There are many ways to write a book. NaNoWriMo is one way people have successfully completed their novel in just 30 days, but there isn’t any right or wrong answer about how you should go about writing your own story. Some writers create an outline before they begin and others wing it as the words flow onto paper (or screen). Still other authors pitch ideas for books that publishers immediately want to publish without even reading anything written yet! This article will help give some guidance on what could be best practice based upon different scenarios outlined below depending on if this would be your first time ever publishing something like this, whether you know somebody who has done so previously, etc…
Pre-writing: What are you writing and why?
Ask yourself why you are writing your book. Is it to educate or entertain? Perhaps, both! If this end goal is not motivating enough for you, consider another goal that might be more attainable and realistic for the time frame in which you plan on completing the work. Once there’s a purpose behind your words written down, keeping up with regularly scheduled updates will become easier day by day until one morning when an entire novel has magically appeared under your blinking cursor within hours of opening Microsoft Word…
Books can take months if not years to write depending on how much effort goes into them as well as other factors such as writer’s block or just being too busy with life events outside of writing. It also depends largely on what type of story they
Writing a book is one of the most efficient ways to achieve success. There’s no wrong reason for writing a book, you just need to know what yours is!
What kind of book are you writing?
Fiction books
Fiction books tell stories that are all or mostly made up by the author. (We say this because genres like historical fiction and some memoirs tell true events, but characters’ motives, exact dialogue, etc., is typically entirely imagined.)
Novels are the most commonly published and read fiction books. They’re long (loosely defined as over approximately 40,000 words) with some being much longer). Novels tell a single unified narrative that can be of many types & genres such as commercial fiction literary fiction upmarket etc.
Novellas are essentially short novels that can also be of any genre, but should generally have word counts of approximately 17,000–40,000. While there are many famous novellas out there which could make them more difficult to publish (unless you already have an established name as an author), they will still likely take less time for publishers to review and therefore give the edge in getting published first over longer pieces like full-length novels.
Short story collections are a collection of several short stories, which usually have around the same word length as a novel. They’re less popular with readers and more difficult to get published compared to novels.
A poetry collection is a book of poems that has been published by small, specialized presses. Examples: The Hill We Climb and Other Poems by Amanda Gorman and Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
Nonfiction books
Nonfiction books aim to tell factual narratives, and this encompasses a broad range of genres. Nonfiction has been popular for years because it gives readers an insight into the lives of others while teaching them something new.
- Nonfiction books are written for an audience, so the tone of voice should be engaging and informative. The popular non-fiction market is growing because there’s always something new to learn about our world today!
- Memoirs, autobiographies, and biographies are examples of real-life stories told by first hand experiences. The books Lincoln written by David Herbert Donald and Eat Pray Love written Elizabeth Gilbert can be used as examples for this type of literature.
- The tone of voice in humorous writing should be professional. Humor and commentary, which may overlap with other genres (but with the aim of being funnier). Example: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris and A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace.The tone of voice in humorous writing should be professional.
- Journalism books can be like newspaper stories, but extended to book length and written by journalists (like follow-ups of important news or social trends). Some examples are Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder and All the President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward.
- Reading a history book can be an educational and enlightening experience. It’s important to select the right one for you, such as Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing or Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People by Elizabeth A. Fenn
- Travel guides and travelogues tell stories of adventure or give advice on where readers may want to travel. They can be found in books, movies, art work, etc. Examples: Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road by Kate Harris and Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. I like both reading about other people’s travels as well as planning my own trips to new places around the world (or even just down the road). It is fascinating how many different experiences we have when traveling!
How-to books teach practical skills, including cooking and gardening. Examples of this genre include The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
The input is a definition for how to write about the output tone in an interesting way that engages the reader instead if simply repeating what was said above word-for-word
Academic books are those that teach new theories and research. They can include textbooks to students, dissertations Academic books are those that you might see in a university bookstore. This includes textbooks to teach subjects like biology, literature and history; these can be published by academic presses such as MIT Press or Oxford University Press.
Businesses publish ebooks for a specific audience to use once they’re done reading.
These types of books are mostly nonfiction, but are worth calling out separately as they’re published by businesses and have a very clear goal in mind – doing something else after the reader is finished with them. However, these texts may be considered “non-fictional.”
