How to Write a Book From Start to Finish

How to Write a Book From Start to Finish: A Proven Guide

So you want to write a book. Becoming an author can change your life—not to mention give you the ability to impact thousands, even millions, of people.

But writing a book isn’t easy. As a 21-time New York Times bestselling author, I can tell you: It’s far easier to quit than to finish.

You’re going to be tempted to give up writing your book when you run out of ideas, when your own message bores you, when you get distracted, or when you become overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the task.

But what if you knew exactly:

  • Where to start…
  • What each step entails…
  • How to overcome fear, procrastination, a nd writer’s block …
  • And how to keep from feeling overwhelmed?

You can write a book—and more quickly than you might think, because these days you have access to more writing tools than ever. 

The key is to follow a proven, straightforward, step-by-step plan .

My goal here is to offer you that book-writing plan.

I’ve used the techniques I outline below to write more than 200 books (including the Left Behind series) over the past 50 years. Yes, I realize writing over four books per year on average is more than you may have thought humanly possible. 

But trust me—with a reliable blueprint, you can get unstuck and finally write your book .

This is my personal approach on how to write a book. I’m confident you’ll find something here that can change the game for you. So, let’s jump in.

  • How to Write a Book From Start to Finish

Part 1: Before You Begin Writing Your Book

  • Establish your writing space.
  • Assemble your writing tools.

Part 2: How to Start Writing a Book

  • Break the project into small pieces.
  • Settle on your BIG idea.
  • Construct your outline.
  • Set a firm writing schedule.
  • Establish a sacred deadline.
  • Embrace procrastination (really!).
  • Eliminate distractions.
  • Conduct your research.
  • Start calling yourself a writer.

Part 3: The Book-Writing Itself

  • Think reader-first.
  • Find your writing voice.
  • Write a compelling opener.
  • Fill your story with conflict and tension.
  • Turn off your internal editor while writing the first draft.
  • Persevere through The Marathon of the Middle.
  • Write a resounding ending.

Part 4: Editing Your Book

  • Become a ferocious self-editor.
  • Find a mentor.
  • Part 5: Publishing Your Book
  • Decide on your publishing avenue.
  • Properly format your manuscript.
  • Set up and grow your author platform.
  • Pursue a Literary Agent
  • Writing Your Query Letter
  • Part One: Before You Begin Writing Your Book

You’ll never regret—in fact, you’ll thank yourself later—for investing the time necessary to prepare for such a monumental task.

You wouldn’t set out to cut down a huge grove of trees with just an axe. You’d need a chain saw, perhaps more than one. Something to keep them sharp. Enough fuel to keep them running.

You get the picture. Don’t shortcut this foundational part of the process.

Step 1. Establish your writing space.

To write your book, you don’t need a sanctuary. In fact, I started my career o n my couch facing a typewriter perched on a plank of wood suspended by two kitchen chairs.

What were you saying about your setup again? We do what we have to do.

And those early days on that sagging couch were among the most productive of my career.

Naturally, the nicer and more comfortable and private you can make your writing lair (I call mine my cave), the better.

How to Write a Book Image 1

Real writers can write anywhere .

Some authors write their books in restaurants and coffee shops. My first full time job was at a newspaper where 40 of us clacked away on manual typewriters in one big room—no cubicles, no partitions, conversations hollered over the din, most of my colleagues smoking, teletype machines clattering.

Cut your writing teeth in an environment like that, and anywhere else seems glorious.

Step 2. Assemble your writing tools.

In the newspaper business, there was no time to hand write our stuff and then type it for the layout guys. So I have always written at a keyboard and still write my books that way.

Most authors do, though some hand write their first drafts and then keyboard them onto a computer or pay someone to do that.

No publisher I know would even consider a typewritten manuscript, let alone one submitted in handwriting.

The publishing industry runs on Microsoft Word, so you’ll need to submit Word document files. Whether you prefer a Mac or a PC, both will produce the kinds of files you need.

And if you’re looking for a musclebound electronic organizing system, you can’t do better than Scrivener . It works well on both PCs and Macs, and it nicely interacts with Word files.

Just remember, Scrivener has a steep learning curve, so familiarize yourself with it before you start writing.

Scrivener users know that taking the time to learn the basics is well worth it.

Tons of other book-writing tools exist to help you. I’ve included some of the most well-known in my blog po st on book writing software and my writing tools page fo r your reference.

So, what else do you need?

If you are one who handwrites your first drafts, don’t scrimp on paper, pencils, or erasers.

Don’t shortchange yourself on a computer either. Even if someone else is keyboarding for you, you’ll need a computer for research and for communicating with potential agents , edi tors, publishers.

Get the best computer you can afford, the latest, the one with the most capacity and speed.

Try to imagine everything you’re going to need in addition to your desk or table, so you can equip yourself in advance and don’t have to keep interrupting your work to find things like:

  • Paper clips
  • Pencil holders
  • Pencil sharpeners
  • Printing paper
  • Paperweight
  • Tape dispensers
  • Cork or bulletin boards
  • Reference works
  • Space heaters
  • Beverage mugs
  • You name it
  • Last, but most crucial, get the best, most ergonomic chair you can afford.

If I were to start my career again with that typewriter on a plank, I would not sit on that couch. I’d grab another straight-backed kitchen chair or something similar and be proactive about my posture and maintaining a healthy spine.

There’s nothing worse than trying to be creative and immerse yourself in writing while you’re in agony . The chair I work in today cost more than my first car!

How to Write a Book Image 2

If you’ve never used some of the items I listed above and can’t imagine needing them, fine. But make a list of everything you know you’ll need so when the actual writing begins, you’re already equipped.

As you grow as a writer and actually start making money at it, you can keep upgrading your writing space.

Where I work now is light years from where I started. But the point is, I didn’t wait to start writing until I could have a great spot in which to do it.

  • Part Two: How to Start Writing a Book

Step 1. Break your book into small pieces.

Writing a book feels like a colossal project, because it is! Bu t your manuscript w ill be made up of many small parts.

An old adage says that the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time .

Try to get your mind off your book as a 400-or-so-page monstrosity.

It can’t be written all at once any more than that proverbial elephant could be eaten in a single sitting.

See your book for what it is: a manuscript made up of sentences, paragraphs, pages. Those pages will begin to add up, and though after a week you may have barely accumulated double digits, a few months down the road you’ll be into your second hundred pages.

So keep it simple.

Start by distilling you r big book idea from a page or so to a single sentence—your premise. The more specific that one-sentence premise, the more it will keep you focused while you’re writing.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Before you can turn your big idea into one sentence, which can then b e expanded to an outline , you have to settle on exactly what that big idea is.

Step 2. Settle on your BIG idea.

To be book-worthy, your idea has to be killer.

You need to write something about which you’re passionate , something that gets you up in the morning, draws you to the keyboard, and keeps you there. It should excite not only you, but also anyone you tell about it.

I can’t overstate the importance of this.

If you’ve tried and failed to finish your book before—maybe more than once—it could be that the basic premise was flawed. Maybe it was worth a blog post or an article but couldn’t carry an entire book.

Think The Hunger Games , Harry Potter , or How to Win Friends and Influence People . The market is crowded, the competition fierce. There’s no more room for run-of-the-mill ideas. Your premise alone should make readers salivate.

Go for the big concept book.

How do you know you’ve got a winner? Does it have legs? In other words, does it stay in your mind, growing and developing every time you think of it?

Run it past loved ones and others you trust.

Does it raise eyebrows? Elicit Wows? Or does it result in awkward silences?

The right concept simply works, and you’ll know it when you land on it. Most importantly, your idea must capture you in such a way that you’re compelled to write it . Otherwise you will lose interest halfway through and never finish.

Step 3. Construct your outline.

Writing your book without a clear vision of where you’re going usually ends in disaster.

Even if you ’re writing a fiction book an d consider yourself a Pantser* as opposed to an Outliner, you need at least a basic structure .

[*Those of us who write by the seat of our pants and, as Stephen King advises, pu t interesting characters i n difficult situations and write to find out what happens]

You don’t have to call it an outline if that offends your sensibilities. But fashion some sort of a directional document that provides structure for your book and also serves as a safety net.

If you get out on that Pantser highwire and lose your balance, you’ll thank me for advising you to have this in place.

Now if you’re writing a nonfiction book, there’s no substitute for an outline .

Potential agents or publishers require this in your proposal . T hey want to know where you’re going, and they want to know that you know. What do you want your reader to learn from your book, and how will you ensure they learn it?

Fiction or nonfiction, if you commonly lose interest in your book somewhere in what I call the Marathon of the Middle, you likely didn’t start with enough exciting ideas .

That’s why and outline (or a basic framework) is essential. Don’t even start writing until you’re confident your structure will hold up through the end.

You may recognize this novel structure illustration.

Did you know it holds up—with only slight adaptations—for nonfiction books too? It’s self-explanatory for novelists; they list their plot twists and developments and arrange them in an order that best serves to increase tension .

What separates great nonfiction from mediocre? The same structure!

Arrange your points and evidence in the same way so you’re setting your reader up for a huge payoff, and then make sure you deliver.

If your nonfiction book is a memoir , an autobiography , or a biography, structure it like a novel and you can’t go wrong.

But even if it’s a straightforward how-to book, stay as close to this structure as possible, and you’ll see your manuscript come alive.

Make promises early, triggering your reader to anticipate fresh ideas, secrets, inside information, something major that will make him thrilled with the finished product.

How to write a book - graph

While a nonfiction book may not have as much action or dialogue or character development as a novel, you can inject tension by showing where people have failed before and how your reader can succeed.

You can even make the how-to project look impossible until you pay off that setup with your unique solution.

Keep your outline to a single page for now. But make sure every major point is represented, so you’ll always know where you’re going.

And don’t worry if you’ve forgotten the basics of classic outlining or have never felt comfortable with the concept.

Your outline must serve you. If that means Roman numerals and capital and lowercase letters and then Arabic numerals, you can certainly fashion it that way. But if you just want a list of sentences that synopsize your idea, that’s fine too.

Simply start with your working title, then your premise, then—for fiction, list all the major scenes that fit into the rough structure above.

For nonfiction, try to come up with chapter titles and a sentence or two of what each chapter will cover.

Once you have your one-page outline, remember it is a fluid document meant to serve you and your book. Expand it, change it, play with it as you see fit—even during the writing process .

Step 4. Set a firm writing schedule.

Ideally, you want to schedule at least six hours per week to write your book.

That may consist of three sessions of two hours each, two sessions of three hours, or six one-hour sessions—whatever works for you.

I recommend a regular pattern (same times, same days) that can most easily become a habit. But if that’s impossible, just make sure you carve out at least six hours so you can see real progress.

Having trouble finding the time to write a book? News flash—you won’t find the time. You have to make it.

I used the phrase carve out above for a reason. That’s what it takes.

Something in your calendar will likely have to be sacrificed in the interest of writing time . 

Make sure it’s not your family—they should always be your top priority. Never sacrifice your family on the altar of your writing career.

But beyond that, the truth is that we all find time for what we really want to do.

Many writers insist they have no time to write, but they always seem to catch the latest Netflix original series, or go to the next big Hollywood feature. They enjoy concerts, parties, ball games, whatever.

How important is it to you to finally write your book? What will you cut from your calendar each week to ensure you give it the time it deserves?

  • A favorite TV show?
  • An hour of sleep per night? (Be careful with this one; rest is crucial to a writer.)

Successful writers make time to write.

When writing becomes a habit, you’ll be on your way.

Step 5. Establish a sacred deadline.

Without deadlines, I rarely get anything done. I need that motivation.

Admittedly, my deadlines are now established in my contracts from publishers.

If you’re writing your first book, you probably don’t have a contract yet. To ensure you finish your book, set your own deadline—then consider it sacred .

Tell your spouse or loved one or trusted friend. Ask that they hold you accountable.

Now determine—and enter in your calendar—the number of pages you need to produce per writing session to meet your deadline. If it proves unrealistic, change the deadline now.

If you have no idea how many pages or words you typically produce per session, you may have to experiment before you finalize those figures.

Say you want to finish a 400-page manuscript by this time next year.

Divide 400 by 50 weeks (accounting for two off-weeks), and you get eight pages per week. 

Divide that by your typical number of writing sessions per week and you’ll know how many pages you should finish per session.

Now is the time to adjust these numbers, while setting your deadline and determining your pages per session.

Maybe you’d rather schedule four off weeks over the next year. Or you know your book will be unusually long.

Change the numbers to make it realistic and doable, and then lock it in. Remember, your deadline is sacred.

Step 6. Embrace procrastination (really!).

You read that right. Don’t fight it; embrace it.

You wouldn’t guess it from my 200+ published books, but I’m the king of procrastinators .

Don’t be. So many authors are procrastinators that I’ve come to wonder if it’s a prerequisite.

The secret is to accept it and, in fact, schedule it.

I quit fretting and losing sleep over procrastinating when I realized it was inevitable and predictable, and also that it was productive.

Sound like rationalization?

Maybe it was at first. But I learned that while I’m putting off the writing, my subconscious is working on my book. It’s a part of the process. When you do start writing again, you’ll enjoy the surprises your subconscious reveals to you.

So, knowing procrastination is coming, book it on your calendar .

Take it into account when you’re determining your page quotas. If you have to go back in and increase the number of pages you need to produce per session, do that (I still do it all the time).

But—and here’s the key—you must never let things get to where that number of pages per day exceeds your capacity.

It’s one thing to ratchet up your output from two pages per session to three. But if you let it get out of hand, you’ve violated the sacredness of your deadline.

How can I procrastinate and still meet more than 190 deadlines?

Because I keep the deadlines sacred.

Step 7. Eliminate distractions to stay focused.

Are you as easily distracted as I am?

Have you found yourself writing a sentence and then checking your email? Writing another and checking Facebook? Getting caught up in the pictures of 10 Sea Monsters You Wouldn’t Believe Actually Exist?

Then you just have to check out that precious video from a talk show where the dad surprises the family by returning from the war.

That leads to more and more of the same. Once I’m in, my writing is forgotten, and all of a sudden the day has gotten away from me.

The answer to these insidious timewasters?

Look into these apps that allow you to block your email, social media, browsers, game apps, whatever you wish during the hours you want to write. Some carry a modest fee, others are free.

  • Freedom app
  • FocusWriter

Step 8. Conduct your research.

Yes, research is a vital part of the process, whether you’re writing fiction or nonfict i on .

Fiction means more than just making up a story .

Your details and logic and technical and historical details must be right for your novel to be believable.

And for nonfiction, even if you’re writing about a subject in which you’re an expert—as I’m doing here—getting all the facts right will polish your finished product.

In fact, you’d be surprised at how many times I’ve researched a fact or two while writing this blog post alone.

The importance of research when writing

The last thing you want is even a small mistake due to your lack of proper research .

Regardless the detail, trust me, you’ll hear from readers about it.

Your credibility as an author and an expert hinges on creating trust with your reader. That dissolves in a hurry if you commit an error.

My favorite research resources:

  • World Almanacs : These alone list almost everything you need for accurate prose: facts, data, government information, and more. For my novels, I often use these to come up with ethnically accurate character names .
  • The Merriam-Webster Thesaurus : The online version is great, because it’s lightning fast. You couldn’t turn the pages of a hard copy as quickly as you can get where you want to onscreen. One caution: Never let it be obvious you’ve consulted a thesaurus. You’re not looking for the exotic word that jumps off the page. You’re looking for that common word that’s on the tip of your tongue.
  • WorldAtlas.com : Here you’ll find nearly limitless information about any continent, country, region, city, town, or village. Names, monetary units, weather patterns, tourism info, and even facts you wouldn’t have thought to search for. I get ideas when I’m digging here, for both my novels and my nonfiction books.

Step 9. Start calling yourself a writer.

Your inner voice may tell you, “You’re no writer and you never will be. Who do you think you are, trying to write a book?”

That may be why you’ve stalled at writing your book in the past .

But if you’re working at writing, studying writing, practicing writing, that makes you a writer. Don’t wait till you reach some artificial level of accomplishment before calling yourself a writer.

