5 Situations You Might Be Ready for a Self-Publishing Coach

Long before I was a self-publishing coach, I was once asked a $10,000 question–a question that sparked months of preparation, hundreds of running feet, and 15,000 parched mouths satisfied for a lifetime.

Early in my marriage, around 2013 or so, I sat in my house office, being coached. Towards the end of the call, she asked *the* question: “Mikaela, you’ve talked a lot about other people’s ministry. But what about yours? What would you say is your ministry?”

I couldn’t answer her for several minutes. Finally, I squeaked out, “I don’t know. I never realized I could have a ministry.”

A few months (and a few more coaching calls) later, I found the courage to move forward on an idea brewing in my mind for months: host a 5K to raise money for safe drinking water. With a mighty team of other women, we brought in over $10,000 to provide clean drinking water for over 15,000 people.

Because of one question. One coaching call.

I believe in coaching because I’ve seen it work. The science has too. The power that one question can have on a person, on thousands of people.

If you hope to self-publish your book but either keep running into obstacles or want to avoid them, a self-publishing coach can help work through it all.

Here are the five most common situations I’ve found writers get into–and how to get out.

1. You’ve googled all the things and none of them have worked. What you need is a personalized action plan.

Google is one of my best friends. It tells me everything from how to fold a duvet cover to stopping a toddler from throwing his food.

The problem is that Google doesn’t know me. It doesn’t know my season of life, personality, passions, or values.

A self-publishing coach gives personalized help when all of the generic advice isn’t cutting it. Everyone self-publishes differently. We’ll find the right way for you.

2. You’ve created a plan, made it all pretty, then nothing. What you need is accountability.

Can I get an amen?! This has happened to ALL of us. Maybe you set too high or misaligned goals. Maybe life just happened (hello, 2020). Whatever it is, abandoned goals can be demoralizing. How will you ever make progress if you can’t even meet a goal?

Enter, accountability.

Telling your friends and family is a great first step. But the truth is, they may forget to ask you about them. Or, if they do and you haven’t gotten far, they’ll likely shrug their shoulders and say, “Oh well.”

A coach won’t let you get away with that. A coach will ask you what happened, then help you navigate the obstacles so you finally get over that hump.

3. You feel like you’re drowning in a sea of options and ideas and possibilities. What you need is a guide.

Y’all. Writing on the internet is weird sometimes.

I often feel like I’m a pioneer in the wild, wild west. Never before have we had so many opportunities before us to share the gospel, love our neighbors, cultivate our gifts.

And as THRILLING as it is, we’re also kind of on our own sometimes.

Our friends and family support and cheer us on, but ask them about a lead magnet and you’re likely to get a blank expression. They don’t really understand the slight panic of pushing the “publish” button or what it feels like to get an email subscriber.

A self-publishing coach holds space to let you process ideas with a fellow writer in a one-on-one space while giving you clear direction with your goals.

4. You feel like you’re losing your voice and sounding just like everyone else out there. What you need is clarity on your values.

It’s easy to lose your way in the wide world of social media. You read other writers’ words, use their phrases, try to think like them (guilty!). But God didn’t make two celebrity writers. He made one of them and one of you. Your job isn’t to imitate them but to create from the inspiration they stirred in you.

Going back to your values can realign you. Through helpful exercises, we get crystal clear on those values and then evaluate how you’re aligning with those values.

5. You feel like you don’t have the time to write. What you need is a new mindset (That’s right, not more time!)

I used to say “I don’t have time for that” when something new was introduced to my schedule. But, the more I said the phrase, the more it bothered me. The reality was I didn’t want to make time for it. I had enough time to watch TV and scroll for 30 minutes. So now, I substitute “I don’t want to make time for that” instead. I’m not a victim to my schedule.

Mindset is at the heart of a lack of time for most of us. Old thoughts like “I’m not an organized person” or “I have two wild kids and barely enough time to do the laundry” make you feel like time is too limited. And perhaps that is true. You might need to step back from writing for a season. Maybe.

Or, maybe you need to identify any fears, exhaustion, procrastination that are preventing you from wanting to find the time.

In coaching, we get to the bottom of those thoughts and replace them with more helpful ones so you can re-prioritize and make the time for what matters to you.

Friends, no matter where you are in the writing journey, coaching can help. The power of a question can fire up new pathways in your brain, illuminate a new way forward, and excite you once again.

If you’re ready to take the next step, you can get free coaching in your inbox WEEKLY. Sign up for the 3% Self-Publishing Club here!