Jennie Nash, BLUEPRINT FOR A BOOK: Build Your Novel from the Inside Out
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[0:40]Jenny Nash is the author of Blueprint for a book, Build Your Novel from the Inside Out.
[0:45]Jenny is the founder and CEO of Author Accelerator, a company on a mission
[0:49]to lead the emerging book coaching industry.
[0:51]Author Accelerator has trained 100 book coaches in both fiction and nonfiction
[0:56]through their book coach certification program.
[0:58]Jenny's own book coaching clients have landed top New York agents and six-figure book deals
[1:03]and earned spots on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.
[1:06]Jenny is the author of 10 books in three genres.
[1:09]The most recent is Blueprint for a book, Build Your Novel from the Inside Out.
[1:13]Welcome, Jenny!
[1:14]Thank you so much for coming and Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books to discuss Blueprint for a book.
[1:19]Build Your Novel from the Inside Out.
[1:21]Thank you! Thanks for having me!
[1:23]I was just saying before we start, this is such a full circle moment for me
[1:26]because you helped me when I was trying to write a book
[1:29]which is now being published in one form or another as bookends
[1:32]but then it was in a completely different iteration or pretty different.
[1:37]And I remember so much.
[1:38]I think about these questions that you have in here as part of the 14 questions,
[1:42]particularly what would you put on the jacket flap?
[1:44]Because I remember at the time you asked me to write the jacket flap
[1:48]from one novel or something that I was working on and I was like,
[1:50]oh, I wouldn't want to read that book.
[1:52]So I was like, if I don't write that book so anyway,
[1:56]tell listeners a little bit about what your Blueprint model is
[2:00]and how you became a book coach, I wonder here the whole thing.
[2:03]Well, you just encapsulated actually perfectly what my whole philosophy
[2:08]about writing is which is you have to know what you're writing,
[2:13]why you're writing it, who you're writing it for.
[2:15]Like you have to know those deep-level questions
[2:18]before you can write something that's going to hold together
[2:21]and sometimes that process of discovery,
[2:25]you know, like people are called to write.
[2:27]You have been called to write your whole life.
[2:29]And oftentimes it comes from being a reader and being so touched
[2:34]by the books that we read and wanting to beat up for somebody else
[2:38]like wanting to be in the mix in the game, right?
[2:41]And so there's this call, there's this burden,
[2:44]there's this yearning and maybe you have, maybe you have a story
[2:47]but what I've found is that creative people have a thousand stories.
[2:52]They have so many things that they could write or that they want to write.
[2:56]And so oftentimes it's what should I work on or what, you know,
[3:02]is the thing to focus upon or is this book right or good enough or should I bother
[3:07]or should I put the time in all those questions?
[3:09]And too often when we teach writing as we leap to craft and craft is about
[3:16]how do you write a scene?
[3:17]How do you develop a character?
[3:18]How do you write dialogue?
[3:19]How do you develop a plot?
[3:21]Like all those questions, which you have to answer at some point,
[3:25]but you shouldn't answer them at the beginning.
[3:29]And what I have found in my career as a book coach is that you can write
[3:34]your way to the answer 100%.
[3:37]You can write your way to the answer.
[3:38]You've done it.
[3:40]I've done it.
[3:41]The famous people have done it.
[3:42]It's just just really inefficient and frustrating.
[3:47]So my whole philosophy encapsulated in that blueprint for a book is take a little bit
[3:53]of time before you write or if you're stuck to figure out these fundamental
[3:59]questions, this blueprint for your book.
[4:02]And it's going to unlock everything.
[4:04]It's going to make everything easier.
[4:06]It's going to be right.
[4:07]It's never easy.
[4:08]There's no magic solution.
[4:10]But it's going to make it easier.
[4:12]It's going to make it more efficient.
[4:13]It's going to make you more confident.
[4:15]And that is an idea.
[4:17]I've staked my whole career on.
[4:21]So it better work.
[4:24]You had case studies in here from Carla Nomburg and K.J. Del Antonio,
[4:28]both who have written for my most recent anthology,
[4:32]Mom's Entertainment have kids and have been on my podcast
[4:34]and whose books I love.
[4:36]And I just, it was so neat to see all of their things sort of
[4:39]excerpted and this scene and that scene and have it analyzed
[4:41]by you.
[4:42]Yeah, they, I mean, I'm so fortunate to have had the opportunity
[4:47]to work with just amazing writers.
[4:50]I was a writer for a long time.
[4:52]It's what I thought I wanted to be in my life.
[4:55]And I did the whole thing.
[4:57]I had a three-book deal at Penguin.
[4:59]And I, you know, I was a really firmly mid-list writer,
[5:04]which is exactly what it sounds like.
[5:06]It's kind of kind of not the place you want to be.
[5:10]Sounds like better than bottom of the list or not on the,
[5:13]or better than not on the list at all.