A cop in uniform and on duty is a cop whether he’s actively enforced the law yet or not. A carpenter is a carpenter whether he’s ever built a house.

Self-identify as a writer now and you’ll silence that inner critic —who, of course, is really you. 

Talk back to yourself if you must. It may sound silly, but acknowledging yourself as a writer can give you the confidence to keep going and finish your book.

Are you a writer? Say so.

  • Part Three: The Book-Writing Itself

Step 1. Think reader-first.

This is so important that that you should write it on a sticky note and affix it to your monitor so you’re reminded of it every time you write.

Every decision you make about your manuscript must be run through this filter.

Not you-first, not book-first, not editor-, agent-, or publisher-first. Certainly not your inner circle- or critics-first.

Reader-first, last, and always .

If every decision is based on the idea of reader-first, all those others benefit anyway.

When fans tell me they were moved by one of my books, I think back to this adage and am grateful I maintained that posture during the writing.

Does a scene bore you? If you’re thinking reader-first, it gets overhauled or deleted.

Where to go, what to say, what to write next? Decide based on the reader as your priority.

Whatever your gut tells you your reader would prefer, that’s your answer.

Whatever will intrigue him, move him, keep him reading, those are your marching orders.

So, naturally, you need to know your reader. Rough age? General interests? Loves? Hates? Attention span?

When in doubt, look in the mirror . 

The surest way to please your reader is to please yourself. Write what you would want to read and trust there is a broad readership out there that agrees.

Step 2. Find your writing voice.

Discovering your voice is nowhere near as complicated as some make it out to be.

You can find yours by answering these quick questions :

  • What’s the coolest thing that ever happened to you?
  • Who’s the most important person you told about it?
  • What did you sound like when you did?
  • That’s your writing voice. It should read the way you sound at your most engaged.

That’s all there is to it.

If you write fiction and the narrator of your book isn’t you, go through the three-question exercise on the narrator’s behalf—and you’ll quickly master the voice.

Here’s a blog I posted that’ll walk you through the process .

Step 3. Write a compelling opener.

If you’re stuck because of the pressure of crafting the perfect opening line for your book, you’re not alone.

And neither is your angst misplaced.

This is not something you should put off and come back to once you’ve started on the rest of the first chapter.

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Oh, it can still change if the story dictates that . But settling on a good one will really get you off and running.

It’s unlikely you’ll write a more important sentence than your first one , whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction. Make sure you’re thrilled with it and then watch how your confidence—and momentum—soars.

Most great first lines fall into one of these categories:

1. Surprising

Fiction : “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” —George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nonfiction : “By the time Eustace Conway was seven years old, he could throw a knife accurately enough to nail a chipmunk to a tree.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, The Last American Man

2. Dramatic Statement

Fiction : “They shoot the white girl first.” —Toni Morrison, Paradise

Nonfiction : “I was five years old the first time I ever set foot in prison.” —Jimmy Santiago Baca, A Place to Stand

3. Philosophical

Fiction : “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” —Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Nonfiction : “It’s not about you.” —Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

Fiction : “When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon. —James Crumley, The Last Good Kiss

Nonfiction : “The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call ‘out there.’” —Truman Capote, In Cold Blood

Great opening lines from other classics may give you ideas for yours. Here’s a list of famous openers .

Step 4. Fill your story with conflict and tension.

Your reader craves conflict, and yes, this applies to nonfiction readers as well.

In a novel, if everything is going well and everyone is agreeing, your reader will soon lose interest and find something else to do.

Are two of your characters talking at the dinner table? Have one say something that makes the other storm out.

Some deep-seeded rift in their relationship has surfaced—just a misunderstanding, or an injustice?

Thrust people into conflict with each other . 

That’ll keep your reader’s attention.

Certain nonfiction genres won’t lend themselves to that kind of conflict, of course, but you can still inject tension by setting up your reader for a payoff in later chapters. Check out some of the current bestselling nonfiction works to see how writers accomplish this.

Somehow they keep you turning those pages, even in a simple how-to title.

Tension is the secret sauce that will propel your reader through to the end . 

And sometimes that’s as simple as implying something to come.

Step 5. Turn off your internal editor while writing the first draft.

Many of us perfectionists find it hard to write a first draft—fiction or nonfiction—without feeling compelled to make every sentence exactly the way we want it.

That voice in your head that questions every word, every phrase, every sentence, and makes you worry you’re being redundant or have allowed cliches to creep in—well, that’s just your editor alter ego.

He or she needs to be told to shut up .

Turning off your inner self-editor

This is not easy.

Deep as I am into a long career, I still have to remind myself of this every writing day. I cannot be both creator and editor at the same time. That slows me to a crawl, and my first draft of even one brief chapter could take days.

Our job when writing that first draft is to get down the story or the message or the teaching—depending on your genre.

It helps me to view that rough draft as a slab of meat I will carve tomorrow .

I can’t both produce that hunk and trim it at the same time.

A cliche, a redundancy, a hackneyed phrase comes tumbling out of my keyboard, and I start wondering whether I’ve forgotten to engage the reader’s senses or aimed for his emotions.

That’s when I have to chastise myself and say, “No! Don’t worry about that now! First thing tomorrow you get to tear this thing up and put it back together again to your heart’s content!”

Imagine yourself wearing different hats for different tasks , if that helps—whatever works to keep you rolling on that rough draft. You don’t need to show it to your worst enemy or even your dearest love. This chore is about creating. Don’t let anything slow you down.

Some like to write their entire first draft before attacking the revision. As I say, whatever works.

Doing it that way would make me worry I’ve missed something major early that will cause a complete rewrite when I discover it months later. I alternate creating and revising.

The first thing I do every morning is a heavy edit and rewrite of whatever I wrote the day before. If that’s ten pages, so be it. I put my perfectionist hat on and grab my paring knife and trim that slab of meat until I’m happy with every word.

Then I switch hats, tell Perfectionist Me to take the rest of the day off, and I start producing rough pages again.

So, for me, when I’ve finished the entire first draft, it’s actually a second draft because I have already revised and polished it in chunks every day.

THEN I go back through the entire manuscript one more time, scouring it for anything I missed or omitted, being sure to engage the reader’s senses and heart, and making sure the whole thing holds together.

I do not submit anything I’m not entirely thrilled with .

I know there’s still an editing process it will go through at the publisher, but my goal is to make my manuscript the absolute best I can before they see it.

Compartmentalize your writing vs. your revising and you’ll find that frees you to create much more quickly.

Step 6. Persevere through The Marathon of the Middle.

Most who fail at writing a book tell me they give up somewhere in what I like to call The Marathon of the Middle.

That’s a particularly rough stretch for novelists who have a great concept, a stunning opener, and they can’t wait to get to the dramatic ending. But they bail when they realize they don’t have enough cool stuff to fill the middle.

They start padding, trying to add scenes just for the sake of bulk, but they’re soon bored and know readers will be too.

This actually happens to nonfiction writers too.

The solution there is in the outlining stage , being sure your middle points and chapters are every bit as valuable and magnetic as the first and last.

If you strategize the progression of your points or steps in a process—depending on nonfiction genre—you should be able to eliminate the strain in the middle chapters.

For novelists, know that every book becomes a challenge a few chapters in. The shine wears off, keeping the pace and tension gets harder, and it’s easy to run out of steam.

But that’s not the time to quit. Force yourself back to your structure, come up with a subplot if necessary, but do whatever you need to so your reader stays engaged.

Fiction writer or nonfiction author, The Marathon of the Middle is when you must remember why you started this journey in the first place.

It isn’t just that you want to be an author. You have something to say. You want to reach the masses with your message.

Yes, it’s hard. It still is for me—every time. But don’t panic or do anything rash, like surrendering. Embrace the challenge of the middle as part of the process. If it were easy, anyone could do it.

Step 7. Write a resounding ending.

This is just as important for your nonfiction book as your novel. It may not be as dramatic or emotional, but it could be—especially if you’re writing a memoir.

But even a how-to or self-help book needs to close with a resounding thud, the way a Broadway theater curtain meets the floor .

How do you ensure your ending doesn’t fizzle ?

  • Don’t rush it . Give readers the payoff they’ve been promised. They’ve invested in you and your book the whole way. Take the time to make it satisfying.
  • Never settle for close enough just because you’re eager to be finished. Wait till you’re thrilled with every word, and keep revising until you are.
  • If it’s unpredictable, it had better be fair and logical so your reader doesn’t feel cheated. You want him to be delighted with the surprise, not tricked.
  • If you have multiple ideas for how your book should end, go for the heart rather than the head, even in nonfiction. Readers most remember what moves them.
  • Part Four: Rewriting Your Book

Step 1. Become a ferocious self-editor.

Agents and editors can tell within the first two pages whether your manuscript is worthy of consideration. That sounds unfair, and maybe it is. But it’s also reality, so we writers need to face it.

How can they often decide that quickly on something you’ve devoted months, maybe years, to?

Because they can almost immediately envision how much editing would be required to make those first couple of pages publishable. If they decide the investment wouldn’t make economic sense for a 300-400-page manuscript, end of story.

Your best bet to keep an agent or editor reading your manuscript?

You must become a ferocious self-editor. That means:

  • Omit needless words
  • Choose the simple word over one that requires a dictionary
  • Avoid subtle redundancies , like “He thought in his mind…” (Where else would someone think?)
  • Avoid hedging verbs like almost frowned, sort of jumped, etc.
  • Generally remove the word that —use it only when absolutely necessary for clarity
  • Give the reader credit and resist the urge to explain , as in, “She walked through the open door.” (Did we need to be told it was open?)
  • Avoid too much stage direction (what every character is doing with every limb and digit)
  • Avoid excessive adjectives
  • Show, don’t tell
  • And many more

For my full list and how to use them, click here . (It’s free.)

When do you know you’re finished revising? When you’ve gone from making your writing better to merely making it different. That’s not always easy to determine, but it’s what makes you an author. 

Step 2. Find a mentor.

Get help from someone who’s been where you want to be.

Imagine engaging a mentor who can help you sidestep all the amateur pitfalls and shave years of painful trial-and-error off your learning curve.

Just make sure it’s someone who really knows the writing and publishing world. Many masquerade as mentors and coaches but have never really succeeded themselves.

Look for someone widely-published who knows how to work with agents, editors, and publishers .

There are many helpful mentors online . I teach writers through this free site, as well as in my members-only Writers Guild .

Step 1. Decide on your publishing avenue.

In simple terms, you have two options when it comes to publishing your book:

1. Traditional publishing

Traditional publishers take all the risks. They pay for everything from editing, proofreading, typesetting, printing, binding, cover art and design, promotion, advertising, warehousing, shipping, billing, and paying author royalties.

2. Self-publishing

Everything is on you. You are the publisher, the financier, the decision-maker. Everything listed above falls to you. You decide who does it, you approve or reject it, and you pay for it. The term self-publishing is a bit of a misnomer, however, because what you’re paying for is not publishing, but printing. 

Both avenues are great options under certain circumstances. 

Not sure which direction you want to take? Click here to read my in-depth guide to publishing a book . It’ll show you the pros and cons of each, what each involves, and my ultimate recommendation.

Step 2: Properly format your manuscript.

Regardless whether you traditionally or self-publish your book, proper formatting is critical.

Because poor formatting makes you look like an amateur .

Readers and agents expect a certain format for book manuscripts, and if you don’t follow their guidelines, you set yourself up for failure.

Best practices when formatting your book:

  • Use 12-point type
  • Use a serif font; the most common is Times Roman
  • Double space your manuscript
  • No extra space between paragraphs
  • Only one space between sentences
  • Indent each paragraph half an inch (setting a tab, not using several spaces)
  • Text should be flush left and ragged right, not justified
  • If you choose to add a line between paragraphs to indicate a change of location or passage of time, center a typographical dingbat (like ***) on the line
  • Black text on a white background only
  • One-inch margins on the top, bottom, and sides (the default in Word)
  • Create a header with the title followed by your last name and the page number. The header should appear on each page other than the title page.

If you need help implementing these formatting guidelines, click here to read my in-depth post on formatting your manuscript .

Step 3. Set up your author website and grow your platform.

All serious authors need a website. Period.

Because here’s the reality of publishing today…

You need an audience to succeed.

If you want to traditionally publish, agents and publishers will Google your name to see if you have a website and a following.

If you want to self-publish, you need a fan base.

And your author website serves as a hub for your writing, where agents, publishers, readers, and fans can learn about your work.

Don’t have an author website yet? Click here to read my tutorial on setting this up.

Step 4. Pursue a Literary Agent.

There remain a few traditional publishers (those who pay you and take the entire financial risk of publishing your book rather than the other way around) who accept unsolicited submissions, but I do NOT recommend going that route. 

Your submission will likely wind up in what is known in the business as the slush pile. That means some junior staff member will be assigned to get to it when convenient and determine whether to reject it out of hand (which includes the vast majority of the submissions they see) or suggest the publisher’s editorial board consider it.

While I am clearly on record urging you to exhaust all your efforts to traditionally publish before resorting to self-publishing (in other words, paying to be printed), as I say, I do not recommend submitting unsolicited material even to those publishers who say they accept such efforts.

Even I don’t try to navigate the publishing world by myself, despite having been an author, an editor, a publisher, and a writing coach over the last 50 years.

That’s why I have an agent and you need one too.

Many beginning writers naturally wonder why they should share any of their potential income with an agent (traditionally 15%). First, they don’t see any of that income unless you’re getting your 85% at the same time. And second, everyone I know in the business is happy to have someone in their corner, making an agent a real bargain.

I don’t want to have to personally represent myself and my work. I want to stay in my creative lane and let a professional negotiate every clause of the contract and win me the best advance and rights deal possible.

Once under contract, I work directly with the publishing house’s editor and proofreader, but I leave the financial business to my agent.

Ultimately, an agent’s job is to protect your rights and make you money. They profit only when you do.

That said, landing an agent can be as difficult and painstaking as landing a publisher. They know the market, they know the editors, they know what publishers want, and they can advise you how to put your best foot forward.

But how do you know who to trust? Credible, trustworthy agents welcome scrutiny. If you read a book in your genre that you like, check the Acknowledgments page for the agent’s name. If the author thinks enough of that person to mention them glowingly, that’s a great endorsement.

If you’re writing in the inspirational market, peruse agents listed in The Christian Writer’s Market Guide . If you’re writing for the general market, try The Writer’s Market . If you know any published authors, ask about their agents.

The guides that list agents also include what they’re looking for, what they specialize in, and sometimes even what they’re not interested in. Study these to determine potential agents who ply their trade in your genre. Visit their websites for their submission guidelines, and follow these to a T.

They may ask for a query letter, a synopsis, a proposal, or even sample chapters. Be sure not to send more or less than they suggest. 

The best, and most logical place to start is by sending them a query letter. Query simply means question, and in essence the question your letter asks is whether you may send them more.

Step 5: Writing Your Query Letter.

It’s time to move from author to salesperson.

Your query letter will determine whether a literary agent asks to see more, sends you a cordial form letter to let you down easy, or simply doesn’t respond.

Sadly, many agents stipulate on their websites that if you hear nothing after a certain number of weeks, you should take that as an indication that they’re not interested. Frankly, to me, this is frustrating to the writer and lazy on the part of the agent. Surely, in this technological age, it should be easy to hit one button and send a note to someone who might otherwise wonder if the query reached the agent at all.

But that’s the reality we deal with.

So, the job of your one-page single-spaced email letter is to win a response—best case scenario: an invitation to send more: a proposal or even the manuscript. 

Basically, you’re selling yourself and your work. Write a poor query letter and an agent will assume your book is also poorly written.

Without being gimmicky or cute, your letter must intrigue an agent. 

Your query letter should:

  • Be addressed to a specific person (not to the staff of the agency or “To Whom It May Concern”)*
  • Present your book idea simply
  • Evidence your style
  • Show you know who your readers are
  • Clarify your qualifications
  • Exhibit flexibility and professionalism

*If you see a list of agents in a firm, choose one from the middle or bottom of the list. It could be that they get less personal mail than the person whose name is on the door. Who knows? That you single them out may make them see your query in a more favorable light.

