What Does A Writing Coach Do? Your Pressing Questions, Answered
Writing coaches can be a powerful investment for writers, but if you’re new to writing, you may wonder, what does a writing coach do? One of the key factors of a great writing coach is that they help you improve your writing skills and your writing mindset. By assessing your book as an outsider they can draw you attention to areas you may otherwise miss.
It can be difficult for writers to rearrange a scene or cut scenes entirely. A writing coach acts as a guide, working collaboratively with the writer to highlight areas of strength as well as places for improvement. So, what does a writing coach do, specifically? In this article, I cover:
What is the role of a writing coach?
A writing coach’s role is to guide you through your writing process. While individual coaching styles will vary, a good coach offers their expertise as it relates to your needs and writing goals.
Before reaching out to different coaches, you may want to ask the following. What does a writing coach do for new writers versus established authors? The coach’s role changes based on the needs of each individual writer.
A good coach should:
Offer constructive feedback based in their expertise
Encourage you to make your writing the best you can
Provide further resources as you pursue your craft
However, before you hire a writing coach, see if what they offer aligns with your writing needs. You may want more affirmation and support as you work through the difficult midpoint of your fifth manuscript.
If you are new to writing, you may desire a coach to remind you of writing rules and draw your attention to common mistakes writers make early on. No matter what stage you are at in your writing project, a great coach will personalize their coaching to you and your needs.
So, what does a writing coach do in comparison to writing guilds and courses? These types of services are usually aimed at the masses and intended to take writers from point A to point B. While a writing coach also helps you bridge the gap from point A to B, they curate their services specifically for your personal writing needs.
How much does a writing coach charge?
Rates for coaching services vary tremendously. This variance is based on the expertise of the coach, credentials, what they offer, and other similar factors. Identifying your goals prior to hiring a book coach will help you get the most out of your investment.
Consider the following questions when identifying who to invest in for services.
What do I hope to gain from the coaching experience?
What type of credentials does the coach need to meet my needs?
Do I sense a fit from their website/website copy?
Let’s say you research potential coaches and see rates from $50 for an hour of coaching all the way up to $250 and above. How do you decide who to book? Use the following thought processes to help you decide which coach is best for you.
1. Articulate what you hope to gain.
Are you looking for generalized feedback? You may want a manuscript critique instead of face-to-face coaching. Do you want help learning to edit? You could benefit from hiring a coach and watching them edit your manuscript live. Do you need encouragement to keep going? Articulate exactly what you want so you can hire accordingly.
2. Recognize that price points vary based on credentials.
If a coach has trained with a bestselling author, published books, and worked with many clients previously, they are established and their prices will likely reflect this. If a coach is just starting out and passionate about helping other writers, but just a few steps ahead of their clients, they will likely price themselves in the lower range.
3. Decide if it’s a fit.
Just as it’s important to get along with any other type of coach (fitness coach, personal trainer, therapist, etc.), genuinely connecting with a writing coach helps the process flow more smoothly. You may find that the first coach you hire, you click with. You follow their thought-process and understand their feedback. For other writers, it may take a few coaches to find the right fit.
With these points in mind, let’s consider two options before we move forward. This will help you establish which category best serves you: a coach for new writers or one for established writers?
What does a writing coach do for new writers?
If you are new to writing and looking for help on how to write a book, a coach can help you. Learning the following will help set you up for a great first draft:
The important points in a plot (inciting incident, climax, denouement)
How to develop well-rounded characters
The necessity of crucial writing rules
Additionally, discovering if you work best as a plotter (a writer who plots the story before writing), a pantser (someone who writes by the seat of their pants), or a hybrid of both, sets you on a trajectory for success.
What does a writing coach do for established authors?
For more established writers, coaches spend less time on teaching the fundamentals and more time diving into creative writing technique, detailed characterization, and storytelling tactics.
Investing in a second pair of fresh, unbiased eyes can help take your already quality manuscript to the next level.
A great writing coach can help you add nuance to your fiction or nonfiction manuscript that you may not include without a second perspective. Keeping these variables in mind, what does a writing coach do that makes them good at their job?
What makes a good writing coach?
A great writing coach not only helps you make concrete progress in your writing journey but teaches lessons you will take with you. Working with a coach to reach your writing goals can feel overwhelming, vulnerable, and extremely intimidating.
However, what makes a writing coach a good writing coach is their focus on helping you better yourself as a writer. This includes rejecting imposter syndrome (that idea that you actually aren’t a good writer) and encouraging you to bring your best no matter what.
Practically, what does a writing coach do? A good writing coach should exhibit the following traits:
Ability to assess where you are in your writing journey and the exact steps you need to take to move forward
Provide timely, constructive feedback on your writing (this should include your strengths as well as areas for improvement)
Demonstrate how to meet industry-standards yet maintain your unique voice
Customize their coaching style to best meet your writing needs
While each writing coach is an individual with a personality, preferred genre, and their own strengths and weaknesses, the above points lay the foundation for a good coach.
Are writing coaches worth it?
Once you find a writing coach, you can assess if it’s worth it based on your personal definition of success. For example, when I was a new writer and began training under an established author, I knew I needed to learn how to get my writing up to industry standard. I didn’t need encouragement as much as I needed constructive feedback.
Due to a great coach, years of hard work, and an encouraging community around me, my writing improved. What I look for in a coach now is different from what I needed when I started.
How do you know if you’ve found a good writing coach?
You see growth in your writing (even if it’s slow)
Their feedback increases the quality of your writing
Your confidence is increasing
If we think of coaches in business terms, ask yourself if nonpersonal, writing courses could better help you succeed in the publishing industry or if the personalized feedback from book writing coaches is more beneficial.
Hands down and from personal experience, I believe writing coaches are crucial to long term success. Throughout my writing I have been on both sides of coaching:
Coached by publishing professionals
Without a doubt, I can say I would not be where I am today without the personalized training of the authors who provided me with crucial feedback.
It can be difficult to take the leap into personalized coaching—it’s vulnerable, after all. But if you want to fast-track your journey to success, a writing coach is the way to go.
How to find a writing coach?
A simple Internet search can help you find a plethora of coaches. If you have a writing community, reach out to writers who may be a bit further along than you are and ask them if they could recommend a coach.
Some authors provide top-tier coaching for a limited number of writers. Other writers offer hourly sessions, coaching packages, or provide coaching via written feedback.
Do your research and then take the leap. You are bound to grow as a writer and as a creative. Plus, you never know where the power of networking with coaches can lead!
