Dream Author
For writers at any and every level of experience who have wasted enough time on fear, doubt, and other unhelpful thought habits.
Find out more about who Dream Author is for,
how it works, and how you will benefit.
“When I first met Sophie, my confidence had been bruised by years of rejections. I was focused on what I hadn’t yet achieved. With Sophie’s unwavering support and the underpinnings of the Dream Author Programme, I started to recognise my progress, create a much healthier mindset and finally begin to start backing myself. Within the year I landed the agent of my dreams swiftly followed by a major book deal with HarperCollins Children’s books. I have so much to thank Sophie for – but most of all for helping me believe in myself again.”
Hannah Gold, author of The Last Bear
At the end of fourteen months in the Dream Author programme you will have learned:
How to massively increase your chances of success
How to change incorrect, unhelpful and limiting beliefs
How to avoid unnecessary suffering
How to thrive in the face of the psychological and emotional challenges that life as a writer brings with it
How to stop behaving in a way that will make you more likely to fail
What to do when you feel scared, confused, overwhelmed or stuck — in order to feel better, make progress and solve whatever problem you’re facing
How to retain full control over your writing dreams and journey, instead of giving your power away to the first agent or editor who shows an interest in you
How to make sure your dreams, and your definitions of success and failure, aren’t working against you
How to be your own best and most powerful ally and advocate, throughout your writing life
I’m going to give you masses of help in every possible direction. Even so, by the end of fourteen months in the Dream Author programme, you’re going to know that even I can’t help you as much as you’re going to be able to help yourself from now on.
If you want to learn more about me and my writing journey that inspired me to create Dream Author, you can find that information on the About Sophie page.
Or read on for more information about the Dream Author programme…
“Sophie is brilliant at helping you get unstuck and re-energising your writing life. She’s done more for me in our emails and coaching videos to help progress my career and give me confidence and a sense of agency in things than anyone else in the ten years I’ve been writing.”
“Fantastic programme for writers (and for life!) to change your mindset and redirect your thinking to the positive. I’m only a few weeks in and it’s really working already!”
Who is Dream Author for?
Let’s meet some of the people who would benefit immensely from the Dream Author programme. All names have been changed, but the details of their situations are all real.
Neil’s manuscript kept getting rejected by editors
Neil said: ‘I think if this next batch of publishers all reject my novel, I’m going to quit before things get any more depressing. It’s no fun opening rejection email after rejection email, and I’m sure it’s not helping my blood pressure! When you’ve had as many knock-backs as I have from publishers, you do start to wonder whether you ought to take the hint and conclude that writing perhaps isn’t your destiny. I’m pretty resilient, but even I have my limits, and this hobby that I used to love so much is now starting to feel like a bit of an ordeal.’
Suzannah’s fourth book was savaged by two critics
Suzannah said: ‘When my fourth novel came out, the first two reviews it received were terrible. I was devastated. I’d tried so hard, and put myself under unbelievable stress and pressure, to write something I hoped everyone would love. I was sure it was my best novel yet, but as soon as I read those harsh reviews, I felt ashamed of it and was convinced that it must be crap. After that, the next few reviews were really good — one or two were real raves, in fact — but nothing nice that anyone said could stop me from regarding my novel as a horrible failure.’
Beatrice was convinced her age and sales track record would prove fatal to her new book
Beatrice said: ‘I love this idea that I’ve had in my head for nearly a year now, and I know it could be a wonderful novel, but who’s going to publish it if it’s by me? I’m in my mid-seventies, and every publisher would look at my sales figures for previous books and think, “No, thanks. Her books never sell, and anyway she’s so old.” I can’t help wondering if I should save myself the effort and just not bother.’
Adam was deeply wounded when huge success was followed by disappointment
Adam said: ‘My first book sold hundreds of thousands of copies and won a big prize, and then my editor left, and the editor who inherited me didn’t like my work. She didn’t make any effort with my next book, and it barely sold at all. This has put me off trying again. I’ve got a new idea for a book which I know I should love and be enthusiastic about, but I’m finding it hard to persuade myself to finish it and submit it to my agent, because I’m terrified of more failure. I’m not sure I can cope if something awful happens again with my next book.’
