5 Steps to Becoming a Book Writing Coach (+ Pros and Cons)

If you not only love being creative, but also love helping other people bring their creativity to life, you might be a good book writing coach.

A good coach helps an author through the process of writing and publishing a book. They may not help every step of the way, but they can.

Mainly, a coach helps an author to overcome an obstacle, whatever it may be. They can provide good tips and advice for overcoming those obstacles and moving 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 be like, and more.

Table of Contents

What is a book writing coach?

Just like a coach in any other area of life, a book writing coach helps finish a book.

Book writing coaches help writers at every stage of the writing process. From brainstorming to drafting, writing, editing, pitching, and finally publishing, a book writing coach is there to help encourage the author and help them along the way.

That doesn’t mean they help at every one of those stages, but could.

Keep in mind that book writing coaches are not usually well rounded 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 and sketch ideas, as well as provide guidance on the book writing journey.

If you’re someone who loves to write but also loves helping writers bring their writing to life, this might be a good career option for you.

It’s no secret that writing can be a hard and lonely journey, and having someone to support you and be on your side 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 continue their journey through the book. Mainly because they are often writers, so they have strategies that they use to keep writing.

How to become a book writing coach

If you are interested in becoming a book writing coach, you may be wondering what the journey is like or how you might 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’ll need to get some experience.

Once you have a few book titles under your belt, it will be much easier to find customers. Until you get to that point, you may need to work a little harder to get some clients and people to trust you as a coach.

You will also need experience in the world of writing and publishing in general. You may need to publish some of your own writing or work at a book publisher to gain this experience.

#2 – Increase your knowledge as a coach

Knowing how to write well doesn’t necessarily mean you know how to train someone.

You will have to find a way to gain experience, even if you have to train some people for little or no cost to gain their experience.

You’ll need to learn how to provide feedback that is helpful and have someone navigate the complex world of posting. It might be worth enrolling in leadership or training courses just to learn the basics.

#3 – Choose a genre

This step is not required, but as you gain experience, you may want to consider choosing a certain genre of books or topics to become a book coach.

For example, you could become a book writing coach specifically for children’s book authors.

When you choose a genre, you understand what that path of book publishing looks like more than other people. You get to know the publishers that are interested in these kinds of books, the publishers that are looking for releases, and just generally build connections across that genre.

#4 – Expand your network

To get customers and authors to help, you’ll need to expand your network.

This could mean creating your social media profiles, attending networking events, reaching out to alumni from your college, and more.

The bigger your network, the more clients you can find, but you can also help authors meet the right people who can publish their book.

#5 – Keep Testimonials

As your clients and people in your network begin to tell how you helped them and how you grew their career, you’ll want to keep them as records.

Having proof of your skills and your business can go a long way when it comes to getting clients in the future.

If you set up a website, you can also put them there so you can constantly show people why they should choose you to work 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.

It should also be mentioned that you should always provide clear payment terms so that everyone understands when and when you get paid. The author you are helping will also want to know that there are no hidden fees in your offer.

Package Deals

You can offer sets of packages to authors, depending on what they need. Maybe you choose to help only with the publishing part or the creative part. Perhaps you offer a complete top-to-bottom service that helps authors every step of the way.

It will be up to you if you also choose to offer hourly rates and offers on top of that for when authors need additional support.

You can also choose to offer deals based on milestones or projects down the road. For example, you could offer a training package to finish the first draft, then another package to put them in touch with an editor, and so on.