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How to Write a Book in 12 Simple Steps [Free Book Template]

POSTED ON Nov 28, 2023

Justin Champion

Written by Justin Champion

You're ready to learn how to write a book…

And as a first-time author, you're nervous about this new journey because you want first-time success (who doesn't?).

But today's publishing industry has become noisy . There is endless information out there on how to write a book, and with the rise of self-publishing , it can be overwhelming, to say the least.

If you’re ready to take the leap, become an author , and learn how to write a book the right way, start with this resource to get your wheels in motion.

As a first-time bestselling author, I can tell you that writing my first book was one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences of my life.

I experienced a lot of growth and pushed through many hurdles, and being able to learn how to publish is something I am truly proud of.

And I'm ready to share the steps of how to write a book with you, so that you can go on to write a book of your own, and find success as a first-time author.

Ready to learn how to write a book? Let's get to it!

Need A Nonfiction Book Outline?

Here's how to write a book in 12 steps:

  • Develop a writer’s mindset a. Hold yourself accountable to writing your book b. Give yourself permission to be a writer c. Announce your intention to write a book
  • Create a book writing space
  • Choose your book writing software a. Google Drive b. Grammarly c. Evernote d. A notebook & pen
  • Determine your book's topic a. Identify your target reader b. Write about something that intrigues you c. Research potential topics d. Choose a topic you can write about quickly
  • Create a book outline a. Create a mindmap b. Write a purpose statement c. Create a working title d. Write an elevator pitch for your book e. Draft a working outline for your book f. Fill in the gaps with more research g. Frameworks on how to write your book
  • Finish writing your manuscript a. Break your book writing into small chunks b. Build the momentum to finish writing your book c. Collaborate with others
  • Include front & back matter a. Preface or introduction b. Foreward c. Testimonials d. Author Bio e. Glossary f. Notes g. Images
  • Edit your book a. Self-edit your book b. Hire a professional book editor c. Re-write sections of your book's draft using your editor's feedback d. Finalize your book title
  • Choose a compelling book cover
  • Format your book
  • Prepare to launch your book a. Build your book's launch team b. Develop a marketing mindset c. Create a book launch strategy
  • Publish your book
  • How To Write A Book: FAQs

In this article, we'll start with the basics. While the steps in this phase may seem to be unrelated to actually learning how to write a book, they are very important.

In fact, setting yourself up for success will help you build the foundation needed to start writing a book .

We'll talk about developing a writer's mindset to get you in a frame of mind that's conducive to writing. Then, we'll discuss how to create a writing space that will boost your writing productivity, and how to choose the best book-writing software for your needs.

Here are some tips for success as you write a book:

  • Develop a writer's mindset . This is all about embracing a mentality that will inspire you to start (and finish) writing your book.
  • Create a writing space . This is all about how to set up the ideal writing environment that fits your routine.
  • Use a tool to write your book . This is all about deciding on what you will use to write your book.
  • Get support . A strong support network, a community of peers, and a book-writing coach could be the difference between a published book and an unfinished manuscript.
  • Use templates where you can. We provide you with a proven book outline template in this post. But there are templates for cover layouts, formatting, and more. Don't recreate the wheel! Use these and build upon them to make them your own.

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1. Develop a Writer’s Mindset

Learning how to write a book takes time, work, and dedication. It’s easy to romanticize becoming a bestseller like J.K. Rowling or Octavia Butler. However, every author has a story on how they started out and overcame adversity to get where they are today.

For example, Rowling, who had no job and was on welfare at the time, would take her children to a coffee shop and write.

Butler, who was a dishwasher and potato chip inspector at the time, would wake up at two or three in the morning to write and wrote herself mantras to keep her focused on her goals.

The first steps in learning how to write a book are overcoming mindset blocks, dealing with self-doubt as a writer , and developing a healthy frame of mind that will help you with your writing goals .

Write A Book Mindset Quote Graphic

Let’s review three things you can do to circumvent roadblocks and crush challenges to keep you focused on your goal.

Hold yourself accountable to writing your book

It’s not good enough to write only when inspiration strikes. There will be days when writing is the last thing you want to be doing.

But you have to treat your writing as if it were a job, or a duty. This means holding yourself accountable, taking action, and showing up every day.

Here's how to hold yourself accountable to writing:

  • Set a writing goal. If you don't have a goal, procrastination will get the best of you. Determine a writing goal, including how many days a week you intend to set aside time to write, and set a deadline or due date for when you'd like to have parts of your book.
  • Block off chunks of time to write every week.  If you’re looking for a place to start, consider one to two hours per day five days per week. The more often you write, the more you’ll develop a habit for it, and making time for writing won't be that much of a struggle.
  • Set a daily word count goal.  Consider how many words you want to write each week. Use this Word Count Calculator to determine the goal you should aim for, depending on the type of book you are writing. For example, if your goal is 3,000 words per week and you have five chunks of time blocked off to write per week, then you’d need to write 600 words per day to achieve your weekly goal.

I write early in the morning before I do anything else for 1-2 hours. I find that as I go throughout the day and work on other projects my mind isn’t as fresh or sharp by the end of the day. However, sometimes I have ideas throughout the day that I jot down in Evernote to jump-start the next morning with a working outline.

Give yourself permission to be a writer

This might sound silly, but it's true: in order to learn how to write a book, you need to give yourself permission to be a writer. Many aspiring authors get stuck in their mindset, which prevents them from initiating and completing their writing projects.

Even successful authors feel like they aren't good enough. Acknowledge your feelings, but then shake them off, and move on with your day.

Hear this : You don't have to be an expert to learn how to write a book. You don't have to feel 100% confident to be a good writer. You don't even have to be all-knowing to teach others about your experiences or knowledge.

Here's how to give yourself permission to be a writer:

  • Get inspiration from other writers . When you're just starting to learn how to write a book, you might feel alone in your journey. But take comfort in the fact that other successful writers all started at the bottom, just like you. Many of them overcame seemingly impossible hurdles, but persisted with their writing dreams, anyway. Research some of your favorite authors, and read up on their stories to discover the issues they overcame to find success.
  • Accept where you are . Acknowledge your feelings of self-doubt, and then release them. It's okay to experience moments of feeling discouraged, but it's important that you don't let those feelings hold you back. Accept that you are beginning your journey and that this is a learning process.
  • Use positive affirmations . Your thoughts have a huge influence on your abilities. What you think starts to become your reality, so make your thoughts good. Use positive affirmations about yourself and your writing abilities to pump yourself up. You can even read inspirational writing quotes from famous authors for motivation.
  • Overcome imposter syndrome . Even expert authors and writers feel like imposters every now and again. While it's okay to experience feeling inferior, you have to eventually get over those thoughts and push on towards your goals. Connect with other aspiring writers, get yourself a mentor, and join writers conferences or writing communities.

Announce your intention to write a book

The best way to hold yourself accountable for your work is to let others know your goals. Is there someone you trust or a group of people in your network you can appoint to check in on your progress?

Perhaps there is someone who is a seasoned writer who can serve as a mentor. If so, try to have regular check-ins with this person.

One way to keep these meetings consistent is to schedule a lunch or coffee date. Talk about your progress and perhaps any challenges you’re facing. They may be able to bring a fresh perspective.

I told my wife, Ariele, and several of my closest teammates from work about my intentions to write my first book. We had regular check-ins to talk about progress. Everyone helped keep me motivated and had different feedback for me. Without them, it would have been a lot more difficult to write Inbound Content in the timeframe I did.

2. Create a Book Writing Space

The second step in how to write a book has to do with your environment. Where you choose to write will have a major impact on your writing productivity.

Find creative spaces where you can produce your best writing.

Sure, some might argue that they can write anywhere as long as they have the tools to write. But where we choose to write plays a huge role in our writing motivation and focus.

Questions to think about: Where do you work best? What surroundings inspire you most? Identify them and make it a best practice to work there consistently.

Creative Book Writing Spaces Graphic

Here are creative writing spaces to write your book:

  • Coffee shops (classic)
  • Beautiful park or somewhere in nature
  • A dedicated writing nook at home

My main writing location is the dinette in my Airstream. I do my best work when traveling; I wrote the manuscript for my book in six weeks as I traveled the U.S. and worked full time from the road.

3. Choose your Book-Writing Software

The next step in how to write a book has to do with writing tools.

In 1882, Mark Twain sent to a publisher the first manuscript to be written on a piece of technology that would transform the writing industry: the typewriter.

Nowadays, we have computers with word processing and the internet where you can find an endless assortment of useful book-writing software and apps that are meant to help you be an efficient and effective writer. If you're writing a novel, check out this guide to novel-writing software .

You may be tempted to overload on apps because you think it’ll help elevate your writing. But honestly, less is more . The truth is that the right tools and even self-publishing companies make writing and publishing easier and more enjoyable.

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Instead of overwhelming you with all the possible apps in existence, below is a list of three tools I recommend adding to your writing toolkit today (and they’re free).

Google Drive

Google Drive is one of the most versatile cloud storage services available today. But Google Drive is so much more than cloud storage. Here’s a list of ways you can use Google Drive to help you write your book:

  • You can organize all aspects of your project in folders (research, outline, manuscript drafts, etc.)
  • You can host files for your projects like images, photos, etc.
  • You can use Google Docs as a word processor. And we have a book writing template , specifically for Google Docs.
  • You can enable offline access and work on your files even when you don’t have an internet connection, such as when you’re traveling.
  • You can collaborate easily with others, avoiding version control issues.
  • You can access it from just about any device (laptop, smartphone, tablet, you name it).

Plus, Google will give you 15GB of free storage just for signing up.

If you’re new to Google Drive, here’s a list of resources that can turn you into a pro. (FYI, if you have a Gmail account, you have a Google Drive account.)

Grammarly is an editing tool that helps you identify grammatical errors, typos, and incorrect sentence structure in your writing.

Download the web extension and Grammarly will edit most anything you type in a web browser (yes, it will work with Google Docs).

You can check out this Grammarly review if you're on the fence about this one.

Inspiration can strike at any time. Capture those thoughts and ideas as they happen in Evernote . You can even sync Google Drive and Evernote. I recommend doing this, especially on your mobile device.

A Notebook & Pen

Don't underestimate the power of good ole' fashioned pen and paper when it comes to learning how to write a book, which is arguably the only essential writing tool out there.

Even if you write your entire manuscript on a trusty writing software program, you'll still want to have a dedicated notebook available for the times when inspiration strikes and you can't access a computer.

Every writer should have a notebook handy for random ideas and thoughts. You can jot these down in your notebook, then revisit them and digitally store them in your book-writing software when you're back at the computer.

4. Determine Your Book Topic

Now we'll move on to how to actually start writing a book. This is the part that seems simple, but can be more difficult than you realize.

However, once you get through the process of actually writing your book, you will gain momentum to finish it, and eventually publish it.

Learning how to write a book starts with an idea. Shat's your book idea ?

YouTube video

Maybe you already know exactly what you want to write about. Or maybe you have a million ideas floating on in your head, but you don't know exactly where to start.

One of the most common pieces of advice for aspiring first-time authors is: “Write what you know.” A simple phrase that’s meant to be helpful, yet it begs so many questions.

If you're struggling with a book idea, try jumpstarting your creativity by experimenting with these writing prompts.

Whether you’re writing a non-fiction how-to guide or a fictional post-apocalyptic thriller, you need to form a connection with your audience — and you can do that through emotion. The best way to create emotion with your reader is to understand them.

Here's how to determine what you want to write about and how to write it in a meaningful way.  

Identify your target reader

The key to producing meaningful content is understanding your reader. You can do this by creating a reader persona — a semi-fictional representation of your ideal audience.

To get started with your reader persona, consider answering the following questions:

  • What’s the reader’s age? Are you writing a self-help book geared towards mature adults, or are you writing a guide for teenagers? The age of your reader will set the tone for your writing and book's context.
  • What’s the reader’s education level? Are you writing a book for PhD candidates, or for recent high school graduates? Depending on the answer, your writing style, verbiage, and word choice will vary.
  • Does the reader prefer visuals? Think about your book's potential topic and if visuals like charts, graphs, tables, illustrations , screenshots, or photographs will be expected.
  • What is this reader interested in? When you write a book, it's less about what you want to say, and more about what your reader needs to know. As you start to brainstorm a topic and write your book, always have a reader-centric approach.

The more you know about your reader, the better experience you can create for them.

When you start learning how to write a book, you have to make your book about the reader. What do they need to know in order to learn what you have to say?

My main audience is marketers and business owners at small-to-medium-sized businesses. They’re strapped for time and don’t need another theoretical resource. They value real-world examples to help visualize what tips and strategies look like in action.

Write about something that intrigues you

You need to write about something that spikes your curiosity, something that keeps you coming back day after day. Something that lights you up and that you're invested in.

I can’t stress the importance of this enough. If you choose a topic to write about for the wrong reason, don’t expect to create something that people will love.

You need to be able to stick with it through dry spells and bouts of non-inspiration. Your own desire to hear the story will be what drives you through learning how to write a book.

Research potential topics

In our digital age, we can conveniently research topics from the comfort of our own homess.

Google makes it easy to research just about any topic.

Here’s a list of ways to research your book concept on Google:

  • What content already exists? Are there already books written on this topic? If so, which ones performed well? Why did they perform well? Is there anything interesting about their content that enhances the reader’s experience? Is the market over-saturated on this topic?
  • What influencers exist on the subject? Are there well-known authors on this topic? Who are they? What can you learn from them?
  • What do you need to learn? Are there specific things you need to learn to create a rich, meaningful narrative (ex. geography, culture, time period, etc.)?

I performed extensive research before writing the manuscript for Inbound Content. It was important for me to understand what content was already out there, which content was performing well, and most importantly, how could I make my book unique. This is exactly why I included homework after each chapter to help my readers build an action plan that they could implement immediately, something I noticed wasn’t typical in other marketing books.

Choose a topic you can write about quickly

Writing your first book is invaluable because it's a serious learning experience. The process of actually writing a book and completing it will make this book a personal success for you, because of how much you will learn about yourself and your craft in the process.

Don't get hung up on a topic. If you're struggling with deciding what to write about first, go with the topic that you know best. Choose a topic or experience that you can write about quickly, with limited resources.

Here's how to find a topic you can write about quickly:

  • Write what you can teach right now. If you had to teach a lesson on something right at this second, what could you confidently teach? This is a topic you know well, that requires limited additional research, and what you can quickly create content for.
  • Write about a powerful experience. Each individual is unique in their experiences. Everyone has gone through something that changed them. Reflect on your life and think about one experience that sticks out about your life.
  • Write about a life lesson. What has life taught you? What unique observations have you made about the world? You can use this information to learn how to write a memoir .

5. Write A Book Outline

Once you know what you want to write about, you’re probably eager to start writing. But you need a writing guide first.

Let’s review what you can do to create a clear book outline for your book that you can use as a roadmap.

Create a mindmap

You have an idea, now it's time to hone in on just exactly what that idea is. With a mindmap, you can drill your topic down into sub-topics. It will help you get all of your ideas out and onto paper.

Here are the steps to mindmap your book's topic:

  • Get a blank piece of paper and pen.
  • Set a timer for 10 minutes.
  • Write your topic in the middle of the page.
  • Jot down all of your ideas related to your book's topic.
  • Do not stop writing until the timer goes off.

Once you have mindmapped your idea, you should have a full page of brainstormed thoughts, ideas, and concepts. You can then review what you've written, and begin to organize them. This will come in handy when it comes time to actually start plugging in content for your book outline.

Write a purpose statement

In one sentence describe the purpose of your book. A strong purpose statement will explain to readers why they should consider reading your book. For me, I was writing a book to grow my business .

This will also help you stay focused as you begin drafting your outline and writing your book. When you have trouble solidifying what your book is about , review your purpose statement.

Inbound Content‘s purpose statement: People who read this book will learn a step-by-step process on how to do content marketing the inbound way.

Create a working title

A working title is a temporary title used during the production of your book. Identifying your book by giving it a name can help set the direction.

Once you finish your work you can revisit the title and update accordingly. Don't get too hung up on this step; think of the title as a placeholder. It isn't permanent, but it will be helpful to begin with one in mind.

If you need help thinking of a working title, use our Book Title Generator .

Write an elevator pitch for your book

An effective elevator pitch should last no longer than a short elevator ride of 30 seconds. For context, 30 seconds equals about 65-70 words.

Having a prepared elevator pitch will come in handy throughout your book-writing process. It will help you nail your book's purpose and topic, and it will help the concept become crystal clear not only for yourself as the writer, but for your potential readers, too.

As you ask family and friends to hold you accountable to writing, and as you connect with fellow writers, authors, and mentors, you will be asked about your book. Having a prepared elevator pitch will help you nail the answer without hesitation, each and every time.

Draft a working outline for your book

The next step in learning how to write a book is drafting a working book outline. Just like the working title you created, this outline is a work in progress. The outline can change throughout your writing process, and that's okay!

However, it's super helpful to start with an outline so that you know where to begin, and have a general roadmap for where to go as you start writing.

Use the related concepts and sub-topics you organized in your mindmap, and start plugging in some content into your outline.

Your outline will do wonders for you once you start writing. It can help you avoid writer's block , and increase your writing momentum and productivity. Instead of wondering what to write about in the next chapter of your book, you'll already have an idea of where to start with your book's outline.

Fill in the gaps with more research

After your working outline is completed, it's important to do further research on your topic so that you can fill in any areas that you missed or forgot to include in your original outline.

Do not get too caught up in your research that it prevents you from writing your book. Take some time to research, but set a limit. Always go back to writing.

Nonfiction Book Research Infographic

Here's how to research when writing a book:

  • Use online resources by doing a Google search on your topic.
  • Read other books that have been written about your topic.
  • Listen to expert interviews, podcasts, and audiobooks related to your topic.
  • Read scholarly articles and academic journals within the subject or industry.
  • Search archives, collections, historical journals, data records, and newspaper clippings to get clear on events, dates, and facts about your topic, especially if you're writing about the past.

Frameworks on how to write your book

If your book can follow a framework, this will make it easier to keep your writing organized and relevant.

By choosing a format or structure for your book's topic, you'll be able to align your outline in a way that will be helpful when you start to write each chapter.

Most nonfiction books can fall into a specific framework, or a blend of frameworks. It's better to start with a specific framework, then tweak it as needed as you continue writing.

