| | Frequently Asked Questions About Author Coach™
What is Author Coach?
It’s a very simple concept: Author Coach provides “one-stop shopping” for authors looking for editorial guidance, coaching, and input. Because Author Coach has many coaches, authors of many different genres and subject areas will find their needs met by this one firm.
Further, Author Coach is not elitist or snobby in the way some book doctors or free-lance editors are. I’ve heard from more than a few editors that they have so much business that they can’t take on anyone who needs too much attention or whose project needs too much work. Author Coach believes that any author can benefit from having a coach and we are happy to work with authors at all levels of experience.
Finally, Author Coach is not just about “editing” or “doctoring” books. It’s about coaching, so that we’re not simply taking your manuscript and editing or rewriting it. We want the authors themselves to become better writers. Hence, an author coach may help an author stay on track by calling to see how many pages he or she has written that week. A coach may recommend that an author read various books, or suggest that the author write a short story or two in first-person before writing an entire novel. An author coach may help an author write a query letter or put together a submission list to agents or editors. We are more than pencil-pushers; we are coaches who motivate, educate, and help writers achieve their publishing goals.
What qualifications should a writer look for in an author coach?
First and foremost, experience in the area in which you are writing. There are many free-lance editors out there, but if you are writing romance, you really want someone who has worked on publishing romance novels. If you are writing self-help, you want someone who has experience in that area. Author Coach has many different author coaches available and covers an extremely wide range of genres and subject areas. That’s what makes AuthorCoach.com one-stop shopping for authors in search of editorial assistance, guidance, and services.
What are the commitments a writer is required to make to ensure the author coach relationship is successful?
The relationship between an author coach and his or her client may be only partly editor/author. It may also be part mentor/mentee or part teacher/student. The relationship can be very organic and grow over time. If an author enters into the relationship, how successful it will be depends a lot on the author’s willingness to take editorial input and incorporate it into their work, to recognize that an author coach with several years of experience working inside a publishing house knows more than their friend who had their first novel published last year. Being open to constructive criticism and not defensive is probably the most important commitment an author can make to have a successful experience with an author coach.
What are the commitments a writer should expect from their author coach?
That he or she will read material by the deadlines agreed upon; that he or she will provide the kind of detailed feedback the writer seeks; that he or she will help the writer feel more knowledgeable and more empowered to pursue his or her publishing goals.
At what point in the writing stage should a writer consider working with a coach?
There's no bad time to start working with a coach, but it makes sense that an author should have some idea of what they want to accomplish when they start working with the coach. Theoretically, an author could come to us and say, “I’ve always wanted to write a book, but I haven’t written a word,” and the relationship could start there. But most authors would find that not to be the most beneficial and, yes, cost-effective, way to start out. Better would be to at least have a few chapters, if not a full manuscript, or a proposal.
With a few chapters or a proposal, an author coach would have a sense of the author’s writing abilities, style, and direction, and could therefore give more specific coaching and advice.
What are your rates?
Our rates are published on the AuthorCoach.com website. There are hourly and monthly options. They are subject to change, of course, so an interested author should check the site for the latest rates.
If I do business with Author Coach, will I be giving up any rights in my work?
The Author Coach engagement letter specifically says that we have no interest in any finished work.
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