What does a book coach do?

The job in one paragraph

The Editorial Freelancers Association, a US professional body for editors and writers, describes coaches as people who help clients "develop, refine, or complete works in progress," and notes that coaching often happens at the start of a project or when a project gets stuck midway. That matches what we see. A book coach is hired for the hard part of a book that is not the typing: deciding what the book is for, who it serves, what goes in and what stays out, and then producing pages week after week while the rest of life keeps happening.

The coach brings two things you cannot easily give yourself. The first is an outside view. It is very hard to see the shape of your own book, because you know what you meant. The second is a rhythm: a call on the calendar, pages due before it, and someone who will notice if they do not arrive.

What a coach actually works on

Across a typical engagement, the work moves through roughly these areas. Not every coach covers all of them, and the order varies.

• The reader and the promise. Who exactly is this book for, and what will be different for them after they read it? Most first conversations spend a long time here, and they should. A vague answer makes every later decision harder.
• The idea, narrowed. Many first-time authors have three books tangled together. A coach helps you pick one and park the others.
• The structure. A table of contents, then a chapter-by-chapter outline with the main point, the stories and the evidence for each chapter.
• A writing plan. How many words or sessions a week, when, where, and what happens on weeks that go wrong.
• Feedback on pages. Is this chapter doing what the outline said it would? Is the reader still with you? Where did it drift?
• Decisions. Title options, whether a story belongs, whether to keep a chapter you love that does not serve the reader.
• What comes after the draft. Editing, publishing routes, and what to look for in an editor or publisher.

What a session looks like

Formats differ, but a common pattern is a video or phone call every week or two, often an hour or less, with written feedback on your pages in between. Here is a realistic example of one session in the middle of an engagement.

Notice what the coach did not do: rewrite chapter four. The coach diagnosed, asked questions, and helped you decide. You did the writing. That division of labor is the whole difference between coaching and ghostwriting, and it is covered in detail in book coach vs ghostwriter.

What a book coach does not do

Being clear about this saves money and disappointment.

• Write your book. If the coach is writing paragraphs for you, they have become a ghostwriter or co-writer, and the agreement and price should say so.
• Guarantee a publisher, an agent or a bestseller. Nobody controls those outcomes. A coach can make your proposal or manuscript stronger and explain the routes. Anyone promising a deal or a list placement is selling something other than coaching.
• Replace an editor. A coach who has read every chapter as it was written is too close to the book to give it the cold, whole-manuscript read a developmental editor gives. Copyediting and proofreading are separate jobs again. See book coach vs editor.
• Make the time for you. Coaching adds accountability, not hours. If you cannot find two or three hours a week, a coach will mostly be watching you not write.
• Act as a therapist. Memoir and personal books bring up hard material. A good coach is kind about it and knows when to suggest other support, but coaching is not counseling.
• Publish the book. Some coaches work inside publishing companies and some refer you to publishers, but the coaching itself ends with a draft or a plan. Design, printing and distribution are different services.

Four kinds of book coach

"Book coach" covers people who do quite different work. Most coaches lean toward one or two of these. Knowing which you need is the best way to narrow the field.

A sensible way to choose: name the single thing that, if fixed, would get the book done. Hire the kind of coach who fixes that thing. If you are not sure what it is, the coach, editor or ghostwriter tool asks it directly.

Who coaching tends to help most

• You want every sentence to be your own.
• You can find two or more hours a week, most weeks.
• You have started this book (or another) and stalled.
• You have too many ideas, or one idea that will not settle into a shape.
• You work better when someone is expecting something from you.
• You want a conversation, not just a report.

If most of those are true, coaching is a strong fit. If you would rather not write the sentences, read the ghostwriter comparison. If you already have a full draft and want a verdict on it, start with the editor comparison.

Signs coaching is working

Give any new coaching relationship four to six weeks before judging it, then check honestly.

• You can say who the book is for and what it does for them in one or two sentences, and it has not changed in weeks.
• You have a chapter outline you trust enough to write from.
• Pages exist that would not exist without the coaching.
• Feedback is specific ("this chapter makes two arguments; pick one") rather than general ("great energy here").
• You sometimes disagree with your coach, and the book gets better from the argument.
• You know what you are doing before the next call.

Signs it is not

• Calls are pleasant and nothing gets written.
• The book's purpose changes every few sessions.
• You are rewriting chapter one for the fifth time while chapter two does not exist.
• The coach rarely reads your pages, or reads them on the call.
• Feedback is mostly praise, or mostly the coach's own preferences about style.
• You are being steered toward services the coach sells, before the book needs them.

If you see these, say so plainly to the coach first. A good one will change the plan. If nothing changes, it is reasonable to end the engagement under whatever terms you agreed. How to choose a book coach covers what those terms should be before you sign.