If you not only love to be creative, but also love to help other people bring their creativity to life, you might be good at being a book writing coach.
A good coach helps an author along their process of getting a book written and published. They might not help with every step along the way, but they can.
Mainly a coach helps an author get over a hurdle, whatever that might be. They can provide good tips and advice to get over those hurdles and move the book forward.
If you’ve been wondering what it’s like to become a book writing coach, this article will cover the basics of what the career is like, how to become one, examples of what your days would look like, and more.
What is A Book Writing Coach?
Similar to a coach in every other area of life, a book writing coach helps a book get finished.
Book writing coaches help writers at every stage of the writing process. From creating ideas, to drafting to writing, to editing, to pitching, and finally publishing, a book writing coach is there to help encourage the author and to help along the way.
That doesn’t mean they help at every one of those stages, but they could.
Keep in mind, book writing coaches are not usually full-on editors, but they can help the author find a good editor to work with and know what to look for.
Book writing coaches can also help listen to and outline ideas, along with provide guidance on the book writing journey.
If you’re someone who loves to write but also loves to help writers bring their writing to life, this might be a good career option for you.
It’s not secret that writing can be a hard and lonely journey, and having someone to support you and be in your corner can help you keep going. That’s where you come in.
A good coach can help a writer overcome writer’s block and help them carry on with their book journey. Mainly because they are often writers themselves so they have strategies they use to keep writing.
7 Reasons Every Freelancer Should Write A Book
Free Guide – From Increasing Your Creativity – To Increasing Your Revenue – You should write a book!
How to Become A Book Writing Coach
If you’re interested in becoming a book writing coach, you might be wondering what the journey looks like or how you could get started in this career.
Let’s talk about how you can become a book writing coach and what you need to know.
#1 – Get experience
Before you can start getting paid as a book writing coach, you’re going to need to get some experience.
Once you have a few book titles under your belt, it will be much easier to find clients. Until you get to that point, you might have to hustle a bit more to get some clients and people to trust in you as a coach.
You will also need experience in the writing and publishing world in general. You might need to publish some of your own writing or work at a book publishing company in order to gain this experience.
#2 – Increase Your Coaching Knowledge
Knowing how to write well doesn’t mean you necessarily know how to coach someone.
You’ll need to find a way to get experience, even if you have to coach a few people for cheap or for free to get your experience.
You’ll have to learn how to provide feedback that is helpful and get someone to navigate the complex publishing world. It might be worth it to sign up for leadership or coaching courses just to get the basics down.
#3 – Pick A Genre
This step isn’t mandatory but as you gain experience, you might want to consider picking a certain genre of books or topics to become a book coach in.
For example, you could become a book writing coach specifically for children’s book authors.
When you pick a genre, you understand how that book publishing path looks more than other people. You know the publishing companies that are interested in these types of books, the editors who are looking for pitches, and you generally build connections throughout that genre.
#4 – Expand Your Network
In order to get clients and authors to help, you’re going to have to expand your network.
This might mean building your social media profiles, attend networking events, reach out to old alumni at your university, and more.
The bigger your network becomes, the more clients you can find but also the more you can help the authors meet the right people who can get their book published.
#5 – Keep Testimonials
As your clients and people in your network start to say how you have helped them and made your career grow, you’re going to want to keep those as documents.
Having proof of your skills and business can help a ton when it comes to getting clients in the future.
If you set up a website, you can also put them on there so you can constantly show people why they should pick you to work with as a coach.
How Do Book Writing Coaches Make Money?
When it comes to making money as a book writing coach, you have a few options.
Also it should be mentioned that you should always provide clear payment terms so everyone understands when you’re getting paid and when. The author you’re helping also will want to know there are no hidden fees in your offer.
Package deals
You can offer set packages to authors, depending on what they need. Maybe you choose to just help with the publishing part or the creative part. Maybe you offer a full-on top-to-bottom service that helps authors at every step of the way.
It will be up to you if you also choose to offer hourly rates and deals on top of that for when authors need additional support.
You might also choose to offer deals based on the milestones or projects along the way. For example, you could offer a coaching package for getting the first draft done, then another package for getting them in touch with an editor, and so on.
Royalties Percentage
If you are truly a pro, you might be able to convince a client to give you a percentage of their royalties for the benefit of being such a good coach.
If a book does particularly well, that can help you make a ton of extra money, but you need to know what you’re doing.
How Much Do Book Writing Coaches Make?
It’s hard to give an exact amount, but many offer an hourly rate of $50 to $100.
The more experience you have and the more authors you help become successful, the higher rate you’ll be able to charge.
Some factors that go into your rate:
- How long you plan to coach them for
- Your level of experience
- The depth of the coaching you’re offering
- If you specialize in any particular type of writing
- If you’re doing group coaching or individual coaching
Pros and Cons of Becoming A Book Writing Coach
Pros of becoming a coach:
- A fun career that lets you get to know the publishing industry in and out
- The ability to help bring a book to life
- A different way to change up your career
Cons of becoming a coach:
- If you want to be an author yourself, this could easily take a lot of time away from your writing time
- Need to work hard to build experience and a client list
- Will have to keep up with people in your network constantly
What to do next
Whether you want to become an author yourself or just stay a coach, you’ll need to know why books can help make that happen:
7 Reasons Every Freelancer Should Write A Book
Free Guide – From Increasing Your Creativity – To Increasing Your Revenue – You should write a book!
