When in Doubt…Hire a Book Coach

If you’ve been here for the last few blog posts (as I’ve taken and made some strides to restart my blog life) you may have noticed a recurring theme, that it’s mostly been about some of the various exercises and routines I have done to get back to my own writing life overall while also inspiring my writing friends, those I teach and you too, maybe, to get invigorated about your own projects whether writing related or not. We all have something we may very well love doing and even with that “love” there are times where parts of everything we do become stagnate, need refreshing and hopefully something said here can help you. If this is your first blog post by me, welcome, after you’re finished reading, go back and read some of my other recent posts.

Today’s post is stepping outside your comfort zone and hiring a coach, which is what I did for the first time back in 2024.

I’ll tell you a little secret about me, I’m a skeptical introvert. Don’t get me wrong, I’m funny and engaging but I have absolutely no problem (once I turn on the little imaginative switch I have in my back) being alone. Once I turn the switch on, for events and book signings where I MUST engage and be fearless to talk to strangers, invite them over to my table so I can move some books, and then, it’s on like popcorn (are people still saying this?) Other than those times, truth is, I have zero problems being holed in my office all day everyday working solo. I LOVE IT.

One of the problems, however, is that isolation becomes a very big problem when it comes to needing encouragement for yourself AND for your work. I know I’ve finished 20+ books now because I created several things for my writing life and one of those things is a community of writers 90% of whom I’ve never met in person. Even if I say nothing on a Zoom meeting about some writerly craft subject, the energy is flowing right to me, pouring in and giving me some much-needed encouragement, I’m no longer isolated, I got a dose of new thoughts and practice suggestions and I’m off. I wasn’t even looking for a coach when I signed up to tell you the truth, but I do remember something I had said I was going to do in 2024. Step outside of my comfort zone. Do something different.

When I met my coach, it was one of those Zoom meetings of writers. I can’t even tell you what she spoke about just that I liked her a lot. Kindness, thoughtfulness and knowing your subject matter goes a long way; so like many people probably did after, I said I’d write to her at the end and just say hi and introduce myself. To make a long story short, we’ve done two separate three month coaching programs so far and I’ll likely sign up for another one.

But what was it? What are some key steps to use when deciding to work with a coach? Truth be told, I already felt confident with my writing and sometimes you do just pay to talk to someone about all the writing things, get some clarity and feedback and move on with life, and that’s fine, it’s more than fine. For me, that’s what there was to it. I mean you may have a mental health counselor, right? They are actively engaging with you and helping you work through the issues you’re experiencing right now? I honestly don’t see a difference. I see a mental health counselor too, by the way, to deal with my issues around my disability and I have on and off, as needed, for some time.

Back to my coach. I did have a book that I was working on, and it wasn’t getting done. Again this was Smoking Confessions, the one that was 83K works in November 2023 for National Novel Writing Month (Now Novel November) and then nothing. I didn’t look at that book, didn’t fix it or barely did anything with it for the better part of a year.

What my coach gave me was three months, meeting once a week for an hour. That’s twelve weeks, one quarter.

What you should decide is not only what YOU need, but what does the coach offer? Your need and their abilities should match.

Have Some Expectations – Next, I’ll admit that I had no real expectations, and I think you should have some. The reason I say this, remember, I’m skeptical, but I say this because the first few meetings, our convos were random and not focused. I think that’s totally my fault.

Have an Agenda – I’m tangent queen. As are most women. It’s how many of us do. But if this is your first coach, even if you put just two questions on your little agenda to ask him/her, then fine do that. If you get nothing else done, you’ll at minimum have the responses to your two questions and you’ll feel like you accomplished something. Hopefully the discussion and responses will bring about more questions.

Seek Clarity & Direction – With your questions and your agenda, you can move forward based on their responses. Don’t just ask about one problem you’re having, think about your total book or books or your career, digging deeper into your story, audience, and goals so you don’t waste time. You can even get feedback on your cover.

