Whale Rock Mentorships
Creating emotional depth in your novel
Work one-on-one with award-winning authors, editors, and professors from Hamline University and Vermont College of Fine Arts. Rolling admissions, on your schedule.
FORMAT
One-on-one
TIMELINE
Up to 6 months
MENTORS
9 authors & editors
FROM
$3,000
*Klarna payment plans available.
MULTI-MONTH MENTORSHIPS
NOW ENROLLING
Built around your project.
Some writers come to us hoping a mentor will read their entire novel. Others want a mentor who can read their work, offer feedback, and then re-read it after revisions. Our mentorship model is built around the fact that every writer needs something different.
Our mentors are award-winning authors and editors, professors and former professors from Hamline University and Vermont College of Fine Arts. For writers contemplating an MFA program, this is a chance to work with master instructors without the steep price tag. For writers with an MFA, or who never considered one, it's a chance to get your pages read by people who've spent careers shaping books that last.
Mentorships run on a rolling basis, so you can begin anytime. Whether you're working on picture books, middle grade, or young adult, our mentors are here to help you reach your goals.
MENTORSHIP OVERVIEW
CHOOSE YOUR PATH
FOR PICTURE BOOK WRITERS
Picture Book Mentorship
$3,000
Bring up to 8 picture book manuscripts to your mentorship. Four one-on-one sessions plus editorial and craft guidance throughout. You can add another packet at any point for two more manuscript reads and one more session.
• Up to 8 manuscripts
• 4 one-on-one sessions
• Editorial & craft feedback
• Complete within 6 months
FOR NOVEL WRITERS
160-Page Novel Mentorship
$3,200
Submit your pages in four 40-page packets, or submit the whole novel and work on specific sections and goals across your sessions. Have a longer manuscript? Purchase additional packets to cover another 40 pages and add one more session.
• Up to 160 pages
• 4 one-on-one sessions
• Editorial & craft feedback
• Complete within 6 months
Once you've completed your initial mentorship, you and your mentor can talk about revisiting the project together.
WHAT’S INCLUDED
A Mentor matched to your project
Rank three mentors in order of preference. Our team reviews your sample and works with mentors to find the right fit. Each mentor takes between two and four students.
Four one-on-one sessions
Real conversations about your work, by phone or Zoom, scheduled around your life.
Editorial and craft guidance
Margin notes, editorial letters, craft observations. The kind of close reading your work has been waiting for.
A flexible six-month timelime
Work in packets or take a more holistic approach. You and your mentor build the plan together.
Access to our community
Join Write Now! and Write Night!, our weekly accountability groups, for ongoing community throughout your mentorship.
SEE YOURSELF HERE?
You're a published author looking to take your writing to the next level.
You're a published author aiming for that starred review.
You've lost momentum on a manuscript.
You've almost been signed by an agent, but you keep getting sent back for revisions.
You're overwhelmed by feedback and critiques and want one consistent voice to coach you.
You're getting good feedback but haven't sold a book yet.
You have a complete novel and you're getting it ready for submission.
You've considered an MFA but can't afford the price tag.
You have an MFA and you're looking for a way to sharpen your skills.
MEET THE MENTORS
LIZ BECKNELL
25+ years editing at Candlewick. National Book Award and Caldecott Medal-winning books.
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Liz Bicknell has worked as a children's book editor for more than 25 years. Most recently, she was Executive Editorial Director at Candlewick Press, working with such luminaries as M.T. Anderson, Ekua Holmes, Gregory Maguire, Jon Klassen, Laura Amy Schlitz, and Carole Boston Weatherford. Books she has edited have won the National Book Award, the Caldecott Medal, the Coretta Scott King Medal, and many other awards.
LEAH HENDERSON
MFA. Faculty at Spalding University's graduate writing program.
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Leah Henderson is the author of many critically-acclaimed books for young readers including The Courage of the Little Hummingbird, Your Voice, Your Vote, The Magic in Changing Your Stars, A Day for Rememberin’, and Together We March. She holds an MFA in Writing and is on faculty in Spalding University’s graduate writing program. Because she has serious wanderlust, when she isn’t creating stories, she’s off someplace in the world getting lost, then found, discovering new ones.
