Writing Coach
Lisa Tener

Let’s start with book proposal services: the majority of my clients who start book proposals do finish them. The majority of my book proposal clients (over 90%) sign a contract with a literary agent and/or sign a contract with a traditional publisher. A small percentage (under 10%) decide to rework their book and work on their platform more either before submitting to agents and publishers, or after submitting and getting feedback. Two clients decided to self publish after receiving feedback. A very small number of book proposal clients have put their book and proposal aside completely (two at this point) for personal reasons. One client, after receiving an offer of representation from an agent, realized she wanted more control and decided to self publish.

Students who attend my 60 day book writing programs experience very different levels of completion—from completing their first draft in the book writing class, to taking the writing course a second time to complete a first draft, to gaining clarity on the book concept and making some headway (anywhere from one chapter to the majority of the book) to changing their book concept several times.

Those who are successful at completing their first draft in the 60 day program, or shortly thereafter, generally have several things in common: 1) They take the time before the first class to prepare by completing the majority of the chapter 1 exercises 2) They schedule at least one consultation with me prior to the start of class to gain clarity on the book concept and develop a structure for the book. 3) They gain clarity on how to make the time to write their book—what habits and/or projects are they giving up temporarily? What will they say “no” to? How will they become more efficient in life and work to create the time? 4) They schedule writing time in their calendar or PDA and treat it like an important meeting. It is.

Of those who complete their books in the book writing program, most choose ahead of time to self publish for various reasons (speed, control, platform, etc.). A small number decide to write a book proposal and find a traditional publisher. Of those who complete book proposals (in addition to, or instead of the full book) after the book-writing class, 50% got picked up by a major publisher and 50% are in process (again, this is from small numbers—most book proposal clients do not take the book writing courses).

In terms of editing clients, many are in process of writing, editing, becoming better writers, so it’s much more subjective (there’s not a particular milestone in publishing that they have reached or even attempted. They are in process).

I hope this information is helpful. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how representational the testimonials are. I also plan to interview these clients to share with you what they felt they did that made them successful. Such recordings will be on the website as soon as they are available.