A Hands-On Approach

write better, together.

The Gilliam Writers Group is committed to providing actionable, practical feedback that helps every client become a better writer, no matter their training or goals. We believe that a writing coach should offer not only technical support, but a collaborative, participatory learning experience, to each person they work with. The interactive, growth-oriented nature of this service is what distinguishes writing coaching from editing; while editing is asynchronous, coaching calls for real-time human connection. While editing is product-focused, coaching attends equally to the writer, their product, and their process of production.

GWG’s writing coaches take a hands-on approach to improving our clients’ writing. Though this might seem incompatible with the virtual format of our meetings, it isn’t; we’ve found that our online sessions are highly effective for learning—not despite, but because of their digital format. Meeting on Zoom and Google Docs allows the participants to engage with written text in organic, cooperative ways; by collaborating on cloud-based documents, our coaches can shift seamlessly between dialogue and demonstration, idea and experiment, critique and revision. The virtual environment introduces real immediacy into the workshopping process, making it possible for us to intervene in our clients’ output more naturally than we could in a physical setting.

Practically speaking, this means our writing coaches can mark up your work with you live on video, demystifying editorial methods. We can observe your writing process unfolding in real time, and provide actionable pointers on technique. We can instantly demonstrate the skills you want to learn—all without the awkwardness of peering over each other’s shoulders or passing notebooks back and forth.

We’ll meet you where you are in your career as an author, learning your goals and timelines and developing a plan to achieve them; our partnership can help you get your words onto the the right bookshelves for your audience, or into other desirable post-publication venues.

If you’re still feeling uncertain (or excited!) about the logistics of our one-on-one publishing consulting and editorial services, we invite you to schedule a free consultation call. Our Enrollment Managers will be happy to answer your questions and match you with a professional writing coach or book editor.

Long-Term Collaboration

coaching changes lives.

Wherever you are on the path to publication, consider investing in a private book writing class or publishing class online with a trained GWG faculty member. The longer you work with your writing coach, the more impactful their insight becomes. That's because a coach’s most valuable assets—nuanced interpersonal awareness, an intuitive grasp of clients’ evolving skill sets, and deep familiarity with their work—just aren’t available off-the-shelf.

In our private coaching and writing sessions, you and your designated GWG faculty member will unpack your professional or literary goals, and work together to meet them. The more thoroughly our instructors get to know you as an individual, the more precisely and impactfully we can apply our expertise to your writing.

Is hiring a book writing coach worth it? We believe it is, partly because shifting norms in the publishing industry now mean that authors have to manage much of the publication process on their own. Your coach will ease this burden by providing reliable expertise, support, and companionship, no matter where you find yourself or where you want to be.

Qualified Faculty

training you can trust.

The Gilliam faculty includes New York Times best-selling novelists, graduates of renowned MFA programs in creative writing who have published with major presses, cultural critics leading celebrated magazines (e.g., the Editor-in-Chief of Bookforum), and former English department chairs from top universities. Their writing appears in legacy publications like The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and The Atlantic, and their award-winning books have been published by presses such as Simon Schuster, Penguin Random House, and Macmillan.

They have also taught literature and creative writing at elite institutions throughout the US, from Iowa Writers’ Workshop, to Cornell University, to the University of Chicago.

Querying Literary Agents

consulting for authors seeking representation to traditional publishing houses.

Querying for Creative Writers: Fiction & Poetry

On your own, or with the help of a qualified book writing coach, you’ve finished your book-length nonfiction, fiction, or poetry manuscript. What next? In the world of traditional publishing, you might be ready to start querying literary agents. Agents are expert career managers, advocates, and literary taste-makers who provide the crucial link between authors and publishers: they represent their writers’ best interests when negotiating book deals, and often collaborate with them on future projects. Like the best writing coaches, good agents work long-term with the authors they represent.

How hard is it to get a literary agent? The short answer is: it’s hard! Literary agents only take on a few new clients each year, and in many cases their agencies receive hundreds of thousands of queries each month. But the odds of landing an agent are dramatically improved when you understand the genre of the query, and what agents are looking for in your submission materials.