[5:15]I mean, yes.
[5:16]And there is a certain thing to that for people who are just trying
[5:19]to get started or get their first book or what.
[5:22]Have you that that is what you want?
[5:24]That is where you want to be.
[5:25]But I was sort of stuck there.
[5:27]And I was trying to make a real career of it and of being a writer.
[5:33]And in that mid-list place, you kind of can't.
[5:36]Because you're not really making enough money.
[5:40]You're not really, you know, it's very unstable and insecure.
[5:44]You know, so I knew I was good at this.
[5:46]I knew I liked this.
[5:47]And I accidentally stumbled into book coaching when I was,
[5:52]I was teaching at UCLA in the adult education writers program,
[5:56]which is an incredible program they offer, you know, it's LA.
[6:00]So there's TV sitcom writing.
[6:02]and movie writing and, and also book writing.
[6:06]And I was, I took a class there, you know, I did.
[6:09]Yeah, after college when I had just moved to LA and I wanted
[6:13]to keep writing and like meet other people who love to write,
[6:16]I took a personal essay class there.
[6:18]And now my husband, whenever we drive by, he's like,
[6:20]oh, it's your alma mater.
[6:22]And it's not my alma mater.
[6:24]I just took one class anyway.
[6:27]Well, I mean, it's, you know, it's, there's so many places to
[6:31]learn how to write and, and it was a great program.
[6:33]And I, I developed a bit of a reputation there as being very
[6:38]market focused.
[6:39]And I think that that was because of where I was in my own
[6:43]career was like, you got to sell.
[6:45]You got to write things are going to sell.
[6:46]And, and that doesn't mean writing to the market.
[6:49]It, I still believe you should write what you're called to write
[6:52]and once in your heart to write.
[6:53]But, but I, I was teaching a lot of memoir.
[6:57]And so my whole mantra was, you know, you can, even write your
[7:01]story all day long if it is something you want to do or it feels
[7:05]good or it's fun or it's therapeutic or all that.
[7:07]But as soon as you start thinking about, I want readers.
[7:10]I want a book deal.
[7:11]I want an agent.
[7:12]I want all the things.
[7:13]You better start thinking about your reader and who they are
[7:16]and what they want and what they need.
[7:18]And so I kind of developed this reputation.
[7:21]And one of my colleagues approached me.
[7:25]She was an agent.
[7:26]And she was an incredible story analyst.
[7:28]And she wanted to write a book for writers.
[7:31]And she had never written a book.
[7:33]And she said, will you take me all the way through?
[7:36]Will you, will you help me plan it, write it, pitch it,
[7:40]you know, do all the things.
[7:42]And it wasn't, she wasn't looking for a ghost writer.
[7:44]She was looking for a guide.
[7:46]And, and a cheerleader and, you know, all of those other
[7:50]intangible things.
[7:51]And, and I had never done it before.
[7:54]But I was just itching.
[7:56]And I said, oh my gosh, that sounds like exactly what I want
[8:00]to do.
[8:01]The constraints of teaching in a, you know, a six week course
[8:05]probably the kind of course you took, an eight week course,
[8:07]the 10 week course was years 10.
[8:10]This was like in 1998 or 1999 or something.
[8:14]So I don't even know.
[8:15]It was, it couldn't have been more than six or somewhere
[8:18]between six and 10 weeks, I would say.
[8:20]It's a very frustrating process for the instructor
[8:23]and the writer because the writer wants more attention
[8:26]on their words, the instructor can't give it.
[8:28]It's so frustrating.
[8:30]And, and writing is so, there's patterns to it.
[8:34]There's things we all do.
[8:35]There's, there's universal things about creativity,
[8:37]but it's so unique that the words on the page are so unique
[8:41]to you and what you want is somebody paying attention to your
[8:44]words.
[8:44]And so I did that with this, with this writer and developed
[8:49]the processes and systems that I still use today.
[8:52]They're, they're much refined now, but that writer turned out
[8:55]to be Lisa Cron and her book Wired for Story became massively
[9:01]popular in the writing world and the follow up book that I also
[9:04]helped her with story genius also just that they've become
[9:09]foundational text for a lot of people.
[9:11]She's, she's just brilliant at analyzing story.
[9:14]And at that point, I was like, oh, this is what I want to do.
[9:18]I don't, I don't want to make the fight to be a writer.
[9:22]I think I'm a better book coach than I am a writer.
[9:25]And so I, I shifted my whole, my whole career to helping,
[9:30]to helping other people and helping other writers.
[9:33]And, and it's, it's just been a thrill.
[9:36]I just love it.
[9:37]So if people are listening and they're thinking of themselves,
[9:41]how do I know if I need a book coach?
[9:43]Maybe like what stage do you is the best time to get a book
[9:47]coach? Is it after you've written it?
[9:48]Is it as you're getting started?
[9:51]Does a book coach edit or just provide general feedback?