Company ebooks should be written with a professional tone to help build trust and sell products. Technical manuals are meant for existing customers who need instructions on how to use the product or service.
What’s your end goal?
There are many things you can do with your book once it’s finished.
- Traditional publishing houses are the classic way of getting a book into stores. Generally, you pitch your finished manuscript to an agent who then pitches it to publishers in order for them to buy out rights and distribute copies of that work throughout different markets. Contracts usually consist of payment up front as well as splitting revenue between parties involved with creating said piece (ex: authors).
- Individuals are taking the task of self-publication into their own hands. Once seen as a less professional way to publish, it’s grown tremendously over the past two decades and is especially popular with genre writers due to authors being responsible for marketing themselves, creating or hiring designers for book covers, and submitting books to distributors.
- If you are a business publishing books to attract customers, online publication is the way to go. This format allows your content be free for download in exchange for an email address.
- Self-gratification is also OK to write a book simply for yourself.
If you want to write a book for financial reasons, that’s totally OK. However, if this is your goal then it would be better to do some research first in order to understand what makes money and whether or not writing can make as much as well. Writing books requires both the skill of an artist and those found from hard work; therefore, doing market research about who will read your stories along with how they’ll reach them could help tremendously on the path towards making more money off their craft through book sales.
How to write a book in 13 steps
Writing a book is a personal preference, and it depends on the type of book you’re writing. If for example, if you are doing nonfiction history, there will be more extensive research needed compared to someone who is completing poetry.
1. Do your research
I am looking for nonfiction work to be done, so I need each sentence to have a professional tone.
Nonfiction books are usually researched by reading other texts or interviewing experts in the field of interest. If writing If you’re writing nonfiction, a good way to conduct research is by doing historical, cultural, scientific or other academic work. This can include reading other works and conducting fieldwork interviews with experts.
To research any real events, people, locations or other elements that make up your story you may have to do some traditional and internal researching. You could write character sketches as well as world-building notes for this type of writing.
Reading other works of the same kind and genre is also helpful in writing. This helps us to read through different styles, structures, or genres that we may not be familiar with so it can influence our own work later on. If you’re writing a science fiction novel with an unconventional structure like nonlinearity, reading sci-fi novels will help provide inspiration for your creative process when creating something new yourself.
2. Determine what your book is about
When writing your story, try to stick with the theme of familial love or understanding how climate change is impacting people.
To be most effective at this effect you want to use a professional tone that doesn’t come across as too casual when speaking about these serious topics.
This memoir gives a personal account of an important historical event. This book uses a new method of behavioral therapy to help readers get over their breakup.
3. Plan.
Now is when you start organizing your thoughts. Some fiction writers like to skip this step (or may return to it after writing a first draft), but others are meticulous planners. If you’re writing for work or nonfiction, this is a crucial step that will make completing your first draft much easier.
For example, if you’re writing a novel, it’s important to get the tone of your voice right. Therefore, you can start with an outline that will allow for smooth transitions between scenes and help guide where dialogue should be included or excluded. From there break up this treatment into individual cards (physical or virtual). The former helps keep track of what is taking place in each scene while also allowing one to find flow within their story; on the other hand using index cards instead allows production time when editing later becomes necessary.
4. Write your first draft
Having trouble writing? There are so many ways to get creative with it.
Many people swear by spending an hour every morning creating before work, while others dive deep into National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Others dabble when they can, but for some there is no right way of doing this only the one that works for them.
The hundreds of pages making up a completed book may seem like a lot, but even if you just write ten pages per week that’s only forty weekends or less than one year to draft your complete book.
5. Wait
It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a first draft, second draft or even your last. It’s always best to give yourself some time before you start editing so that the words can rest and settle into their final form in your mind
Maybe it’s just a day, maybe it’s years. But most people need to give themselves space between finishing up their drafts of work and starting the process of revising them for publication (or whatever they are working on). Time gives writers’ minds an opportunity to recuperate from all those hours staring at screens; which allows us both more clarity as we read through our own stuff fresh-eyed with brand new eyes after taking ourselves out of what is now familiar territory—and also
6. Read with an eye for revision
Your first read of your manuscript should be from a high level. Don’t focus too much on sentence-level corrections (if something reads as awkward, circle it). Instead use this time to prioritize issues or flag them for later so you can maintain the pacing of your book while also catching any last minute errors before they get passed onto other eyes.
