Teaching & coaching · Less obvious
Mentoring and book coaching
One writer, one manuscript, a series of conversations, and a fee that reflects the intimacy.
Book coaching sits between teaching and editing. You are hired to see a project through: structure, accountability, the moment the writer wants to throw the draft in a canal. It is not ghostwriting, and it is not a line-edit. It is a professional friendship with a scope of work. People pay properly for this when they trust you, which is why a publication record and a clear method matter more than ads.
- Typical pay
- From a few hundred for a one-off session to several thousand for a package that runs with a manuscript for months. Experienced coaches price like consultants, not like tutors.
- Ceiling
- Solid ceiling
- Speed
- First money in weeks
- Effort
- A real extra job
- Needs
- Needs a name
How it works
- 01
A writer hires you for a defined package: calls, written notes, perhaps a full manuscript read.
- 02
You agree what you are not doing (agent introductions are not included unless they are).
- 03
You meet, you read, you tell the truth kindly, you invoice on a schedule.
How to start
- 01
Write down your method. If you cannot describe it, you are offering 'vibes', and vibes are hard to invoice.
- 02
Start with two or three clients you already know, at a rate that would embarrass you to give away.
- 03
A simple contract: scope, timescales, refunds, confidentiality.
Watch out
- 01
You cannot promise a publishing deal. Anyone who does is selling something else.
- 02
Emotional labour is part of the job. It is also how you burn out if you take on too many drowning drafts.
- 03
Do not become the unpaid therapist. Refer out.
I have spent a career on both ends of this conversation — being edited, and telling other writers what I think is wrong with the middle of act two. The value is not omniscience. It is having already made the expensive mistakes, so the person opposite you does not have to.