Where I Found My Fiction Story Coach and Fiction Editor Mentors
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
I’ve volunteered as a mentor to beginner and intermediate editors for roughly two years. One of the first lessons I pass on is simple. There is so much more to being a freelance fiction editor and fiction story coach than registering the right paperwork with the state.
In fact, editing and coaching are the smallest part of running a successful freelance business. That direct labor is why we even start. It’s the indirect labor that takes up the most time, if not more. That indirect labor is what keeps your business running.
I didn’t yet have the funds in July 2021 to host, build, and promote my own website. So, I took to LinkedIn to start building my personal and business brands. I hired a professional to optimize my profile. This allowed me to better reflect the new course I was charting in my professional life.
I started regularly creating content centered around fiction editing and fiction story coaching. I started engaging with the content of my burgeoning network.
Most importantly? I started reaching out to and connecting with three levels of editors and story coaches:
- Those who were just starting their freelance careers like me
- Those who were a few years ahead of me and had mostly solidified their freelancing foundations
- Those who had been in the book publishing industry for a decade or more
It was that last group where I knew the highest level of knowledge, experience, and lessons learned resided. Sure, the only way to gain all three myself was to position myself in front of and then work with queer romance writers. Again, that’s the fun part I couldn’t wait to dive into. The fiction editors, fiction story coaches, and book publishing professionals I engaged with the most passed on the business lessons and knowledge specific to the long-term goals I wanted to achieve.
On LinkedIn, connecting with a fellow fiction editor or fiction story coach was just the beginning. I requested coffee chats and intro calls from nearly each person. More often than not, they were able to accommodate me.
I’ve had standing monthly check-ins with some of these colleagues for close to two years. Every time we talk, email, or exchange carrier pigeon–delivered notes, we both learn something new from or about each other, work-related or not.
I have two people I consider my fiction story coach and fiction editor mentors: Denise Madre and Fallon Clark.
That’s not to say I don’t have other amazing fiction writers, fiction story coaches, and fiction developmental editors I admire whom I talk to regularly. The further I get as an entrepreneur, the more I refine my fiction writing and fiction editing niches and adjust my business goals, the more important it becomes to do the same with finding the right mentor(s) for my goals.
Don’t just build your network for the potential leads. Build one so you have a stronger chance of finding the person (or people) who can help make your own editing and entrepreneurial journey a little smoother.
Reflecting On Your Story One Word At A Time!
