Podcasts

Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino

Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino

Welcome to a new edition of the Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino series .. On this episode, we talk with Italy-based Book Coach Barbara Boyd .. She coaches writers in non-fiction and memoir. A nurturer and consummate organizer, Barbara helps writers clarify and express their ideas while advocating for the reader. She has collaborated on more than two hundred books in various roles of book coach, developmental editor, executive editor, and ghostwriter on topics that include leadership, health, self-help, finance, and memoir. Under her own name, she’s authored a dozen books for the For Dummies, Complete Idiot’s Guide, and Teach Yourself Visually series. Barbara believes everyone has a book to write—you need only ask the right questions. We get into so much. Enjoy this Interview.

First Chapters: Atomic Habits

First Chapters: Atomic Habits

Abigail is joined by nonfiction book coach expert, Barbara Boyd, to analyze James Clear's nonfiction book (a personal growth book) phenomenon, ATOMIC HABITS. What makes this deep dive particularly interesting is that Barbara and Abigail decide to analyze not the first chapter, but the introduction—something Barbara explains is crucial for a nonfiction book and book proposal that hooks a literary agent (and target readers). 

How to Go from Planning a Book to Writing One

How to Go from Planning a Book to Writing One

This is the last episode in the 10-part Blueprint for a Book Series. Start with Step 1, do the work (we’ll give you an assignment every week), and in 10 weeks, you’ll have a solid foundation for a first draft or revision of your project that will help you push through to “the end”.

Coaching a Memoir Writer

Coaching a Memoir Writer

Barbara Boyd says on her website that a book coach is a combination of “an editor, a project manager, a mentor, and an honest BFF … [providing] editorial feedback, emotional support, and project management and accountability.” In my conversation with her, she was extraordinarily sensitive, intelligent, and articulate. I concentrated on her work with people who are writing memoirs. It was really a fascinating interview of a person whose centredness and empathy I could sense on Zoom all the way from her olive farm in Italy to my condo in Canada. Please listen.

On Being a Book Coach In Italy

On Being a Book Coach In Italy

She began as a reader on the bookmobile in her small New Jersey town. Her next chapter was as a writer, but these days she lives on an olive farm in Italy, and she’s back to reading in her role as a coach, guiding authors through the process of writing their own books.