Here are common nonfiction book frameworks to consider when writing a book:

  • Modular: Use this framework if you have a lot of information or concepts that can be grouped into similar topics, but don't need to be presented in a specific order.
  • Reference: Use this framework if your book will be used as a reference that makes it easy for readers to quickly find the information they need.
  • Three Act Structure: Use this framework if you plan to use storytelling in your book, where you have three main parts like a Set Up, Rising Action, and Resolution.
  • Sequential: Use this framework if your book reads like a “how to” with a specific set of steps.
  • Compare & Contrast: Use this framework if you need to show your reader how two or more ideas or concepts are similar to or different from one another.
  • Problem & Solution: Use this framework if readers need to be able to clearly identify a problem and understand the solution.
  • Chronological: Use this framework if each main section of your book represents a specific time or order of events.
  • Combination: If your book will fall under two or more of the above frameworks, then you will need to use a combination framework that's adjusted to your book's specific topic.

6. Finish Writing Your Book Draft

For many, the hard part isn't getting started with how to write a book… it's in actually finishing it!

Commit to finishing your rough draft , and you're already succeeding!

Here are our top tips to keep the momentum going as you start taking action after learning exactly how to write a book.

Break your book writing into small chunks

Now that you have your book's outline and framework, it's time to get started with writing.

Like a marathon, your manuscript is essentially a puzzle made up of many smaller like-themed pieces. Your finished book may be 262 pages long, but it’s written one word or thought at a time. Pace yourself and stick to your consistent writing schedule.

If you approach your book writing by focusing too much on the larger picture, you can get overwhelmed. Write chapter-by-chapter.

Start with baby steps by chunking your writing into small pieces. Set milestones, and celebrate the small wins.

Here are some tips for breaking your writing into small pieces:

  • Write one chapter at a time . Focus on one piece at a time, not the entire puzzle!
  • Set deadlines to complete each chunk of writing . Break your goal down into smaller sections, then set individual deadlines for each section.
  • Structure your writing time. Follow a routine for writing that includes time for research (if needed) and review. For example, if you dedicate two hours each day towards your book, set 30 minutes aside to review your outline so you know what you're writing about, then 30 minutes to research anything that you need to clarify, then one hour to actually write.
  • Celebrate small goals. As you accomplish milestones towards your end goal, schedule and celebrate your small accomplishments. It can be something as simple as going out to dinner, buying yourself a small gift, or doing a little dance.

Build the momentum to finish writing your book

Learning how to write a book can be difficult.

When you're in the weeds with writing your book, there will be days you want to give it all up.

There will also be times when you have writer's block, and even though you know what you should be writing about, it all sounds wrong as you re-read what you've written in your head.

Here's how to fight writer's block and increase your writing momentum:

  • Don't edit as you write. Writing and editing require your brain to work in two very different ways, so don't do it! It'll slow you down, and keep you at a standstill. Keep writing, and save the editing for later.
  • Switch up your scenery. If you usually write at home in your own writing space, maybe it's time to freshen up your writing environment. Try writing in a public park, or at a coffee shop or library on the days when writing is the last thing you feel like doing.
  • Take a break. It's okay if you're too mentally worn-out to write. Take a small break, and then get back to it. When we say small break, we mean take a day or two off from writing (not a month or two!).
  • Get creative inspiration elsewhere. Binge-watch an exciting new show, read a novel, take a walk in nature, go to an art gallery, or be around people you love. While you aren't writing when you do these things, it can help your brain reset and recharge so you can return to your book.
  • Write about something else. Sometimes, when we're so engulfed in our book's topic, it can be self-limited. If you're feeling less excited about writing when it comes to your book, maybe it's time to flex your writing muscles in a different way. Try doing some creative writing exercises, journal, or write a poem.

Collaborate with others

There's strength in numbers when it comes to accomplishing a huge task.

And, more importantly, it can help you feel less isolated in what can be a very solitary act. Writing a book can be lonely!

Let’s review three things you can do to collaborate with others when writing your book.  

Connect with your original accountability partner or group

A great example of finding accountability partners is through a group or self-publishing company much like what Self-Publishing School does with their Mastermind Community on Facebook.

Attend a writer's conference

Sharing space and networking with other writers can do wonders for your own writing habits and momentum. By attending writer's conferences, you'll be in a room full of people just like you.

Not only will you be able to network with and learn from expert authors who have been where you are, but you'll also be able to meet fellow aspiring writers going through the same process as you.

Writers Conference Infographic

Collaborate with thought leaders on your subject

Ideal for nonfiction writers, this collaboration could mean asking well-known people in your industry to write a quote that brings value to your content.

Pro tip: When promoting your book launch on social media, consider creating a buzzworthy piece of content like an engaging blog article and have your audience share it.

7. Include Front & Back Matter

Now it's time to put on your marketing pants and spread the word about your book!

There are elements outside of your book’s content that you’ll need to write, such as a preface, foreword, notes, etc. I suggest waiting until after you’ve written your book. This way, not only can you better connect them to your story, but you won’t waste time editing them in case you make changes to your manuscript.

Let’s review eight final touches you may or may not need to wrap up your book.

Preface or Introduction

Draw in your readers with a compelling story. This could be a personal anecdote related to your topic. Tell them what the book is about and why it is relevant to them (think of your reader persona from earlier).

A foreword is typically written by another author or thought leader of your particular industry. Getting someone credible to write this can add a lot of value to your readers.

Testimonials

Just like with the foreword, try and find respected, well-known people in your space and have them write a review about your book. The best way to promote yourself is to have someone else speak on your behalf.  

How To Write A Book Back Cover Blurb Photo

How do you want to be portrayed to your audience? Readers love knowing personal details of an author’s life, such as your hobbies, where you live, or what inspired you to write this book.

Pro tip: The author bio on the flap of your book might be one of the first things people read when deciding whether or not to read our book. Keep it short, but make sure it packs a punch (just like your elevator pitch).

A glossary is an alphabetical list of terms or words relating to a specific subject, text, or dialect with corresponding explanations. If you are writing nonfiction, especially a topic that uses a lot of lingo or uncommon words, make sure to include a glossary to create a better experience for your readers.

If you are writing nonfiction, keep track of your sources as you research and write. A clear bibliography will only add to your value and credibility.

Being nonfiction that was based on a lot of research and experiments, I made sure to include a notes section in Inbound Content. It included citations, stats, image sources, etc.

How To Write A Book Notes

Using images is a nice addition to your content. Images can create a more engaging experience for the reader while improving the communication of hard-to-grasp concepts.

8. Edit Your Book

The next step in learning how to write a book is editing. This involves self-editing first, then having a thorough professional edit done.

The success of your book will depend on its quality, and a thoroughly edited book is a solid way to increase your book's quality.

Even the best writers require editing, so don't feel discouraged by this process. In the end, you'll be glad you followed the editing process, and will have a completed, error-free book that you can be proud of.

Self-edit your book

Remember when we told you not to edit your book as you wrote? Well, now's your time to shine in the editing department.

Once your book is written, it's time to go through and read it line-by-line.

We recommend printing your entire manuscript out on paper, then going through each page and making edits. This will make it easy to spot errors, and will help you easily implement these changes into your manuscript.

There's a specific strategy to self-editing; if you start this process blindly, it can be overwhelming, so make sure you understand how it works before diving in.

Here are some tips to self-edit your book successfully:

  • Read your manuscript aloud as you edit.
  • Start with one chapter at a time.
  • First, go through and edit the chapter for structure revisions.
  • Second, find opportunities for improving the book's readability.
  • Third, make edits for grammar and word choice.

Once you complete your self-edit, you can make your revisions on your manuscript, then get ready for the next round of edits.

Hire a professional book editor

The next step in learning how to write a book is handing your book off to a professional book editor .

As meticulous as you may be, there are bound to be some grammatical or spelling errors that get overlooked. Also, a professional editor should be able to give you feedback on the structure of your writing so you can feel confident in your final published draft.

There are many different types of editing , so think carefully to determine who you should hire.

Re-write sections of your book's draft using your editor's feedback

Now it's time to improve your book using your editor's feedback. Don't be discouraged when you get your manuscript back full of edits, comments, and identified errors.

Think of these edits as opportunities to improve your book. You want to give your reader a polished, well-written book, and to do this, you need to edit and re-write.

This doesn't mean you have to re-write your entire book. You simply have to go through your editor's feedback, and make any revisions you think are necessary.

If there is something you don't agree with your editor on, that's okay. In the end, it is your book, and you are in control of what you want to add or take out of the manuscript.

Just be sure your revisions are coming from a place of sound reasoning, and not pride.

Finalize your book title

If you haven't done so already, it's time to revisit the working title you created for your book earlier in the process.

You need to finalize your book's title before you move on to the next steps!

YouTube video

If you need help deciding on a title, cast a vote with your target readers and mentors in your author network. Send an email out, post a social media announcement , or reach out through text with people that are considered your book's ideal reader.

Get feedback on your title by asking people to vote for their favorite. Include the top three choices, then use the crowdsourced results to narrow it down even more.

Once you have a title selected, don't worry too much if you're not 100 percent sold on it yet. Even if the title turns out to not be effective, you can always change the title depending on the publishing platform you select.

9. Choose a Compelling Book Cover

Don’t judge a book by its cover? Please.  People are definitely judging your book by its cover. 

The book cover design is generally the first thing that will pique a reader’s interest.

You can find freelance graphic designers to create a compelling book cover for you on many online marketplace sites like Upwork, Reedsy , and Snappa . You can even check with a local graphic design artist for a more hands-on approach.

Tips for creating an effective book cover:

  • Whitespace is your friend.  Make it a best practice to choose a design that pops, but doesn’t distract.
  • Make it creative (non-fiction) or emotional (fiction).  Do your best to connect the art to the story or use it to enhance the title.
  • Consider a subtitle.  Think if this as a one-sentence descriptor on what this book is about.
  • Test two or three designs.  Send a few designs to your trusted accountability group to get their honest first impressions and feedback.

Keeping these best practices in mind, I chose a cover for Inbound Content that was simple but made the title pop and let the subtitle provide the promise to the reader.

Book Cover Of Inbound Content By Justin Champion

10. Format Your Book

Now that you’ve written your manuscript, it’s time to format it so you can visualize the final product — your book!

Formatting your book is an important step in learning how to write a book, because it has to do with how your book will appear to the reader. A successfully formatted book will not cut off text, incorrect indentations, or typeset errors when printed or displayed on a digital device.

If you've already decided to go with self-publishing vs traditional publishing , this is all on you. But if you're not tech-savvy and don't have the time to learn how to format your own book, you can hire a professional to do this part for you.

If you know how to format a book correctly and to fit your book distributor's specifications, you can do so in Word or Google Docs. You can also use a program like Vellum Software or Atticus .

Otherwise, we recommend hiring someone to do this professionally, as it's one of the most important aspects to get right. Check out Formatted Books if that's the case for you.

11. Prepare to Launch Your Book

Before you hit “Publish” it's time to do the groundwork to start prepping for your book's launch, and your ongoing book launch and book marketing strategy.

There are a few steps involved in this process, which we'll outline below.

Build your book's launch team

This is an ongoing step that you can start doing when you are finished with your rough draft. As you send your book to the editor, designer, and formatter, you can organize a launch team in the meantime.

Your book's launch team is essentially a group of individuals who are considered your target readers. They will help you promote your book, and will be actively involved in the launch process of your book.

Develop a marketing mindset

It's time to start shifting your mindset from writing to book marketing . Think about your strengths and areas of growth when it comes to sales and marketing.

Acknowledge any fears or self-limiting thoughts you have, then push past them by remembering your book's purpose. Know that the power of sharing your knowledge and experience through your book is stronger than any fear that might hold you back.

It's important to understand in the marketing phase that your mindset has a huge role in the success of your book. You can write the best book in the world, but if you don't channel some energy towards marketing, no one will know it exists.

Here are six ways to market your book:

  • Paid advertisements
  • Free advertisement opportunities
  • Local or in-person events
  • Content marketing on Google and Amazon
  • Be a guest on podcasts and websites
  • Speaker opportunities

Create a book launch strategy

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to your launch strategy, so it's important to draft up a plan before you publish your book.

Your launch strategy is basically how you plan to create momentum with your book. Think of it like a business launch. There's always a big celebration to announce the launch of the business. It's the same for your book.

12. Publish Your Book

The self-publishing process steps will vary on whether you are publishing your book as an eBook only, or whether you plan to publish it as a print book.

It will also vary depending on which self-publishing companies you plan to work with. There are many self-publishing platforms to choose from, including KDP on Amazon and IngramSpark .

If you plan to work with a different book publisher , you'll want to follow their guidelines. You should also learn how to copyright a book to protect yourself against plagiarism.

Once you've hit publish on your platform, you can start implementing your launch strategies and marketing strategies, which we'll cover in the next section.

FAQs: How To Write A Book

If you read through this guide and have specific questions on how to write a book, here are some other questions we get often.

How long does it take to write a book?

How long it takes to write a book depends on a number of factors. on average, it takes self-published authors anywhere from 3-6 months, but that can be shorter or longer depending on your writing habits, work ethic, time available, and much more.

How much do authors make?

There is no set amount that an author can make. It depends on many factors, such as the book genre , topic, author's readership and following, and marketing success.

For a full report on this, please read our report on Author Salary

Writing a book is not a get-rich-quick strategy by any means. While learning how to write a book can help you grow your business through techniques like a book funnel , unless you sell hundreds of thousands of copies of books, you likely will not earn six figures from book sales alone.

How much money does an author make per book?

The money an author makes per book sold is calculated by the royalty rate. The royalty rate varies depending on the publishing medium, and company.

Use this Book Royalty Calculator to get a better idea of your potential earnings.

How much does it cost to write and publish a book?

With Amazon self-publishing and other self-publishing platforms, the cost to publish is actually free. However, it costs money to hire professionals that actually produce a high-quality book that you will be proud of.

For full details, read this guide on Self-Publishing Costs .

Can anyone write a book?

Yes, anyone can learn how to write a book. And thanks to the rise of technology and self-publishing, anyone can publish a book as well!

Traditional publishers used to serve as the gatekeepers to publishing, holding the power to determine which books would be published. This prevented many stories from being shared, and many talented authors from being recognized.

Thankfully, this antiquated system is no longer the only option. This also means that because anyone can technically publish a book, it is extremely important that you create a quality, professional book that's of the highest standard.

How To Write A Book Step-By-Step Infographic

You Wrote A Book!

And that’s it! Those are the steps to take to learn how to write a book from start to finish.

You can and will write your first book if you put forth the effort. You’re going to crush this!

Trust the process, create a consistent writing schedule, and use this practical guide to help you through the journey of learning how to write a book.

Are you ready to write your book?

how to write a book for dummies

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The Write Practice

How to Write a Book: The Ultimate Guide (with Free Book Idea Worksheet!)

by Joe Bunting | 0 comments

You want to write a book. Maybe you have a great story idea. Maybe you have a big idea you want to share with the world. Maybe people have told you, “Your life should be made into a book!” But first, you have to learn how to write a book.

how to write a book for dummies

The problem for the first-time author is figuring out how to get started. What are the writing habits you need to finish the actual writing for an entire book? And what comes next for your writing goals: traditional publishing? Self-publishing? Becoming a New York Times bestselling book? A long and illustrious writing career?

Because after coaching thousands of writers to write and finish their books, and also writing fifteen books of my own, I know exactly how much hard work it takes to finish a book.

It's not enough to want to write, you need to know how to write a book.

You need to have the right process. The write process, you might say (sorry, I had to!).

In this guide, we're going to learn everything about how to write a nonfiction book, from how to defeat procrastination and find writing time, all the way to revising and the editing process—and even to the publishing process.

If you've ever wanted to write a book, whether a memoir, a big idea book, or a self help book, you're in the right place.

If, on the other hand, you're a fiction writer and have a main character who you know is going to take the world by storm, we have a complete guide on novel writing here . For you nonfiction writers, though, read on for all our best writing tips.

And that free book idea worksheet ? Here's your FREE download: Book Idea Worksheet

Quick Tip: The Best Tool to Write a Book

Before we get started, here's a quick tip for writing a book, Microsoft Word just doesn't cut it.

My favorite writing tool is Scrivener, a book writing software used by the most successful writers. Scrivener helps you stay organized, set word count goals, and keep better track of your writing sessions. Check out our full review of Scrivener here.

How to Fail Writing a Book

In 2011, I had one of the best years of my life. That year, I wrote my first book, became a full-time writer, got my first book published , became a bestselling author, and had 80,000 people read my writing.

But it didn't happen overnight. I had dreamed about and had been working toward those goals for eight years before that: eight years of failure, of trying to write books and not being able to finish them, eight years of wanting to be a writer but not knowing how to actually do it .

Since then, I've written fifteen books, including one book that recently hit the Wall Street Journal bestsellers list.

You might be thinking, “That's cool, Joe. But you're clearly a talented writer. Writing is hard work for me.”

To be honest, it doesn't come easy to me. In fact, if I told my high school English teachers I'm a writer, they would probably be shocked.

The difference is that I found the right process. It's a step-by-step process that works every time, and it will work for you too.

In this guide, I'm going to share the process that I've used to write fifteen books, become a professional writer, and hit the bestsellers list.

But it's not just me. I've also trained thousands of people in our 100 Day Book program to finish books using this process, too.

It works, and it will work for you, if you follow it.

That being said, if you're still not sure you can actually do this alone, or if you just want some extra help along the way, check out 100 Day Book . In this program, we've helped thousands of aspiring writers turned authors to accomplish their dream of writing a book, and we'd love to help you, too. Click to learn more about 100 Day Book here.

How to Write a Book: 12 Steps to Writing a Book

Here's the process I finally learned after that decade of trying to learn how to write a book and failing, the same twelve steps that have helped me write fifteen books.

come up with a book idea

1. Come Up With a Great Book Idea

If you're here, you probably have a book idea already. Maybe you have several ideas.

And if that's true, great! Pat yourself on the back. You've made it to step one.

Here's what to do next: forget any sense accomplishment you have.

Yes, I'm serious.

Here's what George R.R. Martin said:

“Ideas are useless. Execution is everything.”

Because the thing is, an idea alone, even a great idea, is just the small step to write your book.

There are a lot more steps, and all of them are more difficult than coming up with your initial idea. (I'm sorry if that's discouraging!)

You have an idea. Great! Next, it's time to learn how to execute the way successful authors do. Let's get started with step 2.

(Don't have an idea yet? Check out this article: How to Write When You Don't Have Ideas .)

write a premise

2. Write Your Book Idea In the Form of a 1-Sentence Premise

The next step to taking your idea and turning it into a book is to summarize your idea into a single-sentence premise.

But wait, what's a premise ?

A premise distills your entire book idea down to a single sentence. This sentence becomes the foundation of all your writing efforts and will be helpful even into publishing process.

Your premise is also the most important part of a book proposal, so a good premise can actually help you get published.