As you can see, all of these writers are facing practical challenges.
But all are also creating suffering for themselves by thinking and believing things that are neither helpful nor necessarily true.
Despite those early harsh reviews, Suzannah’s fourth novel was shortlisted for two major literary prizes.
Beatrice (nagged by me) spent four years writing and improving her novel and sold it in the UK and the US, for six figures in each case. Her UK editor read the manuscript overnight on the day it was submitted and rang her agent the next morning saying, ‘I love it! Please let me publish it and make it our lead title for 2020.’ Beatrice was seventy-five at the time, and yes, her previous six novels had not sold very well at all. Her new editor didn’t care because she loved this new book so much and saw huge potential in it.
As you can see, all of these writers are facing practical challenges.
But all are also creating suffering for themselves by thinking and believing things that are neither helpful nor necessarily true.
Despite those early harsh reviews, Suzannah’s fourth novel was shortlisted for two major literary prizes.
Beatrice (nagged by me) spent four years writing and improving her novel and sold it in the UK and the US, for six figures in each case. Her UK editor read the manuscript overnight on the day it was submitted and rang her agent the next morning saying, ‘I love it! Please let me publish it and make it our lead title for 2020.’ Beatrice was seventy-five at the time, and yes, her previous six novels had not sold very well at all. Her new editor didn’t care because she loved this new book so much and saw huge potential in it.
Adam has just signed a two-book deal with a new major publisher.
Neil has found a highly-acclaimed independent publishing house that loves his book and is determined to publish it and make it a success.
****
From where I’m standing, all of these writers are in excellent and successful situations, ideally positioned to create and pursue new and existing dreams. There is not — and, crucially, there was never — any reason for any of them to think in a way that made them feel hopeless, doomed, stuck in a rut or unsuccessful.
This way of thinking comes naturally to me now. I’ve learned how to do it over more than twenty years as a published writer in many different genres. I’ve created Dream Author so that I can share everything I’ve learned with as many of my fellow writers as possible. Learning how to think about my writing career (and each book, each idea, each publishing professional I encounter) in a way that serves my best interests at all times has put me in a wonderfully strong position: I know that whatever failures and disappointments come my way, I will never add to my own suffering. Instead, I’ll adopt the thought habits and strategies that will make me believe I can overcome any obstacle. I want to help you to do this too, because it’s life-changing. The Dream Author programme will teach you how to be your own most powerful and inspiring ally, always.
Adam has just signed a two-book deal with a new major publisher.
Neil has found a highly-acclaimed independent publishing house that loves his book and is determined to publish it and make it a success.
****
From where I’m standing, all of these writers are in excellent and successful situations, ideally positioned to create and pursue new and existing dreams. There is not — and, crucially, there was never — any reason for any of them to think in a way that made them feel hopeless, doomed, stuck in a rut or unsuccessful.
This way of thinking comes naturally to me now. I’ve learned how to do it over more than twenty-five years as a published writer in many different genres. I’ve created Dream Author so that I can share everything I’ve learned with as many of my fellow writers as possible. Learning how to think about my writing career (and each book, each idea, each publishing professional I encounter) in a way that serves my best interests at all times has put me in a wonderfully strong position: I know that whatever failures and disappointments come my way, I will never add to my own suffering. Instead, I’ll adopt the thought habits and strategies that will make me believe I can overcome any obstacle. I want to help you to do this too, because it’s life-changing. The Dream Author programme will teach you how to be your own most powerful and inspiring ally, always.
Dream Author is for anyone who writes, or wants to write, and needs help and support in identifying and pursuing the right goals, aligned with their highest values and priorities.
It’s for anyone who wants to learn how to be their own most helpful and loyal advocate throughout their writing life.
It’s for writers all over the world, published and not-yet-published, and for anyone whose practical circumstances, doubts, fears, blocks or confusions have made them believe that their writing dreams are unattainable.