KATHRYN ERSKINE
National Book Award winner for Mockingbird. Seven novels for young readers.
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Kathryn Erskine is the author of seven novels for young people, including National Book Award winner, Mockingbird, and Jane Addams Peace Award honor book Seeing Red. She has also authored several picture books, her latest with artist Keith Henry Brown, My Dad is a DJ, as well as a middle-grade biography of Abraham Lincoln.
KAREN KROSSING
VCFA MFA. Two-time SCBWI Crystal Kite winner. Picture books to YA.
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Karen Krossing is the critically acclaimed author of twelve books for kids and teens, including picture books One Tiny Bubble and Sour Cakes, and novels Monster vs. Boy, Punch Like a Girl, Bog, and Cut the Lights. She is also an editor and mentor of new and emerging voices. She won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for Canada in 2015 and 2023 and has been a finalist for the Ontario Library Association White Pine Award and the Joan F. Kaywell Books Save Lives Award, among other honors. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
DEB NOYES
20+ years in publishing. Former executive editor at Candlewick. VCFA faculty.
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Deb Noyes has worked in and around books and publishing for 20+ years in roles ranging from author and anthologist to editor and teacher. As an executive editor at Candlewick Press, she worked with award-winning and best-selling writers and illustrators, and she has served on the MFA in Writing for Children faculty at Vermont College.
PHYLLIS ROOT
50+ picture books. Hamline MFA faculty. Former VCFA faculty.
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Phyllis Root is the award-winning author of over fifty fiction and non-fiction picture books, including Big Momma Makes the World and One Duck Stuck. She taught at the Vermont College MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program for ten years and has been teaching at Hamline University’s Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program for the past thirteen years.
LIZ GARTON SCANLON
Caldecott Honor for All the World. VCFA faculty.
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Liz Garton Scanlon is the author of numerous beloved books for young people, including the highly-acclaimed, Caldecott-honored picture book, All the World, two middle-grade novels, and an upcoming chapter book series. Liz serves on the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives in Austin, Texas.
GARY D. SCHMIDT
Two-time Newbery Honor. Printz Honor. Former Hamline MFA faculty.
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Author of more than a dozen books for children and young adults, Gary Schmidt is a two-time Newbery Honor and Children’s Choice award winner, and a National Book Award finalist. He teaches writing, children’s literature at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI.
SHELLEY TANAKA
30 books for young readers. Faculty emerita, VCFA. Longtime editor at Groundwood.
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Shelley Tanaka is an editor, writer, and teacher. She is the longtime fiction editor at Groundwood Books, where she has edited more than a dozen Governor General’s Award-winning titles. She is the author of thirty books for young readers and is faculty emerita of Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults.
HOW IT WORKS
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Submit either one picture book manuscript or a 1000-word excerpt from your novel. You don't need to be published. We're looking for committed, experienced writers.
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Pick three mentors in order of preference. Our team reviews your sample and shares it with your preferred mentors. If your first choice is at capacity, we go to your second.
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Once you're matched, you and your mentor create a plan for your project. Work in packets, or take a more holistic approach. You and your mentor connect by phone or Zoom.
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Complete your mentorship within six months. Once it's done, you and your mentor can talk about revisiting the project together.
COST & POLICIES
Tuition for Whale Rock's Mentorship Program starts at $3,000. You can pay by credit card or use Klarna for payment plans.
Deposits:A $500 non-refundable deposit reserves your spot. If we can't offer you a mentorship, you'll receive a full refund.
Refunds:There are no refunds once the session begins, but you may put $250 of your deposit toward another Whale Rock program if you choose to withdraw before starting. All tuition balances must be paid in full by the start date.
Scholarships available for writers with underrepresented stories and voices. Educators and librarians receive a 20% discount. See full policies and access.
STEPS TO GET STARTED
1
Email your writing sample
Send a 1000-word writing sample (or one complete picture book manuscript) from the project you'd like to work on. Include your name and page numbers in the header or footer. We'll reply within a few days to confirm we've received it.
2
Save your spot. Register today.
Registration includes the live 90-minute session and a recording you can revisit. Educators and librarians receive a 20% discount. Contact us before booking.