For some great advice on writing a query letter, check this out: https://janefriedman.com/query-letters/  

  • You Have What It Takes to Write a Book

Writing a book is a herculean task, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

You can do this .

Take it one step at a time and vow to stay focused. And who knows, maybe by this time next year you’ll be holding a published copy of your book. :)

I’ve created an exclusive writing guide called How to Maximize Your Writing Time that will help you stay on track and finish writing your book.

Get your FREE copy by clicking the button below.

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How to write a book fast: 5 simple rules

Learning how to write a book fast is a matter of having a process and tools to streamline the parts of writing a book that take the most time. Whether you’re preparing for a write-a-thon like NaNoWriMo or have readers breathing down your neck for your next series installment, here are ways to write a book faster:

  • Post author By Jordan
  • 11 Comments on How to write a book fast: 5 simple rules

How to write a book fast | Now Novel

1. Put structure and story scaffolding in place early 2. Track and organise your ideas 3. Don’t stop to tinker 4. Switch to shorthand to keep writing momentum 5. Divide tasks into smaller units

Let’s unpack each of these ideas:

1. Put structure and story scaffolding in place early

Many pantsers resent being told to plan or outline. There is a popular idea that some writers are simply pantsers (meaning writing ‘by the seat of your pants’) while others are plotters.

We should remember that  story structure and scaffolding can be anything . A single sentence chapter by chapter summary, for example. Or a complex, detailed outline of plot points, character arcs, settings and conflicts.

If you’ve set yourself an ambitious goal of writing a book in a month , it’s doubly important to have a backup plan. An outline, character profiles or simply a blueprint of settings, characters and other details helps when the first burst of momentum slows.

Story scaffolding gives you a trail of breadcrumbs through the thick of the woods, the thickets of growing sentences on the page. You’re better off than Hansel and Gretel, too, since a finished rough draft lies at the end of the trail (and not a witch plotting your sticky end!)

If you don’t want to create a complete outline, think about the areas you usually struggle with when writing. Is characterization tough? Setting? Getting historical details right? Focus on gathering ideas before you start drafting for the parts of writing you find most challenging.

[ Complete the step-by-step prompts in the Now Novel dashboard to brainstorm ideas for your book fast.]

Randy Ingermanson, creator of the snowflake method for outlining a novel , says:

Good fiction doesn’t just happen, it is designed. You can do the design work before or after you write your novel. I’ve done it both ways and I strongly believe that doing it first is quicker and leads to a better result.

Writing fast - Sue Monk Kidd writing process quote | Now Novel

2: Track and organise your ideas

Learning how to write a book fast isn’t only a matter of making good preparations. It’s also important to be able to track and organise ideas as you go , so you don’t have to constantly search through your document for details. Writing a book does take time. Most professional authors take months and years. Tracking and organising ideas well can eliminate a lot of time-wasting reading back over the story to avoid plot holes.

So how can you track and organise ideas?

Use index cards or a folder

Jot down character profiles on index cards so you have a physical document you can refer to when you need to remember where Character A is from, or Character B’s backstory. [When you complete the character section of the Now Novel prompt process, your characters are added to your story outline which you can download and print for further quick reference.]

Use a digital snippet storing tool like Evernote or Trello

Productivity and information management tools like Evernote and Trello are useful for storing and organising information. You could create a Trello board called ‘historical background’ for example, if working on a historical fiction story. Here, you could save links to relevant articles or images that you plan to draw on for inspiration as you write.

The extent to which you need an organizing system for your novel depends on your genre. In historical fiction, there will be a greater need to keep track of factual details such as how characters are related, where they live and die, and significant life events. In a thriller, maybe not as much.

Create dedicated folders for elements of your story

Make a dedicated folder for your novel on your computer or laptop’s desktop. Have a folder for each character, setting, or other element. You can store notes of character ideas here, pictures that inspire details such as settings or how characters dress, and more.

It might sound like a lot of work, but putting in a few hours creating an organised database of story details is part of a day and making organising a part of your process can do wonders for speed  and  inspiration.

3: Don’t stop to tinker

Tinkering with the details of your writing as you go is always tempting. But writing a fast rough draft is all about saving the editing, the finer detail, for later. The cardinal rule of how to write a novel fast is to keep moving forward at all costs. A finished rough draft gives you a lot to work with. There’s a further advantage to this approach: When you’ve written as freely as possible, with as little effort as possible, it’s easier to cut ruthlessly and reshape your work into something polished and beautiful.

Daphne Gray-Grant of Publication Coach offers some stellar advice about learning not to edit like a perfectionist as you write. Gray-Grant advises that you :

  • Don’t work on the same document each day. Copy the last line of your story written to a new document and include some notes about how you want the story to continue from where you left off. That way you won’t be reading back over what you’ve written constantly
  • Write brief notes about any part of your work-in-progress you’re itching to fix
  • Give yourself rewards for making headway and resisting the urge to edit. At the end of a productive session, indulge in something that makes you feel good and acknowledge your achievement

You can also use a minimalist online writing tool that doesn’t let you go back to edit your work. Ilys is one such writing tool , although there is a membership cost. Blind Write is a free web-based option. [Now Novel’s note-writing tool where you can submit 800-word pieces for feedback from the community is also a useful, minimalist writing environment].

4: Switch to shorthand to keep writing momentum

Not entirely sure how your hero gets from the drug baron’s hideout to the safe zone? Don’t know the exact circumstances when would-be lovers will meet again? Don’t be afraid to ‘cheat’ and use shorthand for the links between scenes (and moments within scenes) you haven’t figured out yet.

Learning how to write a book fast means learning how to work smart, not hard. So for the first example above, you could write, for example, ‘despite the chase they somehow escape [think of a nail-biting cliffhanger moment here where the two main characters are separated later].’

As you draft, make notes in square brackets wherever there is something you need to fill in later. For example:

‘[The tense shootout finishes and the party makes their way to the designated evacuation area]’.

Small gaps are fine in a rough draft. Once you have the broader arc of the story in place, it will be easier to find appropriate links. There’ll be more to foreshadow, too.

Writing and perseverance - Victor Hugo quote | Now Novel

5: Divide tasks into smaller units

One of the big dangers of writing a book fast for a challenge like NaNoWriMo is having unattainable or unrealistic goals. If you say ‘I’m going to write 10, 000 words a day’, it’s possible you’ll achieve this target. Yet it’s equally possible you’ll burn out. Instead, set yourself small, manageable tasks that still bring certain reward. Writing a paragraph. A page. A scene summary. Writing in small increments has many benefits:

  • It’s easier to fit in writing sessions around a busy schedule
  • You don’t waste productive time working when you are over-tired and not thinking clearly
  • The task feels more manageable , reducing the impulse to procrastinate

The size of the unit you work on each time depends wholly on you. Some writers swear by the Pomodoro technique – writing for 25 minutes followed by a five minute break. For Now Novel, we purposefully made the length of the writing extracts members can submit for feedback 800 words. This facilitates ease-of-writing and ease-of-reading. A member shared that he writes one 800-word scribble per day and the length made it easier to stick to a disciplined routine.

Get productive now and write an 800-word chunk of your story in the members’ area. It’s up to you whether you share it for feedback with other members or keep your progress private.

Related Posts:

  • Writing descriptive sentences: 6 simple rules
  • How to write story exposition that hooks readers fast
  • How to self-publish your book: A simple guide

how to write a book quickly and easily

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

11 replies on “How to write a book fast: 5 simple rules”

These are some great tips! I find it’s also helpful to have accountability on a daily basis. Finding a friend to check in with after you complete your daily goal (or to get on your case if you haven’t done it) can be a great motivator!

Thanks so much, Alyssa. I completely agree – the usefulness of external accountability for sticking to your writing goals is one of the prime reasons why we offer 1-on-1 writer coaching at Now Novel. You learn so much working in such a close way with other writers’ work too.

Great article, thanks for sharing. please visit https://notionpress.com/academy/how-to-write-a-book-series/

Every morning, I read this column. I really get useful tips.

Thank you, Maxwell. I’m glad you’re finding the suggestions helpful.

I’m looking for a outline I can use to help with a mostly written book, I’ve been reading though the chapters again and have discovers problems like a plot hole (fixed it) and bigger problems like what’s the main characters story goal (her real one, what does she really want?)Anyways most articles for outlines are overwhelming or worse super vague. I’d like something that is a step by step good that is flexible. thanks for any help 😀 I don’t like the snowflake method, I’ve tried it a few times now and I always hit a wall with it. Lists are nice as are questions as they help me think of other things that are missing or important to the characters, setting and plot. Stuff like that. If anyone feels like helping like sending a link to some articles you can find me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jessicaleahonwattpad Meanwhile, I’ll try and figure this out on my own, have gone all the way back to the first chapters and am really giving them a hard look. Again thank so much if anyone reads this and decides to help.

Hi Robintvale, you can try the story outlining tools in the member area of the site. It is step by step, and uses a prompt-based system. If you have any questions, drop us an email at help at nownovel dot com.

Finally a useful article about this problem with actual non vague solutions. Thanks!

Thank you for your kind feedback, J, and for reading our blog! It’s a pleasure.

Bookmarked! And hey, if other authors don’t want to consider trying another way that would ease their frustrations, then too bad for them! I’ll mention that an outline can be way simpler then they’re making it out to be in their heads, gibe a short example and leave it at that.

There’s only so much you can do for others, they have to make up their own minds

Hi J, thanks for bookmarking this article, I’m glad you found it helpful. Yes, outlining may seem like more work but it is very helpful for having a guide and sense of scope for the drafting process. I understand too, though, that it stifles creative freedom too much for some, so a ‘draft zero’ is another way to do some loose discovery work. Thank you for reading our blog and sharing your feedback.

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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.

YouTube video

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 ?

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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!

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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?

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Josh Bernoff

How to write a good book quickly: 12 simple rules

how to write a book quickly and easily

Maybe. But it takes planning and discipline.

I’ve done it, and so have other authors I know. Many of us feel that we created our best work quickly. I wrote most of  Groundswell  in 11 weeks and  Writing Without Bullshit in three months, and both are buttoned-down, solid, effective work.

Don’t get confused. If you set out to write fast without knowing what you’re doing, the result will be crap. It’s like running a marathon — it’s over quickly, but the results depend on having the right equipment, the right skills, and the right planning.

So if you want to try this, follow the rules below. These rules apply to nonfiction books, and specifically to the process of creating a full, excellent first draft that’s nearly ready to publish. (If you write fiction, this might help you, but I make no guarantees because I have no useful experience with fiction writing at any speed.)

1. Decide the title and theme and stick to it.

What is the book about? Well ahead of writing, get this settled. Before you actually begin writing, write a “ treatment ” that includes the title, subtitle, and a description of the book that might appear on the front flap of the book jacket. Get feedback from others on the treatment until you’re totally sold on it. The title and theme become your North Star, guiding everything you write.

2. Nail down the table of contents.

You cannot write quickly unless you know where the pieces fit. Settle the list of chapters and once you have begun writing, do not deviate from it. Ironically, even if the chapters you write turn out to have organizational issues, you’ll find it easier to fix them if you’ve written the whole set. (I once reorganized the content for a whole book in one day; that was only possible because I’d followed a disciplined table of contents in creating the flawed draft.)

3. Create and follow a chapter template.

For example, your chapter template might read like this:

  • Opening story
  • Lessons learned
  • Survey results
  • More lessons learned
  • Summary of main points

Once you’ve written one of those chapters, writing ten more will be much easier. But if each of the chapters has its own idiosyncratic organization, writing them will be much harder.

4. Prepare most of the research ahead of time.

If you interrupt yourself constantly to track things down — or worse yet, if some key interviews and pieces of content are missing — you’ll never make it. You can write a chapter quickly if all the pieces you need are in place, thrown into a fat outline .

5. Do as much as possible yourself.

Communication carries overhead. It’s counterintuitive, but because of the need to communicate, two writers working together on a book will typically take more time than a single author. The same goes for outsourcing bits and pieces to other people. It’s a big job to write a whole book yourself, but you won’t waste time on communication with other contributors and managing the project; you can just make the decisions yourself. If you must collaborate, do so with a disciplined process and a collaborator who’s as committed to the quality and deadlines as you are.

6. Pace yourself.

You don’t win the marathon by sprinting out of the gate and then running out of steam on the third mile. Do the math. If you need to write 12 chapters in 12 weeks, determine the tasks and time necessary to write a chapter a week, and stick to it. Take a few breaks every day; normal writers can’t write good stuff for five hours in a row.

7. Proceed in order by chapters.

You can’t write a whole book quickly by writing a little of each chapter here and there, then stitching it together. If you can, write Chapter 1, then Chapter 2, and so on in sequence. This makes it easier to reference ideas from earlier chapters in later chapters and to keep the story you’re telling straight.

8. Don’t backtrack.

If you figure out in Chapter 3 that something is wrong in Chapter 2,  don’t go back and fix it. Make a note and move on. As you write, you’ll develop new terms and themes. Make a note and keep going forward. If you keep tweaking earlier chapters, you’ll never get to the end. Go back after you’ve completed the draft and repair the things that needed fixing.

9. Keep reviewers in their lane.

If you work for a company, there will be many looky-loos hoping to see what you’re working on. Keep them at bay. Reviewers are fine, but they can destroy your flow. You might have one editor who reads everything as you create it and makes notes, and a technical expert who reviews specific sections, and the company’s CEO who reads the whole thing when the draft is done. These types of organized processes, determined up front, won’t derail you. Random reviewers parachuting in to take shots at you work will.

10. Follow a disciplined routine.

For example, sit down first thing, review research, write for two hours, take break, write for four more hours, review emails and comments on previous drafts, rewrite work from previous drafts, stop. Your process may be different. But you need a routine to free you from the decision of how to spend your writing days, preferably one that minimizes distractions. If you can’t get the time to follow a routine like this — if your day to day responsibilities will interfere — you’re unlikely to succeed.

11. Get editors and helpers to clean up the details.

You’re the writer. Your job is to write. If you can get others to help with non-writing tasks, that can speed things up. For example, you may hire or tap others to track down Web references, follow up with interviewees, or copy edit for grammatical errors. The communication with folks like this should be formalized and simple, because their jobs don’t interfere with with your writing. Somebody whose job is to question the table of contents or the theme halfway through is not a helper, nor is a boss who requests status reports at random intervals.

12. Don’t let up.

how to write a book quickly and easily

This is one way to write. It’s not the only way.

This writing technique will create a good book quickly provided you can settle important prerequisites, like the theme and the table of contents, ahead of time. It also depends on your ability to set up the research ahead of time and minimize meddling reviewers. And of course, it depends on your being a fast writer to begin with.

Some books take many months or even years to assemble. That’s a fine way to go as well, and it will keep your blood pressure a little lower.

But if you have to write a book quickly, these tips will help you keep the quality high and the stress manageable.

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how to write a book quickly and easily

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How to Write a Book Quickly — and Make it Exceptionally Good

Lisa Tener Book Coach

Start at the Beginning to Write a Book Quickly

I just love beginnings—getting in touch with the vision of a book, thinking deeply about future readers, seeing what’s possible.

So, I’m having  a ball meeting with the participants in Bring Your Book to Life® as they embark on an 8-12 week journey of writing their books swiftly, many planning to complete a first draft by the end of the course.

Because we focus on writing the foundation (usually a first draft or first draft with holes) of a truly excellent book in a short period of time, it requires us to be efficient and effective in all we do. We don’t cut corners, but we work strategically.

What does this look like? Here are a few outtakes from book concept consultations that took place in the last few days:

Write a Book Quickly: Break it Down and Don't Over Complicate Click To Tweet

It’s easy to try to invent something new, but if you already have a system that works, use what you have. One call was with an expert who has over a million visitors to her website. She clearly knows who her audience is and how to engage them! Plus, she’s taught much of this information before in a course.

It makes sense to use the structure from her existing course; it works! I can’t tell you how many times, though, I see people starting over with their book. Now, it’s not a bad idea to ask yourself, “Is this the most effective structure and format to get this information across?” but don’t change things just to change things.