“Sophie manages to convey a contagious confidence and enthusiasm for the writing process that I have never heard from anyone else. She has enabled me to re-evaluate my writing goals and to work out which to prioritise.”
Ready to join Dream Author?
Click the button below to sign up or read on to find out more…
What does the Dream Author Programme involve?
Online Access 24/7
If you have a computer and access to the internet, you will be able to access the programme.
Everything that’s included in the programme will be delivered online via workbooks, podcasts, webinars and videos.
Read on to find out more…
All the Dream Author Goodies!
Right, folks, let me tell you about the abundance of amazing content that Dream Author has to offer.
This is what you will get if you join:
– The Mini Mission
– The Dream Author Podcast
– The Weekly Webinar
– The Monthly Workbook
– Ask Sophie
– Bonus Videos
– The Dream Author Slack Channel
– The Dream Author private Facebook group
– Opportunity to Graduate
– Opportunity to come on a Retreat
You can find more details about each part of the program below:
The Mini Mission
The Mini Mission is a weekly exercise that will create new inspiration and energy for you by introducing you to a new Dream Author concept each week. Among many other things, you’ll learn all about Sophie’s ‘Gnocchi’ method of planning and writing books, and the Dream Author ‘Literary Diagnostics’ approach to editing. These concepts have created massive breakthroughs and successes for hundreds of Dream Author members already, and they can do the same for you!
The Dream Author Podcast
This is a private podcast for Dream Author members only, and it’s many people’s favourite part of the programme! Episodes are linked to Monday Mission exercises and include: Success Resistance, Confirmation Bias and Belief, Good and Bad Future Thinking, Re-Deciding, Unhelpful Help, Taking Full Responsibility and Tough Love for Writers and Manuscripts.
Sample Podcast Episode
The Weekly Webinar
Nearly every week (apart from at Christmas or when I’m on holiday), there’s a Zoom Webinar that you’ll be able to attend live if it suits your schedule. If not, never fear! All Webinars are recorded and you can watch them later, at your convenience, in the Members’ area of this website. The Webinars are your opportunity to get live coaching from me on your particular issue. They’re also a wonderful opportunity to hear other Dream Author members getting coached on their issues, which will be enormously beneficial to you even if those issues are not ones you are currently experiencing.
The Webinar works like this: if you have a problem, dilemma or question that you’d like me to help you with, you’ll email it to me in advance and I will provide coaching on that issue in the next webinar. I will never reveal your name or any other identifying details. You will be able to ask me any writing-related questions, from ‘Which agent should I choose?’ to ‘Why do I always feel sick when I look at my work-in-progress?’ to ‘How should I deal with a partner who sneers at my writing?’
The Dream Author Workbooks
There are 12 Workbooks, as follows:
1. Defining the Dream
2. Resolutions and Responsibility
3. Emotions and Evolving
4. Authority and Alignment
5. Money and Mind-Management
6. Ambitions and Assurance
7. Unblocking, Underpinning and the Unknown
8. Thoughts and Time-Management
9. Hopes and Habits
10. Obstacles and Opportunities
11. Refining and Revising
12. Successes and Stepping Stones
1. Defining the Dream
2. Resolutions and Responsibility
3. Emotions and Evolving
4. Authority and Alignment
5. Money and Mind-Management
6. Ambitions and Assurance
7. Unblocking, Underpinning and the Unknown
8. Thoughts and Time-Management
9. Hopes and Habits
10. Obstacles and Opportunities
11. Refining and Revising
12. Successes and Stepping Stones
The exercises in the Workbooks all relate to the Dream Author coaching priorities — how to approach all your thoughts and feelings, and the challenges you face as a writer, in a way that helps you to move forward and feel as good as you can while doing so. All the Workbooks are available as downloadable PDFs, so you can print them out and do them whenever you’re ready if you don’t have time for them during your Dream Author membership period. (Some Dream Authors complete all the Workbook exercises in six months; others take much longer. There is no right or wrong speed/pace!)
