Services — Mentorship, Tutoring & Publishing with James Mulhern

A Note from James

Six Ways We Might Work Together

I am a novelist and poet, a Kirkus-starred author, an Oxford writing fellow, and — for more than thirty years — a teacher of English and writing at the high-school and college level. The services below grow out of that life. Each one names, plainly, what you are buying and what it costs. If something here is close but not quite right, write to me and we will design it together.

Service 01 · For Writers

Book Mentor & Manuscript Coaching

Have you been carrying a novel, a memoir, a poetry collection, or a book of stories — and need a steady reader to walk it through with you? Let's sit down together, page by page, until the book becomes itself.

What you are purchasing

One-to-one editorial mentorship from a working novelist. In each hour I read your pages in advance and meet you on Zoom (or in person, if geography allows) to give you targeted feedback on:

Structure, pacing, and scene shape
Voice, point of view, and prose-line craft
Character development and dramatic logic
Revision strategy — what to cut, what to grow, what to leave alone
A clear, written next-step plan after every session

Best for writers in the middle of a manuscript who want sustained, expert company. Not a copy-edit or proofread — for those, see Silver Current Press below.

Single Hour: $95per hour
Six-Session Arc: $525six hours · save $45
Full Manuscript Mentorship: $2,800flat · ~30 hours over 4–6 months

Typical timeline: Weekly or biweekly Zoom sessions. Single hours can be booked one at a time; the six-session arc runs over six to eight weeks; the full mentorship spans four to six months from first reading to final pages.

Begin a Conversation

Service 02 · For Students

English, Writing & Standardized-Test Tutoring

Is there a high-school or college student in your house who could use a patient, experienced reader at their elbow? Whether it is a college essay, an AP exam, the SAT, or a stubborn paragraph that will not behave — let's fix it together, one hour at a time.

What you are purchasing

One-to-one tutoring from a thirty-year veteran of the high-school and college English classroom and a former AP English Consultant for the College Board and the National Math & Science Initiative. Sessions cover:

Essay writing — analytical, argumentative, personal, college-application
Grammar, sentence craft, and revision habits
Close reading of literature (novels, poetry, drama, nonfiction)
AP English Language & Composition exam preparation
SAT and ACT Reading & Writing sections, plus the essay
Study skills, annotation, and how to plan a long paper

Sessions are 60 minutes on Zoom. Parents are welcome to sit in on the first session.

One-on-One: $75per hour
Small Group: $35per student, per hour · min. 4
10-Hour Package: $675flat · 1-on-1 · save $75
Test-Prep Bootcamp: $825flat · 12 hours over 6–10 weeks

Typical timeline: One 60-minute Zoom session per week. Most students see real progress in six to eight weeks; AP, SAT, and ACT prep generally runs eight to twelve weeks ahead of the exam.

Inquire About Tutoring

Service 03 · For Curious Adults

Adult Small-Group Literary Seminars

Would you and a few friends like to spend a season inside a great book, a strange poet, or the craft of writing itself? Gather four or more — round a kitchen table or on a private Zoom — and I will lead the seminar.

What you are purchasing

A privately convened seminar for your group, designed around whatever you want to read or learn. I prepare the syllabus, the discussion questions, and any short writing prompts. You bring the curiosity and the wine. Sample seminars I have led or designed:

A close reading of one major novel — Beloved, Middlemarch, The Great Gatsby
A poet in depth — Yeats, Bishop, Heaney, Plath, Dickinson
The personal essay or memoir, as a writing workshop
Short-story craft for new and returning writers
"How to read a poem" — a four-session crash course
Any topic in literature or writing you would like to design with me

Minimum four participants. Typical seminar runs four to six weekly sessions of 75–90 minutes. Custom topics welcome.

Adult Seminar: $65per person, per hour · min. 4
Four-Session Series: $220per person, flat · four 90-min sessions
Private Single Talk: $400flat · one 90-min session for the whole group

Typical timeline: One 75- to 90-minute session per week. A four-session series runs about a month; a six-session deep-dive runs about a season. Syllabus and reading list delivered one week before the first meeting.

Gather Your Group

Service 04 · For Schools & Teachers

AP English Language & Composition Consulting

Are you a department chair, an AP Lang teacher, or a school leader trying to lift your program? I have spent decades inside AP English Language & Composition on both sides of the desk — let's look at your course together.

