Got questions? We've got answers!
We offer a 7-day 100% money-back guarantee. If you're not blown away by your editor and the program structure, we'll gladly refund your payment. This is extremely unlikely (check out our Success Stories!), but rest assured that you'll get your money back if you're not happy with the Accelerator.
Look who wants to get ahead! When you sign up for the Accelerator, you'll take a fun little survey that tells us about your project and your writing life. You'll also give us a peek at what you have so far. Our editorial team will review those answers and let you know where in the program we think you should start.
Phase 1 takes most writers 5 weeks. There are 2 "bonus weeks" you can use if a particular assignment takes you longer than one week or if your editor has suggested revising an exercise in their feedback. If you are working on a novel that involves world-building of any kind (e.g., in sci-fi, magic realism, etc.), you will have an extra week focused on that.
Phase 2 takes as long as you need it to take. A good guideline is expecting to have your rough draft finished in six months.
Phase 3 takes three weeks for fiction, five weeks for nonfiction.
Get out your wide-angle lens: Phase 1 is all about looking at the big picture. What's the point of your story? What does your protagonist want? Who is your ideal reader? What is the best structure for your book? The lessons and exercises aren't focused on what you might be writing that week — and that's the point! To get the big picture nailed down before you put the words on the page. We have found that taking the time to do this work can save you literally years of frustration!
Just to put all cards on the table, 95% of new writers start in Phase 1. It's an awesome starting point because it's only five weeks long and it sets you up for success in a big way (even if you already have part of your manuscript written). Our writers RAVE about it.
Yes! If you've already got a jumpstart on your book, we can go through your pages and offer suggestions for revisions. You'd send a synopsis of your book to your editor so they know where they're jumping into the plot, and then they can see you through to the end.
Absolutely! That's what Phase 1 is designed to do — get you started!
In Phase 1, we want to see your big-picture exercises. You get clear assignments each week, with clear deliverables.
In Phase 2, bring on the writing! You get to submit up to 10 pages of text each week. Though most writers who join the program submit their pages in chronological order from start to finish, we're flexible. If you want to work on Chapter 10 before Chapter 2, be our guest! (Just give your editor a heads up first!)
As you go through the program, you and your editor may decide that you should revise a chapter or section before moving forward with new stuff. We know, we know — that's not as much fun as writing something new. But you don't want a finished draft that's full of holes, right? So if you decide to revise a section one week, submit only the revised material on your next submission day — up to that 10-page mark. Once you're on the right track, your editor will let you know that it's full steam ahead.
In Phase 3, it's back to assigned exercises as you develop your book proposal and pitch materials.
In general, you want to stick to 10 pages. We know that's tricky because you want to send completed chapters and it would be silly to have them all be exactly 10 pages, but we can get a really good sense for where the chapter's going even if we don't see the whole thing. So if you have a chapter that's longer than 10 pages, send your editor the 10 pages you really want them to look at. If you have a couple of chapters that are shorter, send them a mix of the two (or more!) that add up to 10. Any huge issues probably won't be lurking in the few pages they may not see.
If you want to write at a faster clip, you can submit up to 20 pages a week for double the Accelerator price. Please email accelerate@authoraccelerator.com for more info.
If you want to submit fewer than 10 pages on any given week, that's just fine. Some weeks are like that — and we applaud forward momentum of any kind! The price remains the same any amount of pages fewer than 10.
In general, you want to stick to 10 pages. We know that's tricky because you want to send completed chapters and it would be silly to have them all be exactly 10 pages, but we can get a really good sense forIf a reader isn't immediately grabbed by the story (the real story, the whole story) in the first 10 pages, they're never going to get to page 50. You can't hook your reader by what happens in Chapter 12 or 25 or 37. You have to hook them from the start and at every point throughout! One of the things an editor looks for is that engagement with your audience.
And some insider info: An agent will usually read less than FIVE pages before making a decision. You have to hook them fast!
