Welcome! It takes courage to make enquiries online, let alone an application for one-to-one coaching. You definitely have courage because you are here. It shows you are taking your book project seriously and treating it professionally as you explore your options in seeking expert advice. I'm Ruth, a certified book coach and a trained editor. This application form will help you get a feel for whether you would like to work with me and it will give you a ton of information you can use to plot your book goals.

This is a long Q&A. I'd estimate you'll need two cappuccinos or a very large pot of Yorkshire Tea. If you end up working with me, you'll discover that I'm wired to give you value. This is your first taste of that discovery. The value of this form lies in helping you to reflect on your book project, and perhaps gain new insights into it.

You've likely only just become aware that I exist. Naturally, you don't want to commit to my service before you are ready but you are also keen to find out what's possible. You are doing the right thing to take this first step towards applying to work with me.

I ask you all these questions for a reason. Your answers help me assess if it is a good use of your time and money to work with me. I work with only six private clients at any one time. I've been a book coach and editor since 2020 and I have a lot of experience of assessing if I can support a writer's book project. If I don't think I can help you, my promise to you is that I will be honest and clear with you.

It may save you time to know I coach nonfiction books of factual and thoughtful content. They may be lightly illustrated with a few diagrams or graphs. I don't coach fiction, short stories, essays, poetry, or screenplays, and I don't work with heavily illustrated books (e.g., "coffee table" books), or educational materials that rely on a lot of graphic design. I do not work with sexual or violent content; polemics, or writing fuelled by hatred; nor with books about spirituality or that promote particular religious beliefs.

... your answers come straight to my inbox. I treat everything you tell me with the utmost confidence. I review your answers and email you to let you know if my service could be a good fit for your book project. If it might be, I will suggest we meet on a fact finding call with each other so you can ask questions about what book coaching or editing could look like for you.

Tell me about your book and your plans for it. I guarantee you will learn something about your book project you hadn't known before and by reaching out to me, you are doing the most important thing by your book. You are treating it with respect.

If we end up working together, we need to go a little deeper to understand each other better. While it's important to find out if your book seems like a book I can believe in and help you to finish, it's also crucial that you understand what else is important to me.

I am a good coach for books that speak to the reader's heart and mind by bringing a deeper understanding of the real world around us. I work with writers who, by offering their deep knowledge, encourage their readers to live their best lives. If your book brings a sense of optimism and joy in life (think, Steven Pinker's *Enlightenment Now*), all the better!

I believe all people should be safe to be themselves, love who they love, and pursue life without fear or oppression. I support writers of all abilities, orientations, gender identities, skin colours, and nationalities.

You might be writing a business book to support your coaching practice, or a work of history or of popular science, or you might be making an argument for social or personal change. What you have in common with other writers who love to work with me is that you understand the importance of rational thought, scientific knowledge and historical fact. You also value humility, compassion, and more than a dash of humour.

Now that we are getting to know each other a little better, let's talk about some more details of your book and your writing practice.

Further along, I will tell you a little about the various routes to publishing. This is the first thing I want you to know: if you are new to writing nonfiction, and you want to seek traditional publication, you will write a sparkling book proposal. (I help you with that.) You submit the proposal to publishers and agents to try to secure a publishing contract. Usually, you write the book proposal before you write your book. If you already know you want to publish the book yourself, you won't be sending a proposal to anyone but it's worth working on a modified form of the book proposal because it will help you write a really good, marketable book.

I want to give you a bit of information about the publishing process, but the first thing to make absolutely clear is that I have no vested interest in any publishing company of any nature. All my advice and research and guidance is completely independent. And so, because I cannot control your publishing experience, I can give you no guarantee that your book will be published, even as a result of my superlative coaching and editing. Nor can I guarantee you will make any money on your book. For 99% of authors, there is very little money to be made. The purpose of writing your book is to write the book you feel you HAVE to write, and not to swell your bank balance.

