Work with Me

Let’s work together:

An Hour of Book Coaching

A one-hour session where we work on whatever you bring and we solve your most pressing problems.

Nonfiction Book Proposal Coaching

Figure out the book you want to write and develop your killer book proposal from the ground up.

Book Proposal Review

A full read and review of your book proposal so you know what’s working and what needs improvement.

My process has led writers to:

  • Win awards for their proposals, 

  • Complete their manuscripts, 

  • Query agents and presses, 

  • Get agent representation,

  • Receive book deals, 

  • And get published. 

It’s an honor to help writers reach their goals, and I’d love to help you achieve yours.

I’m really good at helping people get clear on their book idea, understand the decisions they need to make, confidently navigate the direction they want to go in, and do the thing they want to do.

Let’s play to our strengths: you have the ideas and the dream; I have the knowledge, experience, and process to help you truly get ‘er done.

We hire experts for good reasons: When you want to work out but you can’t motivate yourself to do it, you hire a personal trainer. If your car is having issues, you take it to a mechanic because you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. When you want to get something done and you haven’t been able to do it on your own, you get help. 

Let’s make your dream of writing and publishing a book happen.

I’m a nonfiction book and proposal coach, and helping aspiring authors like you is my jam.

I am your mentor, guide, validating friend, and accountability partner. I am really good at: 

  • Questioning and reflecting to bring the best work out of you.

  • Breaking the process into manageable steps.

  • Helping you figure out what you do (and do not) want to write.

  • Slashing what's not necessary -- and helping you be able to do that for yourself.

  • Helping you toggle between the big picture and the details.

  • Teaching you what you need to know, when you need it.

  • Propping you up/inspiring/motivating you.

  • Providing a safe space for you to dream, risk, and grow.

  • Amy Goldmacher is a rarity in the world of book coaching: an anthropologist by training, she brings her keen observer’s mind and her deep analytical skills to every project she works on. She took a scalpel to my unwieldy 35 chapter memoir outline and presented me with a streamlined document that contained the essential ingredients of my story, nothing more. She’s methodical, thoughtful, and just plain ol' brilliant. Who wouldn’t want that in their book coach?

    — Suzette Mullen, The Only Way Through is Out, University of Wisconsin Press, Feb. 2024

  • I'm accustomed to writing short forms. Writing a book is a different story! Amy helped me formulate a plan and mold those ideas into long-form. She created the accountability and guidance to do something I'd always wanted to do but had been too intimidated to attempt. Amy has a validating approach that is also no-nonsense, keeping a stubborn personality like mine in line. Amy, I love you and I hate you right now. I can't stop writing! You are a gift, a woo whisperer.

    — Kate Evans, Ditch Your Sh*t: Declutter the Crap out of Your Life and Home, represented by Cindy Bullard of Birch Literary

  • I was eager to meet every deadline Amy and I set simply because I couldn’t wait to hear what she had to say! Amy brings great analytical skill to book coaching. She quickly identified where I was missing the mark and where I was hitting it. Her comments assured me that what I had to say would have value for others and then showed me what I needed to work on if I wanted to deliver that value. Her support kept me on track in a most clear-minded fashion. Thank you, Amy.

    — Mary Bernstein, Memoir Writer

  • A huge step up in confidence. Which came from working with you, through the coaching sessions and the homework assigned, but more importantly also offline. I am now raring to go to finish my first memoir’s first draft. Ultimately, it was a combination of your intense reader persona, intense anthropologist/UX expert eyes, and your consummate generosity, that got me to a place of sense making and meaning making of my own process.

    — Nirupa Umapathy, Memoir/Essay Writer

  • I was blown away by the coaching process. Amy led me through highly detailed exercises which allowed us to identify weak points in the narrative or gaps in the overall story arc which needed to be filled in. With this blueprint in hand, editing down and adding a few new chapters was a breeze, because I knew exactly what I was shooting for. The really great part of this process was that the exercises we had worked on led naturally to a book synopsis and query letter! Amy researched agents and publishers to query and even made an agent submission spreadsheet to work from. I would highly recommend Amy as a book coach for anyone who needs help with the structure of their book, or who feels blocked, or who needs help transitioning from the writing to the publishing process.

    — Heidi Brumbaugh, Tales From The Hygiene Center, self-published

  • Amy, you are a brilliant, supportive coach full of answers, suggestions and hands on help. I am extremely satisfied with your service!

    — Monique Clesca, Silence and Resistance: A Memoir of Girlhood in Haiti, represented by Yona Deshommes of Riverchild Media

  • I have a completed proposaI I feel proud of! I’m proud of the fact I did this and it’s done! Now it’s to be bought, written, and received so it can help people. This is a way of sharing thoughts at scale.

    — Petrushka Bazin Larsen, Prescriptive Nonfiction Writer, seeking agent representation

  • Writing a first book is kind of like having your first kid. You're all excited about it and have no idea what you're getting yourself into. You get overwhelmed and freaked out and want to pretend it isn't happening regardless of how much you want it. Then the kid (or book or proposal) is here and all of the work was totally worth it, even if there are still a ton of hurdles to still get over like getting an agent, getting published, will people even read it? I had zero idea that writing a book required so much. I wouldn't have a book if it wasn't for you.

    — Kate Evans, Ditch Your Sh*t: Declutter the Crap out of Your Life and Home, represented by Cindy Bullard of Birch Literary

  • If I didn't have some accountability and structure for writing this book, I would likely put it off inevitably. The structured approach is so helpful!!

    — Tosca Fasso, Prescriptive Nonfiction Writer

  • I had no idea any of this stuff existed. I didn't know about proposals. I didn't know you needed a process. It never occurred to me that I needed to have a picture of the whole book. I just thought you wrote a book. I didn't understand how much I needed what you had to offer. Writers think they can do it on their own, regardless of the evidence they can't; they can keep bumbling along on their own, but it'll be decades before they get where they want to go. Whereas with your help it can be so much faster. You helped so much with the structure of my book. I was all over the place and you kept pulling me back in. I needed the accountability and the honesty. Not to mention your experience and expertise.

    — Kate Evans, Ditch Your Sh*t: Declutter the Crap Out Of Your Life and Home, represented by Cindy Bullard of Birch Literary