To get an agent for your book project, a series of documents are required, the most important of which is the query letter. There’s plenty of advice on the internet and podcasts about how to write a query letter to a literary agent—much of it contradictory and confusing. The truth is that there is no perfect query letter, but there are certain questions your query letter needs to answer. At the Gilliam Writers Group, our book publishing coaches are themselves published authors whose first-hand experience qualifies them to guide clients in shaping their query materials so that they stand out from the bunch. We’ll pull back the curtain on the vagaries of traditional publishing and walk with you through the whole process, one thoughtful step at a time.

Querying for Nonfiction: Literary, Academic, Popular & More

For nonfiction books, the querying process looks very different: books are sold on proposal—on the quality of your idea for a book, along with the relevance of your expertise or life experience—rather than based on a full manuscript (as in fiction or poetry). For this reason, it’s all the more important to ensure your proposal cuts straight to the heart of why your project is necessary and why you are the person who must write it. Getting an agent for a nonfiction book requires not only a query letter, but also a book proposal.

Nonfiction book proposals follow an established format which includes a synopsis, a sample chapter, comparison titles, an author bio, and more. Your proposal has to make a compelling argument for the necessity and immediacy of your idea, but it should also demonstrate your capacity and finesse as a writer. Whatever your area of expertise, the Gilliam Writers Group can work with you to refine your query materials and establish your preparedness to write the book you want to see on shelves.

Our Solutions: Writing Coaching for Queries

For both fiction and nonfiction authors interested in improving your query materials for literary agencies, we recommend a package of either 4 or 8 hours with a GWG writing coach, depending on your needs. In these sessions, we will first establish what you hope to accomplish (e.g., drafting a query letter from scratch, perfecting a book synopsis, polishing sample pages from your novel, crafting a nonfiction book proposal, etc.) and then create an actionable plan for moving forward. Many query services offer packages that consist only of written feedback; however, in our collaborative sessions, you will work hand-in-hand with your designated faculty member, making edits and sharing ideas in real time. And if you find you’d like to continue on with your book publishing coach beyond the query package, you’re welcome to.

If you are building up your project’s submission materials from scratch, your coaching sessions may take the form of collaborative writing exercises to generate ideas for the query letter. You and your writing coach might edit your materials together in real time, discussing comparative titles and ensuring that your sample pages capture the essence of your project.

Or, if you’ve already drafted and sent out your querying materials but haven’t seen results yet, your coach might help you identify areas of vagueness in your language or concept, clarify the stakes of your book, edit pages for clarity and concision, discuss elevator pitches, and more.

Wherever you find yourself on the journey to publication, these private classes in book publishing will give you (well-earned) confidence in your project and materials, resulting in a query letter that matches the monumental effort you’ve put into your manuscript or concept.

Pitching a Story or Article

guidance for writers selling their work to established literary, media, or academic publications.

To publish pieces in newspapers, magazines, blogs, newsletters, or literary journals, whether online or in print, you have to know how to pitch your idea and establish your credentials as a writer. Your response may be, “What if I have no credentials?” Then the quality of your writing needs to speak for itself through your pitch. The article pitch is a genre unto itself, and like all types of writing it becomes easier with practice. Nonetheless, even writers who are experienced with this form can find themselves struggling to sell their ideas. Our one-on-one online publishing classes can help you understand the types of arguments that might win success in your part of the industry, and how to most succinctly and engagingly convey them to the editors who will decide whether your writing is publishable.

At the Gilliam Writers Group, our faculty’s publication success is evident in the array of venues our work has appeared in. Drawing on our personal expertise as successful authors, we can deliver pitch consultation services that will help you not only write timely and timeless pieces for years to come, but also leave you with a keen sense for when, where, and how to pitch them.

