Testimonials

I’m grateful for your poetry brain. You are the most insightful reader I know. —Adrian Matejka

Reviews from happy clients

Your comments are so helpful in so many ways. I appreciate your kind words and your care with these. And as always, I’m grateful for your poetry brain. You are the most insightful reader I know. —Adrian Matejka, editor of Poetry, poet laureate of Indiana 2018–2019, author of five books

The suggestions you had for one of my poems really resonated with me. It had been one that always bugged me, and the suggestions were really helpful to get it where it needed to be. It was just picked up by a journal I enjoy. Just wanted to follow up with a thanks!—Stacey Boe Miller

You’re cheaper than a therapist, cheaper than an MFA program, and much more fun.—Norvell Jones

I highly recommend working with Sean Singer. It can feel scary to share your writing, particularly with someone you have never met, but Sean made me feel completely safe doing so. His comments about my poems were so on-target. When I read his written suggestions and heard him over the phone, it felt like he knew me. He read my poems with such care and attention and was able to point to moments in the poems that lack clarity; he found the places in my poems that I knew were troublesome but I could not pinpoint why. Sean Singer urged me to be brave and take risks in this revision process, and he lit a fire under me that I have needed. —Sarah Anderson

Sean’s insightful approach to sequencing my manuscript revealed new ways of seeing the connections between my poems. He was extremely generous in sharing his knowledge and experience, and with his recommendations, I feel confident and ready to complete my book and begin sending it out to prospective publishers. —Jesse Wallis

If you are serious about finishing a poetry manuscript and would like to find a master poet who can provide detailed assistance with editing and copyediting, Sean Singer is someone with whom you should consider working. Sean provided detailed notes about each poem and about placement in the collection. His erudition was evident, and he had an astute editorial eye. Anyone who wants to take a collection to the next level would benefit from working with him. —Margo Taft Stever

Sean Singer returned my manuscript within a few days and had read it closely three times. He wrote me a long email with overall comments toward style, themes, voice, effect, titles, tone, and commentary on sequencing and how the narrative elements worked alongside the lyric elements. He then spent a generous amount of time, sometimes an entire paragraph on every single poem, what he liked, noticed, and the areas he thought could be improved upon. This was most helpful as sometimes, professors in the academy are spread thin with a full roster of students who need their attention. He then summed up the balance of these poems as they spoke to each other. All of this came from a kind, generous, and wonderfully educated place. He is an accomplished poet, sure, but he was never pretentious or condescending, even with the poems that needed the most work. I cannot express how helpful his critique has been, and the overall experience has given me the courage and confidence to send it out for the first time this year. He even helped me with that aspect, suggesting places he thought might like my work. Don't hesitate another day. Do your best to push it as far as you can alone, and then immediately hire him. It was one of the smartest things I've ever done for myself as a poet untethered from a program or a mentor. —Laura Minor

Sean Singer is a discerning reader who helped me gain new perspective on my book without imposing his own style. He identified strengths and weaknesses of my manuscript and suggested ways I might expand it, completing his evaluation on time or ahead of schedule. In addition, his critique showed how some of the strongest poems in the collection could be polished. —Marion Brown

My poetry manuscript had been a bridesmaid, several times, but had never made it into print. After spending hours and hours alone with my manuscript, trying to revise, I needed a new set of eyes and ears, and I needed a quick turnaround. Sean Singer helped me with all of my needs. Relying on someone else’s advice is time-consuming and frustrating. That wasn’t the case with Sean Singer’s editorial assistance at all. His knowledge of poetic form, thorough attention to detail, keen insight into the heartwood of a poem, and amazing ear were invaluable. He engaged with the poems at the line level and at the manuscript level, and I took all of his suggestions. The very next time I submitted my manuscript, I won a first-book prize. I think this was due to Sean’s outstanding editing work. I know that the turnaround time was within a weekend, too. I highly recommend Sean Singer’s expertise to anyone who has poems to review. —Pamela Johnson Parker

Sean Singer is the ideal resource. Whether you are a working poet who needs feedback on a piece or an author looking for perspective on a manuscript, Sean is fast, thoughtful and affordable. —William Lessard

Thanks to Sean Singer's editorial services, I was able to revise my manuscript to express my vision. I went from not knowing how to integrate my poems into their historical context to feeling confident that my project reaches its full potential. Sean provided an in-depth manuscript review including a holistic overview, advice on specific poems including line edits, a reading list, and publishing advice. He discussed my follow-up questions over the phone, and I left the experience understanding exactly how to move forward with revisions. His editorial skills are invaluable, and I can't recommend working with him enough. —Allison Pitnii Davis