Know What YOU Need, Specifically – Your coach is not a mind reader. YOU must know not only what you need, but how you like to work and communicate best. Your coach may become for you:

An Accountability & Motivation Partner? – e.g. checking in and outlining deadlines. She may not actually read individual work, they didn’t say they were an Editor, they said COACH. Is this going to be a problem? Best to know now.
Help To Stay on Track? – With submissions and due deadlines
Provide Exercises to Enhance Your Prose – one of the things, as a coach myself, is I ask potential coaching clients if they want homework or not, honestly some do, and most don’t. At the end of the day, the coaching should still be fun. You’re not paying someone to torture you.
Help You Beat Procrastination – For some of us, even soft deadlines are still deadlines. I met one person on this online writing space who said he set it up to where he would have to pay his Editor $ 50 if he missed a deadline. Now we ain’t trying to be broke over here but if it works, hey. It can be motivating to lose money, but tbh, I would probably just cry in a corner somewhere. Seriously, when you know someone is waiting on you, it can foster real motivation
Coaches Can Offer Emotional support / a Sounding Board and Help Build Confidence –It’s likely they too are or have written a book or two and they know how hard it can be. They can commiserate with you, permit crying, send chocolate?… and give you space but know what to say to remind you of what you want out of all of this and help you come back to the why you’re doing this and help you push through. The more positive feedback you get, the kind encouragement from week to week can become addicting. I’m sure they know this, so you’ll be signing up again just for that, BUT just having even a little feedback and push you to more writing, more words on the page, and this is a great thing.

Take Notes – This will be something you can refer to late. Ask them if you can record. If they don’t want to record, ask if you can have the transcript from Zoom’s Ai notetaker. Coaches not only are motivation and feedback; many have frameworks and systems that you can also learn to use. By the way, if a coach won’t permit recording, remember that you can record for yourself, or when the call is over, just take a few moments to debrief the session, reflect with yourself and jot down any important action items. You can also use your phone, or the voice memo’s app which is on a Mac but is likely an app you can download on any device. Your coach may also permit sharing of the transcript. This also may be something to ask about before your time together, and a contract commences.

Here’s a few extras that I didn’t expect from my coach that made it even more worthwhile:

Professional insight – I always want to know what Coaches have learned and seek their input and how-to on what THEY’RE doing. To do that means, you talk to them not just about yourself, but about them and what they do. They can open doors and introduce you to new platforms and tools you’re not currently using but should.

Partnerships- My coach does several classes, as I also do. To date, we’ve hosted two classes together that we each sell on our respective platforms. This also means that whomever you choose has found you to be a knowledgeable professional in your own right and is essentially inviting you to their audience.

Networking, Connections, and Warm Introductions to Their Teammates – My coach has introduced me to other cover designers, editors, V-A’s, formatters, all people she’s already vetted who I can hire for my own projects, already knowing they’ve done good, quality work. I’ve also introduced her to people I know can work on components of her projects, too.

Finally, what can you expect to pay? I’ve seen some high end coaches and some who prices are outta sight, however, they can also tout having coached thousands of writers and all their writer-turned published author books they can hold up to show for their expertise and their program working and that’ something…maybe it will be yours in their testimonial list of happy customers and that is progress. Proof of their concept. What I paid for one quarter (12 meetings/1 hour each meeting) was in the $ 500-900 range and to me, this is on the lower end. I’ve paid $ 900+ a month for five months for a marketing coach who hosted a monthly GROUP and no individual time unless you paid more for a separate meeting. Yes, you must weigh the pros and cons. What I will say is that in another year, (or three months, how knows) you can have an actual published book in hand or still be stuck.

Whatever your goals are, remember hiring a coach is a two-way partnership, and there is so much more to be had than just another someone to look at your book and offer more feedback but having someone to help you with the various components of not only your book but your writing life overall.

If you’d like to chat about hiring a coach or to hear about some I know, I’m happy to chat with you. Just send me a note, and I have 3-5 I can recommend. You can also look to some of the online summits and conferences geared toward authors. One of the best ways to find one, watch some of their sessions to get your first introduction to them and send a follow up email to take it from there. Remember to have fun and good luck!