Here’s an example of a nonfiction premise from my book The Write Structure , which got half a dozen responses from agents.

The Write Structure utilizes The Write Practice’s (thewritepractice.com) award-winning methodology to show creative writers how to write their best novels, memoirs, short stories, or screenplays by following story structure principles used and taught by writers for hundreds of years.

Each nonfiction book premise should contain the following three elements:

  • A problem . The problem the book aims to solve (in this case, how to write a good novel, memoir, short story, or screenplay)
  • A person . Who is the person sharing the solution to that problem, e.g. you
  • A solution . What is your unique process to solve that problem

By simplifying your book down to a single sentence, you create a strong, achievable foundation to your entire book. Not only will this simple step help you during the writing process, it will also help you throughout the publishing process, too, which we'll talk about more in a bit.

Ready to write your premise? To make it easier we have a free worksheet template that will guide you through writing a publishable premise: Download the worksheet here.

Or get a copy of our Write Plan Planner , and have a physical tool to guide you through the writing process. Check out the planner here.

3. Choose Your Publishing Path

When you're writing nonfiction, you have to choose your publishing path earlier than creative writers because most nonfiction books are picked up by publishers before they're written.

In fact, it's a red flag in the eyes of traditional publishers and literary agents if you've finished your book before you pitch them. They want to see a book proposal first, and have a hand in the shaping of the book.

That means, if you're writing nonfiction, and you want to get traditionally published, before you go write your own book, you must write a book proposal.

However, if you're writing a memoir, you may need to finish writing the book before you seek publishing. Memoir exists in something of a gray area in the publishing world, with more self-help focused memoirs requiring a proposal, and more creative memoirs acting more like a novel, where the writer would finish them first.

Which publishing path is right for you? Here are the two main requirements for traditional publishing for nonfiction books:

  • Platform . Do you have authority within this topic? Do you have a following, via social media, speaking, podcast, YouTube, an email list, or some other platform of at least 10,000 people?
  • A tested idea with mass market appeal . Does your idea line up with your platform? Does it have mass market appeal?

If you can't answer “yes” to both of these questions, then you might consider self-publishing, working with a small press, or hybrid press after you complete your book. Or taking a break from your book to build your platform and target audience, perhaps by building an author website and starting a blog. (For more on this, check out this guide on how to build a platform via a blog .)

You might be wondering, at this point too, how do you write a book proposal?

Book proposals vary across writers and publishers, but here are some of the major components:

  • 1-Sentence Premise (see above)
  • 2-4 paragraph synopsis
  • Outline (Table of Contents)
  • Tone and Writing Style
  • Platform Description and Marketing Info
  • 2-3 Sample Chapters

For more on this, check out Jane Friedman's excellent guide on how to write a book proposal .

Now, once you've chosen your publishing path and you're ready to begin writing a whole book, how do you actually finish it? The next steps will all but guarantee you reach The End of your book.

outline your book

4. Outline Your Book

Even you if you don't decide to traditionally publish, I still recommend working through most of the elements of a book proposal listed above, especially the book outline because it will make the writing process so much easier.

Your book's outline will vary widely depending on your genre, your writing style, your book's topic, and your method.

However, there are some tried and true structures that exist in nonfiction books. Here are some suggested structures you can use:

Introduction . Most nonfiction books include a short (2,000 to 3,000 words) introduction. They usually outline the main problem you will be focusing on in the book. They may also introduce you as the author and your authority, and outline the unique solution you will be guiding readers through in your book.

8-10 Chapters . Nonfiction book chapters dive deeper into the problem and give principles or steps to solve that problem. Chapters can have a variety of different structures, but here is my personal favorite, used frequently by Malcolm Gladwell:

  • Opening story
  • Analysis of the story
  • Universal principle
  • Closing story (may be the conclusion of the opening story)

Conclusion . Conclusions usually restate the problem and show how you solved that problem, often ending with a concluding story and a call to action to encourage the reader to go out and put the ideas you've shared to use.

Easy right? Not exactly, but creating this outline will make the rest of the writing process so much easier. Even if it changes, you'll have a resource to help you get unstuck when the writing gets hard.

If you want a template for your outline, as well as a step-by-step guide through the book writing process, get a copy of our Write Plan Planner . This is the exact process that I have used to write fifteen books, and that thousands of other authors in our community have used to finish their book all in a beautiful, daily planner . Check out the planner here.

set a deadline

5. Set a Deadline

This one might surprise you. Because most people think that once you've got your idea ready to go, you should just start writing and not worry about the period of time it takes.

Nope. Not even close.

The next step is to set a deadline for when you're going to finish the first rough draft of your book. But you might be wondering, how long does it take to write a book in the first place?

How long should you set your deadline for?

Some people use NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, to set their deadline for them, writing 50,000 words of book in the thirty days of November. That being said, it's very challenging for most people to finish a book in thirty days.

Stephen King, on the other hand, said the first draft of a book should take no more than a season, so three months. With all due respect to Stephen King, I think that's a little fast for most people.

We give people 100 days , which seems to be just long enough to write a first draft without getting distracted by everything else the world wants you to focus on (looking at you, social media).

So for you, give yourself a week or two to prepare, then set your deadline for about 100 days after that.

There you go! You now have a deadline to finish your book!

break up your deadline

6. Break Your Deadline Into Weekly and Daily Word Counts

You can't pull an all-nighter and finish writing a book. Trust me, I've tried!

Instead, you have to break up your deadline into smaller, weekly, and daily deadlines so you can make measured progress over your writing period. This step breaks the work into manageable pieces.

This step also requires a bit of math. Here's how to do it so you can actually stay on track:

  • Figure out your book's ideal target word count goal (check out our word count guide )
  • Figure out how many weeks until your deadline (e.g. 100 days = 14.5 weeks)
  • Divide your book's total word count by the number of weeks (e.g. 45,000 ÷ 14.5 = 3,103 words per week)
  • Next, figure out how many days per week you're going to write (e.g. 5 days a week)
  • Finally, divide your weekly word count goal by the number of days you'll write to get your daily word count goal (e.g. 3,103 ÷ 5. = 621 words per day)

If you can hit all of your weekly and daily deadlines, you know you’ll make your final deadline at the end.

P.S. You're much more likely to actually meet your deadlines if you take a stand and set a consequence, which I”ll talk about next.

take a stand

7. Take a Stand

Deadlines are nice, but it can be too easy to follow Douglas Adams' advice:

I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by.

There are two tricks that will help you actually meet your deadline, and it's essential to do these before you start writing or you'll never finish your book.

The first one is a little scary, but will make a huge difference.

Once you've set your deadline, go tell everyone you know. Post your deadline on social media, saying something like this:

how to write a book for dummies

Here. We'll even make it easy for you. Just click the share button below to tweet this and fill in the blank with your deadline:

Don't have social media? That's okay. Just email five friends. These friends will become your accountability partners to ensure you finish your book.

Important: I don't recommend talking about your book idea. Talking about the idea can actually remove some of the motivation to actually work on your book.

But I highly recommend talking about your book's deadline because humans naturally avoid letting each other down. When you make a public promise to do something, you're much more likely to do it!

So go ahead. Share your deadline. You can do this right now. Don't worry, we'll be here when you get back.

Then, move on to the next trick to keep your deadline.

set a consequence

8. Set a Consequence

You might think, “Setting a deadline is fine, but how do I actually hit my deadline?”

The answer is you need to create a consequence. A consequence is a bad thing that happens if you don't hit your deadline.

Maybe you write a check to a charity you hate, like the society for the euthanasia of puppies, you give it to a friend, and you say, “You have to send this check if I don't hit my deadline.”

Or maybe you say you're going to give up a guilty pleasure if you don't hit your deadline, like ice cream or wine or TV or your favorite phone game.

Set a really tough consequence for your final deadline, and then set a couple of less severe consequences for your weekly deadlines.

Whatever you choose, make it really hard to not hit your deadline.

Why? Because writing is hard! If you want to write a book, you need to make not writing harder than writing.

By creating a consequence, you make not writing harder than the actual writing, and this simple trick will make you much more likely to finish.

set an intention

9. Set an Intention

This is the last step before you start writing, but secretly one of the most helpful.

Set an intention.

Studies have shown that when you have a goal, like working out more or writing a book, and you imagine where , when , and how much you're going to do something, you're much more likely to actually do it.

So do this with me:

  • Close your eyes, and imagine your ideal writing space , the place you're going to spend your writing time. Maybe it's a coffee shop or your home office or a chair beside your favorite window.
  • Next, imagine what time it is . Is it the morning? Afternoon? Late at night after everyone's gone to bed?
  • Finally, picture yourself writing, and watch yourself reach your daily word count goal . Imagine how it feels to accomplish your goal. Great? A relief?
  • Then, write all of that down, locking your intention in place . Now that you have a set writing schedule, follow it!

Notice that this is the tenth step.

Most people start here, but without the groundwork you've laid in the previous nine steps, you're setting yourself up for failure.

Don't skip the first nine steps!

Once you do begin writing, keep this in mind:

First drafts are universally bad .

Don't try to write perfect sentences. Don't go back and edit endlessly.

No, instead write as fast as you're able. Get to “the end” as quickly as you can. Use writing sprints .

Try to write as imperfectly as you can, not because you want to write a bad book, but because this is how writing always is: you write a bad first draft and then revise it into a better second draft—and finally, three or five drafts later, you've written a good book.

The difference between aspiring writers and published authors is that published authors know you can't do good writing until you write a bad draft first. Get through it as quickly as you can!

If you're not a natural writer , consider dictating your book into a recorder, and transcribing it afterward. There's no reason you have to physically type out your book. Transcribing it is a perfectly viable way to create a good first draft.

revise, rewrite, edit

11. Revise, Rewrite, and Edit

After you finish your first draft comes the real hard part.

I know what you're thinking. The first ten steps weren't hard enough?

Yes, of course they were hard. But for some reason, second drafts can be just as hard, if not harder, than first drafts. I've had some of my biggest mental and emotional breakdowns in my life while working on the second draft of a book. There's just something about second drafts that are much more mentally challenging than first drafts.

Here, it's a good idea to get an editor who can give you feedback. (Need an editor recommendation? We have a team of editors we work with here at The Write Practice. Check out our process and get a quote here .)

Once you've finished your second draft, I also recommend getting beta readers, people who can read your book and give you feedback. For more on this, check out our guide on how to find beta readers and use their feedback effectively here .

Depending on your topic, you might also consider recruiting some sensitivity readers to read your book, too.

After you've done all of this, I have one last writing tip for you to ensure you actually finish writing your book—and it might be the most important of all.

Don't stop

12. Don't Stop

Most people want to write a book. I hear from people all the time that think they have a book in them, who believe that they have a story that needs to be shared.

I very rarely talk to people who have finished a book.

Writing a book is hard.

It's SO easy to quit. You get a new idea. Or you read your writing and think, “This is terrible.” Or you decide, “I'd rather be catching up on Netflix, not spending my nights writing.”

Because of this, you quit.

Here's the thing though: the only way to fail at writing a book is to quit .

If you don't quit, if you just keep writing, keep following this process we've outlined above, you will finish a book.

It might not be a good book (yet). But that's what editing is for.

It will be a first draft, and a finished draft at that . You can't write a second draft and start to make your book actually good, actually publishable, until you write the first draft.

So write. Don't stop. Don't quit. If you follow these steps and don't stop, you'll finish.

We'll be here supporting you along the way.

More Resources on How to Write a Book

Still feeling stuck? Have more questions about how to write a book? We've put together a library of book-writing resources. Take a look at the articles below.

Book Writing Tools and Programs

  • 100 Day Book . Get a mentor, 100+ writing lessons, deadlines, and accountability and write your book in a program that works. Thousands of authors have finished their books in 100 Day Book, and we'd love to help you too. Click to sign up for 100 Day Book here.
  • The Write Plan Planner. Containing everything we've learned about how to write a book over the last 10+ years, this step-by-step guide will walk you through our proven book writing process. Click to get your daily book writing planner.
  • Best Book Writing Software . A variety of the best tools for writing, publishing, formatting, and marketing your book.

How to Write a Book Fast Articles

I shared above why I believe that first drafts should be written quickly, in just a few weeks. Still not sure? In the articles below, dozens of other writers share how they wrote fast first drafts, plus you'll get all the tips and strategies they learned along the way.

  • How to Write a Book in 100 Days: 10 Steps
  • How to Write a Book FAST
  • How to Write a Book in 100 Days
  • How to Write a Novel in 6 Months
  • The First 10 Steps to Write Your Book in 2020
  • How to Right a Book in Nine (Not So) Easy Steps
  • How to Finish a Novel With a Swim Buddy
  • How to Write a Book Using Microsoft Word

How to Write a Book by Genre

Every genre comes with specific expectations that must be fulfilled. Here's how to craft an amazing story in your genre.

  • How to Write a Novel
  • How to Write a Memoir
  • How to Write a Mystery Novel
  • How to Write a Suspense Novel
  • How to Write a Thriller Novel
  • How to Write a Romance Novel
  • How to Write an Adventure Book
  • How to Write a Coming of Age Novel
  • How to Write a Young Adult Novel
  • How to Write a Self-Help Book
  • How to Write a Book That's Based on a True Story
  • How to Write a Book Like Stephen King
  • 20 Sci-Fi Creative Writing Prompts and Story Ideas

Okay, no, Stephen King isn't a genre. But he's well worth learning from!

How to Write a Book When Writing Is Hard

Let's face it: writing is hard . Every single writer struggles at some point in their book. The important thing is not to quit . In the following articles, writers share how they persevered through the hard parts, and how you can too.

  • How to Write a Book While Working Full Time
  • How to Write a Book When You Don't Have Ideas
  • How to Write a Book When You’ve Got Writer’s Block
  • I Never Thought I Would Write a Book. Here's How I Did It Anyway
  • How to Write a Book: The Everest Method
  • 10 Obstacles to Writing a Book and How to Conquer Them

How to Write a Book With a Specific Style

Your book comes with its own unique quirks and challenges, especially if the story you're telling is a series, or is told from multiple perspectives. Here's how other writers have navigated these choices.

  • How to Write a Book from Multiple Perspectives
  • How to Write a Book Series Without Messing Things Up
  • How to Write a Novel That Readers Can't Put Down

How to Write a Book and Publish It

Writing is meant to be shared! In these articles, writers break down the publishing process so you can finish your book and share it with the world.

  • How to Write and Publish a Book for Free
  • How to Write a Book Description That Will Captivate Readers (And Sell Books!)

Publishing Resources

Once you've finished writing a book, how do you get it published. Here are some resources to help.

  • Amazon KDP. Self-publish your book on Kindle to the world's biggest book marketplace.
  • Book Cover Design . Find a book cover designer among our favorite designers.

Commit to the Book Writing Process, Not Your Feelings

Are you ready to commit to finishing your book?

I don't want you to commit to a book idea. Ideas are seductive, but then you get a fresh idea and the idea you've been working on becomes much less interesting.

You probably have had inspiring moments of writing, when everything feels like it's flowing. But I don't want you to commit to a feeling. Feelings are fickle. They change by the hour.

No, instead commit to the process.

If you follow these steps, you will finish a book. It won't be easy. It will still be a challenge. But you'll do it.

Can you imagine how great it will feel to write “The End” on your own book? Think about the people you will touch because you finished that book. Let's get to it together.

Are you going to commit to writing a book? Let me know in the comments !

The first part of Step Three is to create a 1-sentence premise of your book.

Spend fifteen minutes today to rewrite your book idea into a single-sentence premise. Then, share your premise in the Pro Practice Workshop here.  (and if you’re not a member yet, you can join here ).

Finally, after you share, make sure to give feedback to three other writers.

Happy writing!

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Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

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Blog • Perfecting your Craft

Last updated on Feb 07, 2023

How to Write a Book (with Tactics from Bestsellers)

What’s the secret formula to tapping into your creativity and writing a book? Some authors would tell you there is no single path to authorship , as every writer’s journey is unique. However, almost every bestselling author will have highly effective writing patterns and habits that help them reach their writing goals . In this post, we'll share some of their most commonly used tactics for starting and finishing a book.

How to write a book:

1. Start with a book idea you love

2. research by reading genre-prominent books, 3. outline the story, 4. write the opening sentence , 5. write the first draft, 6. set a schedule with achievable goals, 7. find a good writing space, 8. pick a "distraction-free" writing software, 9. finish your draft, 10. edit the manuscript, 11. publish your book for readers to buy.

There's a long, exciting road ahead. So let's get started.

ezyeeNi4g2I Video Thumb

The one thing you absolutely  need  to write a book is, of course, an idea. If you don't have that, you'll never get past the first page of your draft.

You may already know what you want to write about, or you may be at a total loss. Either way, you can settle on a “big book idea” by asking yourself a few simple questions:

  • What do I  want  to write about?
  • What do I feel is  important  to write about?
  • Who will want to read about this story/subject?
  • Will I be able to carry out this idea effectively?

Your answers to these questions will help you narrow it down to your best options. For example, if you have several different ideas for a book, but only one that you're truly passionate about and feel you can pull off, then voilà — there's your premise!

On the other hand, if you  lack  ideas, these questions should steer you in a firmer direction. Think about the kinds of books you love to read, as well as books that have made a significant impact on you. In all likelihood, you'll want to write a book in a similar vein.

Tools to help you find an idea

If you're grasping at straws, consider using creative writing prompts or a  plot generator  to get the ball rolling! You might stumble upon an interesting concept or story element that sparks a “big idea” for your book. (And if you're still uninspired even after trying these tools, you may want to reconsider whether you really want to write a book after all.)

Which writing app is right for you?

Find out here! Takes 30 seconds

Once you've found your big idea, the next step is to research your genre. Again, if you're writing the book you like to read , you already have a leg up! Reading books in your genre is by far the best way to learn how to write in that genre yourself.

But if not, you'll want to select a couple of representative titles and analyze them.  How long are they  and  how many chapters do they have ? What does the  story structure  look like? What are the major  themes ? Perhaps most importantly, do you think you can produce a book with similar elements?

Find out what people are reading

You should also conduct market research on Amazon to determine the most  popular  books in your genre. If you want your book to succeed, you'll have to contend with these bestsellers. Go to the  Amazon Best Sellers page  and find your genre in the lefthand sidebar:

How to write a book: what you need to know about bestsellers in your category.

Then read those books' blurbs to figure out what really sells. What do they all have in common, and why might readers find them appealing? Does your book hold up to these standards?

Finally, think about how your book can offer something NEW. For example, if you're writing a psychological thriller, will there be a particularly sneaky  unreliable narrator , or maybe a  series of twists  that the reader never sees coming? If you're  writing a nonfiction book , do you have a unique take on the subject, or a particularly deep well of knowledge? And so on.

