I’m a nonfiction book coach. I’ve worked on books since 2014 and coached nonfiction authors since 2018. I help coaches, consultants, speakers, and other business owners write one book that brings in clients, speaking invitations, and media attention.
This page covers whether you need a book coach, what changes when you have one, why my clients write their books with me, what affects the cost of book coaching, and the two ways you can work with me.
Do You Need a Book Coach to Write Your Book?
You can write a book without a coach. A coach is how the book gets written well, chapter by chapter, and set up to bring in clients, stages, or partnerships, and how it gets finished this year.
A book coach helps you plan, write, and finish your book in your own words. A ghostwriter writes the book for you, and an editor fixes the book after you write it. A book coach works with you before and during the writing, so the book is built right from the first chapter.
Writing a business book alone usually costs you in three places:
- Time. Kendrick Shope, the founder of Authentic Selling®, spent seven years trying to get her book written and wrote eleven book proposals before she came to me. By then she’d been stuck on her introduction for over 6 months, and once we mapped her book, she drafted her whole manuscript in 3 days.
- Rewrites. The problems that sink a book usually start in the plan. By the time an editor sees them, fixing them means rewriting whole chapters.
- Readers. The average nonfiction book has an 18% completion rate. A reader who stops at chapter 2 never reaches the part of your book where they decide to hire you.
Here’s some of what you can expect from a good book coach:
- A plan built around your reader. You and your coach decide who the book is for and what it should lead them to do next, like book a call or join your program.
- Every chapter mapped before you write. You start each writing session knowing what goes on the page.
- A schedule that holds. Set calls and deadlines keep your book on your calendar when client work fills up the week.
- Feedback while you write. Your coach catches structure problems early, so your draft doesn’t come back from an editor needing a full rewrite.
- A plan for what happens after “The End.” You plan publishing and how the book will bring in clients before the manuscript is done.
Not every book coach offers all five. I do, and my programs also cover what comes after the draft, like developmental editing and publishing through Virgo House, my own imprint. That means you get what your book needs from the first outline to the published book, without piecing together a team at the end.
Even when you know exactly who your book is for, the writing still needs a coach. Each chapter has to teach one idea, keep the reader moving, and lead toward the next step with you, and that’s hard to see from inside your own draft.
Why Write Your Book with Me?
I’ve worked on books since 2014, I have a master’s in publishing, and I’ve coached nonfiction authors since 2018. That’s a lot of manuscripts, and it means I can usually tell within the first few pages of an outline whether the book is set up to bring in business.
My clients write their books in about 6 to 12 weeks, in the time they already have. The book sounds like them, because it’s built from their own clients, their stories, and the way they already explain their work.
And because I run my own boutique publishing imprint, Virgo House, the person who helped you plan the book can also help you get it edited, designed, and published. You don’t have to hand your manuscript to a stranger at the finish line.
Kendrick said my process “virtually ensures that you will not only get your book done, but that it will be done in a way that captivates your reader.”
Lisa, a homeschooling expert, said the planning work “gave me such immense clarity about what we offer and how we offer it—it changed the trajectory of my business.”
Here’s what some of my other clients have done:
- Stacey Herndon, the author of Youniform, wrote her 53,000-word first draft in 40 hours. Then she planned her launch with me and sold 200 copies in her first week, with an Amazon bestseller badge in multiple categories.
- Several clients made $1,000 to $5,000 in book sales in their first month or two, while doing very little marketing.
- One client sold out a workshop based on her book before the book even launched.
- One client, a leadership consultant, had readers buying her $5K leadership intensive before they’d even finished chapter 3.
- Another client, a health coach, went from getting ghosted by event organizers to booking four-figure speaking gigs around the country after she published.
How My Book Coaching Method Works
The books I’ve seen bring in clients, stages, and partnerships have three things in common, and I built my process around all three.
They’re planned around a business goal. Before you outline anything, we pick your Strategy Stack, which is the job your book does for your business. There are five: High-Ticket Client, Sought-After Speaker, Digital Product, Thought Leader, and Strategic Partnership. There’s also a bonus Stack, Premium Book Sales, which covers money from selling the book itself, so that’s where your royalties fit in. Each one calls for a different book, so every chapter decision comes back to the Stack you pick. You can see how two of them work in How to Use Your Nonfiction Book to Get High-Ticket Clients and How to Use Your Nonfiction Book to Get Paid Speaking Gigs.
Readers finish them. Books built on my Heroine’s Journey for Damn Good Books™ can reach completion rates of up to 90%. The Heroine’s Journey makes the reader the main character, and each chapter ties its teaching to a Purpose Point, which is a moment built to make the idea stick. Research shows facts are 20 times more likely to be remembered when they’re part of a story, so readers remember your method long after they close the book.
They share the method without giving away the business. In your book, you teach the What, the Why, and the Way of your method. You save the Work, which is the hands-on help that stays in your paid program. So you never have to hold back your best ideas. I go deeper on this in Will Writing a Book Cannibalize My Business?
How Much Does a Book Coach Cost?