[9:55]Take it from, yeah.
[9:56]So everybody generally knows what an editor does.
[10:00]an editor comes in after the work is finished and goes through it and tells you how to make it
[10:05]better. That might be called a developmental edit and anybody who's ever been edited usually
[10:12]adores the process because it's amazing. It's usually the first time you've had somebody
[10:17]paying that really close attention to your words. It's such a privilege and a gift to be
[10:23]edited by a great editor. A book coach comes in earlier in the process usually and sticks with
[10:31]you through it. So rather than, oh, here's this thing and I'm done. We look at it. It's in a perfect
[10:39]world. Here's this idea. I'm noodling. I want to get it right and a book coach is going to be
[10:46]like a personal trainer. They're going to keep you accountable. They're going to give you deadlines.
[10:50]They're going to give you feedback in almost real time. I give my clients feedback within 48 hours.
[10:57]So you've got that feedback and it's editorial feedback just like an editor would give.
[11:02]Different book coaches have different levels of input, but you're going to get that editorial
[11:08]feedback, that accountability, and then critically the emotional support. You know very well.
[11:15]Writing has ups and downs. You fall into despair and doubt. You good things happen. Bad things
[11:24]happen. There's usually nobody that really understands that in your life, the way that a book
[11:33]coach can. We're just in it in the creative process with our clients. So your question was,
[11:41]when would somebody best use it? I mean, I wish that most writers would start with some kind of
[11:49]professional help on their books. Most people don't. They start to write and they usually
[11:56]complete a full draft, which is like a year of their time, at least usually many more.
[12:03]And if there's flaws baked into it, all they've done is just deepen those flaws. And sometimes
[12:12]the flaws are, they're not unfixable. And so then they go out to pitch it and they know they can
[12:20]write. They know how they have a good story, but they're not getting traction and they don't know
[12:24]why. And that's usually the time people come to a book coach is when all other doors have been
[12:31]shut. And it's very painful because it's so late. And then what we're doing is saying,
[12:39]there's this fundamental thing that's not working. And there's evidence. It's not. This is not
[12:45]a opinion. It's like it's evidence here in the pages for why this isn't holding together,
[12:50]why it's not working. And it's really hard news to deliver. So in a perfect world, I would say,
[12:58]get help at the very beginning. And that's what the blueprint that I wrote about is, is make
[13:03]sure it's solid at the beginning and then and then right forward. And maybe you don't feel that
[13:10]you need help or you you feel good and confident and sure at that point. But I just think that can
[13:16]make all the difference in the whole world. I feel like the coaches are like, do less, right? You're
[13:21]kind of like a doula rather than the OB who's delivering the book, right? Like you're along the way,
[13:30]you hold the hand, you make sure it's all set up for success and you get it all the way to the
[13:35]finish line. You're a publisher now on what you're doing with your new venture is actually addressing
[13:44]an extremely similar problem to what book coaches address at a different stage of the process.
[13:49]But but it's this idea of of nurturing and that's gotten so squeezed out of publishing. And
[13:58]you know, for all the reasons life is moved fast publishing has changed. People are really risk
[14:05]averse in publishing now. They want the next big sure hit. They want, you know, celebrity
[14:12]things or Instagram influencer things and the the days of a writer being supported through maybe a
[14:22]book not doing well or maybe a small first book or maybe a, you know, career takes a really long
[14:28]time to build and that that nurturing is what I felt had gone missing. And and I had a taste of it
[14:37]in my, in my time as a writer, I, I really had a taste of it. And there's just nothing like it.
[14:44]Having somebody sending your chapters, waiting for them, giving you that feedback, encouraging you,
[14:52]believing in you, you know, that that nurturing. And so I just thrilled to see what you're doing
[14:59]because again, I said a different stage. It's like, okay, these writers have finished manuscripts that
[15:04]are ready to be published. They need nurturing to that part of the process is incredibly intense.
[15:10]And there's so many skills you need at that part of the process. And so, so what you're doing is,
[15:17]is that for that stage. And one of book coaches doing is before you even get to that stage,
[15:23]you could have nurturing as well. I feel like we should probably, you know, partner on more projects
[15:29]because a number of things we're doing are memoirs that are about to be written. Or I'm like,
[15:34]I want you to write a memoir. What do you think? Or you know, so it's, it is very, very similar.
[15:39]They just know where it's going to end up versus doing it sort of on spec if you will.
[15:44]Yeah, yeah, exactly. And, and the, what I, what I really like about your model, which is similar
[15:51]to our model is that a writer is this idea that you're going to get plucked out of what used to be
[15:58]called the slush pile. You're going to get plucked out of the slush pile. And like a very godmother's
[16:03]going to wave a wand and make you a, a best selling writer. There's that very pervasive myth out there.
