.)
Personalized Services:
Suggested Reading: Send me a selection of your poems (10 you consider your best, 5 recent, 5 in progress) and I will formulate a list of poems that I think you should read (and re-read). Contact to discuss fee.
Personalized Prompts: Send me a selection of your poems (10 you consider your best, 5 recent, 5 in progress) and I will formulate 3 personalized prompts to encourage the creation of new work. Contact to discuss fee.
Submission Goals: Discuss strategy for submissions, staying on track, appropriate markets for your poetry. Contact to discuss fee.
Submission Database: How to create an effective spreadsheet to manage your submissions. It took me several years to develop a system that works for me; I’d like to think I can help expedite the process for you. Contact to discuss fee.
Straight Up & Down: You send a large quantity of poems and I give a thumbs up or thumbs down about including these poems in a collection. Contact to discuss fee.
Creation to Submission: Send a draft and we will email back and forth until we agree the poem is ready to be submitted for publication. I will then recommend 5 (or more) markets that I believe will be good targets for publication. (Example: 1 top tier, 3 mid-tier, 2 approachable aka. higher acceptance rates.) Contact to discuss fee.
The Dues Ex Machina: Emailed weekly (or for a slightly larger fee snail mailed) snippets of [perhaps somewhat cryptic] information for inspiration. As Cameron Conaway once told me, “Writers do not suffer from writer’s block, they suffer from curiosity block.” We also know there’s a fine line between the right amount of research and too much research when you enter a poem. Poets are notorious for useful misremembering, appropriating the accidental, and taking material out of context for our own greedy purposes. The poet must do this though as if gathering sacrificial offerings to appease an ancient god. Contact to discuss fee.
Motivation (as needed): Find yourself staring at a blank page, overwhelmed? Don’t panic! Email me and we can correspond back and forth to get at the root of what you want to write about. Contact to discuss fee.
Mentoring Program:
3 hours / month
6 hours / month
12 hours / month (3 hours each week)
16 hours / month (4 hours each week)
Payments:
Payments may be made via Venmo/Cash app/ PayPal (etc) or by personal check.
Please add a note indicating the service(s) requested.
Contact:
VRSCRFT@gmail.com
(Attn. Mark Danowsky)