For clients who want to master the art of pitching their work to publications, we recommend starting with a package of either 4 or 8 one-hour coaching sessions, depending on your needs. In these sessions, your writing coach will guide you through the process of distilling the key takeaways of your story or article, summarizing them in pithy and tasteful ways, determining appropriate venues for publication, and crafting the perfect pitch letter to said institutions. Once you’ve completed your initial package of hours with your GWG writing coach, you may wish to keep working with them; we’re always thrilled to support continuing clients through long-term collaboration.

Opportunities for publication abound if you know where to look, and if you don’t mind learning to sculpt your voice to a particular venue’s tone (without, of course, losing the individuality that makes your words your own). Our expert faculty know every hill and valley of the publishing landscape, and they’re ready to partner with you to achieve your goals as a writer. Ready to see your words in print? We’ll bring the experience and the resources; all you have to do is show up in the Zoom room.

Self-Publishing & Indie Presses

consulting for authors who want full control (and don't mind the work that comes with it).

As the traditional publishing market shrinks and social media platforms democratize authors’ ability to publish and publicize their works, more writers are finding success through self-publishing. Self-publishing is a popular option for authors who want full control over their careers; it allows them to forgo the gatekeeping of literary agents and traditional publishers, placing the reins firmly in their own hands. For that reason, it also entails a lot of work and planning. Whether you’re pursuing publication through a service like Kindle Direct Publishing or submitting your manuscript to an independent press, a self publishing coach can guide you through the process of preparing your materials for self-publication.

You may have seen a lot of internet buzz about “indie publishing.” What is indie publishing? It’s basically self publishing by another name—a name that points out one of the advantages of self publishing, namely the independence that self-published authors enjoy within their corner of the book market. This unconventional (but increasingly popular) path to publication boasts a number of advantages over traditional publishing for certain writers—most notably a speedier timeline and full creative control over your book’s design, distribution, and marketing—but it can be overwhelming to manage the entire publication process on your own. GWG’s faculty can assist you in whatever stage of the self-publishing pipeline you’re in when you hire us: even if you’re still drafting your manuscript, we’ll meet you exactly where you are, and help you forge ahead with tailored coaching sessions or developmental and line edits.

Done writing and ready to publish? Our self publishing coaches can show you how to edit and format your completed manuscript for publication (in both ebook and print editions), develop your marketing materials, brainstorm elevator pitches, perfect your book’s blurb, and more. If you’re looking to publish with a small independent press whose business model calls for authors to contribute some of the skills and labor required for self-publishing, our online writing coaches can work with you on everything from perfecting your initial proposal and submission materials to growing a readership for your book.

When you’re ready to publish, you want the final product to represent the very best of you—your passion, your knowledge, your skill, and (last but not least) your business acumen. At Gilliam Writers Group, we are professional writers and editors with years of experience weighing the pros and cons of every route toward publication, and we love helping authors find the right avenue for their words.

Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission

polish every page with our tailored writing coaching & developmental editing services.

Finishing Your Book

get one-on-one meetings with an expert book writing coach online.

Private Book Writing Classes

Our generative book coaching service helps you see the forest for the trees: you’ll work with your coach to address sticky plot points, fine-tune any arguments, identify emerging themes, and more. We support authors writing in every genre. During each online workshopping session, you and your Gilliam book writing coach will determine areas for improvement in your latest draft; for example, you might discuss necessary changes to the book’s organization and flow, and explore various ways to achieve them. At some point in the session, your coach will usually move to focus in on some specific, craft-related goal (e.g., making characters’ voices more distinct, or reducing clunky exposition), and walk you through personalized strategies and exercises for improvement.

If it’s your first time attempting to complete a book project, you may find it hard to recognize your manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses, and to address these efficiently in your drafts. Hiring a book writing coach for a first-time writer constitutes a highly impactful investment in your work and in your authorial career. Our bespoke online book writing classes will take you from the world of ideas to the world of real outcomes, providing time-tested lessons on whatever skills you’re hoping to perfect in pursuit of your individual goals.