The Accelerator program is designed to be an affordable way for writers who feel fairly strong about their book structure to get chapter-by-chapter feedback, either as they are writing an initial draft or working on a revision. We can do a lot of good work going 10 pages at a time. Sometimes that work involves ripping things apart and putting them back together — which can be a frustrating process to be sure. But again, it has proved very useful for writers who have never had the experience of working with a professional editor.
If you're thinking that you would like an editor to read your entire manuscript from start to finish and provide insight on the overall story before you dig in to fixing it, we provide that service for $5/page and set aside several weeks to focus on it.
You'll have a designated day of the week to submit your work. Your day is based on when you signed up for the program — it's usually the day after you sign up. For example, if you sign up for the program on a Monday, your submission day will likely be Tuesday. (The caveat is if you sign up very late in the day, your submission day may be held one day. Our email system doesn't like to stay up late.) You'll receive feedback from your editor within 72 hours of you hitting the "send" button.
Yes! The day's not over until 11:59 p.m. PT, and neither are we. Just know that the timer on the 72-hour window for receiving your feedback starts when you submit.
We'll counter this with a question of our own: Don't you want as much time as possible to work on your exercises and polish your pages? Just because you're working on a "rough" draft doesn't mean you should speed through anything, so the short answer is no.
Take advantage of the full seven days, and remember that each of our editors is working with several writers at a time. They have a block of time set aside for you every week, but if you submit on a day that isn't your submission day, they might not be able to respond within that 72-hour window. And we hate to keep you waiting!
If your submission day conflicts with your real life, talk with your editor about choosing a different day of the week that fits both of your schedules. We're usually pretty flexible!
Never fear — life happens! If you ever think you'll be late submitting your work, just email your editor letting them know they shouldn't expect your submission at the normal time. If you think you just need a few hours to get it done, ask them if they can accommodate you submitting it up to a day late. Any later than that, though, and we enter no man's land where submissions are lost and editors start going crazy. So if that's the case, just hold your work until your next submission day.
Also, realize that accountability is a big part of the value of the program. If you miss a submission deadline, you can expect an email from the editor asking for your pages. With the Accelerator, you have to hit your deadlines (just like working with a publisher).
And always remember that the 72-hour window for receiving feedback starts when you hit the "send" button.
When you sign up for the program, you'll get a little email invitation to join your very own Dropbox folder, where you can upload your weekly submissions and receive feedback from your editor. All submissions should be in a Microsoft Word document, since our editors give their feedback using Word's Track Changes tool. Have no clue what that is? Click here for a little tutorial!
If you're writing in Scrivener, awesome! But please cut and paste your text into a Word document before uploading your pages to Dropbox.
When you've uploaded your work, email your editor to let them know you're eagerly waiting to hear from them.
When you sign up for the program, you'll be invited via email to join your personal Dropbox folder, where you can upload your weekly submissions and get your editor's feedback. There's also a welcome packet in there, and, if you're doing Phase I, a folder with the weekly lessons and exercises.
Using Dropbox cuts out the risk of lost email attachments and streamlines the submission process for our editors, all of whom are busy working with several writers at a time.
If you're wondering what the heck we're talking about, or at least have never used Dropbox, here's a little tutorial to get you started.
We highly recommend downloading your Dropbox folder to your computer, so you don't have to keep going to the website to access your documents. The tutorial explains the magic behind how that works.
A dedicated, highly trained professional hand-picked by Jennie Nash. All of our editors have been trained on the editorial feedback system that Jennie developed, and hired for their ability to edit for mechanics, content and flow, as well as their compassion toward writers. Our goal is to have the same editor work with you week by week and month by month. With vacations and unforeseeable situations, that could change, of course, but we work hard to avoid that.
One of our editors will look over the pages you submit each week and offer both developmental (big-picture) editing and detailed suggestions right on the page. Edits could be as broad as restructuring a scene or working on dialogue, or as small as clarifying pronoun usage. Your feedback will always be a mixture of both.
