Because they're pretty similar!!! This will be a short post, don't worry!
What is a book coach?
Coaches are those who help you take your ideas and compile them into a manuscript. Coaches often meet in-person or in video conferences to provide a writer with feedback. A book coach can even feel like a mentorship in some ways and coaches tend to keep in contact with their writers long after a project is complete.
And just like there are different types of editors, there are different types of book coaches. Be sure to find one that best suits your needs!
What is a developmental editor?
A developmental (or dev) editor helps you take topics/ideas and make them into a cohesive and interesting manuscript. Editors improve your current manuscript and often give you ideas on how to improve your craft overall.
Similarities?
As you can see, they are both fairly ongoing and interactive (if you have a decent dev editor!), and they both help your ideas become more cohesive. And oddly enough, developmental editing, as it first began, is what has now taken on the form of book coaching!
Likewise, neither a book coach or dev editor will write your book for you. If that is what you're seeking, you need a ghostwriter. Moreover, neither are book doctors! Book doctors take a manuscript that needs a lot of help (perhaps you've only ever gotten negative feedback from betas or critique partners or it has been in your drawer for a decade) and bring it up to par. Book doctors do a whole lot of work and (in my experience) some people assume that dev editors are book doctors which is not the case!
The difference between the two?
The main difference is that you can come to a book coach with just the idea scribbled on your grease-stained napkin. Maybe you have some notes or journal entries or free writing that you've decided to turn into the world's next great novel. That is all fine and dandy. As long as you have the idea, the motivation and some skill you can go to your book coach and they will assist you in turning that idea into a finished manuscript. They don't edit or anything like that, but just as a fitness coach would, they push you to writing that next scene. Book coaches help you to finish your manuscript.
On the other hand, you come to a developmental editor with a complete manuscript. Can it be messy? Yes. Can it be full of little sections that say "add more here later?" Yes. Might it need to be fact checked and reread? Of course. Does it have to make perfect sense? Not really. The main thing is that you come to your dev editor with a complete manuscript. From start to finish, there is something on the page that we can look at.
Now here's the thing, some dev editors do offer coaching, and some coaches offer editing BUT they are two different services and you shouldn't expect both unless it is otherwise stated on a coach or editor's website.
Hope this clears up any confusion or misconceptions you may have had! Happy writing!
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