Here’s what you should be looking for:
Are there logical inconsistencies?
What’s the pacing like?
Is the structure working? If you’re writing fiction, do all of your main characters have arcs–this is where notecards could help to decide if scenes would work better in a different order.
Struggling writers often find this stage of the process to be where they are most comfortable. They get all their ideas out, fill it with mistaken words and incorrect punctuation until finally they have something that makes sense on some level.
7. Write a second draft
This is not editing! At this stage, you are likely adding completely new chapters, getting rid of characters who didn’t add anything or doing additional research to fill in a hole.
8. Rinse and repeat steps 5–7
It’s normal to go through multiple drafts in order to iron out all the issues.
9. Self-edit
This is the stage where you want to start looking at more sentence, word-level edits. Some things to focus on: grammar and punctuation errors. Grammarly can help with this! It’s a great tool that offers suggestions for improvement when it comes down to common mistakes in grammar, spelling, punctuation & etc..
What is the tone of your voice? Is it formal and professional, conversational: friendly yet still organized, or somewhere in between.
People often say that you should use a calm and soothing tone so as not to stress out anyone who’s listening; however this may be counterintuitive when speaking about serious topics such as politics for example. A good rule of thumb would be the same one used with any message–be clear without being harsh or rude if possible!
Tone language should be professional. For example, if you’re a marketing professional but writing for people who are starting their first small business or character dropped out of high school
Tone: What tone are you setting with your writing? This may be less applicable to fiction, but if you’re nonfiction, ask yourself: Are you coming across as knowledgeable and confident? Or empathetic? (In case you didn’t know Grammarly’s tone detector can also help identify how others might perceive it.)
10. Give your manuscript to some beta readers
There are a few things one should consider when selecting beta readers and setting themselves up for success.
Some writers may do this earlier in the writing process, however it is fine to choose later on as well. When doing so, there are several factors that you want to think about:
Before sharing your book with beta readers, make sure they are similar to the intended audience of your book. You won’t be able to tell if you’re using jargon in marketing materials for a business reader if you give it only experienced marketers. Instead, use them as examples and see what everyone else thinks about how clear or confusing certain aspects of the text is.
Be as specific as possible. Give your readers an idea of the type of feedback you’re looking for, such as if you want them to line edit or provide overall feelings. Avoid giving too many specifics that might bias those who are providing input (such asking about a cat dying) and instead ask general questions like “I’m looking for input on pacing” or “which character do they root for?”
Make it easy for them! If they want a printed copy, figure out how to get one. If they want to read on their tablet device, export your manuscript as an ebook and send it over. Consider that even if you’re not professional editors (if you’re offering editing services), consider also providing extra incentives like pizza or sweet treats in exchange for help with the edits (of course).
11. Take and incorporate feedback
Getting feedback can be a challenge. Your job is to listen, and resist the urge to defend yourself in any way possible. Instead focus on asking questions that will help you understand what was wrong with your work or how it could have been better presented.
The input tone of voice should remain professional
A quiet, but professional tone of voice is very appropriate for a situation in which you need to assert yourself with someone who makes you uncomfortable.
You might not have liked Lorenzo because he talked down to his mother and didn’t seem respectful enough during their conversation about the car that needed repairs. In this case, it’s best if your tone of voice reflects how serious or important what they’re discussing is so they realize you mean business when asking them firmly yet politely for an answer from him about whether or not he’ll take care of her vehicle before putting any more money into it.
Feedback is not always easy to hear. When you disagree with your initial feedback, try and get a second or third opinion before making any changes based on that particular reader’s preferences.
One rule of thumb: You may disagree with some of the feedback you get. That’s OK! However, when multiple people give the same note it might be worth taking into consideration their opinions rather than just dismissing them because they don’t match up perfectly with yours (yet).
12. Come up with a title
Maybe you already have a great one! But if not, don’t worry. We know it can be hard to change your tone of voice sometimes—but we still think that now is the perfect time for this update .
13.Prepare your manuscript for submission/publication/other
Maybe you already have a great one! But if not, don’t worry. We know it can be hard to change your tone of voice sometimes—but we still think that now is the perfect time for this update .
Do not worry about formatting your manuscript, there are guides online that can help you with this.
Publishing an ebook can be a long process, but with the right knowledge and advice it gets easier.
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