write book in 30 days

How to Write A Book in 30 Days (Even if You’ve Never Written Anything Before)

Emily Martin

Emily has a PhD in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, MS, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU in Milledgeville, GA, home of Flannery O’Connor. She spends her free time reading, watching horror movies and musicals, cuddling cats, Instagramming pictures of cats, and blogging/podcasting about books with the ladies over at #BookSquadGoals (www.booksquadgoals.com). She can be reached at [email protected].

View All posts by Emily Martin

It’s almost time everyone! Yes, it’s almost Halloween, and you know what that means. One last hurrah before it’s time to hunker down with your laptop, typewriter, or pen and paper and get to writing for NaNoWriMo . If you’re new to NaNoWriMo, here’s what you need to know. Each year on November 1, NaNoWriMo challenges you to write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days. The community-powered event has been going strong since 1999, and whether you’re a seasoned writer or just trying to write something for the first time, NaNoWriMo is an excellent challenge with lots of community support.

I’ve been participating in NaNoWriMo since 2012. Having a deadline always makes me write faster. I haven’t always successfully completed the challenge, but I always enjoy trying. Since I’ve been doing this for almost ten years, I’ve learned a little bit about what helps (and what doesn’t). And I’m happy to share with you my secrets for getting a bunch of writing done in a short amount of time.

One big thing I want to point out before I get into my tips? Remember that NaNoWriMo is just one way out of many that you can set deadlines for yourself. Yes, this is a time of the year where a whole bunch of people are committing to writing more, but you can absolutely do this on your own (or with others, if you can find the people!) at any time. So whether you’re getting ready for a busy November, or just trying to write quickly for your own deadline, here are my tips for writing a book in 30 days, even if you’ve never written anything before.

1. Tell People About It

I’m a writer. But it’s really hard for me to tell people that. Why? I don’t know. It sounds pretentious, I guess. I really hate telling people that I’m a writer. Even more than that, I hate telling people about what I’m writing. I always worry that the more I talk about writing something, the less I’ll actually want to write about it. Like telling people about the writing will scare it away.

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But look. Listen. If you’re really dedicated to getting something done in 30 days, you’re going to have to tell people about it. First of all, by letting people know about your goals, you’re setting up accountability. You’re less likely to give up on your writing goals if you know other people know about them. Like, it’s okay to let yourself down, but you can’t let other people down.

You also have to tell people about your 30-day writing goal because, guess what? If you’re writing 50,000 words in 30 days, that’s going to take up a lot of time. People are going to notice. They’re going to wonder where you are. When they try to make plans with you, you can make up an excuse or you can tell them the truth: You can’t leave your house because you’re 5,000 words behind your goal, so you’ve got to get serious.

2. Quantity Over Quality

Yes, of course you want your writing to be good, but you’re not looking to create a finished draft a the end of 30 days. You’re just trying to get something down. For the next 30 days, keep your writing hat on and your editing hat far, far away. In fact, throw your editing hat out of the window. If you lose it and you have to buy a new one in December, so be it. For now, you’re not allowed to critique or change your writing. Just write.

On that note, I know everyone writes differently, but for me, it’s best if I just write whatever I feel like writing rather than trying to write the whole thing in order. You’ll write more if you’re excited about what you’re writing, so pick what part of the story you feel like writing, and go to town. If the thought of writing everything out of order feels like chaos, I suggest coming into this 30 day writing period with a strong outline so you can pick up wherever you want in the story and know where it fits.

3. Stop Writing When You’re in the Middle of Something

This one is kind of related to writing things out of order, because this is also all about writing what excites you. When you’re in the middle of writing something and you know where it’s going, try to stop half way through and save the rest for your next writing session. Why? Because you’ll keep thinking about it until your next writing session, and when you sit down to write again, you’ll know exactly where to start.

You know all those times you sit down to write and end up staring at your computer trying to find the words? Yeah, this is basically a foolproof way to avoid all that wasted time and anxiety.

4. Reward Yourself With Snacks

This one might seem obvious, but trust me. You might forget. Please take snack breaks while you’re writing. And hydrate too. Sometimes when you’re really in the zone, it can be easy to forget to take care of yourself. Invest in some good writing snacks that are healthy and easy to eat while typing away.

