10 steps to write a book
Writing a book is hard without the right help. You decided to write a book. The process of writing and publishing a book successfully is so much more than just writing and pushing a button to publish on Amazon. You stare at a blank page for 5 minutes, but it feels like hours. To combat the boredom, you stand, stretch, and brew yet another pot of coffee.
10 Simples Steps To Writing A Book (We’ve Sold One Million Copies Using These Steps)
What would I write about? I had all sorts of limiting beliefs around writing a book, not the least of which was how I would get it published.
But the publishing industry has changed dramatically in the last few years, and self-publishing your own book is becoming more the norm rather than the exception.
As more and more writers become indie authors, and as current self-published authors learn to adopt professional publishing practices, indie authors will capture an increased share of the market.
Being an author who writes books gives you loads of credibility, authority, and name recognition. Writing a book related to your profession or expertise will make the book like a calling card for potential clients and a way to generate new business. Know how to write a book allows you to be viewed as an expert and someone who carries some clout in the industry. If you have a blog related to a particular topic, writing your own books gives you another way to build your following and create an additional income stream.
Can you make any money writing books? If the idea of writing a book intrigues you, then you can get started right away in telling your story, sharing your expertise, or teaching a skill. Are you writing a book for fun? To promote your business? To build your credibility?
Think about the end goal of this book you want to write and how it will serve you and your readers. This will help you determine if you want to write fiction or non-fiction. See this first book as an experiment and a way to learn more about the process.
Rather than covering a broad overview of a topic, go deep with one element of the topic. This allows you to share much more information with your reader and gives you the opportunity to write additional books related to the topic. Try to think from the end of the book first.
What do you want your readers to walk away with at the end? How do you want the story to culminate? Once you have a general idea of how your book will end, create the book outline moving toward that end. Or each chapter might be an individual lesson or essay on its own, all leading to a final converging point or message.
You may decide you want to support or enhance the material with stories, quotes, or examples. I write non-fiction books and generally write skeletal outlines for my books. For example, if I were writing a book on meditation, my outline might look something like this:. You may have another outline style that works well for you, but I find the skeletal outline is an easy and quick way to get your ideas on paper as you first get started.
Spend some time simply brainstorming and allowing your imagination to create a story in your head. Take some notes while brainstorming.
Then come back and begin fleshing out your outline further. Creating your outline will first involve deciding on characters and the roles they will play in your story. Once you have a general idea of the main characters, you can use a skeletal outline for the story, or you can write a brief summary of the story, and then determine how to break down the story into chapters.
I write my books on my Mac using the Pages word processing software and also use Skrivener. You want to write using something that allows you to easily edit and make changes without wasting a lot of time. Some people really enjoy writing in longhand, as it stimulates creativity and forces you to write slower. This is the most important part of writing your book. You must create a daily or 5 day a week writing habit. Attach your new writing habit to a trigger or cue which prompts you to begin writing.
This trigger is a previously-formed automatic behavior, like brushing your teeth or walking the dog. Select a trigger that happens every day and one that occurs at a good time for you to write.
Eventually, your new writing habit will be so associated with your trigger that the combination will feel automatic. Start small with a goal of writing words each day for the first week. Then increase the number of words until you reach words a day.
That gives you an idea of how much you might try to write each day. Do you need music playing? If so, what kind? Do you want a candle? A cup of tea or coffee? Do you need to be near a window? Having all of this determined in advance will help motivate you to get started and to make writing an enjoyable ritual. Just write. That consistent writing habit is so important. But it will give you a huge boost to just finish the book and stay committed to the process.
Everyone who writes is their own worst critic. Who am I kidding. Some of it may well be crap and need re-working or editing. But you have to start somewhere, so get it all down on paper and then deal with the crap.
The most experienced writers have them. Once you finish the book, set it aside for a few days or a couple of weeks. Then go back and read over the entire book again, correcting mistakes, rewriting sections as necessary, cutting out wordy parts, and tightening it up.
Even the most experienced, professional writers use editors. You also want to make sure the book flows properly, and that your use of words is correc t. A good editor polishes and refines the book before publication. The editor checks facts and verifies headings, statistics, data in graphs, and footnote entries.
