Nonfiction Book Coaching
Nonfiction Book Coaching
You have a book to write. Let’s help you get it written—and get it right.
Working with nonfiction writers on their books is work I love.
A nonfiction book can begin almost anywhere: with an idea that you can’t let go of, an area of expertise you want to share, a personal experience that needs shaping, years of research looking for a form, or simply the conviction that you have something important to say.
But having the idea and creating the book are two different things.
You may need help understanding exactly what your book is. You may be struggling with its structure, voice, argument, or organization. You may have started strongly and lost momentum. You may need help deciding what belongs and what doesn’t. Or you may have a manuscript underway and be wondering how to position it for traditional publication—or whether self-publishing makes more sense.
These are exactly the sorts of challenges we can work on together.
Why Work with Me?
I’ve written more than sixty books, most of them nonfiction, and have published with Penguin Random House, New World Library, Routledge, Shambhala, HarperSanFrancisco, Writer’s Digest Books, McGraw-Hill, Rodale, Conari, and other publishers.
I’ve sold many of those books on proposal and wrote The Art of the Book Proposal, a guide to creating the document that remains the principal sales tool for traditionally published nonfiction.
That combination—author, book-proposal writer, longtime creativity coach, and experienced publishing professional—allows me to help you not only with the writing itself but with the larger task of understanding what book you are trying to create and how best to bring it into the world.
What We Might Work On
Every book and every writer is different. Depending on where you are in the process, we might work together on:
- Clarifying the central idea and promise of your book
- Developing its structure and organization
- Strengthening your argument, voice, and presentation
- Creating a sustainable writing practice and maintaining momentum
- Working through blocks, doubts, and difficult stretches
- Deciding what belongs in the book—and what doesn’t
- Developing or strengthening a nonfiction book proposal
- Thinking about your author platform and positioning
- Preparing to approach agents or publishers
- Considering traditional publishing versus self-publishing
- Moving a stalled or partially completed manuscript forward
- Turning years of expertise, research, or experience into a coherent book
And yes, memoir is welcome.
How We’ll Work Together
We’ll work together for an initial three months, with the option to continue if that proves useful.
During those three months:
We’ll meet three times on Zoom, approximately once a month, to talk deeply about your book, your progress, your questions, and what needs to happen next.
We’ll stay in touch by email between sessions so that questions and problems don’t have to wait a month to be addressed.
You may send me writing between sessions if that would be useful, whether pages from the manuscript, an outline, a book proposal, or other material you would like me to consider. But our work need not center on reviewing pages. Often the most valuable work is at the larger level: clarifying the book’s big idea, strengthening its structure, identifying what makes it distinctive, considering its audience and marketability, and making strategic decisions about what the book needs to become.
The aim is to make those three months genuinely productive: to help you understand your book better, write it more effectively and consistently, and move significantly closer to having the book that you want.
What I Can—and Can’t—Do
I can help you conceptualize your book, strengthen it, keep it moving, develop your proposal, think through your publishing options, and prepare yourself to approach the marketplace intelligently.
What I can’t do is guarantee publication or provide the sort of minute-by-minute marketplace intelligence that a highly active literary agent may possess. I won’t pretend to know which editor is looking for exactly which book this week.
What I can bring you is decades of experience writing, selling, publishing, and helping other people create nonfiction books—and a serious commitment to helping you make yours as strong as it can be.
Books That Made It into the World
One of the great pleasures of this work is seeing a writer’s book finally become a published book. Writers I’ve coached have gone on to publish with Harvard University Press, Georgetown University Press, Palgrave Macmillan, Rowman & Littlefield, New World Library, Books That Save Lives, and Weidenfeld & Nicolson (Orion Publishing Group), among many others.
Praise for Nonfiction Book Coaching
“Without Eric Maisel’s guidance, I would never have successfully negotiated the publishing process. With his help, I completed a substantial proposal, landed a good agent, and just signed my first book contract. His coaching has been specific, upbeat, and has kept me on track.”
—Nancy Pine, author of Educating Young Giants and One in a Billion
Ready to Move Your Book Forward?
If you’ve been carrying a nonfiction book around in your head, struggling with one already underway, or wondering how to turn your knowledge, experience, research, or story into a book that works, I’d be delighted to help.
Let’s give your book three focused, productive months and see how far we can take it.
Three months of private nonfiction book coaching: $1,000. Includes three Zoom sessions, email contact between sessions, and review of selected manuscript, proposal, or planning materials as useful.
Let’s begin now.