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Want to write a business book? Read this first.
When you’re writing a business book, you need to be clear on your unique offering for the reader. Do you have years of experience in sales, or are you presenting a new approach by blending two disciplines? Do you have a method for the reader to follow? One of the main problems I see with […]
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5 Ways to Get Your Writerly House in Order
In the northern hemisphere, autumn is now officially upon us. We’re experiencing a rare run of dry, sunny weeks in the Pacific Northwest, but soon the rains will be upon us. “Novembruary” means the rains start in October/November and don’t let up until February (or more often, May). So right now is a great time […]
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Publishing ecosystem
It’s no longer enough for your book to be “out there.” It needs to live in an ecosystem. Ecosystems are living, interdependent entitities—once your book exists in the world, it starts to live in a world of its own. Readers are part of the ecosystem. You can’t rely on your publisher to do all the […]
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Do you write with your head or your heart?
Early in my training as a fiction and non-fiction editor at Penguin Random House, I received a key piece of advice from my publisher and mentor Anne Collins. Anne’s advice changed my editing approach. I was stuck on a problem with a fiction manuscript. Anne said, “You’re editing with your head. Edit non-fiction with your […]
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Five reasons to hire a writing coach
I have 15+ years coaching writers at every level. If you’re interested in hiring an editor and creative coach to walk the path with you, please reach out.
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Cultivate an editing mindset
Do you often edit your posts after the fact? Don’t worry about it. Many people associate “editor” with “fixes mistakes.” And that’s true in part. Copy editors and proofreaders correct grammar and catch typos. They also confirm the accuracy of statements or graphics (called a fact check). Substantive or developmental editors help the writer draw […]
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How can you adapt your writing to changing conditions?
On our recent multi-day backpacking trip in the Olympic Peninsula, we had to revise our plan. We’d carefully plotted our campsites before leaving home, but the temperatures were too hot (climate crisis) to allow for super-long hiking days, so we changed our destinations while on foot. Our trip didn’t suffer as a result of the […]
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On Books and Backpacking
I took the last week of August off and headed out on a backpacking trip in the Olympic Peninsula. Northern Washington state is home to Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest. It’s a protected area of mountains, glaciers, old-growth forest, and subalpine meadows. We spent each day walking long distances in old-growth groves in the […]
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Now booking coaching clients for the fall
“Amanda was highly recommended to me by one of her authors as *the* editor/book coach to hire to help me complete a book project I’d been working on for far too long and was starting to think I may never complete. Her enthusiasm, warmth, encouragement, and sense of humour are beyond inspiring. After only two sessions I […]
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Manuscript consultation
I completed a manuscript consultation for a first-time writer. I read his manuscript, offered a memo with revisions, and then chatted with him. He’s writing in the field of sports psychology. He has competed in sport, and coached athletes, so his examples were from the perspective of both an athlete and a coach. Makes sense. […]
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Amanda Lewis 