What you are purchasing

Expert consulting from a former AP English Language & Composition Consultant for the College Board and the National Math & Science Initiative, and a two-time English & Social Studies Department Chair. Engagements focus specifically on the AP English Language & Composition exam and include:

AP English Language & Composition course audit and redesign
Rhetorical analysis, argument, and synthesis-essay pedagogy
FRQ scoring norming and rubric calibration for teachers
Multiple-choice strategy and stimulus-text selection
Mock-exam design and post-exam data review
Vertical-team planning that feeds AP Lang from grades 9–11
Coaching sessions for new AP Lang teachers

Available remotely or, for schools within reach, on-site. Half-day and full-day flat rates available on request.

Consulting Hour: $185per hour
Half-Day PD: $650flat · up to 4 hours · whole department
Full-Day PD: $1,150flat · up to 7 hours · whole department
Annual Coach Retainer: $4,200flat · 24 hours over the school year

Typical timeline: Single consulting hours scheduled within two to three weeks; PD days delivered on a date you choose, with planning calls in the prior four to six weeks; annual retainers run August through May with monthly touch-points.

Request a Consultation

Service 05 · For Programs & Educators

Curriculum Design

Do you have an English course, a creative-writing program, or a humanities sequence that needs to be built from the ground up — or rebuilt with care? Let's design it the way good books are written: with a clear arc, a strong voice, and not a wasted page.

What you are purchasing

Custom curriculum design from a working novelist, longtime English teacher, and former Department Chair. Deliverables typically include:

A semester or full-year scope-and-sequence document
Unit plans with essential questions, texts, and assessments
Reading lists curated for your students and your aims
Sample lesson plans and signature assignments
Aligned rubrics for writing, reading, and discussion
Optional teacher-facing pacing guide and PD session

Works equally well for independent schools, public-school departments, homeschool co-ops, and adult learning programs. Project-rate quotes available after a free 20-minute scoping call.

Design Hour: $150per hour
Full Unit Plan: $1,100flat · 3–4 week unit
Semester Course: $3,800flat · full semester scope & sequence
Full-Year Course: $6,800flat · year-long course with PD

Typical timeline: Unit plans delivered in five to seven weeks; semester courses in ten to fourteen weeks; full-year courses in fourteen to eighteen weeks, with a midpoint draft review and one round of revisions included in every flat-fee project.

Start a Project

Service 06 · For Authors

Publishing & Editorial Services

Have you finished a manuscript — or nearly so — and need the real professional treatment? Manuscript evaluation, developmental editing, line editing, copyediting, proofreading, interior formatting, publishing consultation, and a full-service publishing package are all available through my imprint.

What you are purchasing

A full slate of editorial and production services through Silver Current Press, the literary imprint I founded. Each service is scoped, quoted, and delivered with care. Each entry below describes precisely what is included and what is not.

I · Manuscript Evaluation — $650–$1,800 · up to 4 weeks

A diagnostic read of the whole manuscript, delivered as a single editorial letter. No marks in the manuscript itself. Best when a writer wants to know whether the book is working — and where — before committing to a full edit.

Deliverable: One editorial letter of roughly 4–6 double-spaced pages, in PDF.

Included: Assessment of premise, structure, pacing, character, voice, and prose; a prioritized revision roadmap; one 45-minute follow-up call within 30 days.

Not included: In-manuscript margin comments; line-level rewrites; copyediting; proofreading; a second letter.

Best for: A complete first or second draft when you are deciding what to do next.

II · Developmental Editing — $0.05–$0.08 / word · up to 8 weeks

The deepest edit we offer — a scene-by-scene reading of the manuscript with editorial queries throughout, followed by a long revision letter. For manuscripts that are asking large questions of themselves.

Deliverable: Your manuscript in Microsoft Word with tracked changes and margin comments at the scene, chapter, and section level; plus an editorial letter of roughly 8–12 double-spaced pages, in PDF.

Included: Structural and craft response throughout; one 45-minute call after delivery; 30 days of clarifying questions by email at no additional charge.

Not included: Line-level rewrites paragraph by paragraph; copyediting; proofreading; fact-checking; a second pass after revision (quoted separately).

Best for: A complete draft that needs structural work before it can be polished.

III · Line Edit — $0.035–$0.055 / word · up to 6 weeks

Sentence-by-sentence work on the prose itself — rhythm, clarity, register, image, and the slow business of finding the writer’s truest voice on the page. Assumes the structure is settled.

Deliverable: Your manuscript in Microsoft Word with tracked-changes edits to nearly every paragraph and margin queries where alternatives are offered; plus a short editorial note of 600–1,200 words summarizing recurring patterns and stylistic choices.

Included: Paragraph-level revisions; cuts, condensings, and reorderings within passages; suggested rewordings; consistency of voice; 30 days of clarifying questions at no charge.