Private Novel Writing Classes

Writing your first novel can feel like a particularly daunting task, especially if you’ve never taken creative writing classes or worked with a private writing coach. Creating a convincing fictional world is a monumental, but incredibly rewarding, undertaking. With a novel writing coach to guide you through every step of the process—from finding a killer concept to developing believable characters, from mastering conflict and plotting to improving readability—you’ll find yourself less overwhelmed as you work. Your weekly coaching sessions will unfold as a kind of personalized, one-on-one novel writing class, in which you can focus on the aspects of fiction writing that excite you (or challenge you) most.

When they’re designed for groups, even the best online novel writing classes require instructors to follow a pre-set syllabus, and to cover only those general topics that can benefit all of their students at once (regardless of individual needs and interests). Our private novel writing coaches, on the other hand, will work with you and only you for the duration of your program, customizing every lesson to your specific goals. That means you can progress far more quickly as a writer, getting exactly what you need from each hour you spend with us. With the Gilliam Writers Group, you’ll receive the kind of tailored feedback that will make your finished novel a work you can truly be proud of.

Step 1

schedule your consultation.

To hire the Gilliam Writers Group faculty for publishing and book writing coaching services, we invite you to first schedule a free, 15-minute consultation call with a representative from our company’s leadership team.

During this intake call, we’ll guide you through a series of standardized questions about your background, experience, and goals, taking detailed notes on your responses. These notes will form the basis of your client brief – an internal document central to GWG’s client-instructor matching process. The client brief ensures that we can help you find a writing coach to suit your particular needs and preferences. After answering any lingering questions, your representative will conclude the call and email you two important documents.

First, you’ll receive our new client onboarding brochure, a PDF containing useful resources including a list of best practices, contact information for everyone on our leadership team, and the link to a feedback form you can submit at any point during your work with the Gilliam Writers Group. Second, you will receive a link to our service agreement (fillable online). We co-sign this form with all new clients to establish clear terms of engagement and, above all, to protect your interests – for example, to legally bind ourselves to nondisclosure. You can later dissolve this agreement at any time, for any reason, with just 24 hours’ notice.

Step 2

connect with your writing coach or editor.

Within 24 hours of your consultation call, your newly assigned writing coach will reach out via email and text to schedule the first session of your package.

At this point, they’ll already have a clear sense of your background, needs, and preferred meeting schedule; it is our policy to always read a new client’s brief before making contact. This mitigates redundancy in GWG’s onboarding process; as you establish communication with your writing coach, you won’t need to rehash the basics of your interest in online book writing classes, for example, or the literary background of your ideal manuscript editor. Your coach will already be in the loop.

Step 3

enjoy your first session.

Our online coaching and workshopping sessions take place on Zoom and Google Docs, and emphasize guided, real-time practice combined with immediate feedback. The structure of your first session will depend largely on your particular needs and the discernment of your instructor; there is no standard formula, though most such meetings are necessarily focused on gathering information, assessing the client’s writing and goals, and developing a plan of action.

After your first session, we suggest that you and your coach agree on a regular weekly or biweekly (once every two weeks) meeting time and stick to it. Over the years, we have found that consistent weekly or biweekly sessions generate the clearest improvements in our clients’ writing and writing processes.

The Gilliam Writers Group is primarily an online company; however, if you’re interested in setting up an in-person book writing or publishing class near you, please contact us.

Swapping Coaches or Editors

just in case.

If you find that you and your designated faculty member aren’t a match, or you decide to work with other GWG faculty in the future, our leadership team can support you in choosing a different book writing coach or editor.

Before matching you with another faculty member, we will usually suggest that you first tell your coach as clearly as possible what you believe is missing in your work together. Open, honest dialogue is essential to the service we offer; all of Gilliam’s coaches and editors possess strong interpersonal skills, but none of us can read minds.

If clear communication does not yield the hoped-for results, or you no longer want to work with your coach or editor for any reason, just let our leadership team know. We’ll initiate a new, more streamlined matching process, supplementing your original client brief (the one created during your initial consultation call) with updated information to reflect both your progress and the reasons you are pausing work with your original faculty member.