Ask Sophie
On the Ask Sophie page, you can submit any questions or issues you want coaching on, and specify whether you’d prefer to receive the coaching in written form or in the next ‘Weekly Webinar’ coaching call. Confidentiality will always be guaranteed, and all identifying details will be removed or changed before discussion in any group setting.
Want to sample some Dream Author coaching before you sign up?
Bonus Coaching Videos and Audios
As a bonus, when you join Dream Author you get access to hours and hours of Bonus Coaching Videos, including Sophie’s ‘Dream Author for Life’ series that tackles the life problems of members that aren’t specifically related to writing: ex-husbands, parenting and passive-aggressive friends…it’s all covered! Binge-watch, enjoy and learn!
Want to see the Dream Author coaching philosophy in action?
Here is a webinar with Sophie in which she answers lots of writers questions about some of the particular challenges they are facing:
The Dream Author Community
We have a thriving Dream Author private Facebook group and a Slack channel. You’ll be able to join both and participate, as soon as you’re enrolled in the Dream Author Coaching programme.
Opportunity to Graduate and join The Dream Author Experience
Once a year there will be an in-person Dream Author graduation event, with the first of these taking place in Spring 2025 in either London or Cambridge. You will have a chance to graduate at the first of these events that happens after you have completed the programme. Also, when you’re coming to the end of your fourteen months in Dream Author, we will offer you the chance to join our advanced programme, The Dream Author Experience. Once you get a taste of Dream Author, you might not want to be without it!
Opportunity to attend an in-person Dream Author Retreat
All Dream Authors are regularly offered opportunities to attend in person retreats. Most of our retreats so far have been at Hewenden near Bronte country in West Yorkshire, but we’ve recently added two other locations to our retreats list:
The in-person retreats are a wonderful opportunity to work with Sophie and others in the programme and do some in-person coaching in the most beautiful surroundings.
The Dream Author Coaching Approach
Do you want one-to-one coaching, so that you can really focus on getting help with your specific challenges? How about if you could get that, and also have all the benefits of group coaching too — membership of a community, and the realisation (as you hear other writers being coached on their issues) that you can learn every bit as much from listening to another writer getting coached on a problem you don’t think you have? I promise you, this is true.
Indirect coaching of this kind is amazingly useful. Often we can see and hear what’s truly going on so much more clearly when we’re witnessing a coaching session and rather than actively participating in it — and then we can take those lessons and apply them to our own situation. This is how Dream Author works: you will get all the benefits of individual coaching and group coaching, in one place.
How to make Dream Author work for you
Your Dream Author experience, your choice!
There’s an abundance of content in the Dream Author programme! But there’s never any need to feel overwhelmed or stressed because you won’t ever have to do anything by a particular date. It’s totally up to you when you do the work. If you want, you can download all the Workbooks and Podcast episodes and carry on doing/listening to them long after your fourteen-month membership has ended. Or you can treat Dream Author like a full-time course by consuming all the content and doing all the work much more quickly. It really is up to you!
Every week, we will send you some suggested Dream Author content that you can focus on that week if you’d like to — and we’ll keep reminding you about the Webinars and the Ask Sophie page, which are your opportunity to get coaching whenever you need it. So, you can follow along with our Featured weekly Mini Mission exercises and Podcast episodes if you’d like to. Or, if you’re a maverick like Sophie and you’d rather devise your own way to ‘do’ Dream Author, that’s absolutely fine too. There is no right or wrong order for doing this work. Whatever you do will make an amazing difference and you’ll learn *so* much! The key thing is not to worry that you’re ‘doing it wrong’ — that is literally impossible. Just dive into the goodies as and when you want to and however you want to, and you won’t recognise your new destined-for-success self by the end of your fourteen months in the programme!
“As an established, traditionally published author I signed up for Dream Author to explore a new direction in my writing and reconnect with the joy of writing for writing’s sake. I really enjoy the insights and wisdom Sophie shares in her podcasts; her encouragement and positivity, along with the ‘Mini Missions’ have helped me rediscover my mojo as a writer.”