[16:11]And it just doesn't happen like that. It's so much work. And it's so much, it's, it's a,
[16:19]you know, this idea we see, we see writers that we've never heard of maybe, or writers that we
[16:24]love who have a new book, you know, like Jody Pico just had a new book come out. And you think,
[16:30]oh, there's the book like, yay, a new Jody Pico book. And like, she worked so hard on that for years.
[16:37]Maybe she's been thinking for, you know, who knows how long and, and what it takes for a person
[16:42]like that to bring that forth and to make that, to get that into our hands. Like it is so much
[16:48]actually if you want to know, you can listen to my podcast with her and she talks all about that.
[16:52]I missed that one. Did you just pluck for her? Yeah, I touched her. I don't know.
[16:56]In the last couple of months. Yeah, right around when her book came in. I don't know.
[17:00]Well, so you do 400 podcasts a year. I know. I'm trying to slow down. I really am. It's just
[17:07]right. So it's that that there, there's no magic wand. It's just a lot of really hard work and,
[17:13]and at every stage. And so I, I like to, I like the model that's a little bit more of a startup
[17:22]model, the entrepreneurial model that that a writer is bringing a product into the world. And they
[17:28]are need to do all the things that that the entrepreneur would do, which is who's my audience,
[17:34]who's going to buy this? How is it going to get into their hands? What do I need to do? What
[17:38]skills do I need? Do I need to partner with people? You know, all these questions, but it's much more
[17:43]intentional than, oh, pick me, please pick me. You just want to be picked. I want to be
[17:49]plucked out. I want to be anointed. And, you know, so I'm all about the hard work.
[17:55]And I'm all about if it's going to be hard work and you, you need support, align yourself with
[18:01]whoever can give you that support and, and be intentional that that that's what you're aiming for.
[18:06]And that's your goal. And that's what you want rather than that sort of nobody's choosing me.
[18:13]And what was me? No, it's very true. No, having been on the sort of losing side of the equation
[18:21]or the aspiring side, and now on this side, like acquiring and evaluating manuscripts, there's
[18:28]it's just like it's a very obviously different process. And the books that come in through the
[18:35]the slash file, if you will, the main thing there is they are not usually, and I shouldn't say always,
[18:41]but the books that come in from agents have been tightened up and edited and a lot of the problems
[18:47]are gone and they're formatted and there are no typos. And I mean, some of the uneducated are
[18:53]really great, just maybe not right for us. But I would say in general, if I could make sweeping
[18:58]statements, it's easier to read. It's it's easier as a publisher to to evaluate some of the
[19:06]more polished submissions, whether it's agented or not, because that's a more of a, you know,
[19:12]you have to evaluate how many resources does your publisher really have, right? The publisher,
[19:17]do they have time? Do they have time to be edited? And different publishers have different amounts
[19:22]of that available to their authors. But I don't know, I used to get the advice, like from you
[19:26]another people and everything, like, make sure it's all polished. I'm like, no, I'm just going to
[19:30]send another proposal. I'm just going to try again. And I heard, I heard you tell that story about
[19:38]your own book of realizing that you had had sent it out when it wasn't really ready. And,
[19:45]you know, you probably know now agents know this, publishers know this, book coaches know this.
[19:52]If we see a writer in there and they're in despair, like, why, why is my book not getting
[19:56]traction? Why isn't not getting chosen? Why isn't not getting picked up? Why is this
[20:00]but not getting offers and we look at it
[20:03]and it doesn't take very long to see why.
[20:06]That, you know, there are evidence-based reasons
[20:11]and it's not totally subjective.
[20:15]That, you know, and it's just,
[20:17]I just hate to see that heartbreak in the writers
[20:20]where they think that it's them.
[20:22]They think, oh, I must not be good at this
[20:25]or I must not be a good storyteller.
[20:26]I must maybe make stories not good
[20:28]or maybe a cat right or whatever that thing in their head is.
[20:31]And it's usually not bad.
[20:33]It's usually that they just haven't had the nurturing
[20:36]or the, you know, why should you believe?
[20:41]Like, I don't wanna throw anybody under the bus
[20:44]because we all just do the best we can
[20:46]with what we have and what we know.
[20:49]But when I was teaching at UCLA,
[20:51]there was this really frustrating type of student
[20:55]and they would have been in the,
[20:57]this is adult education.
[20:59]So they would have been in the program for like 10 years
[21:02]taking every class under the sun.
[21:04]And they would come into my class
[21:07]and I had amazing colleagues.
[21:10]And they would say, oh, I've taken Lisa's class
[21:12]and Barbara's class and Monica's class and all the classes.
[21:14]And you're like, wow,
[21:16]they're really putting some effort into this.
[21:19]And then you would see their work
[21:21]and it just wasn't holding together.
[21:24]It was that idea of they thought
[21:27]that they were working hard,
[21:28]but they were just taking piecemeal craft classes
[21:32]a little bit at a time.
[21:33]And you can learn some things that way.
