What Do You Choose to Believe About Your Pricing?

An announcement, another lesson on pricing, and an invitation

Photo by Edu Lauton on Unsplash

The Announcement on Pricing

The announcement is for any readers who might be interested in Author Accelerator’s Book Coach Certification Program. We’re raising our prices significantly in 2025, so if you are interested in joining our program and our community, now could be a great time.

We have always wanted to give our students more feedback and more individual coaching than we can in the current system. We know a higher level of support will result in a better experience for the student -- it's something a lot of students have asked for over the years and something we have been itching to do. 

We’re planning to increase our level of one-on-one feedback and move to a high-touch certification program in the new year. This new format will mean new pricing to reflect the change.

Current prices are $3,800 for the fiction and nonfiction programs (nine-months) and $4,800 for memoir (twelve-months.) These prices are good from now until December 10, 2024.

The Lesson on Pricing

Raising your rates is always hard. It’s terrifying to think that you might price yourself out of business. You ask yourself, Will people PAY these prices? Or more specifically, Will they pay ME these prices? And also, Who do I think I am?

But the flip side of that coin is asking, Will I burn out if I keep my prices where they are? Or more specifically, Will I get resentful if I keep delivering my excellent services at a price that does not honor the time I am spending, the experience I am bringing to the table, and the expertise I have?

When you have a team who helps you run your business like I do, you also have to ask this question about your team: Are they going to find greener pastures if I keep paying them what I am paying them?

I raised the rates on this course one year ago (I wrote about that when I launched this Substack here) and was always planning to raise them again. I knew where I wanted to go but I was too chicken about doing it all at once. As I got closer to actually making the second pricing move, I freaked out. Again.

I went through all the same thoughts and calculations. Again.

I re-read the pricing series I recently wrote (which encapsulates a lot of what I believe and teach about pricing services for writers) and gathered my courage. Again.

I looked for evidence that I am awesome — a question I advise you ask yourself in that series I linked to right above, which is not a question about you as a human — we’re all awesome — but about you as an effective book coach/business person who is helping people achieve the goals you set out to help them achieve. The evidence we are looking for is partly “out there” — the outcomes you have helped people achieve, the testimonials you have received, your reputation — but it’s also inside us.

On a recent podcast, my business coach, Claire Pelletreu, was breaking down her most recent program launch. She had a whole riff about how the biggest difference in her recent launch was not anything she did, but her mindset around doing it. She did work on believing that her program is the best of its kind of out there.

This isn’t just an ego move. It’s a way of stopping those negative voices in your head. Claire said something very close to this: “Are there other great courses out there that teach what I teach? No doubt. But do I hear every day that my course is the best? And that it is changing people’s live? I do. And that is what I chose to believe.”

I chose to believe it, too.

It’s a critical move, whether you are inviting people to work with you for practicum work in a training program, putting up your very first coaching package, tweaking a program you have been offering for years, doing something new, updating, upgrading, or changing things up.

It’s also required for your writers. Investing in a book coach, putting work out in the world, pitching to agents, designing a marketing plan, trying to find a way to find readers and connect with them and ask them to engage with your work is no small feat.

These are big moves we are all making. I find it helps to talk about it — not to hide the hard conversations under a barrel.

I might be back here in Q2 2025 saying, “Oh no, what did I do?”

But that’s okay. It’s all part of the mix.

The Invitation

Actually, there are two!

On Wednesday, September 25, I’ll be doing a free webinar called Become a Book Coach: Turn the Page on a Whole New Career. In it, I will teach the three keys to building a sustainable book coaching business. You’re welcome to join me for that if you’re curious about becoming a book coach and want to hear a bit about how it all works. I’ll also discuss the Author Accelerator Book Coach Certification Program (and offer a special bonus!)

On October 3 and 4, I’ll be hosting three Open Houses. These are times when I will be in a zoom room answering people’s questions about the book coach certification program and anything else related to book coaching.

You are welcome to attend these programs whether you are interested in joining our program at the current prices; you’d like to do the higher-touch program in 2025; or you’re not sure about book coaching but want to learn more.

NOTE: I understand that if you sign up for both these events, you’re gonna get inundated with emails. SORRY! We have a new email system and haven’t quite figured this piece out yet. One person wrote to us and said, “I appreciate your enthusiasm but…” Which I thought was a really kind way of letting us know what was going on. Thanks kind stranger!

---