If you’re looking for help to
Finally get your book published,
look no further.
When Elizabeth came to me in the middle of the pandemic, she was frustrated and ready to give up on a book she had spent years writing.
“It’s a mess,” she admitted. Not that it was. Her manuscript just needed some fresh perspective and TLC from an experienced editor. And so it is that in October 2021, her book was launched, spending several weeks on Amazon’s bestseller list for medical memoirs.
Can you relate to Elizabeth’s frustration? Need help getting unstuck, or simply need help finding the best way to express the ideas you’ve been toying around with for too long?
I can help.
Whether you’re stuck trying to write, polish, or publish your book, I will encourage you, guide you, and help you find just the right way to say what you’re trying to say.
Because writing a good book is hard enough. You do not have to go it alone.
Why hire a book coach?
Think of it this way: Even the best athletes hire coaches to help them see what changes they need to make to improve their game.
You may have a book in you, but so far you’ve not been able to get the ideas that have been floating around in your mind onto your computer screen—let alone into the hands of readers.
Or you’ve written your book but so far, you’re collecting rejection letters instead of accolades.
You’re in the right place.
As your coach, I will guide you, I’ll cheer you on, and I’ll ask as many questions as needed for your message to come across clearly. I will…
help you create a strategic plan for the work ahead;
help you make your manuscript as commercially viable as we collectively can;
help you put your best presentation forward;
help you do the best job you can.
I cannot guarantee the outcome, though. Nor can I guarantee that your book will be a raving success. No book coach or editor can. What I can do is work hard to help you succeed.
During our one-on-one Zoom meetings, I’ll take you through a twelve-step blueprint to lay the foundation for a great book and the business you’ll build around the book.
Not only will I help you create a compelling book proposal, I will also provide timely feedback on the chapters you submit and edit your manuscript so it’s in great shape.
Sound like the type of support you can use?
Guiding [writers] from confusion (what am I writing, who am I writing for, what should I say, what do I believe, am I really good enough to say it, is anyone really going to care?) to the confidence of knowing this is the book, this is the structure, this is the message, this is the audience, and these are the exact words I am going to use to engage my reader—is exactly what a book coach does.
~ Jennie Nash
Founder and CEO, Author Academy
I would love to guide you from confusion to confidence
so you can finish your book and be proud of your work.
Grab some coffee (or tea)
Let’s get to know each other.
Way back in the 1990s, I packed up my world in South Africa and moved to Taiwan. Back then, the street signs on the island were only in Chinese, so it was quite an adjustment—and an adventure—for twenty-five-year-old me.
I quickly grew to love life in Taiwan: the food, the culture, and my job as editor of a few English-teaching magazines. I learned a ton about editing, about photography and design, about cross-cultural living, about taking risks, making mistakes, and about trying again and again till you get things right.
After many years on the island, I had a chance to move to the US for grad school and to teach English at a university in California.
From California, I moved to a rural village in Kenya to serve as a photographer and writer at an NGO. Four rainy seasons in the boonies taught me much more than simply how to effectively drive through deep mud. I learned about humanity, servant leadership, grace, and about listening with my heart.
During that time, I embarked on a doctorate in global transformational leadership, and my research took me from Kenya back to Taiwan and on to Indonesia. From there, I moved to Thailand, where I oversaw a leadership development program for Compassion International.
In all of this, I continued to do writing and editing on the side. I made a leap to full-time writing and editing in 2016, working for a Gloo, a tech company in Colorado while living on a peninsula in Belize. (Think sunrises on the Caribbean and kayaking the lagoon after work, looking for dolphins and manatees.) In that role, I wrote for companies like Fuller Seminary, Orange Leaf, REVEAL, Dr. Henry Cloud, Remarkable!, Emerging Women, Urban Life Cru, and a slew of recovery centers around the US. And in doing so, I honed my skills as a ghostwriter and copywriter.
Meanwhile, I also edited doctoral dissertations for a university where I was teaching online classes.
In other words: I love learning, I love variety, and I love a good challenge.
After moving to Guatemala in 2018 to be immerses in a Spanish-speaking environment (why not?), I started focusing on editing. And in 2021, in a quest to best serve authors, I enrolled in a certificate in book coaching through Author Accelerator. (At this time, I’m still working on the in-depth course.)
For the past two years, I’ve worked with Juli Boit and Elizabeth Harris on their medical memoirs—From Beyond the Skies and What’s Wrong with My Child?
I also ghostwrote Finding Grace with Gary Lee Miller. Finding Grace has been nominated for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and has received five other awards.
I have also worked with clients on psychology books—Sharon K. Ball and Renée Siegel’s Enneagram masterpiece, Reclaiming YOU, and Ryan Gottfredson’s second mindsets book, The Elevated Leader. Both these books were released in October 2022.
I also had the honor of editing Fire in His Bones, a book of fifty of David Wilkerson’s most popular sermons. In addition, I have been coaching and editing three other clients on business books and another theology book, and I ghostwrote a memoir.
So, whether you have an idea that you simply can’t let go and you know you have to write a book but don’t know where to start, or whether you’ve already written your manuscript and need an editor, I’d love to talk about us working together to get your book done—and done well.
Experience
+ training
+ a love of people, words, and life
= what you get when working with me.
How Coaching Works
schedule a call
Schedule a Zoom call so we can see if we are a good fit for each other.
After the initial call, I’ll send you a quote.
Once we agree on the price and timeline, we’ll sign a contract.
work on your book proposal
We’ll meet on Zoom once a week to work through the 12-step book blueprint.
All assignments will be in Google docs.
By the end of this phase, you will be clear on why you want to write your book, who you’re writing it for, the structure of the book, and much more.
And you’ll be ready to submit your proposal to a publisher.
finish your book
Once we reach the part of the process where you’re writing your chapters, we’ll meet bi-weekly on Zoom.
You’ll submit new work via Google docs every other Monday (or sooner), and I’ll provide feedback by Wednesday.
We’ll continue meeting until your book is complete.
How EDITING Works
schedule a call
Schedule a Zoom call so we can see if we are a good fit for each other.
After our initial call, I’ll evaluate your work and give you a quote.
Once we agree on the price and timeline, we’ll sign a contract, and you’ll submit half of the fee along with the manuscript to be edited.
revise your manuscript
I’ll provide timely feedback and/or edits via Google docs or Office 365 per the agreed timeline.
Follow our journey.
