Have you ever wondered what a writing coach is?

As you can imagine, I get asked this a lot. I mean, it is baked into my branding, and I love sharing insights I’ve gained over my years of coaching.

Let’s start with the simplest, broadest definition of what a writing coach is and does:

A writing coach provides you with input and support designed to close the gap between where you are as a writer and where you want to be.

I coauthored the book On Being a Writer with Charity Singleton Craig (2014). Our editor used similar language on the back cover copy of the book and in marketing materials:

Let this book act as your personal coach, to explore the writing life you already have and the writing life you wish for, and close the gap between the two.¹

That phrasing captures the foundational purpose and core intent of this coaching role in a writer’s life, so I adapted it here.

And as a writing coach myself for over a decade, I can confirm that this is indeed a high-level description of writing coaching.

Differences in Writing Coaches

Every coach approaches the work differently based on their experience, background, training, and philosophy. As a result, not every coach will feel like the right fit for you.

In fact, you may need one kind of coach at one stage in your writing journey and another kind of coach later, and you want to find the right fit for your current goals and challenges.

Writing Coaches Are Not…

To begin to understand what a writing coach is and does, let’s look at what a writing coach isn’t.

➤ Writing coaches are not editors

A coach may have been and may still be an editor. They may offer both services and, thus, be both a coach and an editor. They may also offer editorial input within their coaching style. But these are two different services, so writing coaches are not editors while they are coaching.

➤ Writing coaches are not agents

A coach may have been and may still be an agent. But these two services must be distinct and separate, since authors never pay for representation. If you find an agent who offers coaching, be sure the service you’re paying for is coaching.

➤ Writing coaches are not ghostwriters

A coach may have been a ghostwriter and may still offer ghostwriting as a separate service, but a coach’s role is not to collaborate or do any of the writing for you. You’re the writer!

➤ Writing coaches are not social media managers or designers

A coach may have personal experience and success in social media, and find themselves recommending social media managers and designers—they might suggest how to approach social media to increase engagement with readers. But writers don’t hire coaches to set up marketing campaigns or design Instagram images.

➤ Writing coaches are not marketing and promotion specialists, publicists or launch team organizers

A coach may offer marketing, publicity, or launch team services in addition to coaching. If they’re an author themselves, they may have personal experience with their own marketing and publicity to share and connect their client to someone on their team. While they may offer some of those services separately or toss out ideas, when the coach is coaching a client, they are not marketing or publicizing their client’s work or organizing a launch team.

➤ Writing coaches are not mentors

My writing mentors—I’ve had at least five—invested time in me, guiding and steering me through phases in my career, and from those relationships, I know that a coach’s advice might feel like the advice you’ve gotten from a mentor. A coach might even have a mentor. You yourself might have both a mentor and a coach. Despite the similarities, however, a writing coach is not the same as a mentor.

➤ Writing coaches are not teachers

A coach may have been—or still be—an English teacher or a professor, and a coach may also, separately, teach through courses, conferences, and workshops. I suppose a coach may informally teach through a one-on-one session. But coaches are different from teachers.

Writing Coaches Complement Other Roles

A writing coach is not replacing or competing with any of those roles.

In fact, you may need or want an editor, agent, or teacher at another stage of your writing life—sometimes you’ll need both at the same time: a coach and any number of these roles.

I plan to explore the differences between these roles in more detail in the future, but for now, let’s look at various categories of coaches in more detail, so you can grasp the variety and land on the type of coach to best support your writing needs and challenges.

Not All Coaches Are the Same

As you research writing coaches, you’re going to see people calling themselves writing coaches. When you inquire about working with them, it’ll turn out they don’t offer what you need. That’s probably because their core strength may not be what you’re looking for.

Not all coaches are the same.

I see the term “writing coach” as the broadest label—an umbrella term, if you will. Under that are specialties.

You’re trying to align your needs and challenges and goals with their experience, training, philosophy, personality, and expertise.

Not all writing coaches are book coaches. In your search for a writing coach, you’ll discover some who focus on novelists, nonfiction authors, and memoirists. They may call themselves writing coaches or book coaches, or both. But their focus is on coaching authors—people working on book length projects. A book coach is a type of writing coach, but you may come across a writing coach who is not a book coach.

You’ll also find people who coach bloggers, copywriters essays and poets. And you may see coaches who offer guidance to freelance writers, grant writers, PhD candidates who are working on dissertations, professionals in the workplace who are seeking to improve their communication skills.

Another way coaches differ is through training, education, and experience, and that’s going to influence their specialties, style, and services even more.

Working with a writing coach who has training or background as a life coach may feel much different from someone who coaches out of experience as an editor or an academic, or as a marketer, or as an author in their own right. They may offer few resources or recommendations and rely instead on their skill in asking curious questions to free the writer to discover solutions to their own challenges.

A coach with an editorial background, on the other hand, may provide input on writing samples to point out areas of strength and weakness for a writer to improve craft. They may even assign homework to complete before each session.

Coaches who have been successful freelance writers might provide a plan for clients to launch their own business or supply some resources and reading materials.