Book coaching prices vary a lot. Three things change the price the most:
- Group or 1:1. Group programs usually cost less than 1:1 coaching.
- Whether publishing is included. Programs that include editing, design, and publishing cost more than coaching alone.
- How long the support lasts. A 90-day program and a 10-month program are priced for very different amounts of time with your coach.
For comparison, hiring a ghostwriter for one book can cost $13,000 to $50,000.
When you compare programs, check what’s included along with the price, because the costs that surprise authors usually show up after the coaching ends. Ask whether the program includes:
- Private time with the coach, or group calls only.
- Feedback on your actual chapters.
- Editing, cover design, and publishing, or whether you’ll pay for those separately.
- Help planning how the book brings in business after it’s published.
For my current prices, see the Damn Good Book™ page and the Author Alchemy page.
Two Ways to Write Your Book with Me
Damn Good Book™: Small-Group Book Coaching
Damn Good Book™ is a 90-day small-group program. You write your nonfiction book alongside me and a small group of other business owners.
- 2 live calls a month for 3 months, with part of each call for hot-seat coaching on your chapters and part for writing together.
- Every chapter mapped before you start drafting, using the Heroine’s Journey and my 9 Purpose Points.
- One chapter a week, about 5,000 words, from Month 2 on.
- Private 1:1 calls with me: a Book Outline Audit, a Book Promise Call, and a 30-minute SOS Call you can book when you get stuck.
- 4 book tools I built in Claude. Themis, my AI developmental editor, reads your chapters against the Heroine’s Journey between calls, so you know what to fix next. Brain Dump to Heroine’s Journey, The Bookshelf Test, and The First Page Test help you at each stage of planning and writing.
- A printed workbook, mailed to you, so you can work through each step on paper.
- Publish & Prosper free when you finish. Finish your first draft within the 90 days, and you get my Publish & Prosper program for editing, launching, and publishing your book.
This program fits you if you want to write with other authors and you like a set schedule. See Damn Good Book™ and current pricing →
Author Alchemy: 1:1 Book Coaching and Publishing
Author Alchemy is a 10-month, 1:1 program that takes you from your first outline to your published book. It comes in three tiers, Coaching, Signature, and VIP, so you can choose how much of the editing and publishing you want handled for you.
Every tier includes:
- Weekly developmental chapter feedback for all 10 months. One of my team of professional developmental editors edits each chapter you submit, and I review every edit before it comes back to you.
- Twice-monthly 30-minute strategy calls, each one recorded so you can go back to it later.
- Voxer access to me Monday through Thursday.
- My 5-Star Book Map and Publish & Prosper programs, plus my masterclass library.
- Themis, Pythia, and 5 book tools I built in Claude, so you have help at every step of planning and writing.
Signature adds:
- Done-for-you publishing: copy and line editing (up to 60,000 words), your cover for ebook, paperback, and hardcover, interior layout, publishing setup, and distribution.
- Your book published under Virgo House, my boutique publishing imprint, with your own author page on the Virgo House site.
- Sales copy for your book: your author bio, Amazon description, and back cover copy, plus a check of every call to action in your chapters.
- A personalized 8-week pre-launch plan, plus help turning your book into revenue after it launches.
VIP adds professional proofreading, the option of a custom interior for images and diagrams, a reader bonus package with landing page copy and a 5–7 email welcome sequence, launch week support from me, and my Author Spotlight promotion package.
This program fits you if you want private support and don’t want to manage publishing yourself. See Author Alchemy and current pricing →
Which Book Coaching Program Fits You?
| Damn Good Book™ | Author Alchemy | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Small group, plus private calls | 1:1 |
| Length | 90 days | 10 months |
| Goal | A finished manuscript | A published book |
| Chapter feedback | Hot-seat coaching on group calls | Weekly feedback from one of my team of professional developmental editors, reviewed by me |
| Publishing help | Publish & Prosper free when you finish your draft | Done for you in Signature and VIP |
Pick Damn Good Book™ if you like writing alongside other authors and you want a finished draft in about three months. Pick Author Alchemy if you want my eyes on every chapter and you’d rather hand off the editing and publishing.
If you’re not sure yet, start with something small:
- Take the quiz to find the best path for your book.
- Read the What’s Working in Books guide.
- Bring one question about your book to the Book Bestie™ Hotline, and I’ll answer it in Voxer within 72 business hours.
My clients can usually write a book in 6 to 12 weeks. If you know your book needs to happen this year, pick the program that fits how you like to work, and let’s get started.
Your nonfiction book bestie
Hi, I’m Holly.
I’m Holly Ostrout, a nonfiction book and publishing coach. I’ve worked on books since 2014 and coached nonfiction authors since 2018. I help entrepreneurs (mostly women) write one Damn Good Book™ that brings in clients, lands speaking gigs, and makes their business simpler, smarter, and more visible.
If this article resonated, here’s what to do next
Find out which kind of book fits your business goals with the free, 2-minute $100K Book Strategy Quiz.
Get real answers to your book strategy questions on Voxer for up to 3 months, so you start the right book.
Write the first draft of your nonfiction book in 90 days, with every chapter mapped and a small group.
