How to Write a Book

Before you think about how to write a book, you should ask yourself why you are doing this. Writing a book is a time-consuming project that requires focus, discipline and planning to accomplish. The average published book runs at least 40,000 words. That's 80 or more pages of double-spaced 10-point font text, and that is for a very short book. Still up for the challenge?

Difficulty:

Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Pen and paper
• Computer or word processor
• Time

Why Write a Book?

1. Money. This is the worst reason for writing a book. Making money as an author is like winning the lottery, except more time consuming.

2. Desire. You feel a driving urge to tell a story.

3. Necessity. You have to write a book to meet some requirement of your profession or career path.

Schedule Your Time

1. Designate a period of time to work on your book.

2. Do a writing test. Find out how much you can write in an hour. Divide your hourly word rate by the expected word count to get the estimated writing time in hours you'll need to complete your book.

3. Add at least 30 percent to your estimated writing time for unexpected snags and complications.

4. Add another 30 percent to the estimated writing time for research.

5. Double the time you have estimated so far. Plan on spending at least this much time writing.

Writing & Research

1. Research your subject. Use primary sources wherever possible.

2. Write your first draft. Stay on schedule.

3. Let your completed first draft sit for at least a month. This idle time lets you come back to the draft with a fresh outlook.

4. Read the draft and revise.

5. Let this revised draft sit for a few weeks, then read and revise it again. Repeat as many times as necessary.

6. Give your polished draft to a trusted reader. Listen to their comments, and make further revisions.

7. Give yourself a hand. You have written a book!

Tips & Warnings

• Find a quiet and comfortable place to do your writing.

• Trusted readers will tell you the truth about your book, where it is good and where it is less than good.

• Make sure you have written permission to use quotes from people or copyrighted sources.

• Do not try to copy another writer's style. Find your own writing voice.

• Just because a writer was a gambler, a drunk, or a drug addict, doesn't mean you should emulate their behavior.