10 Ways a Writing Coach Can Help You Write Your Book

(Credit: pearsonschool.com)

While some very successful writers manage to write books on their own, other writers may not be as well-organized, motivated, and over-flowing with “can’t lose” ideas.

In fact, if truth be told, the latter group is probably more prevalent, considering how difficult writing a book can be, the fact that most writers have to juggle many things (including overcoming the disease some may call “new-authoritis”) and how much better things seem to flow when people ask for and receive competent help.

What Are Writing Coaches and How Can They Help?

A writing coach is someone who specializes in helping people turn ideas into saleable, well-researched and well-written manuscripts; to put it more poetically, a writing coach is a “book whisperer” (e.g., William Zinsser). As for how they can help, here are ten examples:

1. He can connect you with people (i.e., book publishers, agents, editors, etc.) who can help your book and career move along.
2. She can help you write better, more prolifically and more objectively. She may accomplish this by motivating you to use precise nouns, colorful adjectives and action verbs.
3. He can help you find/select the best possible title. Although some writers underestimate the importance of the title, publishers, editors and agents rarely do. They know that a good title is essential; in some ways, it is the “rudder” of a book idea.
4. She can help you put together a solid project outline. While the format may not be important, you need to draw a map of where you are going—that’s what an outline, page of content, or idea synopsis is for.
5. He helps you plot out a good research strategy. Even though today writers have better resources than were available ever before, you still have to figure out how to maximize the use thereof.
6. If necessary, she will ghostwrite part or a significant portion of the book. If you get hopelessly stuck in the process, your writing coach may have to take over. The best writing coaches can write as well as they can coach.
7. He can advise you on legal know-how’s and copyrighting tricks. The latter may include sending the work to the Copyright Office or having it notarized before sending it out to publishers.
8. She can hold you accountable for your progress. Sometimes, having someone to keep reminding you of deadlines can go a long way to completing projects.
9. He can act as a sounding off authority for ideas. Most of the time, even great ideas need to be re-shaped, re-configured or simply better defined.
10. She can help you stay on track until the manuscript is completed. Many writers start off a project wonderfully but then get side-tracked or intimidated by the many hurdles every writer encounters.

Conclusion

Writing a book, fortunately, doesn’t hinge on having good luck, but, rather, depends on how much effort you put into it, how good your idea is, and how consistently well you can write. While you may do it on your own, writing a book seems to go much better when you have, by your side, a well-respected, experienced, and highly-motivational writing coach.