How much does Dream Author cost?
Dream Author membership costs £600 (or the equivalent in your own currency) for the full fourteen-month membership, plus all the bonus content.
You’ll only pay half of the membership fee when you join, and then the second half will be taken from your card six months later.
Can I join Dream Author at any time of the year?
Yes, you can! Your ‘membership experience’ will start whenever you join — your date of joining makes no difference to anything.
What should I do next if I want to enrol?
If you want to enrol in the programme for the full fourteen months for £600 or the equivalent in your local currency, all you need to do right now is click the Join Dream Author button below!
Once you’re signed up and have paid the first half of the membership fee, you will receive an email confirming that your place in the programme is securely booked, and giving you details of how to log in to the membership area of this website, where you’ll find all the amazing content of the programme.
Join Dream Author
Click the button below to enrol and start your Dream Author journey as soon as possible!
Do you still have questions?
Click the button above to find our FAQs (below the enrolment form) and answers. If your question isn’t answered there, please email kate@dreamauthorcoaching.com.
“I’ve never written a novel but have always dreamed of doing so. Only a few weeks into the Dream Author program, I feel more confident and more inspired than ever that I can make it happen.”
“I am already enjoying the benefits of Dream Author with regular podcasts and Mini Missions to get my teeth into. The podcasts that Sophie records are informative, useful and humorous and the tasks have already helped me consider how to change my mindset.
I have been in touch with Sophie by e-mail with particular queries and she has responded with alacrity, offering very sensible thoughts and advice. I positively look forward to opening my inbox on a Monday morning and can’t wait for all the other wonderful material which will come when the programme officially opens in September. I truly believe that Dream Author is going to be transformative and that I WILL get my writing career off the ground because of it.”
“Dream Author is exactly the programme I needed. I hadn’t realised how much I’d allowed negative thinking habits as an excuse to neglect my dreams. Sophie’s practical approach has already helped me to start taking my writing goals seriously, and to start putting them into action.”
“Sophie Hannah’s Dream Author programme helps writers concentrate their thoughts about their writing to get the most from their writing, enjoy their writing and stop wasting their time with negativity. Very empowering and down to earth.”
“So far this has been a very exciting and motivating project for me as already my motivation has increased and my self confidence boosted. Thanks, Sophie, for the very entertaining weekly podcast. You have such a warm and friendly voice, I just can’t bring myself to ignore any of your encouraging words.”
“Dream Author has already given me a huge confidence boost and allowed me to reframe some of the self-limiting beliefs I had about my writing. I’ve actually written more in one month than I have in the last two years and feel like completing this novel is an eventuality rather than a possibility.”
“I was looking and looking and looking for what I needed next in my writerly life and then I stumbled upon Dream Author. What a gem! Sophie’s confidence-building and enthusiasm delivered in real world examples has given me just what I needed. Her energy is boundless and her ability to share her wisdom in an accessible and writerly way is utterly transformative.”
“I am finding the Dream Author program invaluable for maintaining a positive mindset in relation to my writing career.”
“Sophie Hannah’s Dream Author programme is like cognitive behavioural therapy for writers”
Here are a few examples of brilliant books by Dream Authors:
“Worry serves no useful purpose. All it achieves is to spoil our enjoyment of now. Right now, you are creatively and financially successful from your writing. There’s no way of telling what’s in the future, but being unhappy and worried now, while things are going well, will make you less able to create success in the future, not more able — less prepared, not more prepared — because our brains get brilliant at doing whatever they practice doing all the time. So if your mind is currently practising feeling much worse than your situation warrants, that’s what it will become expert at doing! And that won’t help you if your career hits a rough patch. You’ll be so practiced at negative thinking that you’ll be in danger of perceiving the rough patch as a disaster and an invitation to give up. Instead, practice thinking, ‘My writing career is going brilliantly at the moment. It couldn’t be better. And whatever happens in the future, I’ll always create new success.’ And then, whenever you need to, you’ll believe that you can.”