The Book Coach Gets Coached
Today’s blog post comes to us from Author Accelerator CEO Jennie Nash. If you enjoy today’s content, you can sign up for Jennie's weekly newsletter here.
I asked Author Accelerator certified book coach Barbara Boyd to coach me on my newest book, Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book: Plan and Pitch Your Big Idea. I am, after all, a coach of coaches, and an evangelist for book coaching, so of course I would work with a book coach myself. In this conversation, Barbara asks me some questions about the experience of being coached – and uncovers some of the biases and myths that keep all of us from seeking help when we need it.
BARBARA: You're one of the top book coaches in publishing today. Why did you decide to work with a book coach? Why didn't/couldn't you coach yourself?
JENNIE: Coaching makes everyone better — everyone! I truly believe that. Writing is all about the clear communication of ideas and emotion — and clear communication is hard. We think we know exactly what we are saying when it’s just our own minds and our own words, but the minute we introduce anyone else into the mix — i.e. a reader — cracks tend to appear. A coach helps us close the gap between what we want to say and what we are actually saying.
A coach also makes you commit and finish — and I wasn’t doing that. There is no better motivation than paying money and knowing someone is waiting for your pages.
BARBARA: What skills and/or guidance were you specifically looking for in a book coach?
JENNIE: I am exceedingly lucky because I designed a training and certification program to teach book coaches what I believe they need to know, so when it came time to select a coach, I had an embarrassment of riches. Author Accelerator has more than 100 certified coaches now! Specifically, I wanted someone who had a very logical way of thinking; I teach this material (the Blueprint material) all the time in courses and webinars and with individual clients, and it would have been easy to just kind of spit something out. It would have been easy, in other words, to write a book that was only just fine — and I almost did that! I wanted someone who could help me write a book that was great. That takes attention to the logical underpinnings — this step leads to that step which leads to the next step
I picked you, Barbara, because I know you think this way, and you have the experience of helping writers with the For Dummies books, which have to have such clear logic.
The most important thing I needed, however, was someone who could stand up to me — who could give me the tough love I knew I needed.
BARBARA: You chose to bring in a coach when your MS was complete; can you speak to that choice rather than working with a coach in the planning stages?
JENNIE: Well, ironically, I preach all the time about seeking help as early in the process as possible. The best tools I have designed — the very Blueprint I am writing about in this book — are the ones to help writers plan and prepare to write. If someone has never written a book or if they are not sure what to write or if they are debating among different choices for how to write a book or if they are stuck, the Blueprint is the best way to get grounded and lay a firm foundation before writing forward.
I didn’t follow my own advice because I thought I could “Blueprint” my own project. I mean, surely, I could do that, right??
I was wrong. I actually think I made a mistake in this regard. The first thing you found in my pages was an underlying confusion about who the book was for. I was trying to address memoir along with nonfiction, which introduced a deep complication. I was also unsure where the book was going to end — how far into pitching I was going to go. That resulted in some very weak sections and an ambivalent tone to the work. The Blueprint makes us answer questions like: Who is your ideal reader? What’s your point? What outcome do you want them to have? I glossed over those and ended up with something muddy.
I ended up having to do a major rewrite. Had I come to a book coach sooner and taken my own advice, I would not have had to do that.
I always knew I would come to a coach when I had an almost-finished draft, and thank goodness I did. You saved me. It’s important to note that an editor would not have been able to do what you did. Yes, there were problems with the words on the page, but the bigger problem was in my mindset. I was dragging my feet on choosing a reader and on what the book was really going to be. You helped me get to the point where I could choose.
BARBARA: What part of the coaching process did you most enjoy?
JENNIE: I just love having a smart person pay very close attention to my work. I find it incredibly comforting. I’m talking here about NEGATIVE attention — you ripped it apart. But I loved that. I know it’s the way to make it better.
BARBARA: What part of the coaching process was most difficult?
JENNIE: I had to rethink the way I have been teaching some key concepts in Author Accelerator’s Book Coach Certification program. I have taught these concepts to close to a thousand people, if I counted coaching students and webinars and writers, and you forced me to look at them and see that they could be clearer. I fought that, because of the implications for the body of work I have made.
We always want to protect what we have created and approaching the material in a new way was a kind of assault on what already existed. It’s not that big a change really, but it was a change nonetheless, and that was tough.
BARBARA: Were you surprised by or resistant to any of the feedback you received?
JENNIE: Ha, well, yes most of it, as I have just described!
BARBARA: Did you follow all the suggestions your book coach made?
JENNIE: No. Sometimes there was a suggestion that made sense conceptually, but I didn’t like the actually suggested solution. I took the what, not the how.
You suggested adding a lot of material in the last section (about querying) and I didn’t want to do that. I decided, as a result of that whole exchange, that this content should be a different book. So your feedback helped me to see how much content there really was and helped me to make a good decision about it.
And there was a quote that was about fiction (in a nonfiction book) and you pointed out that this made no sense but I love the quote so I kept it!
BARBARA: One of the first questions we ask clients when coaching them is why do you have to write this book? Can you share the reason — your why — that sustained your motivation?
JENNIE: YES. The first question in the Blueprint is, “why write this book?” I was very clear about my why for this book and it absolutely sustained me. My why is very personal, as they always are. After more than 14 years as a book coach, I am giving up almost all 1:1 client work in order to run Author Accelerator full time. I have been doing both jobs for 8 years — and it has been exhilarating but exhausting. I needed to make a decision and stopping client work was the only thing that made sense. Writing these Blueprint books allows me to still feel as though I am helping writers directly — that’s part of my why.
But the other part is that they are part of my effort to become a thought leader or “guru” or whatever word you want to use (they all make me a little squirmy) — to be the person who is teaching other people the framework rather than the person who is doing the work themselves. These books are scaffolding to help me play that new role. It’s been a long and rocky transition to step fully into my power in this way. I knew I needed the books to support me in the final stretch.
BARBARA: Finishing a MS is a huge milestone! How did you celebrate when you finished revisions and sent the MS to the proofreader?
JENNIE: This is going to sound crazy, but I cleaned my house. I mean I spent all weekend sorting and organizing and cleaning and it was glorious. It was a celebration because I did not have writing tasks hanging over me. I was so free! After pickleball, cleaning is one of my favorite ways of losing myself that doesn’t have to do with words and ideas. It’s so tangible! It was a great day!
BARBARA: Do you have plans for other books?
JENNIE: I do! There is the how to pitch book and perhaps a Blueprint for memoir, and one about revision. I also have a nagging idea about everything you have to do to be a writer that is not writing — but that is very unformed in my mind. I’m not sure what will come next, but something surely will! And this time, I’ll do the Blueprint!
BARBARA: Where can people find the new Blueprint book?
JENNIE: It's on Amazon now, and coming soon to Bookshop.org! To celebrate the release of the book, I'm hosting a conversation with my friend and book marketing expert Dan Blank on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, at 10am PT/1pm ET. We'll discuss the pace where writing books and marketing books overlaps. I hope you'll join us!