Let's canter through the most important things you need to know about the publishing process. The three most viable routes to publishing are these: 1. The traditional, highly selective publishing process in which you pay no money at all to a publisher; 2. Self-publishing and distributing your book through, e.g., Amazon; and 3. hybrid publishing, where you pay a professional team to produce and distribute your book in return for a higher royalty share than a traditional publisher offers. The good news is, you don't need to make a decision about which route to follow yet. But it's good to be informed, so here's some basic information:

Books you see in your local bookshop most probably have gone through this process. Publishing is a commercial proposition: if a publisher thinks they can make money from your book, they will contract with you for the right to print copies and distribute it. They choose books that fit their portfolio, books that look like other books that have made them money in the past, and books that fit into their production schedule. (On getting your book to market, we are talking 18-36 months into the future). For all these reasons, it's a highly selective process and, to be brutally honest, your chances of securing a publishing contract are low, even with my expert guidance. All you can do is increase the odds by writing a well-thought out book proposal and executing a careful pitch strategy.

Not all nonfiction publishers accept unsolicited book proposals submitted to them directly. Most of the Big Five publishers and their imprints only look at proposals brought to them by writer's agents. An agent receives hundreds of proposals a month and will only act on proposals they think have a good chance of interesting a publisher. If a publishing contract ensues (this can take up to 12 months) the agent receives a 15% commission for the introduction. So your focus is on persuading the agent, not a publisher, of the value of your book idea in a brilliant book proposal.

The traditional publishing route is hard work and not guaranteed to get you published. You have options that are quicker to market and enable you to retain greater creative control over your book. The steps you will need to take are: get your manuscript copyedited and proofread; hire someone to format your book for ebook and print; commission a book cover; upload the book's files to a publishing platform such as Amazon; market it. With time and energy at your disposal, you could do all this by yourself except for the editing, formatting, and book cover. If you prefer to delegate the work to a book producer, for a figure in the low thousands, you will save yourself a lot of time and energy. The beauty of self-publishing is that nobody interferes with your creative decisions and you get higher royalties compared to traditional publishing. But unless you have an enormous 'following', you are unlikely to reach a wide audience. It's a perfect tool for getting the book done and out there, so that you can put your book in front of clients and your network. It's important to write the best version of your book as you can, because it will be judged as freely as a traditionally published book by your readers. It's therefore advisable to do the same preparatory work, write under guidance, and get it edited to the same standard as a traditionally published book before you self-publish.

There are many highly reputable hybrid publishers: more, perhaps, in the US and for the US market than elsewhere. Unlike traditional publishing, you pay a fee to produce and distribute your book; it's in the nature of a joint venture and so your share of the royalties is likely to be higher. It can be expensive but with the right publisher you will have a supportive team and a beautiful book at the end. Good hybrid publishers tend to be selective and so you will need as good a book proposal to pitch to them as if you were pitching to traditional publishers.

If you got this far, you've already demonstrated significant commitment to your book. Well done! You've got a feeling by now for the amount of care I put into our working relationship. You are also exploring the possibility of making a substantial investment to secure my input. I'm going to make a wild guess that questions about how much this is going to cost you are pushing their way to the front of the queue. 

Book coaching and editing is a professional service and I'm highly trained, qualified and experienced in working with writers to get to grips with their book. You get my thirty-five years experience as a lawyer who is practiced in problem-solving thrown in. We are not talking about figures in the tens, or even hundreds. Each coaching cycle is $780 (inc VAT) and to get off to a good start, you will need at least three cycles. To get your book idea out of your head and onto the page, and then all the way to a publishable book could take 10 coaching cycles. I meet you where you are in your book journey. Some writers need only a few cycles to get the support they need to finish their book. I tailor a coaching plan for every writer I work with but this, I hope, gives you an idea of level investment you'll be making in your book.

I require payment in advance of each book coaching cycle. You and I will agree how many cycles you should start with, based on your writing goals.

I never, EVER, enter into contingent fee arrangements ("I'll pay you if I get published by Penguin." "I can't pay you now but let's split the royalties when they flow in, even though you did the work two years ago.") Nor do I agree to wait for funds to be raised by crowd-sourcing or sponsorship ("I'll pay you when I've raised the funds but let's start work now.") 

I am based in the UK and being registered for UK VAT (GB239376182) I'm required by law to collect it: a sales tax of 20%. If you are registered for VAT in the UK or EU, you may be able to set off the VAT you pay me. (Check with your accountant.)