A documentation about writing the ultimate heist novel.
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“There’s no crying in baseball.”
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What is a book coach? I’m looking into it and this is and where I’m applying for one.
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Regarding the novel, I've been starting to toss around the idea of getting a book coach. Yea, believe it or not, it'is a thing that actually exists.
It sounded pretty strange to me when I first heard about it but the more I've investigated and researched and thought about it the more it started seeming like a good idea. So now I'm looking into it.
What is a book coach? It consists of getting an expert to work with you who has a track record in writing and publishing their own novels as well as training on how to coach others in creating theirs. They would basically help at the beginning to review the idea and help you tease out all the elements you are thinking of for your story and help sort out what you are trying to say and help you think about how to structure it.
Like a shrink.
Then, after troubleshooting the initial idea the relationship would consist of checking in every 2 weeks (or more depending on what package you want and need) to review the writing you send them and give feedback on everything as you go.
This would be different from hiring a developmental editor, who might review your completed manuscript after you've toiled away on it (for god knows how many months...years!) and then give you feedback. A coach on the other hand would be involved as you go so that you could course correct along the way.
I feel like I'm at the point where I could use interaction and feedback from someone for whom novel writing is not a complete and utter mystery (as it is to me).
The more I think about it the more it seems it might be foolish not to. For all the hours going into it, why wait 6-18 months to show someone who might then tell you, 'you've got a problem in chapter 1'.
It seems the same as having a guitar teacher. Or when I look at the greatest performers in the world I realize that they continue to have coaches throughout their careers. Tiger Woods, Phelps, they all got 'em.
So that's where I'm at.
I can’t even remember where I got the first inkling of this, it must have been on one of the self-publishing podcasts that I listen to.
I started by googling the term ‘Book Coach’ and found one of the first links (that wasn’t an advertisement) was https://jennienash.com/ (none of the links in this post are affiliate links, I’m just letting you know where I’ve been researching).
Jennie comes from the world of traditional publishing and has vast experience in writing, publishing, and coaching. Her website led me to a company she has set up, https://www.authoraccelerator.com/, which can match you up with one of her certified book coaches.
I did some research on Jennie and heard interviews with her on two podcasts that I listen to extensively and have gained a lot trust and respect for:
https://www.thecreativepenn.com/podcasts/ hosted by Joanna Penn
https://selfpublishingformula.com/spf-podcast/ co-hosted by Mark Dawson and James Blatch
I’ve listened to these shows so much and have gotten so much good guidance from them that this let me know Author Accelerator was a service I could trust.
I submitted my application last night for an initial assessment, which I assume was a way for them to tell if you're actually serious about it because I was up 'til 12:37am writing the thing.
It feels like I’ve stumbled into the exact thing I needed at this time.
I’ll let you all know how it goes.
Have some thoughts? Feel free to drop a comment or hit me up: charlie@charleskunken.com
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