Novel editing courses.

[GhostImposter]

Does anyone have experience with this course or others like it? I'm currently writing a novel through an MA in Creative Writing. The MA is great in a lot of ways and I can already feel an improvement in my writing but it's not specific to novel writing. And while it's possible to make the writing of a novel the main focus of workshops and my dissertation, there isn't a lot of support for the full development and completion of it. So I'm trying to think ahead to next year by which point I'm hoping to have a completed first draft with some, hopefully, very refined sections. I'll want something that will not just keep me writing but also something that will help me refine the whole thing as a cohesive novel.

I'm assuming a course like this will be quite good if you put the work in. But I'm also curious about the whole "On completing the course you’re invited to submit your novel to a niche go-to list of agents open to submissions from course alumni" part of the course description. Because realistically, being able to get a jump out of the slushiest of slush piles would be worth at least as much as the rest of the course content, if it's genuine.

https://www.profwritingacademy.com/course/edit-your-novel-the-professional-way

I wouldn't not sign up for a course purely because they make the (inevitable) offer to help you attract an agent -- pretty much every course now offers this. (In fact, doesn't your MA?)

I don't know Emma Darwin, but from her online materials (her writing blog This Itch of Writing) and from other people's responses to her teaching/mentoring, I imagine her self-editing courses would be very good.

(In fact, doesn't your MA?)
It does introductions but I don't expect to have a completed manuscript by that time. So I'm not expecting any agent/publisher who may express an interest in seeing a full manuscript in the spring to still remember me by the time I have something completed. Most people who do an MA in creative writing don't get published, in fact the vast majority don't. It might increase the odds a little but I don't think they really claim to help you get published other than that they help hone your writing talent. I'm really enjoying doing it and I'm seeing a huge improvement in my writing quality and in my attitude to writing. So it's great but not a shortcut to getting published.

I know some of the book publisher courses claim to offer much more by way of introductions, shortcuts off slush piles. So I'm wondering if any of those are genuine. I know, they obviously aren't even close to a guarantee that you'll get published but realistically, they do probably increase the odds a little.