Going above and beyond is the only way to give your book a chance in today's hyper-competitive market. So don't skimp on the genre research, because this will tell you where the bar is and how you can surpass it.

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Before you write a book, you need to write an outline.

If you want to write a great story , you need to outline it first. This is especially important if it's your first book, since you need a solid blueprint to rely on when you get stuck! (Because believe us, you will  get stuck.)

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Use this template to go from a vague idea to a solid plan for a first draft.

So how do you go about creating that outline for your book? We actually have a  whole other post on the subject , but here are the essentials:

  • Pick a format that works for you.  There are so many different types of outlines: the free-flowing mind map, the rigorous chapter-and-scene outline, the character-based outline, and so on. If one approach doesn't work for you, try another! Any kind of plan is better than none.
  • Have a beginning, middle, and end.  Way too many authors go into writing a book with a strong notion of how their story should start... yet their middle is murky and their ending, nonexistent. Take this time to flesh them out and connect them to one another.  Remember:  the best books have endings that feel “earned,” so you should try to be building toward it from the start!
  • Consider your conflict points.   Conflict is at the heart of any good book  — it draws in the reader, conjures tension and emotion, and ultimately reflects the themes and/or message you want to convey. You don't have to know  exactly  where your conflict will manifest, but you should have a pretty good grasp of how it works throughout your book.
  • Get to know your characters.  If you haven't done much  character development  yet, your outline is the perfect opportunity to do so. How will your characters interact in the story, and how will these interactions demonstrate who they are and what matters to them?

If you'd like to outline your story directly in a writing app, we recommend using the pre-made templates in the free Reedsy Book Editor. Simply create your account with one click below and start creating the building blocks of your story — right away.  

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The Reedsy Book Editor

Use the Boards feature to plan, organize, or research anything.

Let's get into the actual writing and make a dent in your first draft . One of the most important parts of writing a book is  starting the story ! It's no exaggeration to say your first few pages can make or break your book — if these pages aren't good enough, many readers will lose interest, possibly never returning to your book again.

First off, you need an opening hook that grabs the reader's attention and makes it impossible for them to look away. Take a look at the first lines of these hit bestsellers:

“Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” — Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
“Renowned curator Jacques Saunière staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery.” — The Da Vinci Code
“If all the Saturdays of 1982 can be thought of as one day, I met Tracey at 10 a.m. on that Saturday, walking through the sandy gravel of a churchyard, each holding our mother's hand.” — Swing Time

All of these books fall into different genres, yet all their opening lines do the same thing: capture the reader's attention. You can imitate them by making a similarly strong, slightly furtive statement in  your  opener!

From there, your job is to maintain the reader's interest by heightening the stakes and  inciting the plot . You should also make the reader care about the main characters by giving them distinct personalities and  motivations . (Note that “main” is a key descriptor here; never introduce more than a couple of characters at a time!)

Of course, there are infinite ways to write your first chapter. You might have to experiment with lots of different opening lines, even opening scenes, to find the right balance — but it's worth the effort to set the stage perfectly.

If you struggle to write consistently, sign up for our How to Write a Novel course to finish your novel in just 3 months.  

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how to write a book - plot, story and theme arae like an iceberg

Many writers believe that the key to writing an amazing book is style: impressive vocabulary, elaborate sentences,  figurative language  that would make Shakespeare swoon.

We're here to dissuade you of that notion. While style is great (as long as your prose doesn't  start to become purple ),  substance  is far more important when writing a book — hence why you should focus primarily on your plot, characters, conflict(s), and themes.

Make sure your book is all killer, no filler

Of course, that's easier said than done, especially once you've already started writing . When you get to a patchily outlined section, it's tempting to  keep  writing and fill out the page with literary gymnastics. But that's exactly what this content is: filler. And if you have too much of it, readers will become frustrated and start to think you're pretentious.

This is another reason why outlining is so important. You need to KNOW your story in order to stay on track with it! But besides outlining, here are a few more tips for making substance a priority:

  • Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.  This advice comes straight from Kurt Vonnegut, and it's 100% true: if a sentence doesn't accomplish one or both of those things, try removing it. If the passage still makes sense, leave it out.
  • Be conscious of your pacing.  Slow pacing is a symptom of excess description. If the events of your book seem to move like molasses, you're probably using too much style and not enough substance.
  • Use a writing tool to reduce flowery language.  Speaking of great American novelists,  Hemingway  is a fantastic tool to help you write like the man himself! Simply paste your writing into the app and Hemingway will suggest ways to make your prose more concise and effective.

Tell us about your book, and we'll give you a writing playlist

It'll only take a minute!

Keep readers in mind while writing

Want to write a book that people will  really  enjoy (and buy)? Well, this is pretty much the cardinal rule: you should always be thinking about your audience and trying to write “reader-first.”

For example, sometimes you'll have to write scenes that aren't very exciting, but that  serve the overall story arc . Don't rush through these scenes just to get them over with! Even if they don't seem interesting to  you,  they contribute to the reader's experience by building tension and preserving the pacing — and the reader deserves to relish those things.

Create 'fake' people who will want to read your book

When considering your readership, you should also  keep a proto-persona in mind  for marketing purposes. These are constructed personalities that marketers use to better understand their target customers. The more your book can cater to this hypothetical reader, the easier it will be to sell!

Maybe you're writing a true-crime account for zealous  true crime readers . Such readers will have pored over countless criminal cases before, so you need to include unique details to make  your  case stand out, and craft an extra-compelling narrative to engage them.

How to write book: Focus your writing time with a daily word count goal.

Let's move on to practical ways that you can improve your writing habits. Word count goals play a huge part in creating an effective writing process, especially if you're trying to finish your book  in a certain amount of time .

You should create word count goals for both your individual sessions and per week — or per month, if that's how you prefer to think about your writing output. For relatively novice writers, we'd recommend the following word count goals:

  • 500-750 words per day
  • 1,500-2,500 words per week
  • 6,000-10,000 words per month

These goals are based on a pattern of 3-4 sessions per week, which is reasonable for a beginner, but still enough to make commendable progress. Even if you only follow our  minimum  recommendations — 500 words per session at 3 sessions per week — you can still easily finish your book in less than a year!

Speeding up the writing process

If you're looking for how to write a book  as fast as possible , your word count goals should look a little more like this:

  • 1,500-2,000 words per session
  • 9,000-15,000 words per week
  • 35,000-50,000 words per month

The figures above adhere roughly to  NaNoWriMo , the event in which participants write an average of 1,667 words/day to complete a 50,000-word book in  one month . It's hard work, but it's definitely possible to write a book that quickly; hundreds of thousands of people do so every year!

But as any author who's done NaNo can attest, it's also a pretty grueling experience. Most authors find it exhausting to write such great quantities for so many days in a row — and they still have to  edit copiously  once they're done.

If this is your first book, make sure you take your time, set manageable word goals, and gradually build to bigger goals.

Use writing sessions to establish a schedule

Having a healthy writing routine is the only way you'll actually hit those word count goals — not to mention it fosters a better relationship with writing overall! To establish a healthy routine, ask yourself these baseline questions first:

  • When do I have the most free time in the day/week?
  • What time of the day do I tend to be most productive?
  • How can I space out my writing sessions effectively?
  • Will I realistically be able to balance my writing goals with other responsibilities?

The best way to set up your routine is to take advantage of your pre-existing schedule and natural patterns. So for example, if you already go to the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays, perhaps the best time to write would be on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Or if you find yourself most creative late at night ( many of us do! ), you can plan late-night sessions over the weekend/before your day off, so you can sleep in the next day.

Ultimately, you just want a well-balanced writing routine that facilitates productivity, yet keeps you from burning out. If you find that writing for several days in a row is too much for you, space out your sessions more or try to shake things up by moving to a new writing space. If you can't keep up with your goals, it's okay to reduce them a little.

Yes, writing a lot is important, but it's not more important than your mental health! Remember that writing a book is a marathon, not a sprint, and that a consistent, healthy approach is absolutely vital. Here are some tips for making the most of your writing routine.

Don't skip more than one session in a row

Life happens, and sometimes you won't be able to make a planned writing session. However, unless it's a serious emergency, you should try to get back in the saddle for your next session. Otherwise, you'll lose too much progress and feel discouraged, which typically leads to skipping even  more  writing sessions, and eventually giving up.

Track your progress

Screenshot of the Reedsy Book Editor showing daily progress bars and an overall wordcount

With our free writing app, the Reedsy Book Editor , you'll see the numbers update automatically depending on your activity: you'll see how many words you added  and deleted on any given day. Depending on the overall goal you set for your manuscript, you'll also see your daily targets adjust depending on how much you've written so far.

Use a site blocker to stay focused

Distraction is the enemy of routine, and the biggest distraction in our modern world is the Internet. To that end, download a site-and-app blocker to use during your writing sessions so you won't be enticed by social media or adorable cat memes. We'd recommend  Freedom , as you can schedule block sessions in advance and even keep track of your productivity   within  the app.

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Another major component of how to write a book is  where  you write, hence why it gets a separate section. If you want to complete an entire book, you absolutely must find a calm, focused space for your writing.

This may be in your house, a coffee shop, a library, a co-working space — wherever you can work productively and without interruptions. It should also be a place that you can access easily and go often. Working from home is the most convenient option in this sense, but it may be difficult if you have family around, or if you don't have a designated “room of one's own” (i.e. an actual office, or at least a desk).

What does a good writing space look like?

Try out different locations to see what works for you. Indeed, you may find that you like to rotate writing spaces because it keeps you energetic and your writing fresh! But wherever you go, do your best to make the space:

  • Quiet  (noise-canceling headphones can be very helpful)
  • Clean  (no clutter, especially if you do chores to procrastinate)
  • Non-distracting  (nothing too fun around to tempt you away from writing; turn off your phone so other people won't bother you)
  • Your own  (cultivate a nice atmosphere in your home office with posters and plants, or simply take the same seat at your local café every time — truly carve out a “dedicated writing space”)

We've already talked about a few different pieces of software to help you with writing a book. But if you haven't found the right app or program yet, never fear — there's plenty more where those came from!

Book writing software is a topic we've actually  written an entire post about , but it's worth touching on a few of our favorite writing tools here:

Scrivener 🖋️

Scrivener is  the  downloadable writing software of choice for many writers, and for good reason: it has an exceptional interface and tons of useful features. You can outline chapters with its drag-and-drop system, create labels for elements you want to track, and use various templates to plan AND format your book. If you want to feel like a true professional, you can't go wrong with Scrivener — and it's even free to try for 30 days.

Or if you're not much for outlines because your thoughts are all over the place, Milanote can help. The super-flexible interface allows you to “mind map” just as you would longhand, and rearrange different sections as you please. When writing, you can see all your notes at once, so you don't have to stress about forgetting things. It's a very refreshing, intuitive way approach that's worth a try for all disorganized authors.

FocusWriter ✍️

Speaking of intuitive, what's more intuitive than simply writing on a piece of paper, no distractions — just like the old days? Meet FocusWriter, which allows you to do exactly that. The full-screen default interface is a sheet of paper on a wooden desk: no bells, no whistles, no distractions whatsoever. Seriously, this one will get you in the zone.

The Reedsy Book Editor 📖

We couldn't leave out one of the coolest word processing, editing, and formatting tools on the market! All jokes aside, the RBE lets you cleanly format your book  as you go,  so you can watch it take shape in real-time. You can also add sections for front matter and back matter and invite collaborators to edit your text. Plus you can toggle on goal reminders to make sure that you're on track with your writing schedule. Once you finish writing, you can export the files of your book. But don't take our word for it: you can try the RBE for free right here .

FREE WRITING APP

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Set goals, track progress, and establish your writing routine in our free app.

how to write a book: start writing and stay motivated

Getting into the groove of writing a book can be difficult. When there are a million different things to distract and discourage you, how can you keep going with your writing routine and finish your book?

Based on ours and other writers' experience, here are a few motivational strategies for you to try:

  • Make a list of reasons  why  you want to write a book.  Having a tangible reminder of your true purpose is one of the best ways to motivate yourself, so think hard: Do you want to send an important message? Reach a certain group of people? Or do you simply yearn to tell this particular story? Write down all your reasons and keep them as an ace in the hole for when your motivation dwindles.
  • Find someone else to write with you.  Getting a writing buddy is another great way to stay motivated! For one thing, you get some camaraderie during this process; for another, it means you can't slack off too much. So ask your writer friends if they'd like to meet up regularly, or join an  online writing community . With the latter, just make sure you exchange progress updates and proof that you're actually writing!
  • Reward yourself at important milestones.  Sometimes the best motivation is the prospect of treating yourself. If you respond well to this kind of motivation, set a goal, a deadline, and a reward for meeting it: “If I can write 10,000 more words by the end of the month, I'll go out for an amazing, fancy dinner with all my friends.” This kind of goal is also helpful because you can  tell  your friends about it, and that very act will hold you accountable.

For even more advice on how to staying motivated through the writing process, check out this Reedsy Live from author and writing coach Kevin Johns!

oUgIFXNapuQ Video Thumb

Don't give up

Remember how we said you'd inevitably get stuck? Well, that's what this step is all about: what to do when you hit a wall. Whether it's a tricky plot hole, an onslaught of insecurity, or a simple lack of desire to write, all writers experience setbacks from time to time.

There are countless ways to  overcome writer's block , from freewriting to working on your characters to taking a shower (yes, that's a legitimate tip!). However, here are some of the most effective techniques we've found:

  • Revisit your outline.  This will jog your memory as to planned story elements you've forgotten — which may help you find the missing piece.
  • Try writing exercises.  It's possible you just need to get the words flowing, and then you can jump get right back into your book. Luckily for you, we have a whole host of great writing exercises  right here!
  • Share your experience with friends.  This is another great role for your writing buddy to fill, but you can easily talk about writer's block with your non-writing friends, too. If you're struggling, it always helps to vent and bounce ideas off other people.
  • Take a  short  break to do something else.  Yes, sometimes you need to step away from the keyboard and clear your head. But don't take more than a day or so, or else you'll lose momentum and motivation.

Most of all, remember to take setbacks in stride and not let them get you down. As platitudinous as that might sound, it's true: the only thing that can stop you from writing a book is if you, well,  stop writing . So keep calm and carry on — every day brings new opportunities and you'll get through this.

Your aim at this point is not to emerge with an instant masterpiece. The quality almost always emerges in the edit.

how to write a book, step 14: get feedback

You can write all day, all night, to your heart's content... but if no one else likes what you've written, you might end up heart broken  instead. That's why it's crucial to request feedback on your book, starting early and from as many sources as possible.

Begin by asking your friends and fellow writers to read just a few chapters at a time. However, apply their suggestions not only to those chapters, but wherever relevant. For example, if one of your friends says, “[Character A] is acting weird in this scene,” pay extra attention to that character to ensure you haven't misrepresented them anywhere else.

Once your book is finished, you're ready for some more intensive feedback. Consider  getting a beta reader  to review your entire book and provide their thoughts. You may want to hire an editor to give you professional feedback as well. (Find out about the different types of editing, and which type your book might need,  in this post .)

Finally, it might sound obvious, but we'll say it anyway for all you stubborn writers out there: feedback is useless if you don't actually listen to it. Separate yourself from your ego and don't take anything personally, because no one wants to offend you — they're just trying to help.

You’ve persevered to the end at last: brainstormed, outlined, and written a draft that you've edited extensively (based on feedback, of course). Your book has taken its final form, and you couldn’t be prouder. So what comes next?

Well, if you’ve taken our advice about catering to your target readers, you may as well give publishing a shot! We have a  full guide to publishing right here  — and if you’re thinking about traditional publishing,  read this article  to decide which is right for you.

Get help from publishing professionals

Publishing is another rigorous process, of course. But if you’ve come this far to find out how to write a book, you can pretty much do anything! Invest in  stellar cover design , study up on  marketing , or start writing an  irresistible query letter  that will get you an offer.

Whichever route you take, one thing will remain true: you’ve written a book, and that’s an incredible achievement. Welcome to the 0.1% — and may the next book you write be even greater than the first. 📖

13/12/2019 – 15:33

thank you for helping me find a new way to write my book

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Home / Guides / Book Writing / How to Write a Book in 2024: The Ultimate Guide for Authors

How to Write a Book in 2024: The Ultimate Guide for Authors

  • Should you write a book?
  • Outline the Book
  • Write the Book
  • Edit the Book
  • Get Feedback
  • Publish & Market Your Book!

Writing a book is a long process, but it doesn’t have to be scary. Many writers benefit from having a checklist of things they need to do. Enter: This comprehensive guide. I will guide you through the planning stages, the writing process, the editing phase, and the marketing phase (though you should start marketing your book long before it’s finished). And before we get there, I’ll help you determine if you should even write a book in the first place. Considering you’re here, the answer is most likely “ yes! ” Can anyone write a book? Yes, anyone can write a book. All you need is determination, a willingness to learn, and a story you want to tell. Bookmark this page or copy and paste it into a text document so you can check off each step as you make progress along your book writing journey .

  • How to write a book
  • Best ways to plan ahead
  • A lot of writing tips
  • Industry standards and expectations
  • Software recommendations
  • Outlining tips
  • Editing and proofreading tips
  • How to market your book

Links in this article may give me a small commission if you use them to purchase products. There’s NO extra cost to you, and it helps me continue to write handy articles like this one.

It’s common to hear between friends, “I’m going to write a book one day.”

But there are several steps in between that statement and the actual process of writing books.

I want to get this idea out of the way: you can and should write a book!

Most people want to write a book but never get around to it. Well, you can do it.

If you don't think you can, or you think you're not talented enough, remember that even the Stephen Kings and Neil Gaimans of the word started out with a skill level of zero, and you're probably more skilled than that!

Don't get me wrong, writing can be hard. But it's learning to deal with those hard things that make you a better writer. So let's discuss how you can make it happen.

Before you set deadlines or create your writing space, there are a few things you should do:

  • Figure out why you’re writing
  • Don’t give yourself excuses to not write
  • Determine your big ideaw
  • Create a budget for your book writing
  • Establish accountability
  • Announce that you’re writing a book!

Nail Down Your “Why”

Why are you writing this book? Answer this question, and your writing process will have a sense of direction. Many authors have a story they need to tell. It’s in their heads. They can’t stop thinking about it. Whether it’s because of the compelling characters, the fantastical new worlds, or the powerful central theme, a good book writer must tell the story in their head. If you’re in it for fame and fortune, you won’t find it here. Only the top New York Times bestselling authors gain fame or fortune. Most authors make between $40,000 and $80,000 per year — though it’s worth noting that earning an author’s salary can take years of establishing yourself within the industry. You should also determine what you want this book to become. Questions you can ask yourself:

  • Do you want this book to appear in brick-and-mortar stores across the country?
  • Are you happy to display in local bookstores and libraries?
  • Is this an online-only book?
  • Do you want to turn writing into a career or a one-time affair?
  • Is this the beginning of a series or a one-off story?
  • Do you want to write a book that’s great for people in a social media group you’re a part of and their friends?

