Starting September 16, 2026, The Author Conservatory is removing the requirements that students must already have completed a 50,000-word novel and be writing 4-5 hours per week for the three months prior to their admissions interview. We are replacing these requirements with a more holistic evaluation of each prospective student’s writing experience and grit.

This means enrollment is now open to career-focused writers ages 15-30 who are ready to complete their first novel surrounded by community and with step-by-step support and personal feedback from our award-winning authors and professional editors.

Students who have previously been turned away under our old requirements are encouraged to reach out to their Admissions Advisor to schedule a follow-up interview to determine whether they qualify for the program under our updated standards.

Background

The requirements that students complete a 50,000-word novel and be writing for 4-5 hours per week have been in place since Fall 2023 and came up for review after three years. They were intended to ensure that accepted students possessed the necessary grit and writing experience to succeed in our rigorous program. However, after working with hundreds of students, we have not found that meeting these requirements actually predicts which students will be most successful in The Author Conservatory.

In fact, our review revealed that some of our most successful graduates would not have been accepted into the Conservatory under our 2023-2026 requirements. Several had never completed a novel on their own, nor were they writing consistently when they applied for the program. For example, 2025 alumna Ruth Nguyen had never completed a novel and actually hadn’t written consistently for two years prior to finding us and deciding to give her writing a shot. Yet she landed a top NYC literary agent within two months of graduation and this summer announced a six-figure book deal with a Big Five publisher for her debut novel.

On an even more fundamental level, our company mission is to train the next C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien by 2050. However, neither of them would have met our 2023-2026 admission requirements in their teens or twenties (or even thirties in Tolkien’s case). Lewis was writing consistently as a young man, but his longest project was a narrative poem called Dymer that ran roughly 16,000 words. Tolkien would have fared even worse.

Finally, it has become clear to us that our 2023-2026 admissions requirements, while perfectly reasonable for an elite writing school, had the unintended effect of asking students to do on their own what we exist to help them do in community and with professional guidance. Once we had this realization, we knew we needed to change our approach.

Our New Admissions Standards

Moving forward our admissions team will no longer require students to have completed a 50,000-word novel or be writing for 4-5 hours per week in the three months prior to acceptance. Instead they will evaluate the Five Characteristics we’ve found to best predict success within The Author Conservatory.

Our new admissions standards will evaluate:

1. Writing experience (measured holistically)
2. Abiding passion for stories
3. Career-focus
4. Teachability
5. Grit (measured holistically, not just via novel-completion)

These are largely the same characteristics our previous admissions guidelines evaluated, but considered more holistically, rather than narrowly. Each of these characteristics are briefly described below, but prospective students are encouraged to apply for a free consultation with an admissions advisor for a more thorough discussion and personal assessment:

• Writing experience: The applicant demonstrates meaningful, ongoing engagement with writing. This could include completing a novel, writing consistently, taking writing classes or courses, submitting to writing contests or publications, attending writing or story-related events, reading books on writing craft, significant nonfiction writing, and/or reading consistently. Past engagement with these sorts of activities still counts, even if the applicant hasn’t been able to engage as much recently.
  
• Abiding passion for stories: Writing and stories are an ongoing interest, not a recent fancy. The applicant can describe how that love has consistently shown up and what they have willingly sacrificed for it. A consistent reading life is also a positive indicator for this characteristic, not just the amount of writing they have done.
  
• Career-focus: The applicant wants to treat writing as a career and understands that professional development requires hard work and training. They are career-focused and willing to put in the time and lay a foundation for long-term success.
  
• Teachability: The applicant is excited to receive professional feedback, practice the fundamentals, trust the process, and build skill over three years as a student. They are not just chasing publication ASAP. They are willing to go slow now so they can go further and faster later.
  
• Grit and follow-through: The applicant has demonstrated an ability to stick with commitments through rigorous coursework, a job, another sustained pursuit, or similar evidence. They don’t abandon the course at the first sign of difficulty. Completion of significant writing projects will still count, but are no longer the sole way we are measuring grit.

Apply For A Free 45-Minute Consultation

While prospective students may self-assess and strive to grow in each of the Five Characteristics on their own, we encourage them to apply for a free consultation with an admissions advisor where they can ask questions and receive personalized guidance.

Our admissions advisors can share:

• What writing classes and courses will be most beneficial
• Which books on writing craft we recommend
• Writing events you can attend, both online and in-person
• Guidance on developing a healthy reading habit
• How to develop and demonstrate grit
• Etc.

Our new standards are designed to make engaging in The Author Conservatory admissions process more helpful to every student, regardless of whether they receive an offer of enrollment. And for students who have struggled to complete a novel on their own, we are excited to help them complete their very first novel inside The Author Conservatory.

Click here to apply for a free consultation with an admissions advisor