Why Book Coaching? 4 Keys to Writing Success
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It’s said that everyone has a book in them, but the vast majority of people never start — let alone finish — writing, for a variety of reasons. Maybe you lack confidence in your writing skills, or you struggle to set aside the time to get words down on the page. Or perhaps you’re just overwhelmed with how to organize your anecdotes into a cohesive book structure.
The good news is that you’re not alone — thanks to book coaching services from FriesenPress.
Working with a trained, human coach provides you with direct, one-on-one, momentum-generating support. They assess where your project is at, discuss what your personal struggles are, and build a customized (and flexible) plan to help you overcome those blockages so that you can achieve your goals on schedule. Whether you want to establish a consistent and reliable writing routine or finally finish that book you’ve been chipping away at for twenty years — a book coach remains at your side to help you succeed.
And that’s just the initial consultation. Let’s dig a little deeper and look at 4 key ways working with a book coach can help you finish (or even start) your manuscript.
Writer’s Block
FriesenPress's book coaching service brings a structured, expert-driven approach to the creative process, helping you leap over writing obstacles while making progress on your book. No matter where you are in your writing, we empower you to confidently transform your output into a high-quality, publishable manuscript.
While the romanticized idea of a writer is someone at a typewriter overlooking a remote lake with a cup of coffee gone cold and staring at a blank page, the reality is that writer’s block takes many forms. Getting words down, but painfully slowly, and winding up frustrated with your output. Writing content that you’re dissatisfied with … and end up deleting. Having an idea but not knowing where to start with the actual writing part. Running out of ideas for what happens next. And, yes, staring at a blinking cursor.
Usually, writer’s block arises from either the writer needing to shift gears to replenish their creative well and respark their inspiration — or they need to develop their ideas further with brainstorming, feedback, or writing exercises. An unfinished draft of any size is suitable for coaching, even if that’s just an initial paragraph.
A coach can talk with you about what writer’s block looks like for you, so that they can tailor possible solutions. And they don’t just give you suggestions and leave you wallowing. Over the course of your sessions together, they’ll keep checking in on you to see which techniques have helped. If you’re still stuck, they’ll pivot with you to try another approach so that you can finally bust that writer’s block for good.
Skill Development
Many people haven’t trained in creative writing — but that doesn’t mean they can’t become talented authors. You might have done essays back in high school or might write technical briefs for work, but these are a far cry from crafting a good book. As Scott Adams once said, “Ideas are worthless. Execution is everything.” You can certainly work with brilliant editors to hone your roughest writing to a high shine, but you still need to be able to implement their suggestions. By developing your writing skills during the drafting process, you’ll be able to produce a stronger manuscript that may not need as much editing before publication.
What aspect of writing craft do you most want to improve: Outlining? Characterization? Wrangling inconsistent tenses? A book coach can assess where you’re at now, and provide resources, exercises, and inspiration tailored to your preferred genre. Every category of book has different expectations for length, tone, and point of view. By building a strong game plan for your story, testing out different tones or tenses, you can see what works best — and save yourself a lot of rewriting later.
It’s called a “writing practice” for a reason: there’s always more to learn. By investing in growing your skills now, you’ll get better, stronger, and more confident with each project you write. So if you have a series planned or want to be a career author, it’s best to start off with a solid foundation — and a book coach can help you hone an authorial voice that’s uniquely yours.
Material Organization
Sometimes it’s not the writing that causes trouble … it’s what to do with all of it. From a lifetime of journal entries that you want to turn into a memoir to a 600-page behemoth that you need to break up into a trilogy somehow, it can be hard to remain objective with your own writing.
A book coach assesses whatever material you have and builds a plan for the next steps. They can help you create a structure for the content, identifying gaps where you can focus your writing, recommend content that can be trimmed for better focus, or highlight missing research you might need to do before you can proceed with publication (such as for citations, obtaining permissions, or confirming whether something has entered the public domain).
They also remain with you as you begin implementing that work, helping keep you on track so you don’t fall down a rabbit hole that won’t end up adding value to your project. When you get stuck or have questions about how best to tackle the next step, they can provide tips, tools, and methods so you’re not wasting time having to redo your work. And all through this supporting role, they’ll keep their eyes on the goal, guiding you efficiently down the tangled path to completion.
Accountability
And sometimes, all you need is someone expecting you to work on that book to be able to prioritize it. If you find it all too easy to put off your writing time, letting every other obligation take precedence, or find time slipping away while your word count stagnates — you might need someone else to hold you accountable. Think of your book coaching like literary personal training that motivates you to shake off your tired routine and reinvigorate your enthusiasm. With a coach at your side giving you exercises, setting word-count targets, or establishing project deadlines, you’ll not only have to show up and do the work, you’ll also be able to track your progress as you jog ever closer to the finish line. And if you haven’t even started your manuscript yet — what better way than with guidance towards a sustainable writing habit.
Of course, like any good personal training, all of these goals will be tailored to your lifestyle. How much time do you realistically have? How many more words are left to write? What milestone are you aiming to hit? After each session, your coach will check on your progress, review your work, and assess whether your initial targets are still attainable or whether they need to be adjusted.
If they do need to be adjusted, they’ll get curious to find out what’s working for you, what challenges you’re still experiencing, and suggest ways to ensure you can meet — and exceed — your productivity goals consistently. After all, an unattainable target can be just as demotivating as being unsure what targets to set in the first place.
So when you’re stuck on your manuscript, remember that you don’t have to go it alone. A professional book coach can help you assess your sticking points, create tailored suggestions, provide feedback to motivate you, and keep pace with you as you achieve your goals.
If you have a milestone moment coming up that you’d like to commemorate with a book or if you’ve found an unfinished draft in a drawer that you are finally ready to tackle — give FriesenPress a call. We can pair you with the best-fit coach who will help you achieve your writing goals.
Astra Crompton (she/they) is an eclectic writer, editor, and illustrator with over twenty-five years of publishing experience. Her work has been published in anthologies, table-top RPG books, magazines, and in several novels. They have also successfully completed NaNoWriMo six times and counting. Astra is currently the Editing & Illustrations Coordinator at FriesenPress, where they manage, coordinate, and vet FriesenPress’s industry-leading editing and illustrations teams.
