Why Book Coaching Could Be the Right Career Change for You

Does reading books all day (and getting paid for it) sound like the dream? What about controlling how much you work and how much you make? And are you yearning to do meaningful work to help others achieve their goals? This is the work of a book coach. We help writers through ideation, planning, drafting, and editing. We serve as craft experts, project managers, cheerleaders, and more. We do challenging work that’s also fulfilling and fun. This job is relatively new—though writers have gotten support, coaching, and editorial help from other places for centuries. And as more writers pursue both traditional and self-publishing, book coaching is poised to explode. It’s a great time for people who are looking to change careers to consider book coaching for their next chapter. But despite all the benefits, you still might ask: Is becoming a book coach right for me? If you’re just starting to consider this, or you’ve been on the fence for a while, here are answers to the questions that might be holding you back. How do I know that I’m qualified to be a book coach? The great thing about book coaching is that it doesn’t require any qualifications. That’s not to say that just anyone can start coaching tomorrow. But all the knowledge and skills that book coaching requires can be taught! (You can click here to download a syllabus for our Book Coach Certification program.) So if anyone could theoretically become a book coach, how do you know if you’d be well-suited to it? And will you like it? If you have most of these characteristics, you probably have the makings of a good coach. You must love books Perhaps this one goes without saying, but if you’re going to work all day at helping people write books, you should love books. Not only is this crucial to your enjoyment of coaching, but it also makes you better prepared to help others. When you read consistently, you further your understanding of the craft and you stay on top of trends in the industry. You must have or be willing to develop comfort with the creative process Calling it a process implies that things are straightforward, however the creative process is anything but. It’s messy, iterative, and deeply emotional. Is that something you can withstand? And can you help guide someone else through those trials? Fortunately, you don’t have to come to coaching with this skillset fully developed already, but you must be open to working on it because your writers will look to you, as their coach, for direction when the creative process challenges them. You must have or be willing to develop comfort with A significant aspect of book coaching–regardless of whether you work in fiction or nonfiction–is project management. Writing a book is big, and often unwieldy, undertaking, which is why so many writers struggle to make much progress on their own. You must know or be willing to learn about the marketplace If you choose to coach writers whose ultimate goal is publishing, you have to have an understanding of the market and what publishers and/or readers will expect. Yes, writing is a craft, but it’s also a business, and anyone who wants to produce a successful book has to weigh the business with the craft. As a book coach, writers will look to you with questions about publishing and more, so you have to be willing to equip yourself with the answers. You like to work one-on-one There are avenues for coaches, like teaching courses and holding retreats, that don’t involve one-on-one work, but most coaching is done this way. Working one-on-one is simply the most efficient approach to help a writer progress quickly because you’re entirely focused on their story and helping them address their unique needs. If that suits you too, you’ll love the ability to zero in on one writer at a time.