Book coaching is a relatively new occupation that is fast-growing, but still a new concept to many writers. So have you been wondering what a book coach is and does, or are you completely new to the term? Then read on!
The New Need for a Coach
The need for book coaches has grown out of a changing traditional publishing market where books now arrive more or less ready-to-publish.
Consequently, the writer’s wants someone to help them in the writing process before they even approach an agent.
This person became the book coach. A coach who is more than an editor to a writer.
Way more.
So What Does A Book Coach Do?
So what exactly is a book coach and what does a book coach do that makes them so important to a writer’s process?
In short, a book coach coaches you, the writer, throughout the entire book writing process, wherever and whenever you need us.
That means we can help you build the foundation of your story when you are struggling with an idea.
We help you revise your manuscript when you know something is missing or you want a second pair of eyes.
Book coaches can help you flesh out your characters or help you establish an immersive fantasy world.
We give feedback on the pages you write, hold them up to publishing standards and give suggestions accordingly, about style, language, point of view, plot, characters and so much more.
A book coach helps when and where we are needed when it comes to the craft of writing, based on our training and experiences as book coaches – and often writers.
But our job is not merely about craft.
Mindset Coaching
We also support a writer in a different way. The writer as a human being with all their insecurities and worries.
“Can I even write?”
“Am I the right person to write this story?”
“Are there even people who would want to read my story?”
“Is it worth continuing writing this story?”
As a book coach we help you believe in yourself as a writer – because the answer to all above questions is a resounding YES! – and we believe in your story.
We help you fight writer’s block and guide you through the deep valleys of insecurity and stuckness that come with writing novels.
Book coaches help you see your own potential as a storyteller, help you find the story you want to tell but can’t quite yet articulate and we encourage you to share it with the world when you are ready to do so.
We help you get to the finish line.
A Lonely Business Becomes A Supported Effort
Writing comes from a vulnerable place that we are taught we need to do alone.
This makes us writers extra vulnerable to all those insecurities, doubts and story problems.
But this no longer needs to be the case.
A certified book coach’s extensive knowledge of the writing craft and our training as coaches for the writer as a human being are what makes such a difference in the lives of writers.
A Book Coach Does Not Do Things Too
However it is also important to note what we don’t do as book coaches.
Most importantly, we do not write. Not a single word.
Each sentence comes from you, the writer.
We only help you bring out the story that lays within your heart.
Book coaches use our skills as coaches to reach that part of you that wants to write the story and we use our knowledge of storytelling and the practical and theoretical side of writing to help you shape and write the best story you can.
We encourage, we coach, we suggest, we support. We ask questions – many, many questions -, we provide feedback and we suggest some more. But we never write the story. We never decide about any aspect of your novel. That is all you, the writer!
Heart-Led Work
We as book coaches do this work with you, our writers, so you feel encouraged and inspired to write the story that you have in you and do it the best possible way you can.
Because we care about stories and understand the potential they can have in the lives of you as a writer and a human being – and in the lives of your potential readers.
Join my email list and get my free coaching every week.
by Sandra Postma | Your Story Mentor
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