[21:38]But the, you know, a book is its own thing.
[21:43]It's a long, complex intellectual work of art.
[21:48]And you can't really learn it six weeks at a time.
[21:53]I mean, that's, so it was just very frustrating to,
[21:57]to teach in that sort of a program
[21:59]and to see what the writers were trying to accomplish,
[22:04]but just not going about it in the right way.
[22:09]It was hard.
[22:10]And now you train and have a whole team
[22:13]of book accelerators, book coaches.
[22:16]You do teach classes, right?
[22:18]So tell me how you've expanded this whole thing.
[22:22]Yeah, so after I began to, to coach my own self,
[22:26]my career really took off.
[22:28]I had some just really great, early successes
[22:32]of my clients after Lisa Crohn's two-book deal.
[22:36]I had a client get a deal.
[22:37]It's I'm an inshister.
[22:38]I had a number, another one get a deal that's Gribner.
[22:41]And I was like, oh, my process really works.
[22:45]And I, and I began to have more work than I could do my own self.
[22:50]And I started a company called Author Accelerator
[22:54]to train other people how to, to be book coaches.
[22:59]And we, we have a certification program.
[23:03]We've certified 94 book coaches, mostly in fiction.
[23:08]We just started certifying in nonfiction this year.
[23:11]So we have about 15 so far in nonfiction.
[23:15]And then the certification program is very rigorous.
[23:18]It takes people about nine months.
[23:21]You have to work with clients.
[23:23]You have to record your coaching sessions.
[23:25]We're really looking for the, the editorial chops,
[23:30]but also the, the compassion and the project management,
[23:33]how, how you can move a writer forward.
[23:36]And so now we have this really robust community of, of book coaches.
[23:41]And, and we would like to be a leader of this new industry.
[23:45]It's, it's super new.
[23:46]It's, it's only really come up in the last probably five years
[23:51]as a real thing, just as the changes in publishing have, have gone down.
[23:57]And so I just, I'm just in this incredible place
[24:00]where I get to, I get to teach others how to do this.
[24:04]And there's, like being an agent just to take another role
[24:09]in publishing, you can't go to school to be an agent.
[24:12]It's a thing, it's an apprentice situation
[24:15]where you oftentimes start out as an intern at an agency
[24:19]and you work your way up and you, you work your way to having
[24:23]your own projects and you're usually being mentored by,
[24:26]by somebody who's more seasoned than you.
[24:29]And the same is true for, for being an editor.
[24:33]You know, you, you learn as you do it.
[24:35]It's, it's not, you can't really go to school
[24:37]and get a degree in it.
[24:39]And the same is, is true for, for book coaching.
[24:44]And so we're just trying to provide that, that guidance
[24:47]and mentorship to, to folks.
[24:50]And the people who are coming in to be book coaches are,
[24:54]and just makes me smile, they're 98% women.
[24:59]They're 33% of them have advanced degrees.
[25:03]Incredibly educated people who have not really found,
[25:09]found a place in corporate America, I would say.
[25:12]there's a lot of English majors, History majors,
[25:14]philosophy majors.
[25:15]We have some outlier anthropology, geography, kind of people.
[25:20]And a lot of moms, huge number of, of moms.
[25:24]And, you know, it's people looking for work
[25:27]that they can do that satisfying,
[25:29]that they can do from home, that they can control,
[25:32]that, that feels good in the world right now.
[25:35]And that's going to make them some money.
[25:38]And so just the, the opportunity to empower other,
[25:42]other women and teach them how to do this thing
[25:46]and, and see them.
[25:49]I mean, you can tell that I just, I just love,
[25:52]I just love what I do.
[25:53]It's, it's like you Zibi to be, to spend my days
[25:57]immersed in people's stories and in the creative process
[26:01]and, and the types of people that bring it forth
[26:04]and that it just feels good, right?
[26:08]It just feels like win, win, win all around.
[26:12]And it's just an enormous privilege to,
[26:15]to have this be my world.
[26:16]And then to, we have some, we have some coaches
[26:20]who I really urge people to focus very narrowly on
[26:26]who they want to help.
[26:27]You know, we think of writers.
[26:29]It's just like a monolithic block of people.
[26:33]And, and we have coaches who are, are choosing
[26:37]to help really specific groups of writers.
[26:40]Like I was speaking to someone yesterday who's a veteran
[26:43]and she wants to, to focus only on helping veterans
[26:47]tell their stories.
[26:49]We have a woman who's, I just smile
[26:52]because her story is incredible.
[26:54]She was married for 35 years and then discovered
[26:57]that she really was gay.
[26:59]And so her mission is to help folks in the LGBTQ plus
[27:03]community, not necessarily tell their stories,
[27:06]but just to write.
[27:07]And we have folks, focusing on social justice.
[27:11]We have folks focusing on speculative fiction,
[27:14]you know, to all over the map.
