Christian Speculative Fiction discussion

Do you think there's a market for coaches in writing? Like, would you pay someone to coach you, keep you accountable in writing, help edit your work (newsletter, website, book included), give you marketing tips, etc?

I have seen writting coaches advertised in many places, but, to be honest, I would never pay for one. Most of the ones I've seen have stuck me as a money making scam, and I don't trust them to know what they are doing well enough to coach.

Hmmm. I wonder if a coach built trust, it would be different? I just think there are a ton of writing courses out there, but not a ton of personal coaches. Do you think it is because writing courses are less risk?

M.H. wrote: "Hmmm. I wonder if a coach built trust, it would be different? I just think there are a ton of writing courses out there, but not a ton of personal coaches. Do you think it is because writing course..."

I think a writing course takes less commitment. I know lots of people who have taken a writing course and never continued on to write a book. It seems to me that if you have a coach, you need to be working on something.

I have often wanted a mentor for my writing, but A) I can't afford most services I see online and B) they need to prove to me that they know how to write well and have successes in publishing.

Trust is definitely a big issue for me because of how many scams I have come across, I even had an editor take my money and never finish editing my book. Clear expectations and paying as you go (not all up front) would help with trust.

I actually paid a professional editor (works with published authors I read) to provide guidance on my story. She read my manuscript, provided detailed feedback, then I had access to her for six months as I made my revisions. Went through the entire book, chapter by chapter as she helped me fix plot holes, tighten up scenes and create more story arcs. Cost about $1200, but well worth it.

If I don’t get published by the time I finish my third book I’ll be very keen on hiring her again to do a more sentence by sentence edit. But that’ll be costlier.

I'm so sorry an editor scammed you! That does make it hard to trust online editors/coaches/services. What you said makes sense about the courses too. I finished a writing course, but I'm probably an uncommon person. I have writing coach as a listed service for my editing business, but I don't know if anyone would want to do it. I also am a little lost on how to market it besides the usual (blogging/podcasting/social media). I just really enjoy helping writers one-on-one and it would be more fun for me (I think!). Do you know of anyone who has used a writing coach?

Stoney wrote: "I actually paid a professional editor (works with published authors I read) to provide guidance on my story. She read my manuscript, provided detailed feedback, then I had access to her for six mon..."

That sounds really good!

It was. And, honestly, I only trusted her because I trusted the source. She came as part of a package for a writing course I took from Ted Dekker.

That does make a difference.