Overcome Common Barriers to Writing Your First Book

Before they become a problem, you need to overcome common barriers to writing a book. You can toss a rock and probably find a “writer” who started a book or, more often, has an excellent idea for a book they’re never going to write. But you’re different. You need to tell this story, and you’re looking up resources to help you get started. These are some of the most common excuses for not writing a book and how to overcome them:

  • I don’t have the talent. No one knows how to write a book before they learn, practice, and experiment. Until you try, you’ll never know if you genuinely have the stuff it takes to be a successful author.
  • I can’t concentrate. Yes, distractions abound: kids, work, Facebook, hunger, messy desk, neighbors, the dog. Find a way to overcome the distractions and just concentrate if you really want to tell this story.
  • No one will want to publish my book. Though traditional publishing is difficult to achieve, independent publishers and self-publishing offer additional venues for success.
  • I can’t write without a deadline. Then give yourself a deadline! Tell your spouse or a friend that you intend to finish your manuscript within 6 months. Or announce it on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit — wherever peers can keep you accountable.
  • Taking time to write makes me feel guilty. You shouldn’t feel guilty doing what you love, what you feel you need to do, or what could earn you a salary in the future.
  • Writing is too hard. Writing may prove a harrowing task. It can take a long time (though there are ways to write faster ). But there is nothing quite like the rewarding feeling of having written a book.
  • My grammar is terrible. Use proofreading software like Grammarly or ProWritingAid . Also, the more you write, the better you get at grammar — and quickly.
  • My life is too dull to write anything interesting. They say, “Write what you know.” But honestly, that’s what research is for. Write what interests you. It doesn’t have to be about your life. Write to escape your (supposedly boring) life.
  • People won’t like what I write. Thick skin is required for writing. Unfortunately, some ignorant or insecure people may put you down — whether for your book or for the simple fact you’re a writer. But let the ridicule roll off you like water off a duck’s back.
  • My back hurts. Sitting in a chair for long hours to write can make your back hurt. Come up with a system where you can lie down to rest or walk around to mobilize your back every hour.
  • Fiction offers nothing of value to society. This is just flat-out untrue. Art is society’s record of history. Fiction evokes emotion that causes a reader to feel something. A book’s central theme is powerful for its intended audience — and for some, life-changing.

Determine Your Topic

To determine your topic, answer these questions:

  • What do I want to write about?
  • What is important for someone (like me) to write about?
  • Can I effectively tell this story?
  • Who would want to read about my story?

For nonfiction, it’s customary to choose a topic about which you have particular expertise. For readers who buy your book, determine what information to include that will best benefit these readers. For fiction, you can determine your genre(s), then your subgenre(s), then what would make your story unique. Each genre comes with its own tropes that readers expect you to deliver. Is your book idea good? Does it serve anyone? Does it add value, whether by entertaining, informing, or teaching the prospective reader? If you’re having trouble determining your topic, check out these resources:

  • Plot Generator
  • Writing Prompts
  • Best Book Title Generators
  • Short Story Prompts by Squibler

Validate Your Book Idea

Before you completely narrow down your story or topic, you need to know if it's a good idea or not. To do this, you need to run through four steps:

  • Step 1: Learn if and how many people search for your book idea
  • Step 2: Learn if the idea is profitable during the book topic validation process
  • Step 3: Discover how hard the competition is for your book
  • Step 4: Rinse and repeat

If you find your book topic is not profitable, you can still write it. But if that's the case, you will have to resort to different marketing tactics. You will need to focus on finding the right market somewhere other than Amazon, and getting them interested in reading your book.

Read more about validating your book idea here.

Create a Budget

Don’t let this step scare you. If your budget is $0, that’s okay. But you need to create a budget, so you know what you’re willing to spend down the road. What might you spend money on as an author?

  • Research software for authors, like Publisher Rocket
  • Book writing software, like Atticus
  • Proofreading software, like ProWritingAid
  • Book formatting services, like Ebook Launch
  • Email service, like GetResponse
  • Cover design services, like Damonza (if you’re self-publishing)
  • A human editor (if you’re self-publishing)
  • Book reviews from paid influencers
  • Various marketing efforts
  • Promotional giveaways
  • A professional looking website

What should an author not spend money on?

  • Literary agents — An agent should only make money when you make money. Beware agents who charge upfront fees. They are preying off of authors who desperately want to publish their book .
  • Vanity publishers — If an indie publisher asks for an upfront charge, they are probably a vanity press, and you do not want to use their services. These seldom result in a profit.
  • Beta readers — Although it’s nice to buy them lunch to talk about the book, when you find people to beta read your book, they are reading for enjoyment. They’re getting a free book out of this. If you pay them, that’s getting into professional editor territory, and most beta readers probably aren’t qualified for that.
  • A human editor and proofreader — If you’re traditionally publishing, the publishing house will most likely pay for the editor.
  • Cover design — If you’re traditionally publishing, the publisher will most likely pay for the cover design. This item may end up in your final budget if you’re self-publishing.

How much money does an author make per book? A first-time, self-published author might make between $5,000 and $20,000 on their first book, not including expenses. A traditionally published first-time author can expect up to $5,000 without a massive existing audience.

Establish Accountability for When Things Get Hard

It’s important to establish accountability for when the going gets tough. Who will support you through your writing process? Find a reliable person in your life that's experienced in book writing or can help encourage you along the journey. Ask them to ask you about how your writing’s coming along. Some days, you will hate them. Other days, you will thank them. Also, plan for how you’ll handle writer's block , discouragement, falling behind, etc. For example, if you didn’t reach your daily word count goal, plan on going over your goal next weekend. Or, if you get writer’s block, work more detail into your outline or take a walk to clear your head.

Publicly Announce What You’re Doing

You need to publicly announce that you’re writing a book. Not only is this a marketing must that gets your friends and family buzzing about your book, but it also creates public accountability for you. Sound terrifying? Remember, if you’re going to be an author, this is the first of many marketing steps you’ll need to take. It’s also one of the easiest (and least expensive). If you need a community of like-minded authors, I'd recommend fully investing in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) as a great way to push yourself and gain accountability. Don’t get scared by this step. You may worry about what people have to say about you writing a book. Writers need thick skin, and this is an excellent exercise in accepting congratulations and ignoring naysayers. For instance, I recall a fellow author’s grandfather commenting on a Facebook post: “Hope it works out for you. But if it doesn’t, I can always get you a job down at Duke Energy.”

My friend didn’t let the comment bother him, instead accepting that his grandfather didn’t understand that writing and even self-publishing is an entirely legitimate career path nowadays. Is it worth only selling your book on Amazon? Yes! As a self-made author who primarily markets on Amazon, I cannot recommend this route highly enough.

Make a Plan

Before writing your book’s outline, here are 8 crucial steps all great writers should use to plan ahead:

  • Create a writing space
  • Set a schedule
  • Determine word count goals
  • Set deadlines
  • Do your research (market, genre, topical)
  • Discover your voice & tone
  • Choose the best book writing software for your project
  • Get in the author mindset

Create a Writing Space

When you create a space for writing, it will mentally help you to set aside that space for only writing. Your writing space should not be the same as your home office or your relaxation space. If you write your book in the same place as you watch TV, the temptation of TV easily overpowers your will to write. If you work in the same area as you write, it’s difficult to distinguish the two in your subconscious. Of course, you don’t always have to write in the same place. Although some writers need to be in one place at a single desk to get in the headspace, many authors can write from multiple locations with no problem. A good space for writing might be:

  • A dining room your family doesn’t use
  • A home office no one is using
  • A desk in your bedroom (facing away from the bed)
  • A coffee shop
  • On the porch
  • At the park

Set a Schedule

Every author can benefit from setting a designated writing time. Determine when you can work on your book and set a schedule. Some authors love sticking to a strict schedule. For others, a schedule is just a helpful guideline. At first, you may want to experiment with various lengths of time and days of the week. Figure out how long it takes you specifically to write what you want to write in a given day. Some writers may need to relegate their writing to 8 hours on Saturday. Others may have the luxury of spending 2 hours writing, 5 days a week. For inspiration from successful authors, check out Medium’s article: The Daily Routine of 20 Famous Writers (and How You Can Use Them to Succeed) .

Determine Word Count Goals

You should determine your word count goal for each writing session. Average word count goals for bestselling book authors range between 500 and 2,000 words a day. Again, for some authors, this strict word count goal is helpful. For others, it is nice to have a general goal to target — there’s no need to stress out if you don’t reach it. Of course, your word count goal is flexible. It depends on your writing schedule, your genre, your experience, your discipline, how far you are in your book, and your own personal writing habits. Many book writing tools, such as Atticus allow you to set daily word count goals and keep track for you.

Side note: Check out this fascinating article for more info: The Daily Word Counts of 19 Famous Writers .

Set Deadlines

A deadline for your writing makes you accountable. It gives you a tangible target. It drives you. How many of us didn’t do the college paper until the night before it was due? Well, you can’t write a book in one night, but the sentiment still applies. Setting a due date — even if it’s arbitrary — motivates you to keep writing, keep writing, every day on your schedule, and continue to reach your daily word count goal. Set up a way to track your time and word count progress. Atticus allows you to set an overall word count goal and a deadline to reach that overall word count. (I know I keep gushing about Atticus, but it just has so many amazing features .) Here’s a great article on How Long It Takes to Write a Book & Do it Well .

Do Your Research

Do not skip this step. This is not boring. It is necessary. You need to do your research on the market, your genre, and the specific topic you’ve chosen to write about. If you don’t, sales numbers and the quality of your book will suffer. Depending on your genre, whether you write fiction or nonfiction, and your familiarity with your future readers, you will probably need to conduct:

Market Research

Genre research, topical research.

Get to know your audience. Market research tells you what readers want. It may also predict the sort of sales you can expect. Market research might tell you that few people are interested in stories about a sentient clump of dirt. How would you market and sell that book ? Consider catering your story to the market research you discover. This isn’t selling out. This is catering to a particular audience. Figure out what your readers are looking for. Often, readers will respond to an audience avatar, which is a character the reader can really relate to. If you’re writing a fantasy book, I strongly recommend working dragons into your story. Dragons sell. The word “dragon” sells. A picture of a dragon on the cover sells.

If you’re writing a children’s book , don’t be afraid to bank on traditions: Boys love superheroes, and girls love princesses. If you’re writing a nonfiction book , try to reach an untapped market. A friend of mine is writing a book on a specific category of mobile software development that he couldn’t find any books on. He taught himself and now wants to teach others what he learned.

Genre research is critical. You need to deliver certain unspoken promises to your audience. Each genre has its own expected tropes and unspoken promises that you need to know to satisfy your reader. Find out what is typical for your genre:

  • Character archetypes
  • Word count/chapter length
  • Story structure
  • Common themes

Pro tip: Check the Amazon bestsellers list in your genre for hugely helpful research. If you write a romance book, for instance, and you don’t deliver on the expected tropes of romance, you’re going to get negative reviews and fewer sales. There is a fine line between unique and unsatisfying. Check out these great articles on genre research:

  • Tropes Readers Adore Across 15 Fiction Genres
  • 101 Horror Tropes
  • 7 Thriller Tropes That Have Stood the Test of Time
  • 101 Romance Tropes For Writers
  • Kid Novel Tropes
  • 101 Fantasy Tropes

Fiction or nonfiction, most books require some foothold in reality. Topical research entails the research you must do to fully understand what you’re writing. Readers can tell if you don’t know what you’re talking about. Even if a reader isn’t an expert, lack/misuse of jargon, an illogical timeline, or not following your own rules will key the reader in that you didn’t do your topical research. Then, you will lose credibility with the reader.

You don’t need to be a degreed expert on police procedures to write a police drama. You don’t need to scientifically study a unique type of plant to write about a forest. You don’t have to learn every detail of the War of 1812 to write a historical drama around that time. But it needs to be evident in your writing that you have taken the time to research important aspects of your book’s topic. If you can interview an expert, that’s an added bonus. You could even put that on the back cover or the foreword bragging that you did the in-person research. You need to get readers to trust you as a writer as early in your tale as possible.

Discover Your Voice & Tone

Discover your unique voice and the tone you’re most comfortable writing in. This may change between books, particularly if you swap genres or if you’re a nonfiction writer who now writes fiction. Find your unique words. Determine if humor has a place. How literary will your prose be? Read other books in your genre for inspiration. For example, one of my author friends decided to use “is/are/am/be” as little as possible in his prose, then go crazy with it in his dialogue — giving the dialogue a distinctly relaxed feeling separate from the prose. Another example is Jane Austen’s unique voice. I think of Elinor in Sense & Sensibility. Her intellectual, judicious voice was one of the first examples in the literature of the character speaking for themselves instead of an author avatar. If you benefit from writing prompts to discover your voice, try out Daily Prompt on iOS. Word to the wise: Deciding to employ unique grammar techniques is risky. Some readers are sticklers for grammar and may put down your book if it contains what they perceive as grammatical “errors.” For some readers, these choices are a distraction. For some authors, though, these changes are necessary or more aesthetically pleasing.

Choose the Best Book Writing Software for Your Project

You may already have Microsoft Word downloaded to your computer or be comfortable with Google Docs because you use it for work. But I implore you to choose the best book writing software for writing your individual project.

I use Atticus for all my fiction novel writing. MS Word may suffice, but it is definitely inferior to Atticus’s robust features emphasizing organization and customization.

Several book writing tools are available to try. Some cost a one-time fee, while others cost a monthly subscription fee. (I suggest the one-time price tag.) Be careful using Google Docs to write a novel. Once you get above 15,000 words or so, Google Docs slows down. It is designed for short-form, collaborative documents — not lengthy books, though their technology is improving. Below are 4 pieces of software for writing your book:

Microsoft Word

Read my more in-depth article on the Best Book Writing Software .

Use Atticus. It is unmatched in overall capability. Not only does it allow you to write great books, but it comes with tracking software to help you form effective writing habits, and it's a robust formatting software , which means you'll never need to use more than one program to handle the entire novel production process from start to finish.

Read my full review of Atticus .

How much does Atticus cost?

  • Atticus costs $147 as a one-time fee. This includes all current and upcoming features, including all writing, formatting, and collaboration features.
  • It works on virtually all platforms, including Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chromebook.

Scrivener is the next best thing. It has great organization and customization, but it has a steep learning curve, but only because it is such an amazing piece of software. You can upload all your research files (including images and audio) into the Binder sidebar, so everything shows up in one window. You can split-screen within Scrivener, bookmark files, or simply write with its distraction-free Composition Mode. Read my full review of Scrivener . How much does Scrivener cost?

  • Scrivener costs $49 (one-time) for Mac or Windows.
  • It’s $19.99 for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch).
  • Reduced pricing of $41.65 is available for “students & academics.”

There is a full 30-working-day free trial that only counts the days you use the app. Use Kindlepreneur’s unique discount code (KINDLEPRENEUR) to get 20% OFF your purchase.

  • Download Scrivener 3 for Mac
  • Download Scrivener 1 for Windows , which is on par with Scrivener 2 for Mac (update coming in 2021)
  • Download Scrivener 1 for iOS , which is also on par with Scrivener 2 on Mac (a handy tool for on-the-go writing with an iPad or iPhone)

Ulysses is a sleek, easy-to-use, yet customizable book writing tool. Your project syncs automatically between devices, or you can store projects locally. Not only does it look great, but it also utilizes a drag and drop functionality with its Library feature. Unfortunately for Windows users, Ulysses works only on Apple products. The price has gone up in recent years. Ulysses now costs $5.99/month or $49.99/year. However, they do offer a free 2-week trial.

Microsoft Word is the industry standard for word processing. Most people think of MS Word when you say “word processor.” However, it’s meant for memos and business letters — not novel writing. Most writers probably use MS Word because it is so ubiquitous. Heck, the famous DOC/DOCX file format originated from Microsoft Word. Stephen King uses MS Word to write his book manuscripts, as do other authors. But there are many helpful word processors out there that boast more robust features ideal for writing a book. Word is cumbersome and only suitable for writing in a linear fashion. For many writers, it is helpful to write out of order or switch around the order of scenes and chapters. In MS Word, this is very inconvenient. How much does Microsoft Word cost? Microsoft Word costs $139.99 as a one-time purchase. Alternatively, you could spend $6.99/month (or more) for a subscription to Microsoft 365, including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, and 1 TB of cloud storage on OneDrive.

Get in the Author Mindset

To get in the author mindset, a million authors will do a million different things. Figure out what you specifically need to do to get into the writing mindset, and do that every time you get ready to write. What might help you get into that author mindset:

  • Walk around outside (my favorite brainstorming method)
  • Turn on relaxing or mood-setting music ( YouTube has every playlist imaginable, including ambiance scenes to transport you anywhere you wish you were writing)
  • Read a book
  • Listen to an audiobook
  • Read your outline where you’re about to start writing
  • Sit outside and breathe in the fresh air
  • Write in a journal
  • Doodle in a notebook
  • Close everything else on your computer
  • Clear your desk

Now that you’ve done the hard work of preparation, it’s time to outline your book! This is where we diverge from planning that applies to fiction and nonfiction and focus more on an outline for a fiction novel. (If you’re writing a nonfiction book, skip to section 3 for helpful writing tips.)

Yes, you need to outline your book — whether it’s vague or very detailed. For some authors, a very general outline can give your story direction and focus, like a roadmap. For others, a highly detailed outline prevents writer’s block, improves pacing, avoids plot holes, and saves time editing after the fact. How do you begin to write a book? You begin to write a book by writing the book’s outline. Writing an outline ahead of time can preemptively prevent writer’s block, plot holes, and pacing problems. And you can always edit your outline later; it’s a living document.

  • Choose an outline type
  • Pick an outlining software
  • Actually write the outline

Check out my in-depth guide: How To Outline A Novel .

Choose an Outline Type

There are many types of novel outlines. Some are more detailed than others, so pick the outline type that best fits your individual needs:

  • A synopsis outline looks the most like an essay. When you write a synopsis , you need to summarize everything that matters to the story in 2-3 pages.
  • A beat sheet outline lists the “beats” of the story into individual paragraphs or bullet points. A beat is a change in tone, motivation, character development , etc.
  • A mind map shows the spatial relationship between characters, story beats, timelines, and chapters. You can map out any number of story elements on your mind map.
  • A scenes and sequences outline lists out all the scenes and sequences in your story, in whatever order you want. Switch the order and experiment with scene progression. This outline can be detailed or vague.
  • A character outline puts character development first. List out the critical moments in your character arcs. Check out How to Create a Character Profile .
  • A skeleton outline lists out the key plot points in your story. It is the most sparse approach to outlining.