[27:16]And it's just rich and good and awesome.
[27:19]And I love it.
[27:20]Okay, wait, so if somebody wants to find
[27:24]one of these people, what is the process like?
[27:26]Do they sign up on your site and you assign them?
[27:28]Can they just pick which coach?
[27:29]Where do they go?
[27:31]How soon can they sign up?
[27:32]You can sign up today.
[27:34]You can go to authoraccelerator.com.
[27:37]We have a matching, a matching process.
[27:39]And it's a $25 fee because it's an actual person
[27:43]who does this work.
[27:45]And we, we have a really intense intake questionnaire
[27:49]where we ask about your project.
[27:50]We ask about your goals.
[27:52]We ask about your history as a writer,
[27:55]what you're hoping to achieve,
[27:57]what kind of style you like.
[27:58]Some people want a lot of patience
[28:01]and hand-holding, some people are on a deadline
[28:04]with a publisher and they just want to crank it out
[28:06]and they want some tough love.
[28:07]You know, so we get a sense of what you're looking for
[28:10]and then we will match you with the writer
[28:13]that we think is a really good fit.
[28:15]And it's, we do this very intentionally that way.
[28:20]I never wanted to have a marketplace
[28:23]where you could come and you could pick and choose
[28:26]who you want to work with, even though that sounds
[28:30]like a good idea.
[28:31]What tends to happen is people tend to focus
[28:34]on the wrong things that they want.
[28:36]They, it's like, oh, look,
[28:38]here's a book coach at Author Accelerator who's a USA
[28:41]today by selling novelist.
[28:43]I want to work with that person.
[28:45]And it's like, well, that person actually
[28:46]isn't a very good fit for you
[28:48]because what you really need is all these things over here.
[28:51]And so are having this really high-touch matching service,
[28:57]it tends to result in incredibly magical connections.
[29:02]And oftentimes the connections are not the most obvious thing.
[29:07]And we, we really pride ourselves on making
[29:11]that, that good match and it, it works really, really well.
[29:14]So we're gonna stick with that process.
[29:17]But so yeah, people can go to author accelerator.com
[29:21]to be matched and if they're interested in becoming a book coach,
[29:24]there's a way to get the info on that site there as well.
[29:28]And I didn't mean for this to turn into just like a giant
[29:31]advertisement.
[29:32]So when I'm actually, I feel like this,
[29:34]there's so many people who are interested in becoming
[29:38]published authors and don't know where to turn to.
[29:41]I get emails like this all the time.
[29:43]What should I do?
[29:44]And what I shouldn't have been doing is,
[29:45]well, now I'm gonna go back in and just be like,
[29:47]talk to Jenny Nash, go to Author Accelerator and find somebody.
[29:50]What I usually say is, yeah,
[29:51]try to find somebody to help you with your book
[29:53]at the stage or freelance editor or somebody like that
[29:56]who can take the time with you.
[29:58]But yeah, sorry about that.
[29:59]Missed out.
[30:00]opportunity. But anyway, I'm really, I'm really excited. And that's
[30:03]why I'm asking so many questions because this is such a valuable
[30:07]resource in helping writers become authors and achieving their
[30:12]dreams. So I don't know. I don't mean, I think it's really helpful.
[30:16]No, thank you. I also find it fascinating. By the way, what is there, I
[30:20]don't want to like make this, is there like a price range
[30:24]generally? Just so people have an inkling of the lowest or the
[30:30]highest or if they can afford it or whatever, if they want to pay
[30:33]for it? Yeah. No, it's fine. I like talking about money. I
[30:37]think it's important for writers to think about money and
[30:43]for coaches to talk about money and all of that. So one of the
[30:46]questions we ask on that intake form is do you have a budget? So we
[30:50]can try to match you as somebody who can accommodate that
[30:56]budget because we do have people, our coaches are self-employed. So
[31:00]they set their own rates and their own prices and they, as I
[31:03]mentioned, they focus on their own thing. But the range, I mean,
[31:08]you could get feedback on a blueprint. So blueprint would be my
[31:13]book has 14 steps. You go through those steps and answer them.
[31:17]And some of our coaches have a package where you get feedback on
[31:21]those answers. And that might be as low as a few hundred
[31:25]dollars. And others have packages where they'll go
[31:29]back and forth with you on the blueprint for four or six weeks.
[31:34]You know, that's going to be maybe five or seven hundred dollars.
[31:38]Then if you were to work with somebody and say, I want you to
[31:42]take me all the way through the writing of this book all the way
[31:46]through pitching and helping me with that. You know, now you're
[31:49]going to be looking at a six month or nine month
[31:53]investment with the monthly fee that might be anywhere from
[31:58]600 a month all the way up to 2500 a month or more. I think
[32:04]I think I'm one of the highest paid book coaches out there. And I'm a lot
[32:09]more than those prices. But that that's for a very particular kind of
[32:13]writer who is ready to make a particular kind of investment. But
[32:18]there should be a budget for most most people that and that's why I say
[32:25]if you if you only have a very small amount of money to spend
[32:29]that getting that help at the very beginning is is really important.
