Tell your clients what coaching is
Define your coaching services
When I first began offering coaching to writer clients, I had copy on my website that said something like, “I offer coaching services for all aspects of writing and publishing.” If a potential client got in touch to ask me what coaching was, I would say something like, “Anything that is outside of a typical edit on a manuscript.”
Hardly anyone ever hired me to coach them.
I thought that “I can help you solve most writing- and publishing-related problems!” was a great marketing strategy. It wasn’t. It didn’t help potential clients visualize why they would ever need coaching.
How to market yourself when coaching writers
Then I started listing specific things I could do:
- I can provide feedback on query letters based on my experience as a literary agent and an EIC
- I can show you how to solve plot or characterization problems in the novel you’re writing now
- I can help you get unstuck when you can’t seem to figure out what happens next
- I can interpret rejection letters so that you can understand where your ms is not hitting the mark with agents
- I can review your revision chapter-by-chapter to make sure you’re staying on the right track
Once I started doing this, people hired me! They could see themselves needing the services I was offering. They also began to ask specific questions like, “I can’t figure out how to write a good synopsis. Can you help?” It wasn’t on my list but, yes, I could help. (And then I’d add it to the list.)
Defining exactly what you can do for a potential client should be the first step in your marketing plan.
Other Helpful Content
The Fine Art of Copyediting Fiction
When copyediting fiction, it’s common to run up against issues that pit author preference against standard editing approaches. For example, in a story I wrote some years ago, the main character’s neighbor is referred to as “3-B” as that is her apartment number and the MC doesn’t know her name. Fine. She can be referred…
Let the manuscript teach you how to edit it
One of the lessons I’ve learned over many years of editing is that you have to let the manuscript teach you how to edit it. Every manuscript is different and every manuscript needs a different touch. Even when an author does something I’ve seen many times before, I have to edit for that particular manuscript,…
Helping Authors Strengthen Story Settings
The setting of a novel consists of multiple elements, big and small, that nest inside each other like those little Russian dolls. We might show this hierarchy of settings like so: If you think about it, the micro setting of “the living room of 601 San Mateo Road Apartment 16” implies the existence of all…
Join the Club!
New to story editing? Begin at the beginning.