For fiction, the editor will check for consistency and logic and will read with the needs of the audience in mind. Also, it will damage your credibility as a writer. I could write an entire book on how to publish and market your book.
Launch it a get it out there so others can read it, and you can have the satisfaction of having your first published book under your belt. The Perfect Writing Software. How To Write Flash Fiction. Did you find any value from these tips on writing a book? I hope you enjoyed this step guide to wring a book. It would be really great if you could help me spread these writing tips to others.
Would you be willing to send out some love to your friends and family? Please share these writing steps on your preferred social media platform. I have written several books in the past but wanted to refresh myself with a suggested process and see if there were new ideas out there that would be helpful. I found your article very helpful. However I was surprised that you, and most of the others I have been reading, do not suggest research as one of your steps — both research in terms of what is already out there on the topic you are writing on and research in terms of content.
Was wondering why this is. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. One more things that are required. Itss really informative blog, after reading this i admires all your steps and believe me it becomes creative for me. Thanks a lot for this information. Now publish your book. If you want a checklist for publishing your bestseller then click here to get our point guide.
Pin Share Related Posts. Click Here to Leave a Comment Below 3 comments. Christine Sine I have written several books in the past but wanted to refresh myself with a suggested process and see if there were new ideas out there that would be helpful. Leave a reply: Cancel Reply. Thank you.. Leave a Reply: Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
2 – Describe the story. Now you need to expand the sentence you've just created into a paragraph of about five sentences. 3 – Characters.
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. 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.
Aug 16, Editing , Writing.
A new year is a time for fresh starts and audacious goals. One year is the perfect length of time to write and publish a book, as long as you know the right steps.
How to Write a Book Step by Step: With a Free Book Template
If you want to write a book of your very own, all you have to do is emulate them! To help you achieve just that, we've put together this step guide to how to write a book, chock full of information and advice from the most prolific, successful writers in the business. The one thing you absolutely need to write a book is, of course, an idea. If you don't have that, you'll never get past the first page of your draft. You may already know what you want to write about, or you may be at a total loss.
How to write a book in 8 simple steps
What would I write about? I had all sorts of limiting beliefs around writing a book, not the least of which was how I would get it published. But the publishing industry has changed dramatically in the last few years, and self-publishing your own book is becoming more the norm rather than the exception. As more and more writers become indie authors, and as current self-published authors learn to adopt professional publishing practices, indie authors will capture an increased share of the market. Being an author who writes books gives you loads of credibility, authority, and name recognition. Writing a book related to your profession or expertise will make the book like a calling card for potential clients and a way to generate new business. Know how to write a book allows you to be viewed as an expert and someone who carries some clout in the industry. If you have a blog related to a particular topic, writing your own books gives you another way to build your following and create an additional income stream. Can you make any money writing books?
Writing a book is a complex process. Here are 10 tips for the first step of writing a book:.
So, before you get a publisher, and before you get an agent, you have to write a book. And you have to write the best book you can. There are no life hacks and quick fixes that will circumvent this.
The First 10 Steps to Write Your Book in 2020
People are like sea glass, the longer and harder they are tossed around, the more beautiful they are. At least that's how I see it. Whenever I meet an entrepreneur who has been through the ringer in life or business and willing to talk about it, I immediately fall in love. Who doesn't love a great story where the happy ending is the person sitting in front of you? What better way to showcase you than writing a book about you, your experiences and expertise. And just like that piece of sea glass, nobody is quite like you. This is where many potential authors fail. How often will you write? When will you write? Daily or weekly? How will you organize your day to weave in your writing? What will you do the days you get stuck? I usually hire a cover designer before I write the book. The book cover motivates me. It makes the book real.
10 Ridiculously Simple Steps for Writing a Book
Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words. In this article, I offer 10 steps for writing a book along with 10 bonus steps. Click here to download a free guide with all 20 steps. For years, I dreamed of being a professional writer. I believed I had important things to say that the world needed to hear. But as I look back on what it really takes to become an author, I realize how different the process was from my expectations. Writing happens in fits and starts, in bits and pieces. You take one step at a time, then another and another.