[32:35]And then the other thing I will say is to follow author accelerator on all
[32:40]social media because our coaching students are required to work with
[32:46]three different writers at three different phases of the process.
[32:50]So on the fiction side or the memoir side, a coach helps somebody with a blueprint.
[32:56]They help somebody who has a finished manuscript to evaluate that manuscript.
[33:01]And they help somebody with a pitch strategy, researching how the path to
[33:07]publishing that's best for them and and how they could pitch that book.
[33:11]So every single one of our coaches and we have about 300 students moving through
[33:16]our program right now, they all have to work with writers and many many many of
[33:21]them put out a call for students at those stages. And that is usually no cost.
[33:27]It's kind of like I might be dating myself, but there used to be
[33:32]the doll sassy, used to have salons and you could go get your haircut by the
[33:36]other. Yes, yes. Oh my gosh. Yes, I totally remember that.
[33:41]I think thank you was free. I can't remember, but I know I did it, but it's kind of like that.
[33:47]And and you can't. And the moment you can't apply to to have your work worked on by a student,
[33:56]but at author accelerator, we often, when our students put out the call for, for these
[34:02]writers that they need to work with, we'll often repost or amplify out those requests.
[34:08]So that's the possibility for for somebody who can't, who doesn't feel like they can't board
[34:14]anything. And do all of the people who go through your author accelerator program,
[34:19]do they have to do the blueprint? Like, if you have the book written, you have to go back and do
[34:23]a blueprint. And what if you just don't want to do the blueprint? Oh, no, absolutely not. You don't,
[34:28]you don't have to. There are a lot of coaches have have things where they'll do a manuscript
[34:33]evaluation as a starting point. So I was focused on the blueprint. I don't know why, but a lot
[34:39]a lot of coaches. I mean, here's the thing that I teach my book coaches. I have systems and processes
[34:46]and tools. The blueprint is one of them, but there are many systems and processes and tools that
[34:51]are helpful. I mentioned Lisa Cron's story genius is a very particular method of writing.
[34:57]There's people, a lot of folks know the save the cat method or the story grid method. These are
[35:02]all great methods. And what I teach my coaches is you use whatever tool you need to help the writer.
[35:09]You, your job is to help the writer. It's not only use Jenny's system or Jenny's process.
[35:15]I, I teach you how to think about having a process and build that, but it's all about what that
[35:21]writer needs. So we're tool agnostic, I guess is what I should say. So our book coaches have
[35:29]to do these things to get certified, but once they're certified, they're going to do whatever they
[35:33]need to help the writer. And we have people that are certified in those other systems and methods
[35:38]and might bring those in. We have people who do everything. So that's why that intake is so important
[35:44]is people will say, this is where I am. I have a full draft and I've got feedback from wherever
[35:50]and this is what they need. We'll match you with someone who, who'll give you that or I just,
[35:56]I just need help. A lot of, a lot of times what people want help with is polishing,
[36:01]polishing their manuscript before they go to pitch because as you just said, there's a really big
[36:06]difference between a good manuscript and a great one. And we can help you make bridge that gap,
[36:13]if that's what you need. So whatever, whatever you need, we're going to meet you where you are.
[36:18]Wow, amazing. Yeah, this is great. I mean, you know now, right? I know, I know. I think, you know,
[36:28]when we were together, I got so discouraged because I couldn't see a way to use the input at the time,
[36:36]like to make it better, right? Isn't that what happened? Like, well, yeah, and I want to say something
[36:41]about that because I actually did the thing that no writer ever wants to hear to you,
[36:48]which, which, as I said, I don't think you can write this book the way you've conceived it.
[36:52]I, I think there's a fundamental thing missing and, and you, and I, so, so I just believe in
[37:02]telling the truth. I believe in telling the truth, but, but with compassion and so many writers
[37:07]never hear the truth. That's the thing. They never hear that. And like, what is the truth? Was,
[37:13]was that my opinion? Well, of course, there's part of it. That's my opinion. But, but there's that
[37:19]sense of what the market wants or is looking for or just a knowledge about what gets, what gets
[37:25]picked up, what doesn't get picked up. And, you know, so I, I gave you that news, which was
[37:31]terrible to tell you that. Like, it's okay. Like, it's the worst part of being a book coach is,
[37:39]you know, to have to tell somebody, I think this is not working. And here's the reason why,
[37:44]and this is maybe what you need to do. And from the writer's perspective, sometimes you're
[37:49]open to hearing stuff, sometimes you're not, sometimes you have to hear it 10 times from 10
[37:54]different people. You know, it's just you're in your process. You're in your journey, you're in your
[37:58]way. And, and hopefully what happens, which I know is what happened to you is you wrote the book,
[38:04]you needed to write and that you wanted to write and that you're proud to write and that you're
[38:09]proud to bring into the world. And, you know, I'm sure I've just heard you talk about a little bit
[38:16]that that there's hundreds and hundreds of people that that helped you along that that path,
[38:23]whether it's a simple conversation or, you know, an intensive editor by your side or or somebody
[38:31]one day telling you, maybe this isn't the, the right path, which, you know, was the tiny role
[38:40]well, it ended up that yeah, I didn't end up writing the book that ended up selling until I
[38:46]sold the proposal and wrote it with the editor at my publishing house, not my own, the one,
[38:51]you know, at Little Lake, where who bought it, but had I not tried all those different iterations
[38:55]I never would have ended up here. So yes, but I, you know, I didn't make me cry or anything like
[39:02]the feedback you gave was accurate and I and what the book needed. I didn't want to give it.