I first suggested she use the steps of the course as her chapters. The challenge is that there are only 5 steps, making her projected chapter lengths 35 pages. This seemed way too long for her harried audience. It turns out, though that each step has around four modules, making 4 chapters in each of 5 sections–20 chapters, each around eight to nine pages. That seems like a good length for a busy audience.

Leave the Time-consuming Parts for Last When Possible

visual book outline

I found myself repeating something you may have heard me say before: if you’re an expert, sharing a system you already know well, or if you’re writing a memoir, you can often write from what you know and write a first rough draft with relative ease.

You can leave the extensive research or interviews for last and fill them in after you have a first rough draft. This can prevent “analysis paralysis” which can keep you in research mode way too long, and it can also give you the much needed momentum to feel confident to complete the book quickly, rather than taking so long to complete one chapter that you give up.

Of course, there may be places where research or interviews are absolutely necessary. However, think first before research and decide whether you can write from what you know and research later.

In addition, if you get stuck on one chapter, consider skipping that chapter and moving on to the next part of your outline or—perhaps even better—writing the chapter you feel most excited about writing next! Generally, a solid outline will help you work effectively and efficiently without having to write in a particular order. Sometimes, writing out of order frees your writing and creativity up in other ways.

When to Write Your Introduction

Should you write the introduction first?

It depends.

If you need to spend some time getting clear about your readers’ needs, mindset and pain points, writing the introduction and addressing these can help you get closer to your readers in preparation for writing the next chapters.

And as you describe the book, its contents, its benefits and how to engage the material effectively, you’ll get more clarity that will help you write.

On the other hand, the introduction can often be an experiment that you try a few different ways until you hit the right note. In that case, it’s preventing you from getting that quick rough first draft of the book. If you begin writing the introduction and you feel as if you’re treading water, consider moving on and returning to it later, so you can write your book expeditiously. If you already have a solid outline for the book, chances are writing several iterations of the introduction is not going to get you much additional clarity on that first draft. Keep moving.

Are there exceptions to the rules? Always. That’s why I recommend listening to your gut instinct as well (or “consulting your muse ,” as I think of the creative source).

How to Outline a Book Click To Tweet

outlining book chapters

One thing I’ve found myself suggesting to a few people in class is, if you’re writing a book that’s prescriptive (rather than narrative) or a combo of prescriptive/narrative, consider creating a blueprint for a typical chapter.

It can be something like this (just as an example):

  • tie story to teaching/information; provide info on xyz; define terms, share what research shows, etc.
  • sidebar (can be science-y sidebar or a brief example/story or defining a term, etc.)
  • provide questions for reflection and/or checklist and/or exercises or something else for readers to use for assessment and engagement, to integrate and apply the information
  • possible action step for reader

So, if you are getting ready to write and want to write a book quickly, consider this first. It will help shape chapters and save you time.

Walking the Talk

Lisa Tener book coach outlining a book

Note: it was a little challenging to keep the Post-it notes in place. Don’t try this on a windy day! (or if you do, make sure they are secure).

Although I plan to move some of these around, I ended up taping them down for now since they started to fall off. A particpant in class gave me the tip to buy sticky notes that are sticky all over the back and not just on one edge! I will definitely do that next time!

How About You?

Are you starting a book? What’s working? What questions are coming up? Do you have any insights or tips to share for getting started, writing a book quickly, getting the voice just right or writing your best?

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Reader Interactions

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February 5, 2020 at 11:49 pm

I enjoyed your article on outlining. I find it pretty fascinating how other writers’ creative juices flow including what method they finally decide on. I’m an avid user of sticky notes but, I use them differently. I use the color code system to leave myself reminders and action task notes on my monitor. I tried many ways to outline unfortunately I have the attention span of a ghat which requires me to move around my home or yard often during the outline & throughline stage. Today I use a king-size teacher planner to outline in erasable color pencils. I’ve enough pages to plan out various books within a series and plot out bothersome plot bunnies when needed. Easy to view. Plenty of space to write. I use yellow heavy-duty stickies to scene dialogue. I can take it to the library, local cafe or to my sofa and bed. As much as I love poster boards they are awkward to deal with and move around.

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February 6, 2020 at 8:51 am

hi Alma, That sounds brilliant! Is a teacher planner like a white board (I’m only seeing notebooks on Amazon when I search). Lisa

February 7, 2020 at 12:13 pm

This is the one that I use… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PUZ9A1K/?coliid=I16K5TRM6R5E4F&colid=21G1M4QLWNR8I&psc=1 I use the smaller stickies & writable highlighter sticky tabs so I can color code my characters or beats. In the first few pages, I use them to track my progress, my goals & reminders I like to keep handy. I like to keep a page for my one-page story details that I shrunk for quick review. You can design your planner any which way that suits your creativity and writing process. It will work for fiction or non-fiction writing. It opens to a wonderful 11×13 workspace as you edit or create and folds away nicely. I would share what mine looks like but I can’t paste images… sorry.

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February 6, 2020 at 8:56 am

Great article! I’m currently finishing my sixth novel and I’ve been thinking of finally writing a non-fiction book that has been in my head for several years now. The blueprint looks like a great way to rapidly fill out my chapters. One thing I do (and you might consider) is using Scrivener to create your first draft. The program has a “corkboard view” which allows you create the equivalent of post it notes that can be freely arranged on your screen. The “notes” are tied to the chapters so moving a note automatically moves the actual text to the new location. So you can arrange things in a variety of ways to see what works best for you. it’s fun to play with, especially at the beginning of a new book when things need to be fluid as your thoughts organize themselves.

February 6, 2020 at 9:03 am

Thanks for the tip, David. Maybe I’ll finally try Scrivener again. I bought it and a package of tutorials and even started a book with it, but I got intimidated and went back to word…your description makes me think I should try again!

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Meet the Team

My Publisher Tamara Monosoff : From the gorgeous cover to inner design, to the original inspiration for QR codes and putting every single one of those crazy videos on my website, and guiding me patiently throughout the process, Tamara is my dream publisher. Thank you!

  • Web Designer Extraordinaire Rachel Vane
  • Social Media Goddess Jamie L. Palmer
  • Brilliant Editor Lynne Heinzmann
  • Writing and Life Coach Tama Kieves who guides me to my muse whenever we speak
  • Video Editor and Overall Mensch Dan Thibeault of Fast Twitch Media
  • Media Coach and Producer of many videos Portland Helmich
  • Video Editing Support Luke Patterson
  • Blogger and Podcast Outreach Frances Caballo
  • Launch Advisor Kristin Meekhof
  • Eric Maisel Writing Habit Advocate
  • Virtual Assistant Extraordinaire Geri Lafferty
  • 2020 PR Support Katie Snyder of Pitch PR
  • The most talented photographer in the world, Seth Jacobson
  • PR Trainers Chris Winfield, Jen Gottlieb, Brittany Sisko, and the entire community at the Be Seen Accelerator
  • Beta Readers: Joshua Home Edwards, Tracy Hart, Stephanie Meyers, Laurie Hunt, LiDona Wagner, Mia Potter, Gael Johnson, Amber Hanks, Melissa Sones, Gael-Sylvia Pullen, and Paula Schonewald. I hope I did not leave anyone out—if I did please let me know so I can add you here!
  • Title Support Howard Van Es, Tamara Monosoff, Lorraine Segal, Tama Kieves, Kristin Meekhof.
  • Launch Consulting Howard Van Es
  • My Health and Wellbeing Posse who helped me survive the stress-induced health challenges I encountered on the way
  • Dear Friends Johannah Cremin (and her prayer circle) and Virginia Swain; Qigong teacher, Leah Franklin, and the lineage of Mei Hua Qigong masters from whom she learned; dream shaman Kari Hohne; loving guide, Linda Yael Schiller; acupuncturists Nancy Graham and Patricia Gilmartin; Lynne Ahn, MD and John McGonigle, MD; dowser, Erina Cowan; and special friends Linda Broadhead and Seraina Wood.
  • Book Ambassadors: Louise Brownell
  • Podcasters, Show Hosts and Early Adopters: Dan Janal, Sharon Burton Ways, Josh Steimle, Leslie Draffin, Robin Kall
  • Bloggers and Blogs: San Francisco Writers Conference, Jane Friedman, Nina Amir, Howard Van Es
  • My Supportive Family: Tom, Will, and Luke Patterson, and Mimi Sammis, you are the lights in my life! Tener and Arnold families, and the Patterson-Potters and Pattersons
  • My many colleagues from Harvard Medical School’s CME publishing and women in healthcare leadership courses—director Julie Silver, et al.
  • All my students!
  • All my amazing writing colleagues
  • Intellectual property advice, Attorney Dana Newman
  • A special thank you to my many clients and colleagues who gave me permission to quote their wonderful words in this journal
  • The brave souls who appear in the accompanying videos.

I could probably go on thanking deserving people for another twenty pages, so for those not listed, please know you have my gratitude.

Table of Contents

1. Properly Position Your Book in the Market

2. write a solid outline, 3. create a writing plan, 4. tackle it in small pieces, 5. write a vomit draft, 6. try speech-to-text tools, 7. get someone to ask you questions.

  • 8. Beat Writer's Block

How to Write Faster: 8 Best Tricks to Finish Your Book Quickly

how to write a book quickly and easily

Books take a long time to write .

If you start getting bogged down, they can end up taking forever. Literally—because you’ll stop writing altogether.

But just because publishing a book can take a long time , it doesn’t mean the writing itself has to go slow.

In fact, it shouldn’t. You should move steadily through your writing sessions.

When you move steadily through the writing process, you won’t get bogged down by writers’ block , research , or any of the other common problems that can stand in a writer’s way.

Which means you’ll be able to write your book in no time.

But if you skip a step, things will go slower in the long run.

In this article, I’ll show you how to write a book quickly—in 8 easy steps.

8 Ways to Write Faster

Want a guaranteed way to get stuck? Start writing without a clear idea of what your book is about.

It’s like trying to follow a recipe without even knowing whether you have the ingredients in the cupboard. It’s not going to end well, and you’ll waste time when you have to make a grocery run mid-cooking.

If you don’t want to go down a lot of aimless rabbit holes while you’re writing, you have to be clear on your idea from the get-go.

Writing a book isn’t just about putting your thoughts on paper. It’s about serving a reader and meeting their needs. Every good book has to be properly positioned.

What does that mean? Quite simply, answering these 3 questions:

  • Why are you writing your book?
  • Who is it for?
  • Why will they care?

When you know the answers to these questions, you’ll be able to write a lot faster.

You’ll have a clearer idea of what to say to your audience and how to solve their problems. That will keep your writing focused. It will also keep you from getting writer’s block down the line.

To save even more time, try to be as specific as possible with your answers to these 3 questions.

For example, you’ll save yourself a lot of time if you know who your target audience is. And here’s a hint: it’s not “everyone.”

Authors frequently make the mistake of thinking their audience is larger than it really is.

In fact, the most successful books are actually written with a specific niche audience in mind.

That’s true even of the biggest bestsellers.

Know your audience inside out. Will they be familiar with industry lingo? What kind of tone will resonate with them? Are they more convinced by stories or data?

Having answers to those specific questions will help your ideas flow faster. You won’t have to stop and wonder, Will my audience already know this? Will this be valuable information to them?

Positioning can sometimes be the hardest part of a book, but it significantly reduces your writing time because you won’t have to constantly second-guess yourself.

Some writers just put pen to paper and hope for the best. Then, they spend months in the editing phase, trying to make sense out of the chaos.

Don’t do that. You’ll save yourself an immense amount of time if you create a solid outline before you start writing.

The outline will help you break your book into chapters and sections. This makes the project a lot easier to tackle.

You won’t waste time trying to organize random material, writing stuff you later discard or having to add new sections later on.

Having an outline means you’ll already know what you want to say, who you’re saying it to, and how you’re going to say it.

Then, you just have to say it.

A great outline includes a full table of contents, broken into chapters. It also includes the loose structure for each chapter:

  • A hook: a personal story, anecdote, or question to grab the reader’s attention.
  • A thesis: what’s going to be taught or discussed in the chapter
  • Supporting content: the main points, key ideas, evidence, and content to back up your argument. This doesn’t have to be too in-depth, but it should be thorough enough to give yourself a clear sense of what you’re going to include.
  • Stories and examples: the specific and relevant stories that will make your information memorable.
  • The key takeaway: the main point you want the reader to remember
  • Callback and segue: most books tie the end of the chapter back to its hook and then segue to the beginning of the next.

If you want to save even more writing time, use this book outline template to quickly corral all the information you need.

You shouldn’t just wait to write until inspiration strikes. If you do, you’ll fail. Inspiration isn’t reliable—and some people never have that lightning bolt moment.

The key to successfully finishing your book has nothing to do with inspiration and everything to do with discipline. And that discipline starts with a writing plan.

A writing plan is different from an outline. An outline tells you what you’re going to write. A writing plan tells you when you’re going to write.

Everyone’s writing plan will be different. Some people are night owls, while others prefer a different time of day. Some people have tons of time to work on their books, while others need to fit writing into tiny windows.

No matter what your plan looks like, you need one if you want to improve your writing speed.

Here’s a simple 5-step formula for developing a writing plan :

  • Schedule a consistent time and place to write.
  • Set specific writing goals.
  • Build deadlines
  • Announce the book and hold yourself accountable
  • Keep yourself accountable throughout the whole writing process

Developing a writing habit will give you the structure you need to complete your long-term book project (in a shorter amount of time).

If you’re still struggling to find writing time, here are some more tips for committing to your plan.

When you stare at the project as a whole, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. You’ll take less time each day if you know exactly how much you have to write that specific day.

I recommend having a word count goal. Every day you must write 250 words.

Why 250? That’s roughly the number of words that fit on a printed page in a book.

A page per day may seem like a low goal.

But a low goal is a great place to start. You won’t feel intimidated by the amount of time writing will take every day. And you’ll feel great when you plow through that 250-word goal and keep going.

Those small, manageable pieces add up quickly. At a pace of 250 words per day, you can finish a 120-page first draft in 4 months.

Writing a book doesn’t take a lot of time every day. It just takes consistency.

Instead of—or in addition to—your word count goals, you could try a time goal. You’re not allowed to leave your chair for 25 minutes, no matter what. That’s the idea behind the Pomodoro Technique . In my experience, this isn’t the best method, but you’re welcome to try it.

Or, you could try a content goal. Don’t let yourself stop writing until you’ve passed your 250-word limit and finished a particular section or anecdote.

Whatever method you choose, I recommend leaving off at a clear stopping point. That way, you can jump back in the next day without trying to figure out what you were talking about.

Remember: when you already know what you need to say, it will take much less time to write.

If you want to plow through the writing process, you’ll need a vomit draft . That’s what we call the first draft.

The best way to write a great book is to let yourself write a bad first draft. That may sound counterintuitive, so let me explain.

If you’re hung up on perfectionism, you’re never going to make progress.

You’ll write the first paragraph, edit it, read it again, delete it, and start over. You’ll have a blank page staring at you all over again.

That loop can go on forever, and you’ll never finish.

When you allow yourself to write a vomit draft, you’ll at least have something complete. You’ll have something on the page to edit.

It’s a lot easier to fix bad writing than to fix nonexistent writing.

We tell our Authors not to worry about being perfect. Don’t edit yourself. Turn off your inner critic. Vomit your information onto the page. Let your writing flow and get the words onto the page as fast as possible.

It’s going to be messy. But trust your outline, and write like there’s no one watching— because there’s not .

No one will see your rough draft until you edit it, so it can be very rough, and that’s OK. They’re called “rough” for a reason.

Many people are more comfortable speaking than writing. Their thoughts flow better, their language is more conversational, and it’s a lot faster.

If this sounds like you, you might save time by trying speech-to-text tools.

These fall into 2 groups:

  • Dictation software
  • Transcription services

Dictation software converts your speech to text in real-time. A lot of this software is free. For example, Google Docs has a built-in Voice Typing option, and every Mac comes preloaded with Apple Dictation.

These are great for people who like to write on the go, but they have accuracy limitations. Also, they can slow you down because you have to speak very clearly.

