Lately, most of us had came across this interesting concept of the ‘Book Coaches’ and to be honest many of us do not really know who actually is called a book coach and what are the roles of the book coaches. Most of us simply assume that the book coaches are those people who guides & professionally coaches the writers and the budding authors in writing their books. Well, it is correct however, there are much more attached to role and the concept of the book coaches!
Who are considered to be the Book Coaches? The book coaches, who are also known as the Specialized Writing Coaches guides the authors through the book writing process, helping them stay organized, brainstorm ideas, and get their books published. Working with a book coach can help the authors in carrying out the intimidating parts of the publishing process in a simpler & in a more accessible manner.
Generally, the book coaches or the writing coaches works collaboratively with the authors to help them take their book to the next level, even as they write it. They are not the editors or the ghostwriters and they do not do line-by-line editing, and they will not write the copy for you. Instead, they coach you through the process of writing your book. Like any coach, a writing coach helps you give it your all, so you can push through the pain and get better at what you do!
However, very little of a book coach’s work is about the specific words on the page. Instead, the best coaches helps the authors with other major things such as –
• Where your book might need to dig deeper emotionally;
• Identifying and overcoming your fears;
• Figuring out why you are stuck and breaking through writer’s block;
• Recognizing where you are sabotaging yourself;
• Helping you be authentic and effective in your writing;
• Making sure that you are not leaving important things out of your book just because they would be hard for you to write.
Unfortunately, many book coaches would not help much with the emotional side of writing a book because they do not know how. They do not know how to build trust with an Author or how to coach high performing individuals. The even worse thing over here is that for many budding authors it can be tempting to hire those book coaches because they will not push you beyond your comfort zone. Therefore, before you hire a book coach, make sure you know exactly why you are hiring one and what you want to get out of it. Moreover, you need to be very much clear about the roles of the book coaches before hiring one!
Well, before covering the roles of the book coaches, let us find out those areas where a good book coach will help you –
• Why you are writing your book;
• Your book’s positioning;
• Your target audience;
• The right mindset for you;
• Daily or weekly writing goals;
• Any fears getting in your way;
• Everything else that comes with writing a book.
These are all critical to your book’s success. You do not necessarily need a book coach to figure them out, but you DO need to figure them out before you write even one word.
Now, let us focus over the Roles of the Book Coaches –
1) Book coaches then helps the writers to organize their project, determine a schedule, and select a completion date as a goal. The book coach discusses the stages of a writing project, including an initial outline, preliminary research, a revised outline, more extensive research and if necessary then interviews, another revised outline, and various drafts, followed by the editorial process (developmental or substantive editing, copyediting, and proofreading).
2) Book coaches helps the writers to develop a clear and compelling premise or plot, determine a tone, style, and voice based on the intended audience, and produce a coherent, captivating narrative, whether fiction or nonfiction!
3) Book coaches can provide benefits to the poets, short story writers, novelists as well as authors of nonfiction works, including articles, reports, and book manuscripts.
4) Book coaches helps to elicit the writers’ experience & expertise, guides them to develop a creative, productive spatial and temporal environment, and trains the writers to craft effective prose. They helps the writers to find out the heart of the content, what works and what needs work, how to carry out research and conduct interviews, and how to frame and organize the material and what to include & what to leave out.
5) Book coaches helps the writers to focus, by providing an objective perspective, and guides and encourages. A book coach is like a personal trainer or a mentor for a writer!
Written By NEEL PREET – Author of the Books, Voice From The East (2016); Journey With Time Place And Circumstances (2018) & Indian Defence Files (2021).
