Hello, and welcome to my first newsletter!
When I tell people that I’m a book coach, often the first question they ask is, “What exactly is a book coach?” So, I thought I’d take a few minutes in this inaugural newsletter to explain what it is that I do. But first, I’d like to let you know about some upcoming events you might like to attend and to thank some folks.
Crowne Plaza Hotel
801 Greenwich Avenue
Warwick, Rhode Island
Saturday, December 2, 2023
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
For those of you who live in the Rhode Island area, make sure to put the ARIA 11th Annual Rhode Island Author Expo on your calendar for next weekend. On Saturday, December 2, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., over 130 local authors will be selling their books in the beautiful ballroom of the Crowne Plaza Hotel (801 Greenwich Ave., Warwick, RI). The event is free and open to everyone. I’ll be there all day and would love to see you! Click here for more info.
Stillwater Books
New London Square
1745 Main Street
West Warwick, Rhode Island
Saturday, December 16, 2023
4:00 p.m.
And then Steven and Dawn Porter of Stillwater Books have been kind enough to offer to host A Christmastime Book Party with Author Lynne Heinzmann for me at their wonderful new store in West Warwick, RI, on Saturday, December 16 at 4 p.m. Come join us for some delicious Christmas treats and to hear me discuss But Cats Don’t Talk, my heart-touching new novel about a concert pianist and her sweet tuxedo cat. I will talk about my inspirations for writing the book—newspapers, ballet lessons, and cats—and what makes a young adult novel unique and fun to write. Plus, I’ll bring a supply of my handmade stained glass cat ornaments and copies of all four of my published books for sale. Stop in to pick up some last-minute gifts for Christmas! Click here for more information.
I’ve got two Rhode Island library appearances scheduled for January 2024 (Thursday, January 18 at 4 p.m. at the Willett Free Library in Saunderstown and Wednesday, January 31 at 6 p.m. at the Kingston Free Library near URI) and will write more about those in my December newsletter. In the meantime, I want to make sure to give…
A big shout out of “Thanks!” to everyone who helped out and attended the book launch for my new novel, But Cats Don’t Talk, held at the Davisville Free Library in North Kingstown, RI, on Saturday, September 30. I felt so blessed to be able to share the event with so many of you! Here’s one of my favorite photos from the event, showing friends and family joining me at the book-signing table:
Click here to find out more about the book or to order a signed copy.
And thank you to the fine folks at the Rochambeau Library on Hope Street in Providence, RI, for inviting me to participate in their Local Author Fair on November 16. I had a wonderful time hanging out with my great friend, Jayna White, and four delightful children’s book authors—Devan Lalas, Jacob Kramer, Aya Rothwell, and Kirthana Fanning—in the library’s children’s room. And I loved chatting with everyone who stopped by to visit our tables. Here’s a fun photo my husband snapped of the event:
One final “Thank you!”—to everyone who has recently visited my website: LynneHeinzmann.com. I’ve been working on it—trying to update it and make it more visitor-friendly—and would love to hear your comments and suggestions!
That’s all the news for this month. Here’s the info on book coaches, as promised. Thanks for reading!
Lynne
Over the past few years, a new breed of professional has arrived to offer assistance to those wishing to become authors: the book coach. As with all things new, there are some misperceptions about what exactly a book coach is and what services she may provide. Let’s take a close look at book coaches and hopefully clear up any confusion you may have about them.
What is a book coach?
While an editor gets involved in a book project once the writing is complete, a book coach guides an author through the often painful process of creating and publishing a book. This person might work with an author throughout the entire book-making process, beginning to end, or may specialize in helping authors through one or two phases of a book’s development.
Planning the book
A good book coach will help you identify exactly what book you want to write and why you feel you need to write it. Surprisingly, the “why” is often the more difficult question to answer. If you are planning to write a work of fiction or memoir, the coach will help you work out writing craft elements—such as the book’s premise, narrative arc, beginning, middle, climax, ending, hero's motivation/conflict/ change, character development, creation of scenes, point of view, verb tense, and tone of the story—through a series of question-and-answer sessions and exercises. If you are developing a work of non-fiction, the planning process with a book coach often involves crafting a book proposal that identifies such elements as the book’s overview, target audience, research and data, marketing plan, competing works, and annotated table of contents. Regardless of whether you are writing fiction, memoir, or non-fiction, if you work with a book coach throughout the planning stage of your book, you should end up with a well-developed blueprint to follow as you move on to writing your book’s rough draft.
Writing the rough draft
During the process of writing your rough draft, a book coach will serve two major functions: holding you accountable for making steady progress and keeping you true to the blueprint you developed while planning your book. As the author, you will decide how frequently you feel you need to check in with the coach during the writing of your rough draft, generally every two weeks or so. Then, together, you will figure out how many pages or chapters you will complete in that amount of time. Prior to each coaching session, you will send your pages to the coach for her to review. During each session, the coach will make sure you reach your goal of completed pages and verify that you are following your book’s blueprint or, if not, will coach you in how to correct your manuscript to get back on track. You will continue this process until you reach the end of your book blueprint and your rough draft is completed.
Editing the rough draft
Did you know that fewer than 5% of those who set out to write a book actually complete a rough draft? So, if you’ve gotten this far—congratulations! Now that you have a rough draft to work with, your book coach will help you create a revision plan to use as you edit it and make it ready for publication. As you do the revisions, you will meet periodically with the coach in much the same way you worked together during the rough draft process, using your revision plan to systematically edit manageable-sized segments of the book. During this time, the book coach will provide you with instruction on writing craft elements, as needed. All of this work will result in the creation of a polished manuscript, ready for publication.
Preparing your book for self-publication or pitching it to a literary agent
If you plan to self-publish your book, a book coach can help you evaluate your needs (cover art, interior layout, editing, printing, marketing, etc.) and then assist you in finding the perfect publication partner for you. Or, if you want to have your book traditionally published, a book coach can help you prepare quality query documents (query letter, book synopsis, author bio, chapter-by-chapter summary, etc.), identify the best possible literary agents for your work, and create a custom pitch strategy. She’ll also assist you in evaluating offers of representation to help you land your ideal agent and achieve your dream of becoming a published author.
Selecting the right book coach
Writing a book—fiction, memoir, or non-fiction—is difficult and takes months or even years to complete. A book coach can be an invaluable asset to help you navigate the arduous process. For more information on book coaching services, please visit my website: LynneHeinzmann.com