That’s why we prefer transcription services at Scribe. They convert speech to text after-the-fact. You create a recording, send it to the service, and they send you back a text transcription of the content.

You could dictate every chapter of your book, send all the files off at once, and have a functional vomit draft in a matter of minutes.

Of course, you’ll have to do a lot of editing. There will inevitably be “um”s, tangents, and missing information.

But this is a great way to save time if you’re more comfortable speaking.

Overall, it will probably increase your writing speed.

Even if you’re a talker, it’s usually more natural to talk to someone else than to talk to yourself.

If you have a tendency to get stuck when you write, recruit a friend or colleague to ask you questions about the material and record your answers.

This will take a lot less time than trudging through writer’s block on your own.

Even better, it will probably make your writing sound more natural. You’ll be a lot more comfortable answering a friend’s questions than agonizing over the “perfect” way to say something.

Usually, explaining something the way you would explain it to a friend will give you the clearest and best results.

virtual zoom meeting participants

Talk with a friend, learn to write better, and write faster? Sounds like a good deal.

8. Beat Writer’s Block

If you followed the other 8 writing tips and still feel stuck, your problem probably isn’t the writing.

It’s fear .

Fear is at the root of every single case of writer’s block.

Maybe you’re afraid that your book isn’t original enough or that people won’t care about your book. Maybe you’re afraid that people won’t like your book or that your book will make you look stupid.

Those are fears that every Author faces, no matter how successful they are.

In fact, success can sometimes make those fears more acute because people feel like they have more to live up to.

If you’re afraid, the best thing you can do is admit it.

Then you can deal with it and face your fear head-on.

Ask yourself, What am I afraid of? ​ Get to the root of the problem and then try to solve it.

It can also be helpful to talk your fear out with a trusted friend.

But my #1 solution is to focus on the reader.

Remember that niche audience we talked about? If you’re clear on who they are, what problem they’re having, and how your book can solve it, you’ll stay grounded.

You’re writing a book to help people. If you imagine yourself talking to a specific reader, face-to-face, it’s a lot easier than staring at a sea of words.

Thinking of your book as a dialogue will take your mind off your own fear and put it back where it belongs: on the people your book is designed to help.

Don’t let fear stop you from writing your book. Your idea matters. It deserves to be heard.

The Scribe Crew

Read this next.

How to Choose the Best Book Ghostwriting Package for Your Book

How to Choose the Best Ghostwriting Company for Your Nonfiction Book

How to Choose a Financial Book Ghostwriter

The Write Practice

How To Write A Book…FAST

by Carlos Cooper | 50 comments

how to write a book fast cheetah

photo by Mark Dumont

We spend time being ‘busy'. Busy marketing on social media. Busy networking with fellow writers. Busy submitting manuscripts to publishers.

You know what we forget? We're writers. We need to write!

One of the things I found early on was that I, apparently, write pretty fast. Joe asked me the other day how I'd already written more than four novels in my short writing career.

I laughed. Why? Because I thought I was going too slow. You see, my goal is to write a lot. A lot, a lot.

So how can you write a book starting now? Try F.A.S.T.

Want to learn how to write a book from start to finish? Check out  How to Write a Book: The Complete Guide .

1. Forget The Rules Placed On Your Craft

I'm lucky because I don't come from a classically trained writing background. You see, if you've grown up wanting to be a writer, and you've taken courses, majored in writing, had Pulitzer winning professors, etc…along the way you've been told rules over and over again.

Do these sound familiar?

“You can't make money writing.”

“You have to take a lot of classes.”

“You have to major in English or Creative Writing to write a novel.”

“A book takes at least 18-months to finish.”

…and on and on and on.

If I'd listened to what people had told me, I wouldn't have clicked one keyboard key in pursuit of my dream.

How can you do the same?

2. Aim For A Weekly Goal

I started out with a daily goal. That's great if you can swing it, but you know what? Life gets in the way. It's impossible to ignore the wife, kids, and bills to write all day.

Now my goal, when I'm on a deadline, is 10,000 words per week. That means I can write 2,000 words on Monday, 1,000 words Tuesday, and so on. My writing fits into my schedule, but I still have that weekly goal to hit.

By hitting my weekly targets I've been able to achieve my larger goal of writing each novel in just two months. Not bad.

3. Set Your Routine

I have a set way of writing novels. I always wear noise canceling headphones with a soundtrack playing that I specifically created for the novel I'm writing. I always bring my Costco green tea to drink. I always have a protein shake and a stick of cheese in the same little grey cooler. I always write during the middle of the day.

My routine puts me in the zone. It's my safe place. When I sit down to write I just write. I don't have to worry about what I'm gonna eat or if I'm properly hydrated.

You should do the same. You don't have to be completely anal about it. The simple act of writing in the same place each day can give you the comfort you need to speed down the path to finish your book.

4. Train Your Brain

I didn't know anything else. Sure I wrote essays and stories in grade school in college, but I made my system up. My goal is to write six novels every year. That's one every two months. For me, that's very achievable.

You might be different. Your current pace may be only 1,000 words per week. Train your brain to double that number. Triple that number.

Exceed your prior expectations and crush your self-imposed limitations.

Rewrite Your Rulebook

You might be a super prolific writer. You might be the slowest writer on the planet. What separates you from the other guy or gal? Talent? CPU speed? A better dictionary?

I say it's all mental. If you believe you can write a book in a month, you do it. If you've heard that books take twenty years to write, why are you listening?

Make your own rules. Get your art out there. Your readers are waiting. ( Share that ?)

Where will your career go if you rewrite the rulebook?

For fifteen minutes write about what your writing career will look like in ten years if you ignore the advice of all the “experts” out there. Dream big.

When you’re done, post your practice in the comments. As usual, be supportive by giving feedback to others’ practices.

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Carlos Cooper

Carlos is author of the Corps Justice novels. Get the box set of Books 1-3 for FREE HERE .

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how to write a book quickly and easily

How to write a book quickly and easily

how to write a book quickly and easily

I had another conversation with a client who – before meeting our team – had written many thousands of words, but they weren’t the right ones. And one piece of poorly executed feedback brought his writing to a halt.

Until he implemented this secret.

The secret that Librotas clients follow when they’re writing their book is that they start by mapping out their structure first.

And they get support from us to provide an objective view to what they’re writing and to help them to develop their framework.

  • We help them to get clear about their topic, who their book is for, what their reader wants to hear from them and why they are writing it.
  • They work on their story, their idea and hook, and then they create the structure.
  • Then it makes it easier for them to find time to write it   and use any pockets of time they have creatively and wisely.

When you have a structure or framework for your book, it will be easier to start and quicker to finish. The thing is unless you know what you’re writing next or where you’re going with your writing, then there’ll always be something else that’s more attractive to do instead. You’re more likely to face your inner critic, finding 100 reasons not to do it, blame lack of time, when it’s really lack of clarity and confidence that’s getting in your way.

So where do you start in creating your framework or structure?

There are no right or wrong structures, and our clients take many different approaches. With this in mind, I thought you’d like to hear from some of them, what they’re writing and how they’re writing their book.

The how-to book or self-help guide

how to write a book quickly and easily

Aimed towards parents who are supporting their teenagers to find the right path in life, Lesley’s book shares many of the strategies that she’s learnt as a Jack Canfield certified trainer.

Every chapter has a strong purpose with advice and guidance, and many activities and exercises for readers to action to get the most from the book.

This is an approach that many clients take. They have a step by step process or a series of steps that they take clients through, and this informs the direction of the book.

The best thing about this process is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You simply take what you know and then write about it, building on the content as you go to support the reader.

The memoir or autobiography

Next up, I’d like to introduce you to Steve Judge . After being in a near fatal car accident where his legs were crushed and he was told he may never walk again, Steve decided that he wasn’t going to accept this fate. He is now a two-times world champion para-triathlete and a sought-after speaker with an inspiring message to share. So it may be no surprise that he’s writing his autobiography.

When Steve started working with Sheryl and myself, we covered a meeting room full of post it notes to plan out his book.

The secret behind a memoir or autobiography is to map out your turning points and your story before you get started. Then each chapter has a purpose and ideally a hook.

Like many authors in this situation, Steve had plenty of notes about his journey, but not surprisingly it’s been hard to delve into those dark moments. So another secret is to be able to anchor yourself back into the present and remember that you’re not in that type of situation any more.

The bit of both!

And then there’s Claire Brumby , who is writing a book which spans both arenas – part autobiographical and part ‘how to’. Claire’s upcoming book, The Winning Mix shares Claire’s story of setting up and growing a food business.

The first part of each chapter talks about her story, the highs and lows and the lessons she’s learnt, then the second part tells you what you can do at each stage of growing your food business. She shares her pieces of advice – ‘her diamonds’ – and what she wished she’d known when she was going through that situation.

We’ve worked with a few clients like this and again the secret is having a structure that works. Claire has a solid eight step process that fits in well with her story. She shares the highs like drinking champagne with royalty, and the lows like the experience she had that led her to setting up her food business in the first place. Like many authors, this is the book that Claire wished she’d had when she started out!

So how can you write a book quickly and easily?

As you can see from the examples above, the secret is to start with a structure; a really clear plan of your chapter layout and an overview of what’s in each chapter.

Then it makes it easier to use the time you have to write. You’ll know what you’re writing next (rather than procrastinate and put it off until another day!) If you’re like one of our clients, Sarah, you’ll be able to dip into the chapter that you’re inspired to write and add in new content.

  • If you’re writing your memoir, then what have been the turning points? What are the themes? Are you writing about your entire life or just a snippet?
  • If you’re writing a how to guide or self-help book, what is your system or process? What do you talk to about with clients again and again and again? This should be the content for your book.

The secret is not to reinvent the wheel and come up with new content, it’s about exploring the content you have already and expanding on this in your book.

Then you can execute another secret, and that is to be able to expand on your content, so that your readers can take further action with you after you’ve launched your book if they wish to do so.

Lesley is planning her online workshops and her book launch.

Steve is working on his training programmes and workshops, alongside his high profile speaking engagements, and building his community ready for his launch later this year.

And Claire is going to swim the channel first(!) and then I know she has a programme in mind for when she launches her book in September.

What does your book look like?

What structure will it take?

What were the key moments or turning points?

We’ve all got a story to tell or a message to share – or both! What will you do next?

If you want help mapping out your process or working out your turning points, then please get in touch and we can discuss how we can help you. Here’s the link to arrange a call .

And if you haven’t yet downloaded the FREE  Get Started workbook , then click this link to find out more about the other questions to ask yourself before you start to write your book.

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– 14 min read

How to write better: a quick-start guide for anyone and everyone

Anne Ichikawa

Anne Ichikawa

how to write a book quickly and easily

Just about everyone knows how to write — but writing well is something different. Great writers are formed through hard work and a passion for learning. But just like you, they all started from the beginning.

Problem is, a lot of “start writing well’ articles focus on the result. But good writing begins before you tippity-tap on that keyboard. Studying everyday practices, learning how to organize your thoughts, and then turning those ideas into effective writing should be your priority.

Whether you’re a blogger , an SEO writer, a marketer, or want to be the next Stephen King, these universal writing tips give you lots of ways to write better.

15 writing tips to help you write better

1. think before you start writing.

One of the best writing tips for beginners is organizing your thoughts in a logical, explainable manner before putting pen on paper. The biggest hurdle is often not knowing how to begin or what to say—everything is a jumble of ideas that probably look like a bunch of paint thrown against a wall (and not in an artistic way). It can be very frustrating.

Note: THIS IS NORMAL. Don’t get discouraged. There’s a reason the phrase “writer’s block” exists. Let yourself think about it for a day or two, especially if you’re doing creative writing. You’ll be surprised at how that paint blob slowly transforms into a recognizable shape.

2. Embrace the writing “brain dump”

In business writing , the “brain dump” signals the beginning of every new project or assignment. It’s the opportunity to get whatever is in your head out on digital paper in a stream of consciousness.

Avoid correcting misspellings, typos, sentence structure, or grammar—just type, type, type until your brain excavates all musings. You can use this creative writing skill for all kinds of work, from personal blogging and copywriting to essays and work emails.

Remember that at this phase of writing: bad ideas don’t exist. Your best creative ideas will come when you’re not held back by perfectionism.

3. Make an outline

Now that you have all your wonderful, messy thoughts on paper, it’s time to get more granular and organized. Some tips on how to edit your brain dump: do a first pass and delete the parts that are definite “nos.” Then go through again and highlight the ideas you like best. Revisit the “maybes” later.

Now, take your favorites and as briefly or as detailed as you like, make an outline that conveys your message. Start top-level with your biggest, overarching ideas, and then get into the details. Fill in missing parts, elaborate on other parts—rinse and repeat until satisfied.

4. Know your audience

This is a straightforward writing tip for beginners, but a lot of people forget it. For example, your voice and elements of style for personal blogging will be much more informal than business writing (i.e writing a proposal for a new client). Being mindful of your audience is key to improving writing skills and creating more impactful work.

5. Keep a journal

Being a better writer means writing more! Keeping a journal should be a very low-pressure thing. It can be as simple as writing a list of things you did that day, playing around with word choice for a LinkedIn headline, or recounting a conversation you had with a friend.

If you don’t want to keep a physical journal, you can start a note on your phone or a document on your computer. The point is—there are no journaling rules. Just start writing whenever you feel like it, because the more you do it, the more naturally it will come to you.

6. Pen a letter instead of texting

Great writers write letters for fun and for practice. Pen a letter (or an email) to a friend who lives in another city. A hundred years ago, people wrote long letters detailing everything from the mundane to faraway travel. Why not now? It’s the perfect way to get your creative writing juices flowing, rather than relying on boring texts.

Remember to check spelling, comma use, sentence structure, typos, etc. Your friends deserve good writing too. Spell-check is a nice starting point, but writing well happens when you use a reputable grammar or punctuation checker tool like  Writer  to support you.

7. Read more to do better writing

One of the best, passive ways of becoming a better writer is to read a book (Stephen King’s work makes for great binge reading). Not into books? Long-form business writing, graphic novels, or short stories do the trick as well.

Reading every day puts you in the fast lane for improving your writing skills. As  Roz Morris , the author of the bestseller book,  Nail Your Novel , puts it: “Reading exposes us to writing that’s better than our own and helps us to improve. Reading—the good and the bad—inspires you.”

By reading more, your brain will naturally pick up on things like good word choice, different writing styles, and good sentence structures. It also improves your reading comprehension and concentration levels (which comes in handy for the procrastinators among us, including me).

8. Keep your writing simple

As the legendary American novelist, Jack Kerouac, once said, “One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”

One big misconception about writing is that it should be full of beautiful prose and impressive words. Wrong! Sure, I can use the word 'floccinaucinihilipilification,' but most people will just think my cat walked across my keyboard. Click To Tweet

No matter who they are, you should empower readers with your words. Complex writing can leave readers feeling insecure, weary, or both. To simplify your writing:

  • Replace adverbs with more powerful verbs (e.g. she talked quietly > she whispered)
  • Get rid of unnecessary adjectives
  • Opt for simple word choice
  • Delete fluff (e.g. instead of saying “in order to”, say “to”)

Go ahead and make use of a thesaurus, but don’t try to be a Shakespeare or even an Ernest Hemingway—just keep it simple and true to yourself.

9. Tone up your tone in writing

Getting tone right is key to being a good writer. It’s the personality of your writing, influenced by the type of writing you’re doing and who you’re talking to.

Just like we said in “Know Your Audience,” business writing like an email might sound conservative, while a personal social media post can be friendly and casual. Your tone can and should change depending on your needs. An extreme example: don’t start a cover letter with: “Hey, dude! Wassup?”

10. Prioritize your key points

If you want to learn how to write good, sentence structure and word placement is everything. If you have a question to ask, don’t put it in the middle of a paragraph, because it could get skipped over. Similarly, if you have an important piece of information to share, make it into its own paragraph or strategically place it in the introduction or conclusion—the sections readers tend to pay attention to the most.

