3 Reasons You Want to Work with a Book Coach
I’ll be honest, many years ago when I first started writing seriously, I didn’t know what a book coach was. Maybe they didn’t exist yet or maybe I just didn’t know about them, but this wasn’t something I knew about back then. I see a lot of posts in online writing groups asking about book coaches and wondering if they might benefit from working with one, and inevitably several other writers chime in to say that they don’t need to work with a book coach and doing so is a waste of resources. And while it’s absolutely true that no writer needs a book coach, it’s also true that working with one can be beneficial and helpful. So, for those who may be wondering if working with a book coach is right for them, here are three reasons you might want to work with a book coach.
1. Accountability
Writing a book is hard work. It takes an incredible amount of dedication and effort, and it’s up to us to hold ourselves accountable for completing that work. No one else is going to stand over our shoulder and make sure you write the words each day. And this can be challenging for writers, new and experienced, especially when the work gets challenging.
One of the benefits of working with a book coach is having someone to hold you accountable for reaching your goals. A book coach will help you set long-term goals (such as to finish a manuscript) but will also help you set short-term goals that get you closer and closer to your overall goal. For example, a book coach might help you determine specific word count or time goals per week to help you reach your overall goal of completing a manuscript and then check in with you to see if you’ve reached that goal each week. If you haven’t, they can help you evaluate if the goal was realistic or not and/or what got in your way of accomplishing that goal and how to navigate that if it happens again.
The other big piece of working with a book coach is having someone to keep you accountable for not giving up on your dream of writing a book. Committing to finishing a manuscript can feel daunting. If no one else is there to remind you of why you started and why it’s so important to you to finish, it can be too easy to give up. After all, if no one else knows about your dream to write a book, then not much is lost by quitting. But working with a book coach ensures that someone else is there to remind you of all the reasons this is an important goal to you even when you’re unable to do so for yourself. Working with a book coach can help ensure that you finish what you started and actually write “The End” on your manuscript.
2. Shorten Your Learning Curve
This is a huge one. There is a plethora of information about writing available through online blogs, podcasts, craft books, or in writing communities. And you absolutely can learn how to write a good book by utilizing this information. I didn’t work with a book coach, and that’s how I learned. But…it took me eight years from starting my manuscript to publishing my book. And while I learned so much over those years that made me a stronger writer, that effort included a lot of revisions that I ultimately reversed or changed once again due to not getting advice that was specific to my story or served my own vision for the story I wanted to tell. If I’d had a book coach to guide me in the right direction from the beginning, I have no doubt I’d have completed my book sooner.
A book coach can shorten your learning curve by helping you sort out what advice applies to the type of story you’re writing and what doesn’t. Since writing is so subjective, it’s not uncommon for a writer to receive conflicting feedback from multiple critique partners and be left wondering which advice to follow. A book coach can help by offering one comprehensive, thorough perspective based on training in writing craft rather than subjective opinions. A coach can help you identify the craft books that align with how you work rather than reading several books with conflicting advice and wondering which approach to follow.
A coach isn’t going to magically make you a better writer or give you some secret formula you won’t be able to find elsewhere. But a coach can guide you based on your own unique needs to help you achieve your goals faster. It’s kind of like working with a personal trainer. Of course you can look up exercises online yourself and go to the gym on your own. But trying to figure out where to start can be challenging with so much information out there, and you’re on your own to trial and error to see what works for you. But a personal trainer can work with you to show you exercises that are most likely to work for you and, if that doesn’t work, help you course correct sooner rather than later. A book coach works in the same way. You still need to put in the work and write the words, but a book coach can help you find the ways of reaching your goal that are most likely to work for you and help you find an alternate solution if the first approach wasn’t working.
3. Identify and Overcome Your Mental Blocks
This is my favorite reason working with a book coach is helpful. While you might know exactly what you need to do in order to write a book, you might still be struggling and aren’t sure why. You might have some belief system or automatic thought that’s stopping you from sitting down at your desk and doing the work. And no matter how talented a writer you might be, if you can’t find a way to sit at the desk and write, you won’t be able to finish a novel.
Working with a book coach can help you identify what those mental blocks are and then work to overcome them. My own philosophy when approaching coaching is to start with those mental blocks because, more often than not, it’s these blocks that have caused a writer to be unable to finish their manuscript on their own yet. This might be because they believe they’re not a good enough writer, they’ve been conditioned to believe that writing fiction is not a worthwhile endeavor, or any other number of beliefs that interfere with their ability to focus on getting the words on the page. But so often, it’s hard for the writer themselves to see these blocks objectively. By identifying them, we can then work to overcome them and get you confidently sitting at that desk regularly and making progress towards finishing your manuscript.
Again, working with a book coach is certainly not necessary to write a book. Countless writers have written and published books without working with a coach, but there’s no denying that working with a book coach has its benefits. If you’re interested in book coaching and how it might help you, I’d love to chat to see if we’d be a good fit. You can contact me or book a free call to discuss your writing goals and how coaching might be helpful!
