Is paying for book coaching worthwhile for a first novel?

I didn’t know this was a thing.

But what comes to mind is….

Those who can’t, coach.

Like advice on writing and publishing, their credentials and current writing ranks are the important thing.

You don’t take Indie publishing advice from someone who hasn’t published a book in 2 years.

You don’t take writing advice from someone who’s never sold a book at all.

So it depends on who this person is. If they have a book in the top 500k of Amazon right now, then you know it at least sells a copy a month. That would indicate some expertise in writing and publishing. The better the rank, the better, obviously. A sale a day would be much better.

My suggestion would be put that money into a better editor.

And if you need that sort of thing, join an author group where they critique a chapter every week.

I saw your spend on another answer, and wonder how that could possibly be enough to help. Either the person doesn’t value their time, isn’t all that good anyway, or is not spending much time on your work.

That money by the way, spent on a decent cover, could change the number of hits the book gets. Or spent on a week’s AMS ads, could get the book some visibility it otherwise wouldn’t get.

Up to you of course. But I’m not sure I see the point of a paid ‘coach’.