12 Months To a Full Manuscript: Bring Your Nonfiction Book to Life, a Generative Workshop with Melissa Petro, Starting on January 16th, 2025
The program will Start on January 16th, 2025
Please do not pay for the mentorship until you receive a formal acceptance notification via email.
Click HERE to Apply. Early applications are encouraged as space is limited.
Any questions about this mentorship? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.
BRING YOUR NONFICTION BOOK TO LIFE is a year-long MFA-level generative workshop for ten writers serious about completing their book-length nonfiction manuscripts in 2025.
Led by Melissa Petro, author of SHAME ON YOU: How to Be a Woman in the Age of Mortification, published by Putnam Books, a division of Penguin Random House. Melissa has been a freelance cultural journalist following the pulse of sexuality, trauma, motherhood, and feminism for over two decades.
Read an interview with Melissa about her upcoming year-long program.
As a writing instructor, she’s helped hundreds of people push through fear, write, share, and publish their most vulnerable stories in national publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Cut, Narratively, The Nation, Salon, Washington Post, and elsewhere, and has helped still more writers envision and execute book-length manuscripts.
Her memoir, personal essays, op-eds, and reported features have appeared in Allure, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, The Guardian, Instyle, The Nation, Rolling Stone, TIME, Washington Post, and many other national publications. She was one of three finalists for the PEN/Fusion Emerging Writers Prize, an annual award recognizing a promising young writer of an unpublished work of nonfiction that addresses a global and/or multicultural issue. Melissa Febos, author of Girlhood, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, described SHAME ON YOU as “A candid, assured debut that demonstrates the insight, authority, and resiliency that can be wrought from even the most excoriating experiences. Petro is a wise and humane guide who has performed that alchemy and is generous with her findings.”
First Page To Final Page: Write Your Book In A Year
25 sessions / Every Other Thursday / January 16th - December 18th
This is the year you write your book.
You bring your idea, enthusiasm and willingness to commit. I bring the knowledge and insights from nearly 20 years of experience as a freelance writer and writing instructor.
Together, we’ll create a safe and supportive community of writers that’ll hold each other accountable every step of the way. Expect intensive craft analysis, invaluable publishing advice, access to industry experts, individualized critical feedback, and nonstop encouragement that’ll keep you on track to actually finish writing your book.
The thing that’s missing from writing a book in solitude is accountability and community. In this year-long course (with breaks), students will be able to find the support and encouragement they need to make it from that first page to the last.
In this 12-month Nonfiction Book Generator Workshop, writers will complete a full manuscript while working alongside their peers and receiving feedback and guidance from Melissa.
We’ll meet every other week, and the year will be divided into three phases:
Phase 1: Readings, lectures, exercises, and guest speakers (10 sessions: January 17th — May 22th, 2025)
In Phase 1, we’ll begin with a comprehensive craft-based study of the memoir form. Over the course of 10 sessions, there’ll be lectures, reading and guest speakers, including current agents, Big Five editors and successful authors. During these weeks, you’ll meet individually with your instructor to flesh out your story and/or hone in one a concept for a book in the context of the memoir publishing market. By the end of phase 1, you’ll have a solid outline and the first 50 pages of your book.
2025 Guest Faculty includes:
- Betsy Lerner, editor, agent and author of four books including Forest for the Trees: An Editors advice to Writers
- Ryan Harbage, agent at The Fischer-Harbage Agency
- Erin Khar, author of Strung Out: One Last Hit and Other Lies that Nearly Killed Me
- Tiffanie Drayton, journalist and author of Black American Refugee: Escaping the Narcissism of the American Dream
- Anna Goldfarb, NY Times “Friendship Correspondent” and author of Modern Friendship: How to Nurture Our Most Valued Connections
- Laura Mazer, agent at Wendy Sherman Associates
- Karie Fugett, author of Alive Day: A Memoir
- Laura Carney, author of My Father's List: How Living My Dad's Dreams Set Me Free
- Chris Gonzalez, fiction editor at Barrelhouse and author of I’m Not Hungry But I Could Eat: Stories
- Ariel Henley, author of A Face for Picasso: Coming of Age with Crouzon Syndrome
- Meredith Talusan, Editor and Author of Fairest: A Memoir
- And more…
Phase 2. Peer Workshops (10 sessions: June 5th —Oct 9th, 2025)
In Phase 2, we’ll begin developing and revising pages with a goal of writing 2500 words per week. In addition to at least two peer workshops, you’ll meet individually with the instructor to discuss your work-in-progress. By the end of phase two, you’ll have another 50-100 polished pages of your book.
Phase 3: The Literary World + Submitting (5 sessions: October 23rd— December 18th 2025)
Phase 3, we’ll continue writing and revising the manuscript until the draft is completed. Still more agents, editors and published authors will join us again to discuss their experiences in the industry. You’ll meet again with the instructor individually to create a concrete, individualized plan to move forward after the workshop ends. We’ll talk about building a platform and publishing short nonfiction.
