Write your Book Proposal
Book coaching
Once you’ve Built your Book’s Foundations, you are ready to start the deeper work needed to write your book.
Only a tiny fraction of people who start to write a book actually complete it.
But book coaching isn’t a matter of you starting to write on page one while I make encouraging noises until you get to page 300.
Good planning is needed to get to the finish line, along with understanding the process and being held accountable.
I help you to articulate, the things you need to know and say about your book in order to write it.
Our aim is to make it marketable, whether you plan to self-publish or to seek a publisher.
With my eyes on your book, we will develop and focus your ideas so you can write forward with confidence.
"What do I need to know about my book?"
In nonfiction, the elements that make up a marketable book are:
📗 Your readership: how large a group do they make?
📗 Selling your book: where are your readers to be found?
📗 Proving there is a place for your book: what similar books are out there?
📗 Your credibility: demonstrating your authority to write this book
📗 Describing your book: coherently and in a way that captivates a potential reader
📗 Structuring your book: to communicate your point in a way it will be remembered
📗 Writing the content: so that it flows logically and reads lucidly
"Big picture, then, how do we work together?"
We first agree a coaching plan to meet your individual needs.
Then we work in Coaching Cycles to cover these elements to create a draft Book Proposal. This is your plan for writing forward.
If you want to seek traditional publication, at this point, we polish up your Book Proposal (which makes a business case to a publisher for your book: you are asking the publisher to buy your book idea, in effect) and I help you to pitch to agents and publishers.
If you are heading for self-publishing (independent, or hybrid) then we want to get you writing. I support you to an agreed plan with deadlines and feedback while you write.
But how, exactly, does coaching work?
We agree your exact goals and I keep you on track to reach them.
The best way to show you how coaching works is for you to sample it by working on Your Book on a Page with me.
But another way of understanding is this: suppose you read a good book on writing Proposals (Michael Larsen’s How to Write a Book Proposal is one).
You can absorb all the instruction and you can implement the actions you glean from it.
But you can’t get feedback from a book. It can’t tell you if you are being clear. It can’t spot inconsistencies that reveal deeper truths about your work. It won’t argue with you, or tell you when something sounds fantastic, or advise you on your best strategy when you are faced with a decision.
I ask you the questions you need to answer to be able to write forward with confidence.
Coaching stops you from second-guessing and getting stuck, from losing confidence and from wandering around in a maze of contradictory feedback.
Each Coaching Cycle has:
📗pre-work likely to take around 3 hours effort, minimum
📗email support between calls
📗a one-hour coaching call
📗follow-up assignments
Our immediate goal is to keep you on track.
Our end-goal is to get your book written.
"What sort of writers do you work with?"
Writers who work with me operate in many different fields.
Historians, social geographers and memoirists.
IT engineers, managers of huge projects, and financiers.
Entrepreneurs, professors, policy setters and corporate leaders.
In every case, my clients are writers who bring an explorer’s frame of mind to their writing.
They handle concepts with agility, they have a thirst for learning, and a willingness to experiment.
They know that writing a book is like setting off on a journey: you need an open mind, a map and a compass.
Most of all, they understand the value of seeking out a guide to navigate tricky passages in their book journey.
If you get a publisher
I will be the first to cheer you.
It’s a wonderful feeling to get that email, the expression of interest.
Your journey to publication isn’t clear cut at this point, though.
You’ve done well to be one of the tiny percentage of writers who attract interest for their book. But this has now become a conversation between equals.
You need to make sure you understand what the publisher is offering you, and you have the chance to ask questions before you sign on the dotted line.
This is a list of the sort of questions you should think about asking.
No guarantees
Let’s take a moment to understand what I don’t do as your book coach or editor.
I do not guarantee you will find monetary success
I do not guarantee you will find an agent or a publisher
I do not guarantee that a reader will enjoy your book
I do not guarantee your book ‘bestseller’ status.
Our work together is exactly like the relationship between a professional adviser and their client.
You pay me for my advice while we are in a coaching relationship that we define at the start.
When my coaching ends, I have no vested interest in your book.
I don’t enter into a shared royalties relationship with you.
I don’t have any financial interest in your publishing arrangements.
I don’t introduce you to publishers or agents.
I GIVE ABSOLUTELY NO GUARANTEE THAT YOUR BOOK WILL BE PUBLISHED.
For 99% of authors, there is very little money to be made in publishing their book.
It’s worth labouring this point so that you and I are absolutely clear.
I do not guarantee that if you follow my suggestions and guidance, you will make money.
The purpose of writing your book is to write the book you want to write. It’s not to swell your bank balance.
So after that stern moment
Would you like to find out how we could work together?
The first step you need to take is to get in touch.
Click on the Get Started button and tell me about your book.
I’d love to hear from you!