[39:09]I didn't want to there's elements of my life. I don't particularly want to write about. So
[39:13]I had to rethink it and that's fine. But thank God I didn't spend any more time on that.
[39:17]Yeah, so I think it's all worthwhile. It was very worthwhile. And, you know, I knew it
[39:22]before I even wrote that draft that it probably wouldn't make sense, but I still had to write
[39:26]it for me. So and that's another thing that it's fine to do that. You know, sometimes the first draft
[39:30]or the second draft or the third draft is, you know, you have to get it off your chest and
[39:35]and that's why when people are like, oh, my first novel didn't sell or whatever, it's like, well,
[39:41]yeah, you experiment, you try, you test, you know, what are the odds? And it's not because you're
[39:46]not a good writer. It's that it's a it's a journey, I guess, but you know this more than anybody
[39:52]says. Well, and what you just described is what what you're doing with your business. So what I'm
[39:57]doing with my business is you try, you test.
[40:00]you do it again, you know, the product that is going to hit the shelves that people are going to
[40:05]love and talk about and buy might not be that first widget you make. You know, it's just
[40:13]with a book, the widget takes some years. But I think basically it's that we invest in authors,
[40:22]the same way you do. We invest in the author and the books you can improve, books you can
[40:28]reach focus and structure and books can shift, but you can't change the person. Like if you
[40:34]love a person and you love the way they write, you can work with them to write something amazing.
[40:39]But wow, that's that's a powerful powerful position that you're taking and that you're
[40:46]I think I hope so. I mean, I think what you're doing is going back to the way, you know, we
[40:53]romanticize the past a lot of times, but you know, that Maxwell Perkins, I've read read a lot
[40:59]about his work with Hemingway and Fitzgerald. And there's a woman named Ursula Nordstrom who was a
[41:06]children's book editor who worked with like E.B. White and Maurice Sendac and even Laura Ingalls
[41:12]Wilder like just incredible writers. And you read about those editors and the work that they did
[41:19]and the relationship that they had with those writers. And I mean, I just I just swoon and I
[41:26]think would not be amazing. You know, those editors were involved in those writers' lives. They
[41:33]were loaning the money. They were, you know, writing them these incredible letters of encouragement.
[41:39]They were saying send me a page at a time. You know, that just intense investment in them.
[41:44]And I say we romanticize the past. You know, there were a lot of people who couldn't get
[41:49]through the door as a writer back in the day, particularly women, particularly minorities, people
[41:55]of color. You know, so that's not so great. And I think I hope things are changing for the
[42:01]better. But that one aspect, that nurturing aspect, I think, I think was real based on what I've
[42:08]read and seen. And it feels like what you're doing is going back to that, which is I just think
[42:15]beautiful. And the writers need it. And we're we're trying to to be the first part of that
[42:22]process before you get to the publisher, the nurturing that that you need. And that results in
[42:29]powerful work. Excellent. Well, I'm definitely looking to you as a pipeline for books and manuscripts
[42:36]to come. So make sure that you're when you finish whipping books into shapes, you have them send
[42:42]them to us. Well, we will. We would be delighted to do that. Thank you for letting me talk about
[42:48]book coaching and author accelerator and all the things. I think it's really important. And if anybody
[42:54]listening is interested, reach out. And yeah, mention that you heard it here that I recommended
[43:00]you just so that Jenny knows I'm setting good people her way. Yes, please do. Thank you. Okay. All right.
[43:07]Well, Jenny, thanks so much. Thank you. Okay. Take care. Bye. Bye.
[43:13]Thanks for listening to this episode of moms don't have time to read books.
[43:17]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at zibbowens and at moms don't have time to read books.
[43:22]Also sign up for my newsletter at zibbowens.com and sign up for my virtual book club and meet lots
[43:27]of authors on zoom every other week. Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan. In fact, texture sound for
[43:31]the sound editing. And thank you to morning moon productions for providing this fantastic intro and
[43:36]now trim music.