The Frost Place is pleased to offer a very limited number of manuscript reviews, provided by our board members, Rachel Richardson and Neil Shepard. Read on to learn about these esteemed writers and their approach to the task.
Rachel Richardson’s Approach to Manuscript Review
If you’ve taken your book project as far as you can on your own, I can provide the perspective to help you see it more globally, sharpening its voice and arc. My particular strength and interest is the cohesive themed book project, but I am open to all sorts of collections. In my manuscript review, I provide an annotated reading of the work, offering line edits and guidance on individual poems as needed, with a larger focus on the book’s overall goals. Unlike the individual poem workshop, I will view the work as a book, considering themes, voice, tonal shifts, questions of arc and order, and more, to help you address big picture issues as well as zoom in on the smaller details that will polish your work to its most brilliant completion.
You will receive an annotated manuscript (via Google Doc or Word) as well as a detailed letter highlighting central takeaways to consider. During a follow-up Zoom meeting (approximately one hour), I will discuss my findings with you and address any questions or concerns you may have regarding your next steps in editing and publication.
Rachel Richardson has taught for two decades in Creative Writing programs, including at UNC Chapel Hill, University of Michigan, Stanford, and most recently as Distinguished Visiting Writer in the MFA program at St. Mary’s College of California. She has directed dozens of students’ graduate theses, many of which have gone on to become prize-winning books of poems, as well as consulting as a freelance editor with working writers at all stages of manuscript development. Rachel has been awarded an NEA Fellowship and a Wallace Stegner Fellowship for her poetry, and her work appears in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Orion, American Poetry Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of three books, most recently Smother, released in spring 2025 by W. W. Norton & Co. Rachel lives and writes in Berkeley, California, and serves on the Board of The Frost Place.
Neil Shepard’s Approach to Manuscript Review
I offer an intensive reading and critique of every poem in a book-length manuscript, starting with line-edits and extensive comments on each poem, then turning to macro considerations of movement from poem to poem, connection from section to section, and overall arc and intention of the manuscript.
I offer a lengthy summary of the whole manuscript, highlighting strengths and weaknesses (including book title and table of contents), possible deletions or rearrangements of poems, and suggesting new directions, if necessary. I prefer to write notes digitally on the manuscript, using Word or Google Docs. After the poet receives my manuscript review, we set up an hour-long conference by Zoom or phone for further discussion and clarification.
Neil Shepard’s latest collection, The Book of Failures, came out in 2024. How It Is: Selected Poems was published in 2018 by Salmon Poetry (Ireland), and in 2019, he edited Vermont Poets & Their Craft (Green Writers Press, VT). His poems appear in the Harvard Review, Massachusetts Review, New England Review, North American Review, Paris Review, Ploughshares, Sewanee Review, Southern Review, and online at Poetry Daily, Verse Daily and Poem-a-Day. He founded the literary magazine Green Mountains Review and was Senior Editor for a quarter-century; he currently edits the online literary magazine Plant-Human Quarterly. Shepard taught for many years in the BFA writing program at Johnson State College (VT) and in the low-residency MFA writing program at Wilkes University (PA), where he routinely supervised book-length poetry theses, and he has worked privately with dozens of poets to prepare their manuscripts for publication. For the past decade, he has taught workshops at Poets House (NYC), and has been a frequent visiting writer at the Chautauqua Writers Institute and Ossabaw Island Writers Retreat. Shepard has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland, and serves on the Boards of Sundog Poetry in Vermont and The Frost Place in New Hampshire.
Details
You can expect the reviewer’s feedback in 4-8 weeks, depending on the length of your submission.
Manuscript review will not begin until payment is made. The cost will be determined by the number of pages, as described below.
Cost:
- $750 Chapbook (up to 30 manuscript pages)
- $1200 Book (up to 60 manuscript pages)
- +$200 Every additional 10 pages
Note: Each poem should begin on a new page. Front matter, section headers, and other notes are not included in the total page count — only pages with poems.
Email frost@frostplace.org with any questions, or submit your work below. We look forward to hearing from you!