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When is the best time to get a book coach? I have a blueprint outline and some essays, but I believe I need to write a good portion of the book before working with a coach. She/he would need to read enough to know whether or not they could be of help. What do you think? Thanks.

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Hi Ann. I think the best time to get a book coach is before you start to write or as soon into the writing process as you can -- which is the opposite of what you are assuming in your question (I think) and I think I know why.

You are probably thinking of a book the way you think of an editor: someone to come in once you have finished to make what you wrote better. This is a good way to think about editors, and what they do is incredibly necessary and helpful.

But a book coach does something completely different: we are trained to help the writer and the writing. So if you come at the start of the project, we can ask you questions about your goals and intentions. We can look at the project structure and framework and help you make sure that you are planning a project that can do what you intend. it to do Most of all, we can help you prevent making mistakes that would undermine your efforts to reach your stated goals.

I designed the Blueprint because I was so frustrated by the number of writers I saw making the same mistakes over and over again. I wanted a tool to help them but I also wanted a tool to prevent them from making those mistakes again.

If I only had a small amount of money to invest in a book coach, I would invest it in having someone check your Blueprint. You can fix any mistakes in the plan and approach the writing of your book with confidence.

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Hi, Jenny! Thanks for this opportunity to ask about choosing the appropriate genre. I have queried my debut novel to different agents citing a genre appropriate to the novel and to the agent’s preference: family saga, book club fiction, women’s fiction (hate that designation). Recently, I live-pitched the novel as women’s fiction and the agent remarked that she would have to pass because she doesn’t represent historical fiction, which I never mentioned. Yes, there is a trans generational part to the plot, but I don’t see how that makes it a historical novel. My question: Is there a resource which breaks down the difference between genres, particularly when there can be crossover?

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Oh this is such a good question -- the question of how to POSITION your novel in the marketplace so that people (agents, publishers, reader) can find it AND connect to it. This is a critical step in pitching. And it's more complex that you might first think.

For example, "women's fiction*" is a category that COULD include historical fiction -- which is perhaps why this agent made the comment they did. A multi-generational part to a plot COULD mean that some people consider the story historical in nature (although if that is only backstory or a flashback, I'm not sure it would change the categorization.)

*A lot of people DO struggle with the term women's fiction. Some agents and publishers no longer use it. The Women's Fiction Writing Association (WFWA) says this: "Our stories may include romance, or they may not. They can be contemporary or historical and have magical, mystery, thriller, or other elements. Whereas the driving force of a romance novel is a love story, a mystery's is the exposure of an event, a thriller's is a fear-inducing chase or escape, etc., the driving force of women's fiction is the protagonist's journey toward a more fulfilled self." Source: https://www.womensfictionwriters.org/about-wfwa

Two resources that might help you sort out this puzzle would be:

1.) Goodreads. If you click BROWSE in the top navigation and then click FICTION, you will be taken into a universe where they list out all the sub-genres and explain them. If you start to read through those, you will begin to get a good sense of where your book fits and where it doesn't.

2.) Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach and author (and WFWA member) Lidije Hilje put together a fantastic free guide to help differentiate literary fiction from some of the other categories You can find it here: https://lidijahilje.com/genre-guide

I would say that if you are not getting traction (invitations to submit pages) from live pitching or from your queries -- say, more than 5 pitches -- to STOP and assess what is going on. Something in the query is not working and it may or may not be your genre designation.

It could be how you are talking about the story or how you are describing the protagonist or things you are including in the query that don't work. Another Author Accelerator coach has a great resource for assessing queries, which does have a small fee attached to it. You can find that here:

https://www.julieartz.com/wknd-pitch-perfection

I hope some of that helps!

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Fantastic response; thank you so much.

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