And book coaches may rely on a framework or process they’ve developed that adds structure and deadlines, input and milestones for their clients—all so that the client completes a draft of their manuscript.

Coaches with experience building platform may work with the client to develop a plan of action or a set of strategies to try.

Add in their personality and their interpersonal communication style, and the types of coaches you could work with starts to seem endless, especially as this role is exploding right now, with coaches popping up everywhere with different kinds of certification as well.

Types of Writing Coaches

Here are some of the types of coaches you’ll find.

1. Coaches for academics

In your search, you’ll discover coaches who serve PhD candidates completing their dissertations or undergrads leveling up their essays and response papers.

2. Freelance writing coaches

These coaches equip writers ready to launch their own freelance writing career, and they prepare them to present their services, whether that’s freelance for businesses or pitching and submitting to publishers.

3. Coaches focused on mindset

Almost all coaches have experience working with writers who deal with writers of block, perfectionism, imposter syndrome, fear, and other mindset hurdles. But some coaches and often these are people with life coach background and training. They might not supply strategies, provide publishing advice, or send resources, but they are skilled at asking questions that unlock and unwind your creative blocks.

4. Literary writing coaches

These coaches may serve poets, essayists, or writers of short stories. Some may have their MFA and prep people ready to submit to literary magazines and journals. They might specialize serving poets only, for example, or they might have experience in all kinds of literary writing and be able to help you no matter what you are pursuing. These coaches help you understand the process and organize yourself to begin submissions.

5. Corporate Communication Coaches

Some coaches serve professionals in the workplace who are leveling up their writing skills for professional development. This kind of coach helps clients become more confident with written communications in the corporate world.

6. Coaches focused on grant writing

This is really specific, but there are people with experience in writing successful grants who then offer that as a coaching service to support writers ready to craft their own grant.

7. Coaches for bloggers and digital writers

Some coaches serve bloggers and digital writers—people getting started online or seeking to improve their style and try new approaches.

These writers may be transitioning from print and need input to feel comfortable and confident beginning to write in a way that follows principles and best practices for digital writing. A coach who specializes in this may be just what a writer needs to launch a website, begin blogging, or understand how to write in the micro-essay form that we see on social media.

8. Coaches specializing in platform

You’ll find coaches who help people establish and expand their online presence and influence so they can reach readers with their message.

9. Book coaches

I saved this for last because it’s the biggest category. As I mentioned, we have this broader category of “writing coaches” that narrows to become “book coaches.” They may call themselves “book coaches” or “writing coaches,” but whatever they use, their focus is on supporting authors working on book-length projects.

Book coaches start to narrow further based on various things.

Book Coaches with Publishing Expertise

If a coach has knowledge and experience with traditional publishing and or self-publishing, they could narrow even further down the publishing path you want to take. They may have broad knowledge of both or specialized knowledge in one or the other.

Book Coaches for Authors of Nonfiction

In addition to this, they may specialize in nonfiction, and this could be:

• prescriptive nonfiction (some agents and editors call this “transformative nonfiction”)
  
• history
  
• biography
  

Book Coaches for Novelists

They might specialize in coaching novelists. This narrows further with book coaches who bring a deep understanding of specific genres under that category, like:

• literary fiction
  
• women’s fiction
  
• genre fiction (like thriller, fantasy, or romance)
  

Book coaches for Memoirists

There are coaches who specialize in memoir and walk writers through developing their narrative arc to complete a full manuscript.

Book Doctors

I’m going to add one more term here that you may encounter called a “book doctor.”

A book doctor is a kind of coach who works with an author to revise an existing manuscript to get it ready for publication. A book doctor is like a developmental editor combined with coaching gifts.

Keep in mind, this is not an exhaustive list, but this list reveals the variety of writing coaches with specialties. You may find one whose background, combined with personality, feels like the perfect fit for you and your challenges.

Be Open When Searching for a Writing Coach

While it may be tempting to seek a coach who has already achieved what you want to achieve, don’t limit yourself. A coach’s own writing, editing and publishing experience—their education and specialty—may matter less than if they can actually ask you the right questions and potentially offer resources to help you take the next step and set you up for success.

After all, in sports you’ll find plenty of coaches who coach Olympic athletes without having been an Olympic athlete themselves. I’ve coached bestselling and award-winning authors who have made lists and received honors different from those that I have.

That broadest definition that I started with works for every kind of coach: A writing coach provides you with input and support designed to close the gap between where you are as a writer and where you want to be writing.

Find a Coach Who’s Here for You

Coaches love books. They love words. They love to empower writers to reach their potential. They exist to support you as you achieve your goals. Coaches identify a writer’s struggles and strategize next steps.

They see you for the individual writer you are with your own unique set of skills and gifts, challenges, and questions. They’ll hear your heart, your dreams, your goals.

Look for a coach who provides you with input and support designed to close the gap between where you are as a writer and where you want to be.

That’s why we’re here. For you.

Source: Kroeker, Ann, and Charity Singleton Craig. On Being a Writer: 12 Simple Habits for a Writing Life That Lasts. T.S. Poetry Press, 2014. (Quote is from the book’s back cover copy.)