How do I know whether Barncat is for me?

Barncat is not for the faint of heart! The workshops, course books, bootcamps and book doctoring services are only for people who are serious about getting published.

You can arrive with just the glimmer of an idea or with a manuscript that seems to defy completion. You can be published or unpublished, stuck or confused, switching genres or hoping to chuck the day job and write full-time. You can be writing a quickie How-To book or polishing a work of literary fiction.

As long as you are serious about getting results and you are willing to work and withstand the blast of honest, constructive criticism, Barncat is for you.

What will Barncat do for me?

Barncat can help you polish your work if it's near completion, get creatively rebooted if you're stumped, get back on track if you've strayed, find the writer's voice that is most comfortable for you, and get your book and proposal in tip-top shape for attracting top agents.

The emphasis is on individual support in the areas you need it most. In the online Master Workshops, you write at your own pace in a relaxed, supportive environment and receive detailed weekly reports and feedback aligned with your personal goals.

With the Barncat line of Master Class course books, you will learn the secrets of fine-tuning your manuscript on every level, with the kind of detail found only in classes costing hundreds of dollars.

If you have taken your manuscript as far as you can but agents still aren't biting, Barncat offers top-notch book doctoring services, whether the problem is structure or dangling modifiers.

We can help you locate your theme, rebuild your structure, and understand the real story behind the story you're telling. Consider Barncat your personal sherpa up the Mount Everest of publishing!

Who is Jami Bernard, and why should I listen to her?

Jami Bernard is a writer, film critic, copy editor, book doctor and media consultant based in New York. She has published seven books, a Lois Lane comic, thousands of newspaper and magazine articles (no, really!), and is a keynote speaker and frequent TV and radio guest. She studied with the late essayist and literary critic Elizabeth Hardwick at Barnard College, and has extensive experience on New York City daily newspapers.

Most importantly, she has taken beginning writers from their first paragraph to getting top agents ... in less than a year!

What will this cost?

Barncat's rates are consistent with the superior quality and individual attention we provide. No other writing class or workshop—at any price!—offers the kind of targeted feedback and guidance that you get from Barncat. You'll never get a simplistic, dismissive "good job, keep going!" comment from us. Ever.

We price our courses and workbooks competitively, but there will inevitably be other companies offering similar-sounding services for less. It is our firm belief, however, that no one can top the personalized attention that we at Barncat provide. You may be able to find a better price, but you won’t find a better deal.

Isn't there a cheaper alternative?

Sure! And you get what you pay for.

What can I expect from an online Master Workshop?

Barncat's online workshops provide you with a virtual community of diverse writers. In the past, workshop members have included novelists and memoirists from Bangkok, Paris, Brazil, Canada and across the United States. All writers are of a high caliber, allowing for intelligent, insightful and stimulating conversation in the virtual classroom.

The workshops are designed to fit your schedule, with 24/7 access to discussion boards. Our online workshops offer you the rigor and dialogue of a traditional classroom, but from the comfort of your home and on your own schedule.

You list "free stuff" and when I click, there's nothing there! Yes, you can argue that "nothing" is "free," but I'm miffed!

Barncat has some terrific free reports and podcasts for you to download. They're just not ... READY ... yet. We are a startup! Have mercy!