The Benefits of Working with an
Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach
Author Accelerator is the industry leader in training and certifying book coaches.
We hold our coaches to a rigorous set of editorial and coaching standards built on excellence, integrity, and compassion. Our coaches are trained in a wide range of skills, including:
narrative design
editorial review
project management
client fit
the path to publishing
marketplace intelligence
Every certified book coach in our community has completed the Author Accelerator Book Coach Certification program and met the requirements of certification.
Our program is rigorous and hands-on. Coaches in training go through 200 hours of lessons to prepare for their practicums, which then take them about 100 hours to complete. In the practicums, our coaches in training work with writers at three critical stages of the writing process.
Between 20-25 percent of coaches in training do not earn certification on their first attempt. We work with these coaches to improve their practicum work, and only certify them when they have met every standard of certification.
Once certified, our coaches remain in our community, where we provide ongoing education, peer support, and discussion about the (constant) changes in the publishing industry.
Our certified book coaches provide:
Holistic support for the writing life
An editor usually comes in to work on a manuscript when it is complete. But this isn’t helpful for writers in the middle of the process (you’ve probably been there...stuck in the middle of a draft and googling, “Who can help me write a book?”). A book coach works with the writer throughout the creative process, offering a framework while the writer is planning and drafting their book, giving feedback while they revise it, and helping with their strategy around pitching. Book coaches work not just with the writing, but with you, the writer, helping you maintain good habits and manage your mindset, your doubts, and your goals.
Accountability
Most writers are writing books at the same time that they are running companies, caring for children or other family members, and juggling other demands on their time. A book coach keeps their project on track by providing deadlines and timely, focused feedback. You have someone holding a mirror up to your work, asking questions about everything on the page, and pointing out where the writing is veering from the plan. The result is that the work tends to get done and get done well.
A streamlined process
Working with a book coach saves an enormous amount of time. Having support and feedback while you write often means you don’t need as many drafts to produce the book you are envisioning. Writers who work with book coaches have decided that it is more valuable for them to pay to work with a trained professional than to trade their limited time working with a critique partner or writing group.
Marketplace Intelligence
Things move fast in publishing and it’s tough for writers who aren’t immersed in the industry to keep up with it all. A book coach offers an extra perspective to help you understand changes and opportunities — everything from a new literary agency opening up to changes in the services that hybrid publishers are offering to new apps for book discoverability.
Strategic Insight
A new writer may only approach agents once for a book in their career and that time is now. A book coach has often guided writers through the pitch process and can help develop an effective strategy for researching and pitching agents, as well as an understanding of how to make meaning of any rejections or responses you might get.
Career Guidance
Book coaches help writers navigate the path to publishing, helping them decide on the best approach for their project and their goals. If your plans involve pitching agents, a book coach can teach you how to evaluate agents and build a strategic pitch list. Book coaches edit your pitch materials and help you get into the right mindset for pitching. Book coaches support you through a process that can be confusing and often upsetting.
Confidence
Working with a book coach builds confidence. Writers have someone helping them to see both their strengths and their weaknesses. They get honest feedback about what is working and what needs more work. Instead of guessing when your book is ready for the marketplace, you will know. Pitching from a place of confidence rather than fear is not only a more enjoyable process, it tends to produce better results.
Cheerleading
Writing is lonely work. It can take years to complete a commercially viable book and writers usually get very little feedback on their work during that time. When you work with a book coach, you have someone who is as invested in your project as you are, who is cheering you on, and who will be there for all the ups and downs of the process.
Our certified book coaches are trained in our proven writing tools and resources.
Including the Blueprint for a Book method, the Inside and Outcome Outlines, the Hierarchy of Editorial Concerns, the Good to Great Chapter Checklist, the Stoplight Strategy, and more.
What is it like to work with a book coach?
Certified coaches have an average of 10 years of coaching experience.
10
Individual coaching isn't your only option. 86 percent of certified coaches offer or are planning courses and events for writers.
86%
100 percent of the writers surveyed felt better equipped to write on their own/with confidence after working with a coach.
100%
Most (73 percent) of the writers surveyed said that after working with a book coach they felt better equipped to meet deadlines and streamline their writing process.
73%
53 percent of the writers surveyed have published a book with a coach:
47 percent are self-published
33 percent have published traditionally
20 percent have used a hybrid publishing model
53%
FAQs about working with a book coach
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It depends.
The book coaches we certify set their own pricing and run their own businesses, so there are a wide range of options. Higher prices usually correlate to higher-touch programs (meaning more hands-on editing and more personalized strategic consultation).
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No, book coaching is in its infancy as an industry and we are one of the leaders of this new field. No national organization or academic institution offers a book coaching program, so it does not make sense to align ourselves with one. We are working to set the standards in the industry.