Q&A Thursday

Pump the Brakes Edition

Hi friends!

Question time!

J asks: I want to write a novel and have taken several courses and studied the craft for 4-5 years now, but as I get more serious about it, I am on an island all by myself! I've talked to a publishing coach who really does seem to have a lot of knowledge about industry standards, and a lot of people she works with get traditional publishing contracts in the 20-50k range. Problem is that it's a huge investment I cannot afford unless I take a personal loan from my retirement account, and even then I'll have a pretty hefty monthly payment for 5 years! Do you have any opinions on these kinds of coaching programs? Are they worth it?

What most intrigues me about something like this is the success rate she has, and also I am totally in the dark about what publishers look for and would be great to know that from the start. Putting my resourcefulness hat on, is there any way to get a sense of what publishers want without paying for a writing coach?

Oh god please do not borrow against your retirement to hire a book coach!!!! No offense to book coaches. I don’t know many personally but I am sure they have a ton of wisdom to impart and help many people. But it is not a good investment, especially with money you likely will need down the line. There are absolutely no guarantees that you will make this money back in a book deal, regardless of any book coach’s track record, and if they are promising you that, they are lying. Again, this is no shade against professionals who help writers get published!!! There are many legit ones out there!! They just simply cannot guarantee or even strongly promise that you will make any money as a result of your efforts. I can’t do that. Editors at traditional publishing houses cannot do that. The only people making money in this situation is the book coach. Like the financial product disclaimers say, past performance is not an indicator of future returns.