A Milestone Is Just the Beginning
Today’s success story comes to us from one of Author Accelerator’s newly certified book coaches, Barbara Boyd!
How did you come to Author Accelerator’s Book Coach Certification program?
I've been working as a book developer and book coach since 2015 and wanted to enhance my skill set.
What was your experience in the program?
I enjoyed the certification program. Perhaps the most satisfying part was also the most challenging and new to me: putting together a pitch strategy. I've worked mostly with writers who are self-publishing, so while I use a tool that's similar to the Blueprint, we don't work on a full book proposal or agent identification and pitching. I love a good research project, so I dug into searching for appropriate agents for my practicum client - it felt like being a detective.
What is the most valuable piece of advice you’re taking from the training?
The most valuable advice is about giving feedback, looking for things that are going well and pointing out things that aren't working while keeping it focused on the writing. I've had to give some hard-to-hear feedback recently and it's been well received. I think most of us know where our weaknesses are and when someone can point it out AND offer a solution, it allows us to own those weaknesses and work on strengthening them.
How did you celebrate your certification?
My husband and I went out to lunch at our favorite seaside restaurant.
What are the next steps in your career?
Most of my freelance work is coaching professional ghostwriters through a full-service self-publishing company and that keeps me busy - I have about 30 projects in various stages at any given time. I'm interested in taking on a few private clients and have to spend some time thinking about the types of packages to offer and how many clients I can realistically take on. My initial steps are to update my website and make an outreach plan to let people know that I'm certified and open to taking on a few clients.
Follow Barbara on Instagram here.