3 ms·

Can anyone recommend a writing coach I could work with? It's important to my role. I'd happily pay someone to set me (and hold me accountable to) relevant assi

Can anyone recommend a writing coach I could work with? It's important to my role. I'd happily pay someone to set me (and hold me accountable to) relevant assignments and give feedback on my work. I understand there are writing courses, it's the 1:1 timely feedback I'm seeking.

ubermonkey 6y ago
I am not offering to do this for you, but I have absolutely wondered MANY times over the years if this -- coaching highly technical people on writing better -- was a business model.
- ghaff 6y ago
  I don't know what you mean by "business model." Certainly there are lots of people who do music lessons, presentation skills, tutoring, etc. as either a part-time thing or as a full-time business. If it's 1:1 instruction, it's not all that scalable although the seemingly more successful examples I've seen do things like classes for companies and individual sessions for executives. For individuals though, I think it's easy to see that the hourly rate can't be all that high. For writing, the best bet is probably to get hooked up with some editor who does this on the side or maybe a writing prof at a local community college or adult education center.
  - helipad 6y ago
    While no doubt I'm uninformed, my sense is professional development at the one-to-one or one-to-few level is geared towards exec levels, such as exec coaching and management training. For my part, I'm not exec level yet am in a position to use either disposable income or company money on coaching for skills such as writing. My first thought too was looking for journalists/editors/local university lecturers who may be looking for some extra work. I'd guess that'd require trial and error for both parties.
    - ghaff 6y ago
      No I think that's quite accurate. When I've had e.g. presentation skills training at work, it's been a (small) group thing. Though I could probably get 1:1 professional coaching for things if I asked for it as part of professional development. My first choice would probably be to try to find an editor who does or would do this sort of thing as a side-gig. Maybe you have co-workers who have worked with one of the tech publishers like O'Reilly or Apress in the past who could do an introduction?
- helipad 6y ago
  I'd guess it'd be similar to other consulting where you have different offerings and price points: 1:1 coaching, tuition groups, self-serve classes. Personally I'd like to make use of the first one and expect to pay a premium for it.
- john4532452 6y ago
  My hypothesis is technical writing is different from non-technical writing and those who have mastered both the skills are in huge demand and have better career path than being a coach.
  - ubermonkey 6y ago
    Probably also true. I'm sure I make more in my current role than I would coaching people, unless I was able to either leverage that into some sort of weird social media/Youtube phenom, or scale it up by hiring other people (and then you just end up having the professional-services-firm problem).
objectivetruth 6y ago
Have you tried Grammarly or similar software? I hear their ads all the time and have considered trying it.

ubermonkey 6y ago

I am not offering to do this for you, but I have absolutely wondered MANY times over the years if this -- coaching highly technical people on writing better -- was a business model.

ghaff 6y ago
I don't know what you mean by "business model." Certainly there are lots of people who do music lessons, presentation skills, tutoring, etc. as either a part-time thing or as a full-time business. If it's 1:1 instruction, it's not all that scalable although the seemingly more successful examples I've seen do things like classes for companies and individual sessions for executives. For individuals though, I think it's easy to see that the hourly rate can't be all that high. For writing, the best bet is probably to get hooked up with some editor who does this on the side or maybe a writing prof at a local community college or adult education center.
- helipad 6y ago
  While no doubt I'm uninformed, my sense is professional development at the one-to-one or one-to-few level is geared towards exec levels, such as exec coaching and management training. For my part, I'm not exec level yet am in a position to use either disposable income or company money on coaching for skills such as writing. My first thought too was looking for journalists/editors/local university lecturers who may be looking for some extra work. I'd guess that'd require trial and error for both parties.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    No I think that's quite accurate. When I've had e.g. presentation skills training at work, it's been a (small) group thing. Though I could probably get 1:1 professional coaching for things if I asked for it as part of professional development. My first choice would probably be to try to find an editor who does or would do this sort of thing as a side-gig. Maybe you have co-workers who have worked with one of the tech publishers like O'Reilly or Apress in the past who could do an introduction?
helipad 6y ago
I'd guess it'd be similar to other consulting where you have different offerings and price points: 1:1 coaching, tuition groups, self-serve classes. Personally I'd like to make use of the first one and expect to pay a premium for it.
john4532452 6y ago
My hypothesis is technical writing is different from non-technical writing and those who have mastered both the skills are in huge demand and have better career path than being a coach.
- ubermonkey 6y ago
  Probably also true. I'm sure I make more in my current role than I would coaching people, unless I was able to either leverage that into some sort of weird social media/Youtube phenom, or scale it up by hiring other people (and then you just end up having the professional-services-firm problem).

objectivetruth 6y ago

Have you tried Grammarly or similar software? I hear their ads all the time and have considered trying it.