Pick an Outlining Software

Whatever outlining software you pick, it should help you. That’s the only requirement. The best outlining software can be the same as your novel writing software. But some authors find it useful to utilize software explicitly designed for novel outlining.

  • Scrivener offers ready-made, built-in templates for plotting out all sorts of books and genres. Using these templates, you can organize your thoughts into an effective novel outline.
  • The Novel Factory is a structure-heavy novel outlining software. Easy to use, genre-specific templates, robust export capabilities — the main downside is that it isn’t available on Mac. Read my full review of The Novel Factory or download The Novel Factory today . Use my coupon code KINDLEPRENEUR to get 20% off your subscription.
  • Plot Factory is useful outlining software that offers straightforward templates, character creation features, world-building capabilities, and many more. Read my full review of Plot Factory or download Plot Factory today . Use my coupon code KINDLEPRENEUR for 35% for the first 12 months!
  • Plottr is a handy outlining tool that offers templates such as the 8 Sequences Method, Hero’s Journey , 12 Chapter Mystery Formula, and so much more. Read my full review of Plottr .
  • Microsoft Word offers a bunch of book outline templates that make creative writing easier. Plus, if you download any outline template from the web, you can likely open it with Word.
  • Google Docs is fantastic for collaboration . If you work with another person on your book outline, Google Docs autosaves to the cloud every few seconds across multiple devices at once.
  • Evernote helps you take notes in a modern, sophisticated way. Write down your notes however you want, share notes with others, and access Evernote across unlimited devices.
  • Ulysses creates projects out of fragments, such as chapters or scenes — a structure that lends itself to outlining in segments.
  • bibisco is a word processor that emphasizes character. Before you start writing, bibisco encourages you to fully map out your character beats and character arcs — great for character-led outlining.

Create the Premise

You need to create a premise for your novel. This gives your writing direction, helps with marketing, and provides you with an elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is a 30-second pitch about what makes your story interesting, unique, and worthy of attention. To create the premise of your novel, write down the following:

  • Main protagonist
  • Main antagonist
  • Secondary characters
  • Character motivations
  • Central theme
  • Inciting incident
  • The book description (seriously, you want this written before you write the book)

Now brainstorm. Write down all your thoughts, even the bad ones. Don’t censor your ideas. There are no bad ideas when you’re brainstorming. Break up your book into smaller pieces. Determine the natural progression of your main idea and central theme. Finally, consider your reader’s perspective. Is this book’s central idea what your readers want? Figure out the intersection between what you find most interesting and what audiences find most interesting. Now you have created a premise that will give your writing focus and direction. You can use this premise to entice potential readers, editors, agents, or publishers.

Craft the Setting

The setting is where the story takes place. The setting should enhance character development, plot points, mood/tone, atmosphere, suspense, the passage of time, etc. You must craft a setting that is:

  • Interesting
  • Evocative of some emotion
  • Vital to the central theme
  • Important to your character(s)
  • Well-fleshed out
  • Well-researched

Even if you don’t write down everything about your setting in the actual book, you need to understand everything about your setting. Readers can tell if you’re making the setting up as you go or if you know more than they do about where the story takes place.

Construct the Characters

Next, construct your characters , the story element with which most readers connect the most.

You must give each significant character (at least the protagonist and antagonist) a satisfying character arc. Many readers will care more about the character development than the plot development! The plot should serve characters as much as characters contribute to the plot. Give each major character:

  • Motivations
  • External conflict(s)
  • Internal conflict(s)
  • Complex relationships with other characters
  • Backstory (avoid cliches, which are very easy to include in backstories)
  • Distinct traits , including physical and personality attributes
  • Strengths and weaknesses (character flaws are essential!)

You can base characters on real-life people, but I recommend not basing your character entirely on an individual person that you know. Instead, take inspiration for one character from multiple real-life people.

When you put your character through challenging situations, remember that you should construct characters that make bold choices that move the plot forward. Your main character should be more than just an observer.

Develop the Plot

Now that you have your outline type, outlining software, premise, setting, and characters, it’s time to develop your plot.

A plot is what happens in a story.

  • In the beginning, decide what exposition you need to occur in the plot before the inciting incident. How will you introduce your main character(s)? How will you get readers to care about the main character(s)?
  • After the inciting incident that starts the central conflict of the book, what rising actions occur? There should be twists and turns, surprising character development, and satisfying payoffs to promises made by the genre choice or premise.
  • To avoid the mid-novel slump, continue to put your character through hardships and mini-conflicts that engage the reader and keep up your story’s pace.
  • Usually, before the climax, the main character faces their lowest point. This is where he or she hits rock bottom.
  • The climax should solve the main conflict of the novel. It should be the most intense, satisfying section of your book.
  • The resolution is usually pretty short. What character arcs and side plots need to be resolved? Are there any unanswered questions?
  • Finally, a denouement is the very ending. What is the last thing that happens in your book?

Some authors may benefit from writing their plot on a physical piece of paper or index cards to start with. It may help to use a plot structure, especially if this is your first time writing a novel. You can use any of these templates (or none of them — it’s your book!):

  • Three-Act Story Structure
  • Hero’s Journey Template (by Joseph Campbell)
  • The Snowflake Method (by Randy Ingermanson)
  • Save the Cat Beat Worksheet (by Blake Snyder)
  • The One-Page Outline

It may sound simple, but writing a book takes hard work and determination. You have your goals, your space, your topic, and your research. Now you need to write that book!

Read my article on How to Start a Story that Hooks Readers Right Away . As long as you have an outline, writer’s block and procrastination shouldn’t be significant problems. Whenever you sit down to write, go to whatever scene in your outline speaks to you most. Yes, you can write a book out of order — and it’s easy to do with a detailed outline. Some authors may write in a very linear fashion. Depending on the narrative, it may be necessary to write every chapter and scene in order. There are many rules of writing a book, including industry standards for formatting, grammar, and avoiding cliches. I cover 20 major writing rules below, but there are also many “rules” of writing a book that you can choose not to obey, as long as you have a good reason. How many pages should a book be? A book can be any number of pages, depending on audience and genre. A novel is defined as at least 40,000 words (or about 150 novel pages), though most authors aim to double that word count. Fantasy and science fiction tend to be longer. Nonfiction books vary wildly, depending on how long it takes to thoroughly discuss the topic. Because you have the outline from the previous section, I’m not going to take you through how to write a beginning, middle, and end to your story. I’ve already covered how to outline those. However, I think this is the place for handy tips and tricks that every author should know.

Follow These Writing Principles

Although most of these are strong suggestions, not necessarily must-dos, these writing principles can guide you through your writing process and result in a higher quality book. 20 writing tips, tricks, industry standards, and guiding principles for authors:

  • Come up with a book title before you write. A title can give you direction, guidance, and focus. However, change it if need be. In the middle of writing, or after you’re finished, experiment with various title options. Check out this Book Title Generator .
  • Pick a subtitle for marketing purposes. A subtitle can increase your novel’s visibility by including valuable keywords that are great for searchability and marketing purposes.
  • Choose a basic typeface. When you’re writing a manuscript, stick with Times New Roman. When you’re submitting your manuscript to a publisher or a literary agent, they don’t want to see fancy fonts or weird formatting.
  • Don’t start with a cliché. Beginning clichés include waking up, looking in a mirror, lots of dialogue, a dream sequence, a weather description, backstory, and similar book beginnings you’ve heard many times. Some experts even argue against starting with an action scene or prologue, but I would disagree. Those last two can be done well.
  • Don’t start with an info dump. This is a common mistake for new book writers. They want to orient readers into their story’s world and setting. They want to immediately describe everything about their characters that they worked so hard to develop. But you need to start your novel with a hook, a little mystery, and an action (not an action scene, to be precise). An info dump on the first page will scare off readers, editors, agents, etc.
  • Stick to one perspective. If you want to write in a first-person perspective, stick to it. Same for third-person — but with the added caveat of omniscient vs. limited. Beginner’s tip: Don’t use the first person for a first novel; it can easily come off as amateurish and overly introspective. Also, most writers should never use more than 1-3 POV characters. George R.R. Martin is the rare exception.
  • Stick to one tense. Your book should probably be in the past tense. Present tense books from first-time authors tend to read as amateurish. However, young adult books may work in the present tense. Whatever you choose, stick to it. Do not go in and out of present tense. Read this article on when to use “had/have/has” in past tense flashbacks.
  • Use adverbs sparingly. Adverbs may be a crutch for many inexperienced authors. Instead of an adverb, you should use a powerful verb that expresses gripping action without needing an adverb. For example, instead of your main character “loudly saying” an important line of dialogue, perhaps she should “exclaim” it.
  • Avoid “to be. ” Like avoiding adverbs, avoid “to be,” and its conjugates is/am/are/was/were. Use them whenever necessary, of course. But “to be” may signal passive voice and can often be replaced with a more powerful verb.
  • Be careful with pronouns. Pronouns are great tools for avoiding repetition. However, you don’t want to confuse the reader with multiple he’s and she’s and they’s. When you finish a chapter, read it aloud and see if you confuse yourself with any pronoun usage.
  • Ensure every chapter has conflict. Without conflict, your reader feels no stakes or urgency. Every single page should feature conflict and the progression towards its resolution. When you’re about to write a chapter — or finish one — ask yourself if that chapter has/had conflict. No? Then cut it. (Or rework it.)
  • Make every sentence reveal character or advance the action. This is Kurt Vonnegut’s incredible advice that still holds true today. If a sentence doesn't accomplish one or both of these things, remove it. If the paragraph still makes sense, leave that sentence out.
  • Never answer every question. From the first page, your readers need a question that demands an answer. You can introduce any number of questions, but never leave all the questions answered. An unanswered question is what makes readers want to keep reading. Answer a question here and there to satisfy readers with a sense of progression, but never answer every question.
  • Avoid lengthy sentences. Sometimes, a long sentence is needed. More often than not, however, readers digest shorter sentences better. Especially in action scenes, suspenseful sequences, or heated arguments, lengthy sentences disrupt the momentum.
  • Format your dialogue correctly. Commas and periods almost always go inside quotation marks. Check out my article on formatting dialogue for more in-depth info.
  • Use dialogue tags sparingly. Dialogue tags, like “they said” or “she answered” or “Taylor sang” can be useful. However, replace dialogue tags with action tags from the speaker for more spice and less repetition. For instance, don’t write [Greg said, “Where are you?”]. Write [Greg cupped his hands around his mouth. “Where are you?”] instead.
  • Don’t use flowery dialogue tags. “Said” is basically an invisible word. You can use it over and over without the reader noticing. Don’t replace it with more exciting words: elucidated, informed, filibustered, clarified, etc. These can easily distract the reader and ruin the flow of the conversation.
  • Give your characters bold choices. Make sure your characters are making bold choices that progress the plot. No one wants to read about a casual observer in an otherwise fascinating narrative. The main character should directly affect the story.
  • Create likable characters. You readers will root for your characters if the characters do likable things. Have your character show kindness to someone who is bullied. Have your character tell the truth in the face of a lie. Have your character save a cat from a tree (any Blake Snyder fans?).
  • Create unlikable characters. Inversely, you probably want readers to hate certain characters in your book. Have your antagonist bully someone smaller or weaker than him/her. Have your antagonist lie, even if it’s petty and seems insignificant. Give your antagonist snarky comebacks to everything people say. But be careful — you don’t want too many unlikable characters. The most fun part of these characters is working in their comeuppance into the ending of your novel.

Take a Break Before Editing

Once you’ve finished your first draft, take a break. You deserve it! You’ll likely go through a second draft, third draft, beta reader draft, professional edit draft, and another professionally edited draft before you get to your final draft. But those will all be easier than writing the darn thing. You’ve conquered the behemoth. You’ve finished a book. No one can take that away from you. Now sleep in for a few days.

Editing your book may take a lot of time, but it doesn’t have to be difficult or stressful.

You must edit your own book; then , you must hire a human editor. There’s no getting around it. No professional author publishes his/her first draft: not James Patterson, J.K. Rowling, or Joyce Carol Oates. You need to edit your own book to be the best it can be before an editor makes it even better. You need to hire a human editor to go over your book, or readers will be distracted by every little mistake you missed: grammar, spelling, word choice, amateurish writing style, all sorts of errors. Now here’s where the article diverges into 2 paths:

  • If you’re traditionally publishing, the publishing house will pay for a human editor.
  • If you’re self-publishing, you will need to pay for a human editor.

When editing, it’s almost always better to cut than to add. Although it can feel like you’re cutting off parts of your baby, some subplots, useless characters, lengthy descriptions, and directionless twists hurt your story more than they help it. Let’s break up the editing process into 3 steps:

  • Developmental edits
  • Scene edits

Developmental Edits

When editing, you should deal with developmental edits first. These are big picture edits that become clearer after the entire narrative has been created. For a nonfiction book, these edits frequently involve the clarity, focus, and consistency of your primary theme. Ask yourself questions such as:

  • Are there places the information or storytelling bogs down the pace?
  • Is my voice consistent throughout the book?
  • Are there any gaps in my content or places where the flow feels disorganized?
  • Does my book meet the need of my audience or just my own vision?

Read Cascadia’s breakdown of developmental editing for nonfiction books . For a fiction book, developmental edits include making changes to your:

Your characters should have clear motivation , distinct characteristics, believable choices, and satisfying character arcs. Readers experience your book through the characters’ eyes, so characters are usually your most important story element. Changing characters may mean changing many scenes or even adding scenes to elucidate their traits and motivations. Your plot should be engaging, believable, satisfying, and free of plot holes. Your plot should follow a plot structure and genre expectations. If your plot doesn’t check any of these boxes, consider editing your story’s overall plot. This might mean cutting out or adding entire chapters. Make sure there are no loose ends or plot points that go nowhere. Your ending should be preceded by a build-up, foreshadowing, set-ups, and a clear central theme summed up by said ending. Your conflict should engage the reader, further the character development, and make them want to keep turning pages. Consider editing your central conflict if you see ways to strengthen your conflict. Every chapter needs to have a conflict, as well as advancing the overall conflict. Look through your table of contents , and ask of each chapter, “What is the conflict happening in this chapter?” Your theme needs to be clearly conveyed, usually via your plot, characters’ motivations, and conflict/resolution. If you think your themes don’t come across clearly enough, you may need to adjust certain scenes to clarify your central theme. Beta readers are really helpful in determining whether your themes come across.

Scene Edits

We’ve got our big picture developmental edits out of the way. Now let’s dive into scene-by-scene edits, a critical step for editing fiction. Here’s a checklist for when you do your scene edits:

  • Each scene and sequence should contribute to character development or the central conflict. Scenes can contribute to worldbuilding, backstory, and atmosphere, but no scene should go by without character development or conflict development.
  • Always start a scene in media res (in the middle of the action). It helps with pacing, keeps readers engaged, and offers up a mini-question for you to answer right away.
  • Always end a scene with a cliffhanger, however small. Keep your readers asking questions and turning those pages.
  • Make sure every scene is correctly oriented in time and location. Readers need to know where and when everything is happening. Near the beginning of each scene, insert a brief physical description of the unique qualities of where the scene takes place.
  • If one scene is a lot longer than other scenes, ensure that your physical descriptions aren’t overly long, or that your dialogue doesn’t go on and on, or that your action scenes aren’t slow-paced.
  • If one scene is shorter than other scenes, determine whether the pacing is too rushed, whether you skipped establishing time and location, or whether that scene could be combined with another.
  • Every scene needs a consistent voice, a consistent POV, and a consistent tone.
  • Of course, show, don’t tell in every scene.

Now you can proofread and edit your book, line by line. If you don’t have the dexterity to pour over every sentence for grammar, spelling, word choice, and more, then you can use proofreading software like ProWritingAid or Grammarly . Hemingway is another valid option, but it’s my third choice compared to the other two. List of common errors you should fix in copy edits:

  • Passive voice
  • Too many commas
  • Filter words (which are most common when writing in the first person)
  • Too many adverbs
  • Inconsistent voice or POV
  • Too many pronouns, especially the nonspecific “it”
  • Sentences that go on, and on, and on
  • Improper subject-verb agreement
  • Misused words
  • Repeated words
  • Overused jargon

Stop Editing Your Own Book

Once you’ve edited and edited and edited, know when it’s time to stop. You’ve done well. You’ve spent the time necessary to improve your manuscript. Now reward yourself with a week’s rest.

Authors may have big egos.

Not you, of course — other authors…

But it is essential to separate yourself from your work and get feedback from beta readers, professional proofreaders, and editors. You can get feedback from anyone, but I recommend you seek feedback mainly from folks who know something about writing, publishing, or book marketing. Librarians, avid readers, English majors — these people may give you the most constructive feedback.

Enlist Beta Readers

Enlist beta readers to give you feedback. Find willing beta readers on social media , friend groups, and anywhere else you can imagine. Alternatively, you can find a critique partner. This is basically a beta reader for whom you also beta read. Usually, critique partners have some experience in the field, so they can prove very helpful. Plus, most are free. How many beta readers should you have? You should have at least 3-5 beta readers, but some new writers cast a wider net for more feedback opportunities. Unfortunately, some beta readers may never get around to reading your work. They are doing this for free, so don’t harbor too many grievances. I do recommend creating some kind of guide, like a few questions to ask themselves as they're reading. A deadline can also help. Although you want feedback, don’t necessarily make any changes until 2 or 3 beta readers give you the same feedback. Some authors enlist beta readers after they’ve hired a professional proofreader. But I say that’s not necessary.

Hire Editor(s)

You need at least one professional human editor to look over your work. And yes, this is after you’ve edited it yourself. You need to present your best work to a human editor and let him or her make it even better. If you’re publishing through a traditional publisher, they will hire editors in return for a share of your royalties. If you’re self-publishing, this is a necessary (and tax-deductible) expense. And I won’t lie to you: Full-time editors cost money. A copy editor or line editor is different from a proofreader. Here are the 4 types of editors , in chronological order of when they should be hired in your editing process:

  • Developmental editors are the first editor you should hire. They can be the most expensive, but they look at your whole book and help you know what big picture changes you should make to improve your overall story.
  • Line editors focus on the flow of ideas, transitional elements, mood, tone, voice, and style throughout your entire book. They make sentences crisper and tighter by fixing redundancy and verbosity issues and improve awkward sentence and paragraph construction without a full rewrite.
  • Copy editors make changes to the text, including spelling, grammar, word choice, syntax errors, and punctuation use. (“Copy editing” means something different in the UK; there, it’s akin to proofreading.)
  • Proofreaders search for last-minute spelling, grammar, and minor formatting mistakes. A professional proofreader looking over your formatted book should be the final step before publishing.

