Book coaching & Editing
We help academics write books
WHETHER YOU NEED TO DEVELOP YOUR IDEA, CLARIFY YOUR ARGUMENT, CRAFT YOUR PROPOSAL, REVISE YOUR MANUSCRIPT, OR PUT THE FINAL TOUCHES IN PLACE, WE PROVIDE ALL THE INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT YOU NEED.
Writing a book means solving many problems: conceptual, structural, logistical, and editorial. We work through them together, one on one. Not in a group and not from a template. This process is built entirely around your book.
Some writers come to us with a dissertation they want to transform into a first book. Others have a big idea but can't yet see the architecture. Others are deep into a project that has lost its way. Wherever you begin, you will leave with a clear picture of the argument, story, and structure. And how to make an editor or agent want it.
Our signature Book Development service begins earlier in the process than others, so you don't need a manuscript to get started. The work begins with a conversation. If you’d like a taste of the experience, try Clarity.
book development
1 month
4 sessions
45 minutes each
editorial feedback
$1500
Developing a strong proposal is key to getting published with the right press at the right time. Whether you're writing a traditional academic monograph, a crossover book, or a research-driven trade book for an agent, we can help.
Our hands-on service gives you exercises, examples, and professional insights to craft a document that grabs the editor's attention and gets you to a contract faster. We work together during each session on the key elements of your book proposal: overview, chapter summaries, comparable works, and a book title that makes readers want to pick it up off a crowded front table.
Book Proposal
12 weeks
6 sessions
45 minutes each
editorial feedback
resource library
$2250
Whatever you have, we can help you make it more of what you want. We can help you shape your book once you have a proposal draft and then help you keep writing chapter after chapter. Or we can start with your complete manuscript and give you big picture advice for how to reshape, clarify, and keep your reader engaged, sentence after sentence and page after page. Your book moves along more quickly because two people are working on it simultaneously and creating a steady rhythm of write-and-revise that gets you to "submit" more quickly.
DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING
customised
hourly (min. 3 hours)
$175/hour
Let us tie up all the loose ends for you. You can keep doing what you want to do while we take over the things you don’t want to do. We fill in the gaps in citations, clarify references, format bibliographies, fact-check, index your book, and many other things that go into finishing a great piece of writing.
Polish
customised
hourly
$155/hour
how it works
1
Consultation
Choose a time, get answers, and get matched with a coach.
2
Onboarding
Submit your agreement, questionnaire, and payment.
3
Prepare
Explore your workbook and readings or gather your writing.
4
Next
Make an appointment or submit your writing.
Questions
Answers
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You fill out a questionnaire and submit some key pieces from your book prep. But only if you have them, and it's okay if you don’t. Together we’ll work through a series of questions that get to the heart of what’s holding you back and discover what you really want to write – as opposed to what you think others want you to write. You’ll learn how to transform an old idea into a new one, resolve conflicting feedback, clarify your claims, make your big idea bigger, and tell a story that fully engages your readers.
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Just a questionnaire that helps us understand the backstory of your book writing experience up to this point. It isn’t required, but if you have an overview or chapter summaries, we would appreciate the chance to learn more in advance of our first meeting.
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To begin, we ask you to complete a questionnaire that helps us understand the backstory of your book. Then each week we’ll ask for something new and give you examples before you complete a writing exercise.
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No. Transform is about the process: habits and mindsets. Book Development and Book Proposal are about the product: books. But many people do like to develop a sustainable writing practice before or after solidifying the vision for their book. About 50% of clients who work with us on a book proposal will have completed Transform first. And 70% of our clients who do Book Development move on to Transform so they have the weekly support they need to follow through on their new book plan.
Let's Begin
Please tell us how we can help you as a scholar & writer.