How do I request endorsements for my book?

If you want people to say nice things about your book but you don’t know how to ask them to do it, this message is for you. Making an endorsement request is a sensitive, delicate ask. You don’t want to say the wrong thing. What if it’s not about what you say but how you say it?  

A great endorsement is one step closer to getting a potential reader to buy your book.

One of the best compliments your book can get is a great endorsement. Whether it’s on the cover of your book, collected in the interior, or used for marketing, those words give a huge boost of credibility to the author and give the content credibility with the reader.  

Recently a client of ours asked about best practices for requesting endorsements. He had a HUGE list of asks and was trying to figure out how to manage it all. It was super complicated. The quickest way to get someone NOT to endorse your book is to make it complicated. Simple and easy will get the job done. So ho...

Are you letting distractions keep you from writing your book?

When it comes to writing books, there are a million things that are easier to do. Everything becomes a distraction and now that Summer is almost here there will be even more. Do you know what’s easier than writing your book? Talking about your book. Complaining about not having time to write your book...well, there might be as much time spent doing that as it would take to actually write the book.

That’s why we want to remind you of this tip to shake off distractions like Netflix or Disney+, etc.: “Butt in chair.” It’s that commitment to showing up that makes all the difference.

Listen, we have nothing against Netflix or Disney+; we have subscriptions, too! And maybe it’s not Netflix or Disney+, maybe it’s scrolling on Instagram or fantasy baseball. What’s your Netflix? What’s the thing that you do when you should be writing? Let’s replace it with “Butt in chair.”

Writers often ask, How do I write my book? The simple ans...

12 books. 

According to the Pew Research Center, the average adult American reads 12 books a year, with half of Americans reading 4 or less. One more time for the people in the back: half of Americans read 4 books or less a year. Ouch. If you want to elevate your writing from amateur to professional, you have to become an avid reader.  At Author Coaching, we want to help you read more books this year. That’s why we put together 3 quick and easy ways to read more books in 2025. 

Here are 3 tips for reading more books this year. 

#1. You’re doing it wrong. 

The easy answer for why people don’t read more is they don’t have time. We get it. Everything is busy. But, there is an easy way to prioritize reading: audiobooks. 

You might not have time to sit down with a book, but you might have a commute to work or work out at the gym or time in the pick-up line for school. Many moments in the day can be used to listen to a book while you do other things. A typical audiobook is 10 hours. Usi...

If you’ve ever spent a Saturday watching or participating in a track and field meet, you’ve probably witnessed someone falling out of the blocks. The sprinter is crouched and ready, head down and waiting for the starting gun . . . And then, the moment arrives and they stumble and fall. 

It’s a tough thing to witness, even tougher to have experienced.

We’ve all been there, right? We're ready to go, the race is ahead of us . . . and we fall out of the gate.

This time of year, “New Year, New You” gets all the hype. Encouragement is abundant for 2025. And who can dismiss a fresh start, especially after the last several years? Like the sprinter, maybe you were ready to go, the race ahead of you . . . and then you crashed. 

If that’s you, today is about helping you up after you've broken the promises you made to yourself about your writing goals, your publishing plans, or any other resolutions you’ve made around your art.  

So, what do you do if things haven’t gone the way you would hav...

Rejection happens.

Every writer faces rejection. The difference between the writers you read about and the ones you don’t, comes down to who conquered that fear. It’s up to you to decide which path you choose.

But it’s not that simple, is it?

It’s easy to list how many times great books were rejected – J.K. Rowling was rejected numerous times before she finally found a home for Harry Potter – but we lose sight of the choice that the writers made. They chose to lean into The Resistance.

Let me explain.

Rejection is an outcome, but what if it was actually a positive outcome? To be rejected, you have to revise, submit, and query. You have to hone your craft. One of the biggest secrets writers don’t get to see, and sometimes ever know, is that they oftentimes have less control over rejection than they think because it’s a numbers game.

“The Resistance can’t win if you keep writing.”