11. Break up your writing into bite-size bits

Long sentences that are full of fluff are boring to read! Like staring directly at the sun—you just have to look away. Instead of creating a heavy block of text, break down large sections of information into concise, punchy sentences. Bullet points in particular are an amazing tool. They help you:

  • Communicate information effectively and quickly
  • Emphasize important points that are more easily remembered
  • Provide easily digestible information to the reader

(See? They come in handy) AI writing software  like Writer can help you be a better writer by identifying paragraphs that are hard to read.

12. Use active voice

Once you’re comfortable with sentence structure, punctuation and comma use, and word choice, it’s time to look at elements of style. One core element is passive voice vs. active voice.

An active voice is key for effective writing. It makes for a much more engaging read, conveying a strong and clear tone. Whereas passive voice pulls you away from the action, which can create an apathetic experience.

Here’s an example:

  • Active voice: The thief stole one million dollars (subject + verb + object).
  • Passive voice: One million dollars was stolen by the thief (object + past participle + subject).

See how in the first sentence, the subject performs the action? This eliminates extra processing time by getting to the point faster, unlike the passive voice example which puts the subject at the end of the sentence.

13. Edit (then edit again)

Now that you’ve overcome writer’s block and have the first draft, it’s time to move on to the editing process. Chances are, you’re not a professional editor, but that doesn’t matter—you can do a great job on your own. First, don’t edit immediately after writing. You want fresh eyes on that baby. Revisit it the next day and it will be easier to look for:

  • unnecessary words (like adverbs and adjectives)
  • long sentences that can be shortened
  • passive voice use

At this phase, don’t worry about grammatical errors. Right now, you’re editing for clarity of your ideas and thoughts.

14. Proof your writing

Proofreading  is where you check spelling, punctuation (i.e. comma use), run-on sentences, typos … you get the picture. Spell-check is a good starting point, a reputable grammar checker tool like Writer gives you advanced support.

Whenever possible, ask a real human to read your writing. They’ll likely be able to point out any writing mistakes  and even offer suggestions. Over time, the lessons you learn from using these tools will help you become a great writer.

15. Reflect on your main point

We’ve made it to the very end. You’ve taken your idea and found many words to make into numerous sentences that communicate your intended message… or did you?

The last step is to always take an objective look at your writing. Pretend you’re a total stranger. Now ask yourself—does the narration make logical sense? Can you read it once and understand its message? Even better, can you sum it up in a few sentences? If so, you’ve written something you can feel good about.

8 exercises to improve writing skills

Here are fun activities you can do every day to become a better writer.

1. Write every day

This is the best writing tip for beginners. Write like it’s your job. Practicing every day is key to learning how to write good. It helps you stretch those writing muscles and learn from doing. Keeping a journal with you at all times also means you can write whenever inspiration strikes, like when you’re walking your fave four-legged friend.

Write every day, and you’ll turn it into a habit. That doesn’t mean you have to write ten thousand words every day, as the author of the children’s novel,  See You in the Cosmos , Jack Cheng says:

“When mastery is the goal, spending an exorbitant number of hours in one sitting will likely lead to burnout. We don’t go to the gym expecting to put on 20 pounds of muscle in a single, day-long workout. Instead, we do several short workouts a week, spread out over months.”

2. Turn long paragraphs into bullet points

Want to learn how to write better sentences? Sentences that are easy to read and get to the point right away? Practice the art of brevity by chopping up hard-to-read paragraphs into succinct bullets.

This is especially useful for business writing because your readers are likely short on time. They want you to get to the point fast! And they want easy to digest information.

There is a place for long sentences in your work though, especially when it comes to creative writing. Writology has a great guide on this full of ace writing tips for beginners.

3. Change passive voice into active voice

A little recap on passive and active voice: Active voice is when the sentence starts with the subject acting on the verb. Passive voice is when the subject is a recipient of the verb’s action. Active voice is more engaging because it takes less processing time from the reader, and also gives the impression that the action is happening now, not in the past.

Use an AI writing platform like Writer  to spot unengaging instances of passive voice and transform them into the active voice. This will help you draw readers in and make your writing easier to read.

4. Use grammar checker tools like Writer

Use a grammar checker like Writer helps you spot mistakes you may have missed. Mistakes such as misused commas, spelling errors, typos, incorrect use of words (we’re looking at you, thesaurus lovers), etc. Writer is also ideal for business writing. You can submit your company style guide and the app will measure your written work against it to ensure consistent and on-brand content.

5. Proof your friend’s or colleague’s writing

One effective way to improve writing skills:  Proofreading  other people’s content. You can pick up on  common grammar mistakes , different sentence structures, new words, word placement – everything that you might not learn from your own writing. It’s about getting a fresh perspective on all the different ways language is used.

Bonus: you get all the good feelings for helping someone out. And they might even return the favor one day!

6. Write fanfiction

Improve your creative writing skills by writing about stories and characters you love. Why? The more passionate you are about what you’re writing, the more fun and engaging it will be to read. Because you’ll naturally inject your love of the subject into your work. Plus, you can ensure your favorite novels or short stories live on through that amazing imagination of yours! It’s also a great place to start if your idea bank is running on empty, giving you the inspiration and direction needed to write freely.

7. Read out loud

Sometimes you can’t tell if a word or phrase doesn’t work until you read it out loud. Same with spotting mistakes. This is especially true if you’ve read your work over a hundred times (hello fellow perfectionists). Your brain will find it more and more difficult to spot mistakes – reading out loud can fix this!

When you read out loud, it requires you to slow down and focus on every single word that you’re saying, so that it can make its way from your brain to your mouth. When we proofread inwardly, we tend to rush through things and don’t actually read the text properly.

That’s because our brain already has a version of the content embedded and it wants to concentrate on the meaning rather than the words. As psychologist Tom Stafford, who studies typos at the University of Sheffield in the UK, says : “We don’t catch every detail, we’re not like computers or NSA databases Rather, we take in sensory information and combine it with what we expect, and we extract meaning.”

8. Read books on how to write better

These books on how to write better are simple, easy to read, and full of valuable info.

  • Everybody Writes by Ann Handley – for business writing, marketing, and blogging
  • On Writing  by Stephen King – for writing novels and improving your creative writing skills
  • Write Tight  by William Brohaugh – for business and creative writing, with lots of writing tips for beginners
  • The Sense of Style  by Steven Pinker – for writing novels, letters and understanding the sciences of mind when it comes to language
  • You Are a Writer  by Jeff Goins – for business writers with great writing tips for beginners
  • Nail Your Novel  by Roz Morris – for budding novelists who want to polish their first draft or write a book

That’s your next vacation reading list sorted!

Now you can write better

It’s time to unleash your amazing writing skills and creativity! Got a friend who also wants to learn how to write well? Share the tips you’ve learned today. By teaching them, you’ll embed them further into your wonderful brain.

Write with clarity and confidence when using Writer.  Sign up for your free trial .

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how to write a book quickly and easily

Write Your Book Quickly and Easily and WOW your Readers!

Write your book quickly and easily, and wow your readers.

Would you like to reach more people with your message?

A book can help you do that.

You can teach, inspire and encourage people through your services—but you have limited time. With a book, your message can help others at any time or place, even when you’re not there.

So what’s stopping you?

Maybe you’ve been thinking about writing a book for many years and have even collected some of your ideas into a notebook. Or you’ve taken a stab at writing a few sections of the book. Perhaps you’ve even launched a blog on your topic. I often hear from people at this point in the process. They say things like,

  • “I’ve got lots of material on the blog but I don’t know how to organize it into a book.”
  • “I have too many ideas. How do I choose which ones to include?”
  • “I’m not sure I know how to do this. It seems so big.”

I’ve written more than ten books, and I’ve said the very same things. Because, all books feel big and challenging and ridiculously hard to write at first.

This book is ridiculouslyhardtowrite!-2

In my experience, the one thing that really helps make the whole process seem easier is this: finding a book format that works.

“Really?” You might ask. “A book format can make writing easier?”

Yup. That’s it. Because once you have a book format, you know what tiny pieces you need to create to make your book complete. And once you know those pieces, you have a sort of road map. And once you have a road map, then the journey is not so hard at all.

Yes!

So let’s start there—with the format.

Over the years, I’ve discovered books that made me exclaim,

  • “Why didn’t I think of that?”
  • “I wish I’d written that!”
  • “I could have done this!”

As I’ve collected these books, I’ve noticed that their formats are both easy to write AND valuable for the reader .

The Five Best Formats for Writing Quickly and Offering Exceptional Value

Read on to learn the five best formats to use if you want to write a valuable book quickly and easily. For each format, you’ll find a simple definition, examples, and questions to get you started. Here we go!

The List Book

What it is:.

The list book is a simple list of items that go together: books to read, places to travel to, or quotes to inspire. Over the years, authors have collected different kinds of tiny pieces like toasts, tools, prayers, sayings, and mistakes together in books to help, delight, or disgust their readers. Some of these books are straight lists (like Barbara Ann Kipfer’s 14,000 Things to be Happy About —more on that book in a moment) while others include short descriptions or add photographs. Other list books are even shorter and record ideas that go together. Kim McMillen created a book of her own life lessons, When I Loved Myself Enough . Each page records some small lesson she learned in her life such as, “When I loved myself enough, I quit answering the telephone when I don’t want to talk.”

Popular examples:

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Tiny pieces:

It’s a list book, so the chunks are super small—just the items you can put on the list. You might list sayings, questions, answers, practices, exercises, books, people, links, tasks, riddles, jokes, places to visit, photos, and more!

When you look at your work, what kinds of lists do you already make to support your client? Maybe you’ve created a list of actions to take before starting a business or ways to take care of yourself. Or consider what kinds of lists you’d love to create for your clients. Could you turn any of these into a book?

The Rule Book

The Rule Book is essentially a list or collection book that consists of rules. Most of these include short explanations or essays to help illustrate the author’s point.

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Much like the list book, rule books are made up of rules, tools, or commandments–and perhaps a wee bit of explanation. Simple, right? Think about the kind of document you see in a classroom (Rules for a Successful Year) or the booklet you get when you study for the driver’s test. Easy, right?

When you see clients struggling, do you wish you could give them rules or tools to help them succeed? Why not collect these ideas into a book—and sell it (or give it away)! Consider the rules and practices that you repeatedly refer to in your work—and create a book out of them.

The Essay Book

When you hear “essay book,” do you think about those stuffy collections of literary essays that everyone refers to, but no one really reads? That’s not what I’m talking about. The essay books that are fast and easy to write—and very popular for readers—collect short writings (tiny pieces) around a subject or theme. Often these books start as blogs, become popular and get transformed into a book.

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If you’ve written a blog post or a newsletter article, you already know the size of the chunk I’m talking about–300-1000 words at the most! When you put a bunch of those tiny pieces together, you have a book!

Review what you’ve already written—your blog posts, newsletters, or a home study course. Does a theme emerge that would connect with your readers’ needs? Are there other themes that would work better as an essay book?

The Big Idea Book

The Big Idea book presents a single important idea in a compelling way. While the book may include action steps, it is not a how-to book. The tiny pieces of the book—chapters, paragraphs, exercises, call outs, and sidebars— support or prove the main idea.

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Much like The Essay Book, the Big Idea Book communicates the big idea in short bites of digestible information.

Do you have a big idea that has transformed the way you approach your business or life? Do you have evidence that your idea works? Why not turn that idea into a book that shows the reader how to use your idea to make a mindset shift in their work or life?

The Parable Book

The parable book includes a very short story that teaches principles related to business or life. The idea embedded in the story solves a problem that readers have in an innovative and inspiring way.

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You’ll start this by coming up with 3-5 practices that you want to communicate to the reader. Then you’ll create a story to help you share those practices. Try to write the story a scene at a time. Not too hard, right?

Consider what parables you regularly use to help clients face challenges and thrive. Do you have a list of best practices you think every one of your clients should know and follow? Could you tell a story of a struggling individual overcoming their obstacles by using these tools?

There you have it—

five formats that you can use to quickly and easily write your book. Each of these book formats has the potential to provide an enormous amount of value for your readers. But which one is right for you and your topic?

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Thanks Rochelle, so helpful!

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Last updated on May 09, 2022

How to Write an Ebook (in 7 Super Simple Steps)

Ebooks are one of the best marketing tools available to entrepreneurs, not to mention an amazing way to instantly boost your business's credibility and visibility. In this part of our guide, we’ll run you through how to create an ebook that will stand out, from coming up with your idea to perfecting your final product. 

Here's how to write an ebook in 7 steps: 

1. Research your target market

2. choose your topic, 3. scope out the competition, 4. plan your structure with your solution in mind, 5. choose your writing platform, 6. flesh out your plan with effective content, 7. edit to a professional level, 8. get it out into the world.

How to write an ebook - screenshot of a customer survey

If you’re creating an ebook as a way to market your business, that target audience should be the same as your product or service. If you’re creating an ebook as a self-contained product, you’ll want to do more research into your ideal readers . 

Your user base won’t be a monolith, but it can help to generalize for a hot second with factors like age, types of occupation, or level of disposable income. These insights can help make choices about the topic you write about or the solutions you suggest, so it’s important to conduct some research into them. Let’s take a hypothetical example:

Jim runs an online store selling plants. He can assume that his buyers have some disposable income, but has no other insight into them. In order to learn more about who he’s selling to, he sends a questionnaire to his mailing list and learns that his core customer base is:   — Predominantly millennials — Split evenly along gender lines — Largely living in apartments or condos without garden space. — Relatively inexperienced with plant care. — Likely to spend most of their free time away from home. — Keen to increase their collection of houseplants.

These insights will come in very handy through pretty much every step of the process. So don’t skimp on the consumer research.

Once you’ve gathered your data, you need to burrow into that reader’s mind and choose your topic wisely — more on that next! 

Free course: Finding your target readers

Identify your target readers, find out where they 'live', and get them to buy your book. Get started now.

In the course of your market research, you’ll hopefully have considered who your reader is and what they might want from an ebook. This will be key in determining its topic. If you have no idea where to start, a good tactic is to get inside your reader’s head and ask yourself the following questions:

  • What would be useful for your target reader?
  • Is there a question your audience repeatedly asks? Can you provide an answer?
  • Is there a resource your target reader is looking for?
  • Is there a topic that you have posted about before that you feel could be expanded upon in longer form content? (If you’re a blogger who already has a lot of material to work with, you can check out our tips on how to convert your blog into a book ).

Pro tip alert! 📣 If you’re really struggling to know what your audience is looking for, ask them! A survey of your existing users asking them what they’d like to see can help you identify what they’re after.

While you may be tempted to use your ebook exclusively to advertise your own product or service,  people are unlikely to read pure promotional material (and even less likely to recommend it to friends). Instead, identify a need among your target audience, and take it from there.

So what are Jim’s topic options?

Jim knows that his customers are mostly concerned about keeping their houseplants healthy. Every day, he receives emails about plants dying — along with other recurring pain points his inexperienced customers come up against. His market research revealed that his core customers mostly live in small living spaces, which has inspired him to write an ebook on caring for plants in small environments. 

It’s not enough to identify a killer question to answer in your ebook: you’ve got to answer it better than anyone else. That usually means more research.

Read around your subject and see what’s already been written. If you find that there’s actually already a lot of information on your chosen topic, the market is oversaturated, and you may need to go back to the drawing board. 

How to write an ebook - screenshot of Amazon research for a potential ebook topic

What makes your ebook unique?

Identify a gap in the market — something that doesn’t already exist. While the temptation is usually to cover big, popular topics, you will find many other people have the same idea. The more well-covered a topic is, the more competition your ebook will face, no matter how great it is.

But if your topic of choice has been covered before, don’t despair! It’s still possible to draw readers in with a unique angle, especially if what has already been published is written by an obscure author who hasn’t made the most of marketing their ebook . The most important thing is to check out what has already been written and think carefully about your prospects of beating out that competition.

Let’s check in with our friend Jim to see how he’s getting on.

While researching his chosen topic, Jim can see a lot has been written about urban gardening before. There are already several ebooks available on Amazon for free discussing the topic. With stiff competition in mind, he decides to go back to the drawing board, to see how he can make his book stand out.   Knowing that most of his target audience spend time out of the apartment, Jim decides to write THE INVINCIBLE INDOOR GARDEN, all about how to create an indoor garden that’ll take the least amount of care and attention. He’ll emphasize the “busy young professional on the go” angle, knowing most of his readers are under 35 with disposable income.

