Maybe you just want to tell the best damn story possible and you know you could use some help to get there.
Or maybe you're working on a novel and you're stuck.- It could be you've got 20-40k words and don't know what to do to flesh out your story so you can finish your novel .
- Or it could be you've got an epic wordcount and aren't sure what parts to cut and which to keep.
- Or maybe you've got a manuscript that's the right length and you aren't sure how to revise it so readers will love it as much as you do.
I can help!
We can work together to improve your current novel and strengthen the skills you need in your fiction-writing career.
I work with authors who dream of quitting their day jobs to write dozens of page-turning novels. I help them master storytelling principles without resorting to cookie cutter formulas. Understand how to work with their own unique creative process so they can publish on a predictable schedule. And focus on what readers want so their books are easier to sell.
But knowing those technical aspects of craft isn’t enough. Professional authors need to know how to deliver books on a predictable schedule, how to market their stories to the readers who need them, and how to balance obeying “the rules” of storytelling with crafting a story that they feel excited to write and share.
What books have in common with software
I spent several years working at tech startups. My goal was to become a product manager. (That’s the person who decides what features get included in a product and what gets left out.)
Product managers balance what the product team can actually build, with what the marketing sales team can actually promote and sell, what customers actually are willing to purchase, within a schedule and budget set by execs. That should sound familiar.
Professional authors need to do the same thing. Balancing what readers want to buy, with a writing schedule that allows you to make money, using a process that doesn’t wreck your creative soul along the way.
The way you get a job as a product manager is by working a series of jobs over time that help you understand each team’s perspective.
I've worked as a designer, a marketer, and as a manager. As a designer, I helped build tools for social media managers to understand what was working and what wasn’t in their marketing campaigns.
As a marketer, I produced videos, wrote guides, created website content, designed trainings, managed social media channels, and published work on big name media sites like the LA Times and the Washington Post.
As a manager, I made sure that projects finish on-time and on-budget. And I trained and mentored my junior colleagues so that they could meet team goals too.
Ultimately, I left the tech industry, because making software just isn’t my passion.
I became an editor because I LOVE LOVE LOVE books.
I’d love to help you make your currrent novel the best it can be and take a big step forward in your career as a novelist.