A writer can’t control an agent taking on another writer’s book similar to the one that she just quer...

What’s your biggest publishing question?

If writing a book isn’t hard enough, there are also the questions that surround what to actually do with your book when it’s ready to publish. How do you build a book that will appeal to publishers? How do you create a proposal or query an agent? Most writers neglect the actual business part of writing because of the sheer difficulty of it.

The business of being a writer is complicated. Don’t let it get between you and your publishing dreams.

You’ve got questions that need answers. Every writer does. Oftentimes those questions are what stand between you and achieving the next step in your publishing career.

But what if there was a way to alleviate those pesky questions?

At Author Coaching, one of the many services we provide is one-on-one coaching. You can book a meeting with one of our agents to go over the questions you have.

We teach and coach first-time and veteran authors interested in advancing their careers, using our unparalleled e...

Are roadblocks keeping you from pursuing your publishing dreams?

Recently we received this comment on Facebook: “I am so sick of all the roadblocks to publishing a book when you’re an everyday person.” We agree. That’s why we built Author Coaching - to help you navigate the ever-increasingly complex world of publishing. Today, let’s begin removing those roadblocks. Let us show you how. 

A book proposal changes how you are viewed.

At Author Coaching, we hear a lot about what stops you from publishing your book. The comment we mentioned earlier said, “If you’re a celebrity of any type, you can get your book of any kind on any subject published without any obstacles. It’s ridiculous and it’s simply not right.” It’s not fair. We’ve got to eliminate those barriers and create a level-playing field for your book idea.

That starts with a book proposal. Too many writers with potentially great book ideas are disqualifying themselves by not having a book proposal.

When we created The Essenti...

It’s 2025. You’ve made it!!!

How are you doing on making your New Year’s resolutions?

That can feel like a loaded question, especially if you’re not good at keeping up with them. Resolutions are tough. Most of them leave us with a yes or no proposition. I’m either sticking to my diet or, most likely, I’m not. I’m either hitting the gym or I’m not. But what if instead of focusing on the all-or-nothing that resolutions leave us with, we found a better way?

At some point, you’re either still on pace or you’ve given up. Not much wiggle room. Why are we so harsh that we create a pass-fail system to begin each year that we wouldn’t give to our worst enemy?

That’s why we need to create goals that are resolution-proof. Those are the types of goals that stay with us, the sticky ones. When spring gets here, summer starts, or fall begins, you don’t feel ashamed or guilty about those optimistic goals you set way back in December of last year because you made them resolution-proof.

Here’s how ...

The past year may not have turned out how you planned it to be.  It may have been filled with setbacks,  heartache, and changes in how you live and work.

And yet there’s a lot to be grateful for, too. Perhaps one thing you haven’t considered is how this past year has made you a better writer. You might look down at your creative goals for this year and see more dreams than accomplishments. We’ve stewarded multiple clients through finishing books while they took on new challenges and new duties.

On the publishing journey, you will face setbacks. The writing will struggle to come together as the deadline looms. The proposal you’ve been working on will have to wait while you help fix another issue for someone else. You will enjoy moments of inspiration and celebration, and everything in between. What the past year is trying to teach us is: that things we cannot control are going to happen. How you respond to them is what is going to make the difference in your writing career.

This is a...

What’s a TBR?

TBR is an acronym that stands for to be read. Many people use it to refer to their reading lists. Now is a great time of year to add books to your TBR. Like you, we believe books are magic, and the right book has the power to change your life.

There are a lot of ways to change your life. You could move, get a degree, start a new job, etc. With any life-changing opportunity, there comes a cost. Change can be expensive, both financially and mentally. If you want to know one of the cheapest, quickest ways to change your life in 2025, read a book.

With that said, here are a few books that we highly recommend for life-changing results.

• Greg McKeown’s Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less is a Yates & Yates favorite. When our clients are trying to prioritize their publishing, their business or ministry, and their personal life, we hand them this book. It has the power to align your life with getting the right things done.
• When it comes to slowing down and cutting
...