A book coach (that’s me!) is so many things all wrapped up in one wordy-nerdy bundle! Educator, project manager, accountability partner, brainstormer, cheerleader and expert advisor are just some of the hats a book coach wears. A book coach walks by your side as you conceptualize, write and revise your novel. If you’ve lost your way, a book coach will hold the flashlight and help you find your path again. Whether this is your first book or your fiftieth, working with a book coach will help you to produce your best work and make the writing process easier. 

This is a great article that goes into even more depth about what a book coach can do for you, written by Jennie Nash, the founder of Author Accelerator.

Yes! In fact, this is my specialty and what I feel is my true calling as a book coach. I serve neurodiverse writers because I want to show them that the things they think about themselves as obstacles can actually be positive attributes. As a neurodiverse person myself, I have spent years working on ways to take advantage of my brain’s differences and built tools and skills to keep me on task, focused and following through on my goals. I’m ready to share them with you, and if you need support in this area, I’ve got you. Together we’ll work to identify your unique challenges and develop a writing routine that works for you. If any of the following sound familiar: 

• You have a ton of books you’ve started writing, but none you’ve finished
• You have a great idea for a book, but the process of actually writing one feels too overwhelming so you never get started
• You want to write, but can’t seem to stay in your seat long enough to get anything done
• You find it difficult to write because you don’t know what comes next
• You keep promising yourself you’ll write today but never do

I’m here to help. These challenges can create such a shame spiral, but they’re 100% surmountable! I understand that critical inner voice, and I want to rid other authors of it. Together, I know we can get you through whatever’s keeping you from moving forward, and I have numerous tools and strategies to share with you. I will show you that you can write a book, whether you’re struggling to get started or can never find a way to finish.

Please note that you don’t need to share any diagnosis with me in order for us to work together. My programs and resources are designed to address challenges, not neurotypes. 

My favourite genres to work with are fantasy and sci-fi (all sub-genres), mystery/suspense, thrillers, horror and romance, for both adult and YA audiences. I love stories that combine genres and ones that don’t quite fit into any genre, too. I’m also interested in #ownvoices stories of all types. I’m not the best fit for picture books and most middle-grade (very upper-middle grade verging on YA is the exception) but I can refer you to coaches who specialize in these age groups.

At this time, I’m only working with fiction writers, but I’m connected to several incredible nonfiction and memoir coaches, and I’m happy to refer you to them if you’d like. The exception is line editing and proofreading; I’m more than willing to take on nonfiction and memoir projects for this type of work, and have several happy clients to attest that I’m great at it!

There are three parts to every coaching session. The first is when you submit your work to me on the pre-arranged deadline. What you submit will be based on our previous week’s goal. It may be pages of your manuscript, a writing exercise, a character profile or something else we’ve identified as important to your writing journey. The second part is my feedback on your materials. Once you’ve submitted your work, I will do an in-depth review and provide in-line edits and comments, then email them back to you. The final part is a call (video or phone) where we can talk about my feedback, brainstorm any issues and make a plan for the following submission. Each coaching session typically takes place over a two-week period. 

Of course! You can book a free 30-minute consultation call to talk about your ideas and challenges, what you’re looking for in a coach, and learn how I can help. Book your free call here.

Absolutely! I’m happy to accept installment payments for any of my coaching packages. Payments must be made in full before we can begin working together.

It seems like AI is being touted as the solution to all our problems these days, isn’t it? AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini are perfectly competent at making basic corrections to things like spelling and grammar, but when it comes to a deep, meaningful and specific evaluation of something as important as your novel, well, only a human with a trained eye for story can give you insightful advice. AI evaluation tends to be superficial, generic and sometimes contradictory, and it’s notorious for telling people what it thinks they want to hear, rather than offer constructive criticism. It also doesn’t have the capability to understand whether your plot twist is working, or if one of your characters needs to show more emotion. It will skim right over continuity errors that a capable editor would catch in a moment. And most importantly, it doesn’t have heart. It doesn’t love stories deep down in its soul. Author and editor Tiffany Yates Martin speaks very well to this in a recent blog post, which you can read here.