This opportunity is appropriate for writers that are serious about completing a manuscript, and able to commit around 10-15 hours per week to their project. The ideal student has an initial idea they’re eager to begin developing into a concept they’ll commit to. It’s okay if you’ve already begun writing, so long as you are eager to learn and open to a collaborative process. You’re also willing and able to help create and contribute to an encouraging environment.
What you will receive:
- 75 hours of instruction
- A finished book to submit to contests, editors, and agents
- Access to ask questions to guest authors, editors, and agents
- Peer and Instructor feedback
- Five 45 minute 1:1 sessions with Melissa
- Writing tools that will last a lifetime
- Exercises and readings
- New friends and community
- A sense of accomplishment and pride that comes with finishing a book
Click HERE to Apply.
Selected essays published under Melissa's mentorship and edits:
The Power of a Name: My Secret Life With M.R.K.H. by Susan Rudnick in The New York Times
TESTIMONIALS:
“Melissa Petro is an exceptional writing teacher. She masterfully balances support and challenge, pushing her students to refine their work while offering insightful and encouraging feedback. Her unique blend of honesty, kindness, and fresh perspective makes her an invaluable guide for any aspiring writer.”
– Jennifer S.
“I'm lucky to have found such a terrific mentor in Melissa. Her honest, critical feedback has expanded my writing skills. She also shares her experience as a lifetime writer, synthesizes how the industry operates, and offers best practices for becoming a published author. I highly recommend any course Melissa offers.”
– Shabana S.
“I always knew I wanted to be a writer but was too scared to commit to the work- working with Melissa not only held me accountable to finishing my memoir, but made me a better writer. Every time we connected I knew I would be met with honest critique that pushed me past my comfort zone which is exactly what I needed.”
– Shannon O.
"Melissa Petro gave me the expertise and encouragement needed to finally publish my writing. She has helped me to shape ideas, pitches, and drafts into essays for HuffPost, Elle, and Business Insider. Her mentorship has been incredibly valuable to me as a writer and a woman who is turning her most shameful secrets into compelling articles. She's just the best there is."
– Katie N.
"Melissa Petro is an engaged, knowledgeable and enthusiastic teacher. She provided practical guidance, while also giving us thoughtful personal feedback to each student. Highly recommend her class!"
“Melissa was very knowledgeable, engaging and easy to relate to. She did a great job of answering questions and moving things along but spending the appropriate amount of time on each section. I was very impressed with the structure and pace of the course. I also found the exercises and prompts very helpful. I was genuinely surprised at how professional, informative and truly enjoyable the class was!”
Tuition Payment:
Full Tuition for the 12-month program is $7,200. You can pay the tuition in full or payment plans of varying installments are available upon acceptance to the course. Accepted writers must commit to the full year and meet all assigned deadlines.
FAQs:
Why not an MFA program?
This program combines the best things about an MFA program—community, mentorship, and intensive craft analysis—with specialized and practical publishing advice.
Why does this class cost so much?
The 12-month mentorship is an MFA-level course, taught by a published memoir/essayist who is also an experienced educator with years of creative writing teaching experience at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Your tuition helps pay your instructor a living wage, and covers the cost of booking guest speakers, arranging second readers, scheduling events, and administering the program.
Can I get a refund if I do not complete the program?
Once paid, your full tuition is nonrefundable. This is a selective program with limited spots. We are making a commitment to you for the full year and expect that you will do the same. For this reason, there are no refunds after your tuition has been paid.
I finished the mentorship When will I get published?
We can’t promise that every writer who leaves the 12-month manuscript generator will get published right away, or ever. Publishing is a tricky business, involving lots of luck and time—as students who enroll in this course will learn! That said, as publishers ourselves, we strongly believe that we can help prepare emerging essayists to better navigate the publishing industry, and that our program and the connections made here will increase your chances of success.
In the course description, there are mentions of meetings with guest speakers. I want the details right now! Why can’t I have them?
People who work in publishing are busy, and we confirm guest speakers on a rolling basis, as their schedules permit.
I barely have an idea for a full-lenght book or collection. Is this class too advanced?
Maybe. How serious are you about the idea? If you just have an inkling, but you’re committed to coming in and focusing on that idea over the course of the year, this class might be the right fit for you. The key thing is that on the first day, you come ready to write. No one will write the pages of your collection for you, but this course can help you apply structure to your idea, and motivate you to finish the draft.
I have written several drafts of a collection, and I can’t seem to find an agent or figure out the next steps. Should I take this class?
Absolutely. Sometimes taking a collection to the next level requires cracking it open and figuring out how it works, and the insight of new readers can help that process along. This class will give you a new perspective on your work and offer concrete next steps for you and your essay collection.
Additional Program Information:
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Tuition is $7,200
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No more than 10 writers will be accepted
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Program Starts January 16th, 2025
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The Mentorship is fully online and students may participate from anywhere.
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NOTE: Shifting some dates around may be necessary but any changes will be communicated well in advance, if possible.
Contact us HERE if you have any questions about this program.