A chapter-by-chapter outline will ensure you hit all the relevant points as you write your first draft. It will also save time in the editing process by keeping your writing tight and to the point .

So before you set pen to paper (or finger to keyboard), break down your overall aim in writing the book, your chapter headings, and the key points you want to make within each section. To give you a jumping-off point, here are a few structures to consider, depending on what fits your content best:

The “how-to” structure

If you’re writing a straightforward how-to guide, you’ll want to keep your structure linear. Dedicating a chapter to each step, and breaking those down into subsections if necessary, will make it easy to navigate and help your reader follow the sequence. 

The “leveling up” structure

If you’re not providing an exhaustive how-to but are instead providing additional tips to help people level up their skills, you’ve got a lot of flexibility in terms of structure. You can dedicate a chapter to each tip, starting with the most basic tips to the most complex or you can order it based on the benefits each improvement will bring to your reader —  the sky's the limit!

The “wait, but why?” structure

If you’re providing a unique solution to a problem, your readers may not understand why a new approach is necessary. Take some time at the beginning of the book to explain the problem with the status quo and what your proposed solution does better. You’ll want to relate back to this now and again during the following chapters, even if they follow a straightforward “how-to” structure from then on.

And what about our friend Jim?

Jim’s going to go with a hybrid ‘how to’ and ‘leveling up’ structure, because he’s dealing with people who need an outline of the very basics of plant care, but also want to improve their skills over time.    He also decides to split the book into three sections: a ‘how to’ beginning with the very basics, a section with tips dealing with issues that come up caring for plants in small spaces, and a section of tips specifically for people who are away from home a lot. This will mean readers can easily navigate the book using the table of contents if only one or two of the sections are of interest to them.    He’s going to divide his ‘hacks’ into a logical order from the most basic (choosing the right spot for your plant in the apartment) to the most complex (jury rigging a timed watering system that you only need to refill every few months, all for under $50). 

You can definitely draft your ebook text with a normal word processor, such as Microsoft Word. However, it’s worth considering using specialized book formatting software for your writing. This will save you time in the long run by ensuring that your text is already formatted optimally for an ebook before you even finish writing.

Having limited experience with ebook formatting, Jim might opt to write directly into a program that’ll do the heavy lifting for him, leaving him more time for literal heavy lifting in the plant store — after all, planters can weigh a ton.

How to write an ebook - screenshot of the Reedsy Book Editor

If you choose to write in a general use word processor, just know that you will have to go back and format your content into a proper book layout later. Customers will be reluctant to pay for or read a book that doesn’t look like the real deal. To convert your writing into a professional-looking ebook, you’ll want to consider chapter headings, line spacing, fonts , and other aspects of how the text looks on the page. Sounds complicated, but luckily we have our exhaustive guide to formatting a book to help you out!

Now’s the time to do the actual writing part. If you’ve got a solid outline, this process shouldn’t be too rough. Just take it section by section, and remember that you can always come back and polish things up in the edit. 

But those are general tips that apply to any type of writing. When writing an ebook for business, here are a few things you should bear in mind as you write.

Include the “why”

Within the introduction of your ebook, it’s a good idea not only to address what topics you’ll be covering but also to address why you’re writing this ebook in the first place. Underline the key need that you identified in your target research. Make sure people understand what the problem is and that you’re going to be the one to solve it. For example, Jim might say something like:

“Most plant care resources fail to address people whose lifestyles keep them out of the home. They’re unrealistic in their expectations for the amount of time people want to take on caring for their plants. This guide is for the person who loves plants, but can’t make plant-care their primary focus.”

Think about that target market again

You’d speak to a room full of experts differently than you would speak to complete novices in your field, and the same should go for your writing. Think back to your proto-persona and match your writing's tone to what they’ll want (and expect). If you’re providing solutions for industry professionals, you can pitch your writing's difficulty and complexity a little higher. If you’re writing an introductory guide, be sure to cut through any jargon, and take time to answer questions a complete newbie might have as you go.

Jim keeps his lingo pretty simple. Bearing in mind his millennial audience, he adopts a conversational tone. He doesn’t go too far with this, though, to avoid alienating other readers, or patronising those good ol’ millennials.

Data is key...

An ebook as a marketing tool shouldn’t just be pages of fluff. Pack in genuinely useful information or readers are unlikely to stick it out to the end (or believe what you’re saying). Data, statistics, and referenced facts will all help to bolster your credibility while adding educational value.

… But so is a good story

While facts and figures will bolster your writing's credibility, you don’t want to just present your readers with a dry list of facts. Incorporate storytelling into your writing by presenting examples and real-life stories wherever possible — leveraging social proof in this way is always compelling.

Jim will balance these two concerns by including plenty of the science behind why certain tips work (and other methods don’t), while also including anecdotes about his customers’ experiences and recurring problems, and how Jim helped them.

Add images and graphics

As we mentioned, not printing physical copies has the benefit of allowing you to pack your book full of images. Break up any text walls with illustrative pictures that help your reader understand what you’re talking about. Just don’t go too far with this — you don’t want your readers to feel shortchanged by a book that’s more images than text!

How to write an ebook - screenshot of unsplash stock image library

You might want to consider hiring a professional, like Jim, who will get custom images from a photographer to fill his ebook pages. These images can act as a sneaky advertisement for his stock and showroom, as he gets to show those off to potential customers. To keep costs low, he’ll also supplement with royalty free stock photos like the ones mentioned in our post about book cover pictures for a budget-friendly pictorial fix.

Make it personal

Obviously, you want to keep your ebook professional, but don’t be afraid to relate the content back to yourself and your business once in a while. It’s a fine balance to strike, but you should remind the reader who is writing. They’re far more likely to return to your business if they have gained a sense of who you are and what you do than if you present your ebook as an anonymous compilation of information.

Jim references his own plant care journey through the course of the book. He didn’t always have a green thumb, and pointing that out provides a compelling and reassuring ‘story’, even for a book that’s (on the surface) purely informational. It’ll also help build a relationship between Jim and his readers, as he understands their problems first hand and is therefore the man to come to for solutions.

Solve the problem you set out for yourself

By the end of the ebook, you should have answered the central question or provided a solution to the central problem you identified when picking your topic, and which you laid out in your introduction. Whether it’s showing them how to complete a task or explaining a complex concept, your ebook should provide something constructive to your reader. Highlight this in your conclusion so that your reader’s final impression is that your ebook has provided value to them.

Don’t give your readers the hard sell

As tempting as it is, the solution you offer your readers shouldn’t be buying your product. Ebooks are a marketing tool but not an opportunity for direct sales. Instead, your aim is to bring your audience onboard, engage with them, demonstrate your expertise and trustworthiness, and bring them onto your list of contacts. Direct sales can come later. If your ebook reads like an extended brochure for your product or service, it will be an instant turnoff to readers.

While Jim will naturally reference products he sells, the ebook shouldn’t be an extended sales pitch. Instead, he’s simply getting across that he’s a safe pair of (garden-gloved) hands in the world of plants, whose advice they can trust.

Include calls to action

Make the most of an ebook format by including calls to action within your writing. Linking to other helpful resources will not only make your ebook more useful but can also keep your reader within the ecosystem of your business for longer, provided you include links to your own content.

Jim will link out to blog posts he’s written on the hardiest types of plants, on the best type of plants to give as a gift to apartment-dwellers, and on videos he’s posted on YouTube showing his viewers how to repot and prune plants step by step.

Pro tip alert! 📣 Put any additional resources you link out to behind a subscription wall. This will mean that anyone who gets hold of your ebook through unofficial avenues (say, getting forwarded it by a friend or finding a reupload online) will also have to sign up to your mailing list to see that content. That way, you can ensure nobody slips through your lead capture net.

If you’re finding writing to be a chore, don’t forget that you can hire a ghostwriting collaborator to help you out! Whether you’re writing yourself, or bring in a little extra help along the way, bear in mind that there is still work to be done: the dreaded edit.

Editing can be a drag, but it is absolutely essential to turn out a polished and professional manuscript. An overly-long and bloated first draft isn’t going to hold your reader’s attention. Equally, sloppy writing is going to be a major red flag for your reader. Your ebook is a reflection of you, and by extension, your product or service — so don’t let silly mistakes ruin your credibility! 

After writing, it’s usually best to wait a few days before looking back over your work. Then read through it start to finish, and ask yourself:

  • Have you addressed the question or problem you set out for yourself?
  • Have you hit all the points you wanted to? 
  • Does your writing sound convincing and professional?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” you’ll need to make revisions.

WNzzzO17OZU Video Thumb

 It’s definitely worth doing an initial editing pass yourself to address these problems (self-editing is one of the key steps in any writing process). Still, if you want to turn out a truly professional piece of work, you’ll want to consider hiring a professional editor. Luckily, various editors can help you out, from developmental editing (the big picture stuff) to proofreading (the granular stuff, like spelling and grammar).

Okay, that oversimplifies it a little. But once you’ve come up with your concept, written, and edited your ebook, you really are on the home stretch!

Your next big task is probably going to be putting together a professional-looking cover. Again, your ebook is a reflection of you, so it’s important to make sure this cover is something you’re proud of. The temptation to cobble together your own cover is understandable, but it can be worth investing in a professional designer’s services . It’s the first thing your readers will see, and a bad cover will make your book look amateurish and undermine the hard work you put into writing.

Once you’ve perfected your writing and found your killer cover, you're ready for the next step: making the perfect ebook .

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How to Write an Ebook in 30 Days: A Step-by-Step Guide

A re you interested in writing an ebook but are intimidated by the process? Maybe you want to write but are worried that it will take you months or even years to finish your book.

While writing an ebook in 30 days isn't practical for everyone, it's definitely possible with the right tools and motivation. This article will introduce a plan for how to write an ebook in 30 days, with the preparation, editing, and formatting accounted for separately to better your chances of success.

Can I Write an Ebook in 30 Days?

Writing an ebook is simple enough, but writing one in 30 days is a different story. If you make it a goal to write your ebook in 30 days during the month of November, you can participate in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) event.

What Is the NaNoWriMo Event?

NaNoWriMo is a worldwide event that takes place every November. Participants around the world set a goal to write at least 50k words from November 1st to the 30th (this equals 1,666 words per day). There are a lot of incentives to participate in NaNoWriMo, including local events, workshops, merch, fun badges you can earn, and more.

There are many popular books that started out as NaNoWriMo books, including the smash hit Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree . Writing your book during NaNoWriMo can give you that push you need to finish quickly, so you can publish your book in a reasonable amount of time.

If we're being honest, it's pretty difficult to produce a quality body of work that will be ready for publication in 30 days. But if you break up your book into different phases, you can make the process less intimidating.

  • Planning: Two to four weeks
  • Writing: 1,666 words per day for 30 days (50k words total)
  • Editing and Formatting: Two to six months
  • Release & Promotion: Two to four months

Phase 1: Planning Your Ebook

If you want to succeed at writing a book in 30 days, spend a few weeks planning your book beforehand. There are a lot of things you can plan in advance, including the plot, chapters, and character development. You can also think about what extra features you'd like to add to your ebook , including a map, index, glossary, or foreword.

There are several tools you can use to put together a thorough plan for your book.

Pinterest is a fantastic place to get some visual inspiration for your novel. Make boards for the scenery, different characters, and whatever you feel like. While writing your book, you can refer to your Pinterest board for ideas and inspiration.

If you want to plan out scenes, timelines, etc., Notion is a great place to get organized. Notion is highly customizable and powerful, meaning you can craft intricate worlds and complex characters, all while keeping the information easily accessible.

Like many writers, you may feel dubious about using ChatGPT to help you write a novel . However, if used as a tool instead of a ghostwriter, ChatGPT is great for inspiration. Try these ChatGPT prompts to help you develop book characters .

Campfire is a planning and world-building software divided into different modules for accessibility. If you find software like Notion too daunting and prefer something that has guided prompts, Campfire could be a good choice for you.

Phase 2: Writing Your Ugly First Draft

Now that you've got your book planned out, you can focus on writing for the next 30 days. If you're writing during November for NaNoWriMo, you shouldn't have too much trouble with staying motivated and on target. You can also participate in Camp NaNoWriMo during the months of April and July.

If you're writing during any of the other months, here are some tips to help you hit your goal:

  • Create a daily word goal. Between 1000 and 3000 words is ideal.
  • Set your intentions before each writing session; what scenes are you going to write?
  • Join an online writing community for support.
  • Try an online "work gym" to help you stay focused during writing.
  • Take care to avoid getting distracted while writing on your computer.
  • Read an inspirational book like "On Writing" by Stephen King to pump you up for the task ahead.

Choose Your Software

There are many different software you can use to write your book . Scrivener is a popular choice for writers, and as a bonus, NaNoWriMo participants can receive a 20% discount—create a NaNoWriMo account and then click My Offers from the homepage.

Other popular software include Ulysses , Notion, and of course, old standbys like Google Docs and Microsoft Word.

Before splurging on software, see if it offers a free trial, so you can try it before you buy. You can also watch tutorials on YouTube to see if the UI looks appealing and easy to understand.

Once you find software you like, you can focus on writing your "ugly first draft" over the next 30 days.

What Is the Ugly First Draft?

In writing, many people refer to the "ugly first draft" as a means of writing quickly at the expense of spelling, grammar, and formatting. Think of it like a sculptor working with clay: first they create the shape, then they carve out the fine details later.

Writers will often engage in writing sprints where they attempt to write as much as possible during a specific amount of time. During these sprints, writers can't really afford to be "pretty" with their writing. It's more of a stream-of-consciousness way of writing that, while messy, gets the job done fast.

If you make a habit of doing writing sprints every day with the ugly first draft in mind, you'll have plenty of material for your book before you know it. Just make sure the writing makes sense to you, so you'll have an easier time editing it in the next phase.

Sit Down and Write

If you've thoroughly planned out your book in advance, have your software of choice, and are ready to write messily, all you need to do now is sit down and write. Of course, this is easier said than done, but remember that writing something bad is better than writing nothing at all.

Try to plan out a schedule for the next 30 days to help you stay on track. Schedule at least one or two reading sprints every day to make sure you hit your 1666-word goal. If you miss a day, you'll need to make up the word count on a different day so that you don't fall behind.

Very few writers can write 1666 words every day for 30 days straight without a hitch. There are going to be setbacks; you might get busy with other things, have writer's block, or simply not feel like writing that day. Therefore, set a cushion for yourself.

If you write 3000 words one day, don't take it easy the next day just because you're "ahead" of your goal. Aim to write every day even if you crushed it the day before. That way, when the chips are down and you're actually struggling, you'll have a bit of wiggle room.

Phase 3: Editing and Formatting

If you finished writing your first draft, congratulations! You're over one of the biggest hurdles of writing an ebook in 30 days. Now comes what is possibly the largest hurdle: writing the final draft and editing your book.

Though many books have been written during NaNoWriMo, very few get published as-is. Whether you want to edit the book yourself, hire a professional editor, or participate in peer editing, it's going to take a significant amount of time.

You'll also need to spend some time formatting your ebook for publication. You'll want to make sure it looks good on a variety of devices, including Kindles, phones, and laptops. Think about designing a book cover too, because despite the saying, people really do judge books by their covers.

If you want to publish through Kindle Direct Publishing , Amazon can help you with the formatting.

Phase 4: Release and Promotion

Now's the time to spread the word and promote your new book. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time for this step and don't get discouraged if your book doesn't start selling right away. Read up on different ways to promote your book if one strategy isn't working for you.

Write Your Ebook in 30 Days

Although the planning, editing, and promotion aspects of your ebook will require more than 30 days, writing the story within this timeframe is possible. With the help of the right software and tools, and a lot of dedication, you can have your first draft ready in just one month. Refer back to this guide if you need some help getting started.

How to Write an Ebook in 30 Days: A Step-by-Step Guide

How To Write a Quick and Easy  Book Review

Loreleislitlair.com.