Not included: Structural changes or chapter reorganization (those belong to developmental editing); grammar-only correction (that is copyediting); proofreading; rewriting in another voice.

Best for: A revised, structurally finished manuscript ready for craft-level attention.

IV · Copyedit — $0.025–$0.040 / word · up to 5 weeks

Grammar, syntax, usage, punctuation, and house style applied with a light editorial hand. The manuscript’s last serious read before it is typeset.

Deliverable: Your manuscript in Microsoft Word with tracked changes; a one-page style sheet listing spelling, hyphenation, and house decisions made for the book; and a brief cover note.

Included: Correction to Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.) unless you prefer otherwise; consistency of names, dates, and recurring terms; light fact checks where errors are obvious; 30 days of clarifying questions at no charge.

Not included: Rewriting for voice (that is line editing); developmental notes; proofreading after typesetting; comprehensive fact-checking or permissions work.

Best for: A manuscript that is craft-finished and needs grammatical and stylistic uniformity before design.

V · Proofread — $0.01–$0.02 / word · up to 3 weeks

A final, unhurried reading against the typeset page — for the silent errors that survive every prior pass.

Deliverable: An annotated PDF of the typeset manuscript or laid-out galley with corrections marked, plus a short cover note listing recurring issues.

Included: Typographical errors; misspellings; punctuation slips; bad breaks, widows, orphans, and layout snags; running-head and page-number checks; one round of corrections.

Not included: Editorial changes; rephrasing; copyediting (assumed to have been done); style-sheet decisions; design changes.

Best for: The galley stage — after copyediting and typesetting, before publication.

VI · Interior Book Formatting — $350–$900 · up to 3 weeks

A typeset interior built to a publisher’s standard — the page laid out with intention, the running heads and folios in their proper places, the reading rhythm steady from first chapter to last. Delivered as a print-ready and ebook-ready file.

Deliverable: Print-ready PDF sized to your chosen trim, plus a reflowable EPUB. Includes title page, copyright page, table of contents, chapter openers, running heads, and folios.

Included: Typeface selection from a curated list; consistent chapter style; widow and orphan control; two rounds of revision; spine-width calculation supplied to your cover designer.

Not included: Cover design (we do not offer this — clients work with their own designer); image preparation beyond standard placement; custom typography or display lettering.

Best for: An author preparing a finished, copyedited manuscript for KDP, IngramSpark, or Draft2Digital release.

VII · Publishing Consultation — $125 / hour · scheduled within 2 weeks

An hour with the editor for questions that need an experienced eye rather than a full edit — pricing strategy, metadata, distribution choices, query letters, contract terms, or the small decisions of a first publication.

Deliverable: A scheduled call of up to one hour, plus a concise written summary of decisions and next steps delivered within two business days.

Included: Frank, plain-spoken counsel drawn from a long career in publishing and editorial work. Follow-up emails for clarification within two weeks at no charge.

Not included: Manuscript review or reading; legal or accounting advice; ongoing project management.

Best for: An author at a decision point — choosing a path, weighing a contract, planning a launch.

VIII · Full-Service Publishing Package — $2,500–$6,500 · up to 14 weeks

The complete passage from finished manuscript to published book under our care — editorial, design coordination, interior typesetting, metadata, and platform setup — scaled to the manuscript and the writer’s ambition for the book.

Deliverable: A published book on the platforms of your choosing (KDP, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital), with print and ebook editions, complete metadata, and an ISBN registered to your imprint.

Included: One round of copyediting; interior formatting (print and ebook); cover design coordination with your outside designer, including spine-width calculation; ISBN registration; platform setup and metadata; one proofread of the final galley; a launch checklist.

Not included: Developmental or line editing (quoted separately if needed); cover design itself; marketing campaigns; ongoing sales tracking after launch.

Best for: A writer with a finished, well-edited manuscript who wants the production handled with care from one place.

A note on cover design. Silver Current Press does not offer cover design. We believe the cover is best served by a designer the author chooses and trusts. When you have one, we provide the precise spine-width calculation and trim specifications your designer will need to complete the file for press.

Detailed scope and a free quote are available on the Silver Current Press site.

Visit Silver Current Press →

An Honest Word About Rates

These rates reflect more than thirty years of teaching, two department chairs, an Oxford writing fellowship, a Kirkus-starred novel, and work as a College Board consultant. They are not the cheapest you will find — nor the most expensive. They are what fair, careful, professional time is worth. If a rate is genuinely out of reach and the work matters, write to me anyway. We will see what is possible.

To begin any conversation: jamesfmulhern@gmail.com