Of course, you don’t need to hire all four editors. I recommend hiring a developmental editor early in the editing process, a line editor near the end of the editing process, and a proofreader with formatting experience right before publishing. How do you find a great book editor? The best way to find a book editor you can trust is often a word-of-mouth referral from an accomplished author. You may also try book editing services that connect you with fantastic editors for your book. How much does an editor cost?

  • Developmental editors may cost $1,000 and $8,000, depending on your manuscript length and the individual proofreading professional.
  • Line editors charge between $600 and $2,000.
  • Copy editors run between $300 and $1,200.
  • Proofreaders will set you back between $200 and $1,000.

Check out these helpful articles:

  • Book Editing 101
  • Book Editing Blueprint (a fantastic class I’d recommend!)
  • List of the Best Book Editors and How to Select Them
  • Best Proofreading Software
  • Best Proofreading Services You'll Ever Find

Build Your Launch Team

Your launch team ( ARC team ) is a group of people who help your book launch prove as successful as possible. Members of your launch team leave (glowing but honest) reviews on Amazon and share the book’s launch with their circle of influence. The more book reviews you have, the more Amazon suggests your book to other readers. Also, good reviews of your book mean more people are likely to buy your book. A launch team could include:

  • Beta readers
  • Friends/family who want to support you
  • Fans of your previous work
  • Readers of your blog
  • Followers on your social media
  • Critique partners
  • Business contacts
  • Fellow authors

When you recruit launch team members, make sure they know what to do on launch day/week and kindly hold them accountable for following through. Offer freebies to encourage follow-through.

Publish & Market Your Book!

Finally, it’s time to publish your book. And don’t forget you have to market your own book, too — whether you’re going through the self-publishing or traditional publishing process.

When you publish your book, make sure you format your book correctly , nail your back cover blurb , have a stellar book cover (traditional publishers will usually pay for this), and properly organize the front matter and back matter . Hopefully, you know that you have to start marketing your book long before it hits shelves and the online marketplace. Be sure to check out my podcast about book marketing . Here are some articles you can read to learn more about book marketing:

  • Book Marketing 101
  • Kindle Keywords for Self-Publishers
  • Ultimate List of the Best Book Review Blogs
  • How to Use Surveys to Sell More Books
  • Best Email Services for Authors
  • How to Sell Your Books in an Indie Bookstore

Dave Chesson

Related posts, writing a book for the first time a breakdown of the complete process, how to write the best novel outline of 2024: 6 easy steps, sell more books on amazon, amazon kindle rankings e-book.

Learn how to rank your Kindle book #1 on Amazon with our collection of time-tested tips and tricks.

3 thoughts on “ How to Write a Book in 2024: The Ultimate Guide for Authors ”

Loved this format, Dave – am currently editing my next book, so could skip right to that section for tips. The bloggers list will also come in handy for me very soon, so that’s much appreciated too!

I really enjoyed this article. There were many good points I never considered. I am a new writer. I self-published my first book in 2008, it is on Amazon. I am working on a second novel and it is in the revising stage. I cannot afford an editor, so I hope my editing will be enough. I plan to submit to Amazon.

Thank you so much for the hard work you put into making this information available for authors or soon to be authors, it was much needed.

I laughed over the idea of outlining software. Really? I do my initial outline in longhand in my plots notebook, where I also describe the characters. I wouldn’t feel connected to them if I did them onscreen. Then I outline 6 chapters ahead, on the end of my document, erasing or moving events around as I go with the chapters written. It sounds like someone has come up with a way to make authors spend more. If I want to write out of order, I add a scene or convo to the plot outline to slot in. Word is quite flexible enough! You don’t need any fancy software. Indeed, you can do it longhand with a separate notebook for outlines. And then edit the first time on transcription, which is more efficient than writing to screen. Only arthritis makes me abandon the habit.

Comments are closed.

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How to Write and Publish a Book

Last Updated: December 30, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Lucy V. Hay . Lucy V. Hay is a Professional Writer based in London, England. With over 20 years of industry experience, Lucy is an author, script editor, and award-winning blogger who helps other writers through writing workshops, courses, and her blog Bang2Write. Lucy is the producer of two British thrillers, and Bang2Write has appeared in the Top 100 round-ups for Writer’s Digest & The Write Life and is a UK Blog Awards Finalist and Feedspot’s #1 Screenwriting blog in the UK. She received a B.A. in Scriptwriting for Film & Television from Bournemouth University. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 496,753 times.

Writing a good book is a big achievement. Your book could either turn you into a celebrity and/or millionaire or gather dust at the bottom shelves of a bookstore. (Most would probably prefer the first option.) So, to guide you towards this future here's a few helpful tips to pave your way towards literature stardom.

Start by setting daily goals you can accomplish. Once you finally have a book, look at your publishing options. Before you officially commit yourself to what could be a literary masterpiece, please keep in mind that getting a book published is not easy, especially if you want your book to be published by a major publishing company such as Penguin Books or HarperCollins. Be open to disappointments and possible failures. But don't allow those setbacks to hinder you. After all, many famous authors now have experienced dozens of rejections. Who knows? You may one day join the ranks of J.K Rowling, James Patterson, and other accomplished authors.

Writing Your Book

Step 1 Begin forming ideas.

  • Start off by deciding what type of book you'd like to present. Is it an educational book covering topics like math, science or business and finance? Perhaps it is a novel, or maybe even an autobiography.
  • Whichever type of writer you are is fine. The trick is following an idea down the proverbial rabbit hole.
  • Stephen King, a famous author has noted that he doesn’t write ideas down in a notebook. To him “A writer’s notebook is the best way in the world to immortalize bad ideas.” This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t write ideas down in a notebook you carry around. If that works for you, grab a notebook and jot your ideas down. But be cautious about which ideas you do write down. Ask yourself, if you didn’t write this idea down, would it be good enough to remember tomorrow?
  • Once you find inspiration for an idea you want to pursue, start writing.

Lucy V. Hay

Lucy V. Hay

Expert Trick: Everyone loves a good ending, so why not start with that? Figure out where you want to go, then plot backward from there.

Step 2 Don't worry about errors; you can correct your writing later.

  • When writing a book, and hoping to get it published, you will write many drafts before it’s ready to send out. Some of those drafts will probably include major changes to your story. But at the beginning, you’re just trying to build a world and get your ideas on paper, or your screen.
  • Focus on building your characters. Some books are plot heavy, and that’s ok. But a book that people typically want to read is really about the characters and the importance of the situation you put those characters in.
  • While the plot moves a story along, it’s the moments between characters that sell a book. Whether you’re writing fantasy like Harry Potter, or a strict novel like Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen.
  • Focus on the “Who” you are writing about. The “When” “What” “Where” “Why” and “How” will come more naturally. [1] X Research source

Step 3 Set daily writing goals.

  • Whether you set a goal of 300 words a day, or a goal of one hour, doing so will help you stay on track. 300 words a day isn’t much but can be a great starting place. If you’re new to writing, or very busy, give yourself a smaller goal which you can easily meet.
  • Large goals are much harder to meet and will often cause you to not write at all. You are taking one step at a time, and in the end, you will have arrived at your large, final goal.
  • You can increase your daily goal as you continue along, or if you have more free time to write. Just make sure you can stick to it. Even if you feel stuck in your writing, press on and reach your goal. You never know when you’ll get some inspiration.
  • Work in a quiet or empty place. Finding a quiet place where you can focus, and which you can make yours is invaluable to writing. Even if you write at a coffee shop, find a corner where you won’t be too distracted.

Step 4 Stay diligent.

  • Following and reaching your daily goal will help you stay on course. The act of sitting in your chair and chiseling away will help you make reaching that goal a reality.
  • Try to have a set time to write every day in addition to a daily goal. John Grisham has published many best-selling books, and he started his writing career while he was a lawyer. He got up early every morning and wrote one page.
  • Make writing a habit you can’t quit. Find that unique place to write and do it every day at the same time.

Step 5 Get early feedback.

  • If you’re not part of one already, consider joining a local writer’s workshop. These groups will help you flesh out your ideas, give you feedback, and keep you accountable.
  • Use the internet. If you’re nervous about showing someone you know your work, find an online forum where you can get feedback and bounce ideas back and forth. Places like /r/Writing on Reddit.com offer options for you to get help on your work. [2] X Research source

Editing Your Book and Preparing to Publish

Step 1 Categorize your book.

  • For beginner readers, aged 5-8, word length 5,000-10,000
  • For confident readers, aged 7-10, word length 10,000-30,000
  • For middle readers, aged 11-14, word length 30,000-55,000
  • For teenage readers, aged 13-16, word length 40,000-60,000
  • For mature teenage and older readers, aged 15+, word length 40,000-100,000
  • For a total list and for more information and writing and publishing, go to "Submission Guidelines" on the Allen and Unwin website. [1]

Step 2 Recheck and re-edit your story.

  • While you do need to edit and give the editing process as much attention as, if not more than the actual writing, you also need a break. You’ve been living inside this story you’ve created and now it’s time for a vacation. Giving yourself time will help you get into the editing mindset. Because, as the editor, you have to look at your work with a cold eye, ready to chop up it up and make changes.
  • When you do start editing, edit as much as you need to, but don't keep editing if you don't know what the problem is. If you don’t have a concrete solution, you’ll chop up your story and have no idea how to put it back together.
  • Over-editing is possible and dangerous, so get others to check your work. Another pair of eyes can spot gaps that you overlooked because you’re so close to your work.
  • Get someone you trust to give you notes and feedback. So far, you’ve been operating in a vacuum. There will be parts that need work that will be hard for you find on your own.
  • Read others’ notes, and then put the notes away. You probably won’t like what someone else’s notes are. So read the notes, decompress, and after some time go back and incorporate the ones which are helpful. Discard the ones which aren’t.

Step 3 Get an editor to look over your book.

  • A professional editor is especially valuable if you’re going to self-publish. The last thing you want is a glaring, yet silly, spelling error in your book after all of your hard work.
  • The right editor will be able to bring clarity and flow to your narrative without changing your voice.
  • Your editor will bring a much needed objective eye to your work and will help you not only fix those small errors but help you find the true story underneath all the extra stuff you don’t need.
  • An editor will also, at the end of the day, make your book look professional.

Step 4 Do a final check to make sure you’re ready to publish.

  • Make sure you have a good title you’re ready to stick with.
  • Start building buzz on social media. Create a Facebook page and Twitter profile for your book. Post frequently with updates about what’s going on, next steps, and other exciting information.

Publishing Your Book

Step 1 Consider getting an agent.

  • You won’t always need an agent. If you plan to go the self-publishing route, you may find that an agent is something you can do without.
  • Look for agents on sites like PublishersMarketplace.com. Here you can search many profiles and see what kinds of work are getting published. [5] X Research source
  • Query Letter. A one-page pitch letter that describes your work.
  • Book Synopsis. A brief summary of your story.
  • Nonfiction proposal (if you’re writing for nonfiction). This is a very detailed document, usually around twenty to thirty pages, that outlines your argument for why your book deserves to be published. [6] X Research source
  • Sample chapters, or your whole manuscript.

Step 2 Research different publishers.

  • Some publishers only choose to publish or even read solicited material, manuscripts which have gone through an agent.
  • Agents and publishers also like material which either comes from already known authors or writers. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t attract the attention of either. These people will want to see that you have a following, and are being self-promotional on social media.
  • Some publishers such as Penguin or Allen & Unwin will also look at your manuscript if you aren’t represented by an agent.
  • Check out self-publishing options. [7] X Research source Self-publishing might sound like a way to circumvent a bunch of people who will just say “no” to you. But it’s hard work, and the reason there are people who publish books is because these people know how to best do it. If you’re going to self-publish, you have to find a good distributor if you’re going to publish hard copies. You can also self-publish your story as an ebook through Amazon’s self-publishing site. [8] X Research source

Step 3 Narrow your publishing options.

  • Some choose to publish for adults only and in selected genres while others may have a wider range of books that are accepted.
  • All information should be available on the publisher’s websites. Some have different guidelines and word limits, or whether your book need be solicited or not.
  • Almost all publishers require a hard copy (printed) manuscript of your story. Also, keep in mind the specifications. Some publishers prefer double-spaced lines, with a certain type of font in a certain size, etc.
  • Stick to what is specified. Do not send emailed copies or ones on a disc, unless stated you may.
  • Never send in your original or only copy of anything. You will not get your materials back.

Step 4 Consider self-publishing online.

  • The KDP service is free to use, however, Amazon will keep up to 70% of your profits.
  • If you are self-publishing online, make sure that you have gotten your book edited professionally and have had the cover designed by a professional graphic designer.
  • All the work of promoting your book will also fall on you when you use this method.
  • Be realistic. You’re most likely not going to become the next breakout hit with your first book. You won’t gain fame overnight. It takes several books and many years to gain a solid reputation in most cases.

Step 5 Wait and stay patient.

  • It may take up to four months or more, to get your book reviewed.
  • If you get a “yes” from a publisher, well done! You get to see it in the stores! However, the publisher may not advertise it for you. That will fall to an agent. The good news is getting an agent after you have a book deal is easier. But remember, that in most cases, the advertising usually falls on you.

Write Your First Book with this Expert Series

1 - Begin Writing a Book

Community Q&A

Community Answer

  • Remember; regardless of your age, most publishers will still publish for you if your story is good. Be prepared to take criticism and use it wisely. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
  • Always edit your own work before submitting it. No publishing company will accept your work if it's full of spelling and grammatical errors or inconsistencies. Also, consider a professional editor to help you. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
  • Keep writing! While everyone has a different editing style, most people find it most helpful to write as much as possible while the ideas are fresh and revise the story later. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

how to write a book for dummies

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Annotate a Book

  • ↑ https://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/5Ws.pdf
  • ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/
  • ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jun/14/importance-good-book-editing
  • ↑ https://janefriedman.com/find-literary-agent/
  • ↑ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/
  • ↑ https://janefriedman.com/start-here-how-to-write-a-book-proposal/
  • ↑ http://lifehacker.com/how-to-self-publish-your-own-book-1610916214
  • ↑ http://www.amazon.com/gp/seller-account/mm-summary-page.html?topic=200260520

About This Article

Lucy V. Hay

Writing and publishing a book can be a lot of work, but you can get started by setting a realistic goal, like writing 300 words every day. Additionally, get regular feedback from people you trust to be honest with you, and continue writing until you’re happy with the finished product. After that, get a professional editor to help polish your writing and make it sound more professional. Then, research publishers and self-publishing options to figure out the best way to publish your book. For tips on how to find publishers who work with first-time authors, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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10 Ridiculously Simple Steps for Writing a Book

Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words. –Mark Twain

The hard part of writing a book isn’t getting published . It's the actual writing. In this article, I offer 10 steps for writing a book along with 10 bonus steps.

How to Write a Book

As the bestselling author of five books , I can tell you without hesitation that the hardest part of a writer's job is sitting down to do the work. Books don’t just write themselves, after all. You have to invest everything you are into creating an important piece of work.

For years, I dreamed of being a professional writer. I believed I had important things to say that the world needed to hear. But as I look back on what it really takes to become an author, I realize how different the process was from my expectations.

To begin with, you don’t just sit down to write a book. That's not how writing works. You write a sentence, then a paragraph, then maybe if you’re lucky, an entire chapter. Writing happens in fits and starts, in bits and pieces. It’s a process.

The way you get the work done is not complicated. You take one step at a time, then another and another. As I look back on the books I’ve written, I can see how the way they were made was not as glamorous as I once thought.

How to really write a book

In this post, I'll teach you the fundamental steps you need to write a book. I've worked hard to make this easy to digest and super practical, so you can start making progress.

And just a heads up: if you dream of authoring a bestselling book like I have and you're looking for a structured plan to guide you through the writing process, I have a special opportunity for you at the end of this post where I break the process down.

But first, let's look at the big picture. What does it take to write a book? It happens in three phases:

  • Beginning : You have to start writing. This sounds obvious, but it may be the most overlooked step in the process. You write a book by deciding first what you’re going to write and how you’re going to write it.
  • Staying motivated : Once you start writing, you will face self-doubt and overwhelm and a hundred other adversaries. Planning ahead for those obstacles ensures you won’t quit when they come.
  • Finishing : Nobody cares about the book that you almost wrote. We want to read the one you actually finished, which means no matter what, the thing that makes you a writer is your ability not to start a project, but to complete one.

Below are 10 ridiculously simple tips that fall under each of these three major phases plus an additional 10 bonus tips. I hope they help you tackle and finish the book you dream of writing.

Phase 1: Getting started

We all have to start somewhere. With writing a book, the first phase is made up of four parts:

1. Decide what the book is about

Good writing is always about something. Write the argument of your book in a sentence, then stretch that out to a paragraph, and then to a one-page outline. After that, write a table of contents to help guide you as you write, then break each chapter into a few sections. Think of your book in terms of beginning, middle, and end. Anything more complicated will get you lost.

2. Set a daily word count goal

John Grisham began his writing career as a lawyer and new dad — in other words, he was really busy. Nonetheless, he got up an hour or two early every morning and wrote a page a day. After a couple of years, he had a novel. A page a day is only about 300 words. You don’t need to write a lot. You just need to write often. Setting a daily goal will give you something to aim for. Make it small and attainable so that you can hit your goal each day and start building momentum.

3. Set a time to work on your book every day

Consistency makes creativity easier. You need a daily deadline to do your work — that’s how you’ll finish writing a book. Feel free to take a day off, if you want, but schedule that ahead of time. Never let a deadline pass; don’t let yourself off the hook so easily. Setting a daily deadline and regular writing time will ensure that you don’t have to think about when you will write. When it’s time to write, it’s time to write.

4. Write in the same place every time

It doesn’t matter if it’s a desk or a restaurant or the kitchen table. It just needs to be different from where you do other activities. Make your writing location a special space, so that when you enter it, you’re ready to work. It should remind you of your commitment to finish this book. Again, the goal here is to not think and just start writing.

