A Year of Coaching to Support Diverse Voices
I am the founder and Chief Creative Officer of Author Accelerator, a book coaching company committed to giving writers accountability, feedback and support while they write so that they can finish their books — and finish strong. My coaching methods bring back the powerful and time-tested concept of artistic mentorship — which has been largely squeezed out of a publishing industry hungry for the next big, fast hit. Author Accelerator supports writers through the process of trying and failing, studying and thinking, stopping and starting, honing their skills, admitting their faults, and getting up every day to face their fears and their doubts, over and over and over again.
I have 30 book coaches guiding almost 200 writers, and in our fifth year of business we are feeling great about the work we are doing to fulfill our mission. Our customers are delighted with our service, we have writers producing fantastic work, and we are beginning to make a mark on an industry that sometimes seems obsessed with the flash and sparkle of marketing books rather than the long, quiet slog of writing them.
Each month, our coaching team has a meeting to discuss how to be the best coaches we can be, and after one of these meetings last year where we discussed a tricky situation with an #ownvoices project, a few coaches approached me with an idea: what if we were to launch a coaching scholarship to support diverse voices?
I was instantly inspired by my coaches’ commitment to help writers of color break through, so I gave them the green light to make a plan, recruit an advisory board, and determine the best way to do this important work.
This small group led by Kathleen Furin has worked tirelessly to bring their vision to life, and I am so pleased to announce that Author Accelerator will be offering three one-year coaching scholarships to writers of color starting in January 2019. Why writers of color? You can read about the decision and all other details on our scholarship landing page HERE.
This means that three writers of color will get a full year of editorial guidance, feedback, and support as they write forward with a novel, memoir or self-help book. The program is based on our core offering, called Manuscript Accelerator, a 6-month coaching program designed to help writers finish a rough draft. We will also offer winners revision guidance and pitch support, including agent curation, pitch strategy and query letter development.
I started Author Accelerator because in my work as a writer, a writing instructor, and a book coach, I came to believe that the very best way to learn how to write is with one-on-one professional guidance. The coaches who work for me have gone through training and oversight, and ongoing skill building, and they deliver excellence every day. We will match the scholarship winners with the best coaches for their individual projects, in our human-centered matching process that we consider to be our secret sauce.
If you or anyone you know might be interested in this scholarship, please share this post with them.
If you know of any agents who might be interested in a first-look program for the manuscripts that come out of the scholarship program, please have them write to me at jennie@authoraccelerator.com.
The scholarship application will open in August 2018. Details can be found HERE.