Now keep in mind that your editor won't be making line-by-line comments on your work. That would be overwhelming for both of you, and is more in line with what a one-on-one, private book coach might do! We try each week to pick out the most important elements to focus on, since this isn't an intensive line-editing or proofreading service.
How you respond to your feedback depends — of course — on what your editor is suggesting. While your editor should let you know what they expect to see the following week, never hesitate to ask if their expectations are ever unclear.
Here are a few scenarios you might come across each week:
- Your editor points out several big structural and developmental issues with your pages that need to be solidified before you move forward because they will affect plot developments, character motivations, or issues in the logic of your argument later on. WHAT TO DO: Spend the following week revising and solidifying these points. It could even take longer than one week, but that's OK! Taking the time to nail down the foundation now will avoid major problems (e.g., plot holes, weak characters, weak arguments, etc.) in the future. Resubmit the revised pages at the end of the week.
- Your editor points out 2-3 developmental issues, but the remainder of their feedback consists of minor, easy-to-fix edits. WHAT TO DO:You have some flexibility if the issues your editor points out won't necessarily impact later parts of your story.
- You can spend time revising the sections that contain developmental issues and resubmit the full 10 pages, if you'd like to get the section nailed down before moving forward.
- You can spend time revising the sections that contain developmental issues and submit just the pages that contain those changes. If those pages don't add up to 10, you can submit additional pages with new material, but not past the 10-page limit.
- If you're itching to keep going, you can save the recommended edits for later and work on and submit new material for the following week. You can then resubmit the revised chapter when you're ready to go back to it.
- Your editor feels your pages are in good shape and suggests mostly minor, easy-to-fix edits. WHAT TO DO: Pat yourself on the back! Then spend the following week on the next section you'd like to work on and submit a new set of pages.
You'll have the chance to ask quick clarifying questions via email about any comment or strategy your editor suggests you so that you can keep moving forward. If you think you'll need a deeper level of communication with your editor, check out our Pro level, which is designed to give you just that.
You can switch between levels at any time. Just contact Jade (jade@authoraccelerator.com), our manager of operations.
Think of the Accelerator as a gym membership for your book. If you pay for a membership each month, aren't you more likely to go to the gym to get the most of out it? Of course! The Accelerator's fixed monthly payments are designed to keep you writing, making your book stronger, and getting the most out of your membership with us.
To keep with the gym metaphor, while you can pause your Accelerator program, you can only do so for a month at a time. We don't want you falling into the trap of taking short breaks — that sounds more like procrastination. And we're all about accountability!
Of course we know life is crazy and unpredictable, and we understand if something comes up that needs to be a priority over your writing. You can pause your program for a minimum of one month and come back whenever you're ready, at exactly where you left off in your lessons and rough draft. And we won't take your money during the break.
That's the million-dollar question! Our program is meant to get you to a finished rough draft in about six months, but every writer is different and every book is different. So you may find you stay in the program for shorter or longer.
You can stay forever if you want to! But as much as we would love that, it won't take you that long to finish your rough draft. You can stay in the Accelerator as long as you need to finish.. The extension after the initial six months continues in the same way, with daily emails, weekly lessons and videos from Jennie, and editorial feedback.
Options, options, options!
Option 1: We're developing a 2- to 3-month revision program that would run like the Accelerator — daily emails, weekly lessons and videos from Jennie, and weekly feedback — but would be solely focused on revising. So once you have a completed rough draft you could sign up for the revision program, or you could decide you're tired of accountability and feedback and want to go your own way to revise. We would understand, and the pain would subside eventually.
Option 2: We offer full-manuscript editing, where one of our editors reviews your rough draft front to back and makes structural and developmental edits. This can be done before or after you go through the revision process (or both!)
Option 3: Our pitch program helps you prepare your manuscript for showing off to literary agents. You will research agents, create a book proposal and draft queries, as well as prepare a pitch designed for writing conferences. It's available as both a self-study course, and with feedback.
WITH AN ACCELERATOR MEMBERSHIP, YOU'LL GET...