You just finished reading a book. Hopefully you enjoyed it! But before you pick up your next read, let others know what you thought about it. How? By writing a review!  Many readers assume reviews have to be three to five paragraphs long -for a professional reviewer maybe, or if you have a lot to say- but in reality a review can be just a few simple sentences! The length of the review isn’t so important, it’s what you thought of the book, and in the number of reviews, so books can gain more visibility to be considered by more readers. That’s the gist of it.   I hope you’ll give this guide on How To Write a Quick and Easy Book Review a try! I know you can do it!   First thing’s first! Decide the star rating. How many stars would you give the book?  Star Ratings: ⭐️ Not my cup of tea ⭐️⭐️ It was so-so ⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I enjoyed it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved it!   **Please do not give a book a one-star review for something that has to do with a mistake the vendor has made in delivering/ returning/ billing for it. The author has no control over the book’s distribution, and the one-star review will drag down the average review rating significantly. That hurts the book’s visibility on Amazon for example, which hurts the author through no fault of her/his own.   Now… 

How to Write a Quick and Easy Book Review

Always give your honest and genuine feedback on how a book made you feel. Add your own voice and personality to your reviews.   Let’s Begin! 1. Start your review with a hook or sentence that includes the book title, name of the author and how much you enjoyed the story based on your star rating choice. (liked, enjoyed, loved)  Example: A page turner from start to finish! I absolutely loved ABC by XYZ.  2. Include at least two of the following in a sentence (or more). Genre:   Mention the genre or sub-genre (mystery, romance, women’s fiction, paranormal, historical romance, small town romance, etc.) and if the book is a stand alone or part of a series (number of the book and the name of the series).  This appears in the book description, but sometimes readers skip it and go directly to check ratings and reviews. Book covers can be deceiving. (See why your review is important?!)   Characteristics:  Use two or three words that best describes the story. (E.g., hilarious, a page turner, romantic, witty dialogue, chemistry, passionate, family drama, gory, suspenseful, dramatic, second chance story, etc.)   Apeal:   what appealed most to you about the story? (Ex. the main characters, secondary characters, plot, topic or subject, location, pets, etc.) Explain why.   Writing: How would you describe the author’s writing style?  What do you like about her/his voice?   Heat Levet: Let others know the heat level of the book if it has romantic elements.  (E.g., sweet, sexy, steamy, erotic)   Trigger Warning :   Mention if the story touches on sensitive topics that may cause triggers. (E.g., Domestic violence, abuse, cancer, infertility, PTSD, adultery, sexual assault, etc.)   Narrator:   If you listened to an audiobook let readers know if you enjoyed the narrator’s voice and/or any particular traits about her/his storytelling style. Also, mention if you’d like to listen to more audiobooks by this narrator. **Please DO NOT include spoilers. 3. Finally, end your review letting readers know if you would recommend the book, or if you look forward to reading more books by the author or the series.   See? QUICK and  EASY!  

If you didn’t like a book, explain why. Some may not like a book because the hero curses a lot, or it’s too gory or the heat level is too steamy. Others may be okay with that, and even be encouraged to read the book! Book bloggers- you can use this as a guide to help get started with your reviews. I’d say this is an appetizer version. You can turn it into a full course meal! Here are some examples with extra writing prompts…

how to write a book quickly and easily

I'm working on expanding this post to give more helpful and easy tips, and I'm also working on How To Write a Quick and Easy Book Review For Non Fiction Books. Smiles & Happily Ever After, Lorelei

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A.J. Finn had a spectacular rise and fall. Now he has a new novel.

Five years after a damning new yorker profile, the author of the blockbuster novel ‘the woman in the window’ returns with ‘end of story’.

how to write a book quickly and easily

If you’ve picked up a thriller in the past five years, you’ve probably seen A.J. Finn’s name on it. But not necessarily on the cover.

Since the publication of his blockbuster novel “ The Woman in the Window ” in 2018, Finn has become something of a serial blurber, adorning dozens of novels with his praise. “Loved every word,” he said of Richard Osman’s “The Thursday Murder Club.” He declared Alex Michaelides’s “The Silent Patient” “that rarest of beasts: the perfect thriller.” Of Nita Prose’s “ The Mystery Guest ” he gushed, “Wise and winning and altogether wondrous,” adding: “I was nearly hugging myself as I turned the pages of this splendid novel.”

Meanwhile, Finn’s next novel — the second part of the two-book, $2 million deal he made with William Morrow in 2016 — remained a work in progress. Expected to be published in 2020, the book, “ End of Story ,” finally lands in stores on Tuesday.

The question is: Will it be enough to save Finn’s reputation? Before answering, I need to explain the unexpected plot twist that preceded its publication.

“The Woman in the Window” was a smash hit that put its witty, camera-ready author on the cusp of celebrityhood. The book — a domestic suspense tale about an agoraphobic child psychologist who believes she has witnessed a murder — debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list and went on to sell millions of copies worldwide. Stephen King called it “delightful and chilling”; Louise Penny declared it a “tour de force.” Translated into more than 40 languages, the novel was made into a film with Amy Adams, Gary Oldman and Julianne Moore. It even inspired a spoof, “The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window,” a Netflix series starring Kristen Bell.

But something funny happened on the way to fame. In early 2019, an exposé in the New Yorker portrayed Finn, whose real name is Dan Mallory, as the kind of unreliable narrator you might find in an A.J. Finn novel. The article detailed a trail of less-than-true stories Mallory had told about himself over the years: that he had a doctorate from Oxford; that his mother had died of cancer; that he had a brain tumor; that his brother had died by suicide. Colleagues reported that during his decade as a book editor, Mallory used these struggles to elicit sympathy, further his career and vanish when things got awkward. At one point, when Mallory was working in New York at Morrow, he stopped coming into the office, a disappearance that was explained away by a series of emails from a mysterious sender claiming to be Mallory’s now-alive brother but sounding a lot like Mallory himself.

If the author of ‘Woman in the Window’ is a serial liar, can we still love his book?

Mallory eventually confessed to his fibs, sort of. Through a publicist’s statement to the New Yorker, he said that he had “severe bipolar II disorder,” which caused “delusional thoughts” and “memory problems.” Mallory’s psychiatrist told the magazine that the writer’s experience with his mother’s (real but not fatal) bout with breast cancer had contributed to his expressing “‘somatic complaints, fears, and preoccupations,’ including about cancer.” Mallory said he was “utterly terrified of what people would think of me if they knew” about his mental health problems. “Dissembling seemed the easier path. … I’m sorry to have taken, or be seen to have taken, advantage of anyone else’s goodwill.” Reaction to this expression of regret-cum-justification was mixed; some, including a letter-writer to the New Yorker with bipolar disorder , criticized the author for further stigmatizing the disease: “It was upsetting. … Mental illness does not make you a liar, a scammer, or a cheat.”

Given this heavy baggage, to consider “End of Story” on its own merits poses a challenge. Let’s try.

As a commercial suspense novel, “The Woman in the Window” — at least for the first 200 pages — is quite entertaining, if derivative for anyone who’s seen “Rear Window,” or any Hitchcock, for that matter. (Mallory also defended himself against accusations that he had plagiarized plot points of Sarah A. Denzil’s “Saving April,” with he and his agent saying Mallory’s book had been plotted before Denzil wrote her book, which Mallory never read.) Told in the present tense, in short sentences and chapters, the tale speeds along. At its center is the distraught, pill-popping child psychiatrist Anna Fox, who is not as she appears.

In the heyday of thrillers with unreliable narrators — see “The Girl on the Train” and “Gone Girl” — Anna was a master dupe. She loved her merlot (a detail mocked to brilliant comic effect in the Kristen Bell parody) and staring out the window (like Grace Kelly but in a ragged bathrobe) at her neighbors, who were up to something but not what she thought.

What the plot lacks in plausibility, it makes up for in the zippy immediacy of the writing, even when it patters on too long, collecting a few odd descriptions along the way, as when a phone rings: “My head swivels, almost back to front, like an owl, and the camera drops to my lap. The sound is behind me, but my phone is in my hand. It’s the landline. … Another ring. And another. I shrivel against the glass, wilt there in the cold. I imagine the rooms of my house, one by one, throbbing with that noise.” Still, Anna is a compelling character (“I feel as though I’m falling through my own mind”), and readers rooted for her even if we knew she probably wasn’t telling the truth.

The 12 best thrillers of 2023

“End of Story” is written in the same staccato style. The first page ends: “A breath. Then that scream. They’ve found her.”

But things get leaden right away. The setup is complicated — as one character says, “There’s too much time to keep track of.” Nicky Hunter, the book’s protagonist, is a young journalist hired by a dying mystery writer named Sebastian Trapp to write his biography (the pair met as pen pals). Trapp invites Nicky to live at his mansion in San Francisco while she writes. Trapp, called “the champion deceiver” (wink, wink) by critics, writes novels featuring a “gentleman English sleuth” named Simon St. John. Trapp is also a murder suspect. Years before, his first wife, Hope, and his son Cole disappeared and are presumed dead. How Trapp figures into this puzzle is one of the questions Nicky hopes to resolve while researching her book.

Sleeping in the bedroom once occupied by young Cole, Nicky gets to know various members of the Trapp family: Sebastian’s bitter daughter Madeleine (“her hair is careless and blond, her shoulders round”), his beautiful second wife (“fortysomething, lavish lashes and Cupid’s-bow lips”), his handsome, troubled nephew (“six feet of built-to-last, muscles bulging within his sleeves”). All of them think and speak in a similar way — droll, coy, urbane — which is to say with the same studied cleverness that Mallory deploys in interviews. Even Sebastian’s dog, Watson, is a French bulldog, the breed favored by Mallory. And then there’s this comment by a bit character late in the book: “Moral indignation is envy with a halo.” Could that be Finn throwing shade on his critics?

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The plot drags on — the phrase “the plot thickens” appears without obvious irony. At times the book reads like a dime-store romance novel: “Up and across. The man is vast, an eclipse in coat and tie, pink linen shirt taut around his belly, like the skin of some unwholesome fruit. Black eyes lurking beneath zigzag brows. Face the color of rare beef.” (Thank you, but I think I’ll have the chicken.) Elsewhere, you can almost see Finn consulting a thesaurus. “You absquatulated,” Nicky says to Madeleine, whose desk is “a dainty escritoire that chafes her thighs.” At one point, books are “rutilant in the light.” And the ending, which I shall not spoil, raises more questions than it answers.

Finn drops heavy references to the works of literary greats: Agatha Christie and Alexandre Dumas, “The Count of Monte Cristo” in particular. The epigraph is from “Bleak House.” A copy of “Rebecca” is the key to opening the door to a hidden room. The book includes a note on sources, citing Raymond Chandler and Dorothy Sayers, among others. Perhaps the purpose is to protect himself from another accusation of plagiarism, though it also comes off as rather self-aggrandizing: Does he think his words would be confused with those of Arthur Conan Doyle?

Let me end the suspense here: Even readers looking past Finn’s personal woes — or those looking at them and wishing him well anyway — will quickly be hoping for end of story.

End of Story

By A.J. Finn

William Morrow. 408 pp. $37

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Entertainment | americans reporting nationwide cellular outages from at&t, cricket wireless and other providers, entertainment, entertainment | how california’s wildfires and a personal crisis sparked ‘the last fire season’, writing the book wasn’t easy, according to author manjula martin. “it was not cathartic and it was difficult,” martin says. “writing is not therapy.”.

how to write a book quickly and easily

Manjula Martin has withstood a lot in her life over the past few years.

The author suffered a personal health crisis after the removal of her IUD went wrong, and was in considerable pain when, in 2017, she moved to Sonoma County with her partner. Not long after the move — on the night of their housewarming party — the Sonoma County Complex fires broke out.

Things didn’t get much easier after that. In 2020, Martin, still dealing with chronic pain, spent the early days of the pandemic tending to her garden, but had to evacuate her home when more wildfires broke out. 

She writes about all of these experiences in “The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History,” out now from Pantheon. The book incorporates memoir, natural history and ecology, and has drawn positive reviews from critics, including Jennifer Szalai of the New York Times, who praised it as “powerful,” “grounded,” and “surprising.”

Writing the book was no easy task. “It was not cathartic and it was difficult,” Martin says. “I don’t have any sort of romantic notions about suffering for your art, and I also don’t have any romantic notions of art as therapy. Writing is not therapy.”

Martin answered questions about “The Last Fire Season” via telephone from her home in West Sonoma County. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

Q. Can you talk about how you arrived at the title of the book? 

At some point during the fire season of 2020, I realized I would probably want to write about it. Once I had decided to write the book, I was jokingly referring to it as “The Last Fire Season” because it literally was the last fire season. Then I was like, “That’s actually a really good title.” The title is, unfortunately, not asserting that we will not have any more fires. Instead, it is talking more about this idea that folks are talking about in California that there’s not really any such thing as a fire season anymore. Fire danger and fire weather can be year-round because of the effects of extreme weather caused by climate change. And anyone who lives in a fire-prone place is already aware of that.

But there’s also a second, and to me more important, meaning to it, which is this idea that thinking of fire as a season means it’s something that is passing, something that will go away: basically, right now fire is here, but it will leave and then it will not be fire time anymore. But actually I think there’s a need for us to really change our understanding of fire itself. Fire is actually a part of these ecosystems. It’s a part of the planet. It’s intricately linked to human life and human evolution, and it’s not going anywhere. And in fact, it has more of a right to be here than I do. So that’s sort of the other meaning of that is that also maybe we should be thinking of fire a little bit differently and understanding that it actually has a role to play in our lives.

Q. You make that point in the book, that people associate fire with death and destruction, but there are actually very important things that it does.

It’s both things, right? Wildfires can be very destructive and horrible and scary. But also the ecosystems of the west are fire-adapted. They need fire to stay healthy and to do their cycles of regeneration. It’s both of those things. And the wildfires that we’ve seen in the past 10 years on the West Coast are far more destructive than wildfires or intentional fires have been in the past. So in many ways people don’t really know how ecosystems are going to respond to these types of fires. There are a lot of brilliant people studying it right now. But it’s all of those things: fire is bad and scary, and fire is also good and necessary.

Q. You write candidly about your health crisis in this book. Did you know when you were starting the book that you wanted to tell both of these stories in tandem?

I was experiencing both of those things at the same time, and as I began to think about writing about them, I was working separately on a piece about my health, and then I was sort of toying with the idea of writing an essay about fire. Then my agent said, “That should be a book,” and that’s how we’re here today. As I was writing this, I was learning and thinking a lot about these larger systems that are involved in climate change, the ways in which humans have had a large-scale effect on the planet, mostly through fossil fuel production, which is mostly capitalism. 

I was thinking about the cycles of harm that we inflict upon the natural world, and then the natural world inflicting things back on us. And then it’s a back and forth of injury and renewal, and I was really struggling to come to terms with what had happened to my body and the fact that it wasn’t something that was expected and it wasn’t an easy thing to explain. It was a very seemingly random sequence of events that led to very severe injury, and I realized that existed within a larger system, a for-profit healthcare system, in which people fall through the cracks, sometimes a diagnosis is missed. 

So I had a moment where I realized that those two things are similar. I was out in my garden one day and working on my roses, and I had these memories of other times I’ve been working in my garden, and really sort of feeling ambivalent about my role as a gardener and as a human. I just had this moment of realizing, “Oh, this garden is literally physically connecting me to the ecosystem that I live in, and it’s connecting my body more closely to that ecosystem.” So it’s a physical connection, and then it’s also a relationship. It’s a less literal connection. It can be a microcosm of the way that people relate to the natural world, although it’s not always.

As a writer, I have often struggled with metaphors around nature and fertility. I’m a little bit sick of the idea of nature symbolizing reproduction, which happens a lot, particularly in people grappling with the prospect of change. It’s a lot about reproduction and a lot about offspring. And as a person who wasn’t having children, didn’t plan to have children, and then physically couldn’t have children after my medical crisis, I was kind of over that. I was like, what would happen if we uncoupled the natural world from reproduction? What kind of space would that open up intellectually, emotionally, and physically?

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