Phase 2: Doing the work

Now, it's time to get down to business. Here, we are going to focus on the next three tips to help you get the book done:

5. Set a total word count

Begin with the end in mind. Once you’ve started writing, you need a total word count for your book. Think in terms of 10-thousand work increments and break each chapter into roughly equal lengths. Here are some general guiding principles:

  • 10,000 words = a pamphlet or business white paper. Read time = 30-60 minutes.
  • 20,000 words = short eBook or manifesto. The Communist Manifesto is an example of this, at about 18,000 words. Read time = 1-2 hours.
  • 40,000–60,000 words = standard nonfiction book / novella. The Great Gatsby is an example of this. Read time = three to four hours.
  • 60,000–80,000 words = long nonfiction book / standard-length novel. Most Malcolm Gladwell books fit in this range. Read time = four to six hours.
  • 80,000 words–100,000 words = very long nonfiction book / long novel. The Four-Hour Work Week falls in this range.
  • 100,000+ words = epic-length novel / academic book / biography. Read time = six to eight hours. The Steve Jobs biography would fit this category.

6. Give yourself weekly deadlines

You need a weekly goal. Make it a word count to keep things objective. Celebrate the progress you’ve made while still being honest about how much work is left to do. You need to have something to aim for and a way to measure yourself. This is the only way I ever get any work done: with a deadline.

7. Get early feedback

Nothing stings worse than writing a book and then having to rewrite it, because you didn’t let anyone look at it. Have a few trusted advisers to help you discern what’s worth writing. These can be friends, editors, family. Just try to find someone who will give you honest feedback early on to make sure you’re headed in the right direction.

Phase 3: Finishing

How do you know when you're done? Short answer: you don't. Not really. So here's what you do to end this book-writing process well:

8. Commit to shipping

No matter what, finish the book. Set a deadline or have one set for you. Then release it to the world. Send it to the publisher, release it on Amazon, do whatever you need to do to get it in front of people. Just don’t put it in your drawer. The worst thing would be for you to quit once this thing is written. That won’t make you do your best work and it won’t allow you to share your ideas with the world.

9. Embrace failure

As you approach the end of this project, know that this will be hard and you will most certainly mess up. Just be okay with failing, and give yourself grace. That’s what will sustain you — the determination to continue, not your elusive standards of perfection.

10. Write another book

Most authors are embarrassed by their first book. I certainly was. But without that first book, you will never learn the lessons you might otherwise miss out on. So, put your work out there, fail early, and try again. This is the only way you get better. You have to practice, which means you have to keep writing.

Every writer started somewhere, and most of them started by squeezing their writing into the cracks of their daily lives. That’s how I began, and it may be where you begin, as well. The ones who make it are the ones who show up day after day. You can do the same.

The reason most people never finish their books

Every year, millions of books go unfinished. Books that could have helped people, brought beauty or wisdom into the world. But they never came to be. And in one way or another, the reason is always the same: the author quit.

Maybe you've dealt with this. You started writing a book but never completed it. You got stuck and didn't know how to finish. Or you completed your manuscript but didn't know what to do after. Worse yet, you wrote a book, but nobody cared about it. Nobody bought or read it.

I've been there before.

In fact, the first couple books I wrote didn't do that well at all — even with a traditional publisher. It took me years to learn this, but here's what nobody ever told me:

Before you can launch a bestseller, first you have to write one.

What I mean by that is so many writers sit down to write their masterpiece, assuming that's all there is to it. Just sit down and write. But as I've studied the world's most gifted and successful authors, I've noticed this is not what the masters do. They are far more intentional than simply sitting and letting the words flow.

This is the part that I never learned in any English class. Producing work that sells is not just about writing what you think is good. It's about finding an idea that will both excite you and excite an audience. It's about being intentional and thinking through the whole process while having proper accountability to keep you going.

In other words, the writing process matters. It matters a lot. You have to not only finish your book but write one worthy of being sold. And if you want to maximize your chances of finishing your book, you need a proven plan.

Writing books has changed my life. It helped me clarify my thinking, find my calling as an author, and has provided endless opportunities to make an impact on the world and a living for my family.

Bonus: 10 more writing tips!

If you need some help staying motivated, here are another 10 tips to help you keep going in the process:

11. Only write one chapter at a time

Write and publish a novel, one chapter at a time, using Amazon Kindle Singles, Wattpad, or sharing with your email list subscribers.

12. Write a shorter book

The idea of writing a 500-page masterpiece can be paralyzing. Instead, write a short book of poems or stories. Long projects are daunting. Start small.

13. Start a blog to get feedback early

Getting feedback early and often helps break up the overwhelm. Start a website on WordPress or Tumblr and use it to write your book a chapter or scene at a time. Then eventually publish all the posts in a hardcopy book. This is a little different than traditional blogging, but the same concepts apply. 

14. Keep an inspiration list

You need it in order to keep fresh ideas flowing. Read constantly, and use a system to capture, organize and find the content you’ve curated. I use Evernote , but use a system that works for you.

15. Keep a journal

Then, rewrite the entries in a much more polished book format, but use some photocopies or scans of the journal pages as illustrations in the book. You could even sell “deluxe” editions that come with photocopied versions of the journal.

16. Deliver consistently

Some days, it’s easy to write. Some days, it’s incredibly hard. The truth is: inspiration is merely a byproduct of your hard work. You can’t wait for inspiration. The Muse is really an out-of-work bum who won’t move until you do. Show her who’s boss and that you mean business.

17. Take frequent breaks

Niel Fiore, the author of The Now Habit , says, “There is one main reason why we procrastinate: It rewards us with temporary relief from stress.” If you’re constantly stressed about your unfinished book, you’ll end up breaking your schedule. Instead, plan for breaks ahead of time so you stay fresh: minute breaks, hour breaks, or even multiple day breaks.

18. Remove distractions

Try tools like Bear or Scrivener to let you write in a totally distraction-free environment. That way, email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t interrupt your flow.

19. Write where others are writing (or working)

If you’re having trouble writing consistently by yourself, write where other people are also working. A coffee shop or library where people are actually working and not just socializing can help. If you’re in a place where other people are getting things done, then you’ll have no choice but to join them.

20. Don’t edit as you go

Instead, write without judgment first, then go back and edit later. You’ll keep a better flow and won’t be interrupted by constant criticism of your own work. And you’ll have a lot more writing to edit when it’s time to do so.

What do you want to write a book about? 

how to write a book for dummies

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Writing Fiction For Dummies

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Peter Economy

Writing Fiction For Dummies Paperback – Illustrated, December 2, 2009

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  • Book Description
  • Editorial Reviews

So you want to write a novel? Great! That’s a worthy goal, no matter what your reason. But don’t settle for just writing a novel. Aim high. Write a novel that you intend to sell to a publisher. Writing Fiction for Dummies is a complete guide designed to coach you every step along the path from beginning writer to royalty-earning author. Here are some things you’ll learn in Writing Fiction for Dummies :

  • Strategic Planning : Pinpoint where you are on the roadmap to publication; discover what every reader desperately wants from a story; home in on a marketable category; choose from among the four most common creative styles; and learn the self-management methods of professional writers.
  • Writing Powerful Fiction : Construct a story world that rings true; create believable, unpredictable characters; build a strong plot with all six layers of complexity of a modern novel; and infuse it all with a strong theme.
  • Self-Editing Your Novel : Psychoanalyze your characters to bring them fully to life; edit your story structure from the top down; fix broken scenes; and polish your action and dialogue.
  • Finding An Agent and Getting Published : Write a query letter, a synopsis, and a proposal; pitch your work to agents and editors without fear.

Writing Fiction For Dummies takes you from being a writer to being an author. It can happen―if you have the talent and persistence to do what you need to do.

From the Inside Flap

Writing a novel can be a daunting process — it will challenge you, stretch you, and change you. Whether you've never written fiction before or are looking to brush up your skills and learn new techniques for crafting your words, Writing Fiction For Dummies gives you savvy advice on navigating the entire writing process and turning your ideas into a well-written, marketable book.

Establishing an ideal writing environment — discover how to set aside enough time and an ideal location for your writing

Getting ready to write fiction — pinpoint your location on the road to publication, and set your strategic and tactical goals to get your novel published

Discovering the principles of writing powerful fiction — build a realistic story world, envision unique and exciting characters, craft the layers of your plot, and grow a theme organically

Editing and polishing your story and characters — put on your editing hat and analyze your characters, scrutinize your story structure, and edit your scenes to get your novel in tip-top shape

Getting published — learn how to write query letters and book proposals that will ignite an agent's or editor's enthusiasm and help sell your novel to the right publisher

Open the book and find:

Your strategic roadmap to getting published

Help in choosing your category

Tips for building a believable plot

Guidelines for creating three-dimensional characters

Examples of storylines that spotlight a novel's high concept

Pros and cons of various publishing methods

Advice on finding the right agent and publisher

From the Back Cover

About the author.

  • Print length 384 pages
  • Language English
  • Publisher For Dummies
  • Publication date December 2, 2009
  • Dimensions 7.2 x 1 x 8.9 inches
  • ISBN-10 0470530707
  • ISBN-13 978-0470530702
  • See all details

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  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ For Dummies; 1st edition (December 2, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0470530707
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0470530702
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.2 x 1 x 8.9 inches
  • #89 in Authorship Reference
  • #257 in Fiction Writing Reference (Books)
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About the authors

how to write a book for dummies

Peter Economy

Peter Economy is a Wall Street Journal best-selling business author, ghostwriter, developmental editor, and publishing consultant with more than 125 books to his credit (and more than 3 million copies sold).

Peter’s latest book is Wait, I’m Working With Who?!? published by Career Press. He also helped create Unlearn: Let Go of Past Success to Achieve Extraordinary Results; Everything I Learned About Life I Learned in Dance Class; The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness (a Wall Street Journal bestseller); Managing For Dummies; User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product; The Management Bible; Peter Isler’s Little Blue Book of Sailing Secrets; and many more.

He is the Leadership Guy on Inc.com and for more than a decade served as Associate Editor for Leader to Leader magazine—published by the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum in New York City. Peter taught MGT 453: Creativity and Innovation as a lecturer at San Diego State University, is on the National Advisory Council of The Art of Science Learning, and is a founding member of the board of SPORTS for Exceptional Athletes.

A graduate of Stanford University (with majors in Economics and Human Biology), Peter has worked closely with some of the nation’s top business, leadership, and technology thinkers, including Jim Collins, Frances Hesselbein, Barry O’Reilly, Peter Senge, Kellie McElhaney, Jeff Patton, Marshall Goldsmith, Marty Cagan, Lolly Daskal, Guy Kawasaki, Emma Seppala, William Taylor, Jim Kilts, Jean Lipman-Blumen, Stephen Orban, Ken Blanchard, and many others.

how to write a book for dummies

Randy Ingermanson

Randy Ingermanson wants to teach you how to write excellent fiction.

He’s been teaching for nearly twenty years, and he’s known around the world as "the Snowflake Guy" in honor of his wildly popular Snowflake Method of writing a novel.

Randy is an award-winning novelist and publishes the free monthly Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine. He says that "Fiction Writing = Organization + Craft + Marketing," so he focuses on those three topics in his e-zine.

He also blogs when the spirit moves him. He is trying to get the spirit to move him weekly, but the spirit gets touchy about schedules.

Randy lives in the Pacific Northwest and works as a manservant to two surly and demanding cats. Visit Randy at AdvancedFictionWriting.com.

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Josh Bernoff

Should you author a “For Dummies” book?

how to write a book for dummies

If you hope to write a book and get it traditionally published, one option is to write for an established publishing franchise, like Wiley’s “For Dummies” series. If you’re a fast writer and are ready to follow the series format and instructions carefully, it’s one of the quickest ways to get yourself into print.

To research this post, I spoke with Phil Simon, who was already the accomplished author of eight traditional business books before he wrote two “Dummies” books coming out soon: Slack For Dummies and Zoom For Dummies . (If you wanted to pick the two fastest-growing tech tools to write about, you couldn’t do much better than Slack and Zoom.) I also spoke with Steve Hayes, the editor who is in charge of acquisitions for a large chunk of the Dummies franchise at Wiley. Even before this, I knew two Dummies authors: John Levine, who wrote The Internet For Dummies (which sold 7 million copies) and Laura Fitton, who cowrote Twitter For Dummies.

The mindset you need for about all parts of this process is that you are a partner with Wiley and the Dummies franchise. Moreso than with a traditional publisher, you will have to write to a specific format and carefully collaborate on content. You’ll also keep a smaller share of the royalties per copy, since a lot of the value is being provided by Wiley putting the book on the shelf with a recognizable brand name.

How do you become a Dummies author?

The Dummies website ( dummies.com , of course) includes a page describing how to propose a Dummies book. According to that page,

It is Wiley’s policy not to accept unsolicited proposals for books in the  For Dummies  series. You may send us a copy of your credentials for our files or contact a literary agent to submit a proposal on your behalf.

That sounds a lot like pitching any traditional publisher, and it’s one way in. However, it’s not the only way in. Phil proposed the Slack book by reaching out to Steve with an introduction from another Dummies author. Steve confirmed that he’s open to recommendations from other Dummies authors.

Steve, the Dummies editor, may also reach out to someone and propose that they become an author. That’s how he found Laura Fitton to coauthor Twitter for Dummies.

What is your topic? Two things are quite important. First, you need a new topic — Wiley is not going to publish another Slack For Dummies book now that’s Phil has written one. And second, you need a big market. I’m guessing that TikTok for Dummies is in the works (and sure enough, Steve has now confirmed to me that it is). But Partial Differential Equations for Dummies probably isn’t.

Be ready to write fast, and to spec

Want to know what goes into a Dummies book? Buy (or borrow) one. When Phil was ready to write Slack For Dummies , he got copies of two similar titles from the library to immerse himself in the format. A Dummies book has room for not just step by step instructions, but tips, top tools, myths, and so on. These are the elements from which you will build the book, so you need to learn about them.

There is a 200-page style guide. You’d be a dummy not to pay attention to it, since if you fail to match your content to the Dummies style, they will reject it. As Steve explained to me, “the selling point is consistency.” Your job is to fit your ideas to their format, not the reverse. You must write in the Dummies Microsoft Word Template — not in Google Docs or Scrivener. But they’ll work closely with you to get the table of contents and the chapters into the right format.

You’ll typically write an early chapter and get feedback from the editors to help you learn how to write in the Dummies style. Phil told me that they objected to certain words he used — like eponymous — because they were too sophisticated for the Dummies audience. “It’s a learning curve,” he says.

For a book about a technology product, most of your graphics will be screen captures. (Outside of tech, Dummies uses photos and illustrations.) Phil generated 120 screen captures for Slack For Dummies and a comparable number for Zoom For Dummies .

Not all Dummies books are on a crash schedule, but if you’re writing about something hot and new, expect to go fast. Phil wrote 100,000 words for the Slack For Dummies book in 10 weeks. Given how hot Zoom is right now, you can imagine the pressure to complete the Zoom For Dummies book quickly, especially with Zoom changing so many of its features. Even less urgent titles are written on a 16- to 20-week schedule, which is months faster than other commercial titles.

This is one reason that Steve likes repeat authors — they understand the style guide and the process, which eliminates the learning curve and speeds the process.

Promotion is still the author’s responsibility

Dummies books will appear in bookstores. That’s not always the case with other books, even those with traditional publishers. And they’ll stay there as long as the topic is relevant, which is typically quite a while. That’s a big plus about writing for a series like this.

Just like any other book, you can turn a Dummies book into speaking engagements or consulting, but you’ll have to do the work. The author of a Dummies book is instantly a recognized expert. I expect this will be helpful to Phil when it comes to people who need a Zoom or Slack expert, but he’ll have to do the promotional work to turn that into revenue.

The commercial model is less lucrative than many business books

Think about it for a minute. The Dummies book series is guaranteed to get on the shelf and sell. They can pick any authors they want; if it’s not you, there’s always somebody else who could do it. So of course, the financial model is not the same as with traditional business books.

There is an advance, of course, typically calibrated to match what you’d get in royalties for one year’s sales. Steve pegged the advances at $8,000 to $15,000, depending on the book’s sales estimates. And the royalty rates are quite low, starting around 10% of the net (that’s a percentage of the publisher’s take, which is about half the cover price), and topping out at 12% or 15%. That works out to about $1 per book, which you’d get paid only after the advance is earned out (a year, if their estimates are correct).

Wiley is also offering more “work-for-hire” contracts for Dummies books, in which they control all the content after it’s written. You’ll get paid a flat fee to write the book, again in the range of around $10,000, and after that you’ll get an even lower royalty rate with no earnout, maybe $0.50 per book, maybe nothing. These work-for-hire contracts may not pay you at all for for foreign translations or audiobooks.

Don’t like it? Write a different kind of book. Wiley owns the franchise, you’re just writing in it.

Despite the low royalty rate, you can get rich writing a Dummies book if it’s extremely popular. Even at $0.50 or $1.00 a book, a book that sells a million copies will earn you a nice payday. Of course, that only works if you’ve signed up for a topic that has huge potential. Quarantining For Dummies , anyone? If you suspect you’re about to write a huge seller, check the contract for per-book royalties, or get an agent involved to maximize your compensation.

Should you be a Dummies author?

If you can type up a book on a popular topic quickly — which requires both fast writing skills and expertise on the topic — this might be a nice way for you to establish yourself both as an author and as an authority on the topic. Dummies books might be the fastest way to get published, carried in bookstores, and into the hands of readers in your target market.

But recognize that both the advance and the royalty rate are going to be lower than for other business books. You’ll get paid for doing the writing. Your name will be on a popular book. Whether you can turn that into an opportunity for yourself is up to you.

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try Googling ‘recursion’

I’ve written one. It was way harder than I expected. But I think I have a tendency to rebel against format, and the Dummies format is rigid.

I ghost co-authored Twitter Marketing For Dummies back in 2009, and it led to three more social media marketing/personal branding books for me. I highly recommend it. If you’ve got a specialist topic, and can write 80,000 – 100,000 words in 4 months, do it.

Does anyone else see the irony in writing 100,000 words about Twitter?

I wrote one in my specialty: White Papers For Dummies. In my experience, the editing was professional. The format was rigid, but they didn’t make me include a lot of dumb jokes. The promotion was non-existent. I wrote my own cover blurbs and press release, mailed out 50 review copies, and worked full-time for weeks doing interviews and guest blogs. Not complaining, but a book like mine sells on Amazon, not in bookstores.

As Josh suggests, the best Dummies book is about some hot software or computer topic. The rest of the world (dogs, food, wine, marketing) is already pretty much covered.

Great article Josh. I believe it’s an outdated and bloated format that people only buy because there isn’t anything better available on the market. Here’s my take on why we need something better and what that might look like – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-you-should-stop-reading-advice-written-dummies-idiots-bhargava

[…] Jun 24, 2020 … Even before this, I knew two Dummies authors: John Levine, … You must write in the Dummies Microsoft Word Template — not in Google Docs or … read more […]

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