Or, even better, when you’ve finished a great writing session, take a step away from your computer screen and sit down at the table to reward yourself with a snack. Yes, you’re going to need a lot of time to write, but you’ve also got to take breaks to avoid burnout. On that note, don’t forget to get plenty of rest too!

5. Commit to Writing Sprints and Mini-Deadlines

Writing 50,000 words in 30 days is one big deadline. To get there without getting overwhelmed, you’ll want to break it down to smaller, easier-to-reach mini-deadlines. Try to set a goal for number of words per day, or even per writing session, and try to stick to that number so you don’t fall behind.

Writing sprints are another way to set very small mini-deadlines. I usually set a timer to 20 minutes, write non-stop for the full 20 minutes, and then reward myself with a short break after. You might have hours of writing scheduled for one day, but if you break it down into short 20 minute sprints with breaks in between them, writing for those small blocks of time feels much more attainable.

6. Find Other People to Write With

This may or may not be something that helps you. Everyone works differently. But for me, finding a community of writers who are also trying to get a lot of writing done has been helpful. You can check out the NaNoWriMo website to find local writing sprints to join if you want to surround yourself with other people who are writing. Or if you’d prefer to stay online and socially distanced, there are so many writing communities you can join online for support and for community writing sprints. Writing with other people has been a game-changer for me because yes, it creates accountability, but I also love how supportive writers are of each other (disclaimer: usually). Writing is so solitary most of the time. I love when I get to connect with other people who are just as passionate about writing as I am.

7. Keep Reading

Okay, you’re doing a lot of writing. You might feel like you don’t have time to do anything else. But trust me on this one. Keep reading. Reading makes you a better writer and it will inspire you. Find time to keep writing. Use it as a way to relax after a long day of getting your own book done. Read stuff that’s like what you’re writing if you want. Or if you need to take a step away from your work entirely, pick up something that has nothing to do what you’re writing. Allow yourself to escape your own head for a little bit and enter into another writer’s world.

8. Visualize How You’ll Feel When It’s Done

This is advice that works for basically anything difficult you’re trying to finish. You’re trying to write a whole book in 30 days. That’s so much! But you can do it. How do I know? Because I’ve always visualized what it’s going to look like when you’re done.

You can do this too. When you’re in the middle of doing something hard, it can feel impossible. But the fact of the matter is, it’s going to get done because you’ve dedicated yourself to doing it. In moments where it feels impossible, just remember how great it’s going to feel when you make it to that 50,000th word.

You’ve already committed to doing this. You’re going to do it. I believe in you!

If you need more inspiration, here are 8 of the best books to prep for NaNoWriMo . And if you want to help inspire the other writers in your life, here are 15 gifts for NaNoWriMo writers . Finally, whenever you think it can’t be done, here are 9 books that started as NaNoWriMos .

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How to write a book in 30 days: 8 key tips

Annual writing sprints like NaNoWriMo have many experienced and new authors alike testing their limits. Writing a book – a carefully, beautifully constructed book – does take time. Usually, much longer than 30 days. Yet trying this exercise is useful for building discipline, focus and just getting the first draft done. Here are 8 tips to help:

• Post author By Jordan
• 4 Comments on How to write a book in 30 days: 8 key tips

Annual writing sprints like NaNoWriMo have many experienced and new authors alike testing their limits. Writing a book – a carefully, beautifully constructed book – does take time. Usually, much longer than 30 days. Yet trying this exercise is useful for building discipline, focus and just getting the first draft done . Here are 8 tips to help:

1: Set attainable goals

When someone asks ‘how do I write a book in x days?’ Writers’ reactions are sometimes discouraging. ‘Never write a book with a deadline as small as 30 days!’ Says one Quora user . Reasons you  shouldn’t  attempt to write a book in such a small time-frame include:

• Being limited by time constraints could result in low quality writing
• Producing a first draft may be possible within 30 days but you also need time to revise and edit
• Burnout is possible if you don’t take sufficient breaks

These are all valid concerns. To work out it you can finish your novel in 30 days:

• Calculate how many words you write per minute: Use a free words-per-minute checker such as Typing Speed Test .
• Keeping in mind that you will also need to pause from time to time to think what happens next, halve your word count per minute. If you can type as fast as 60 wpm, take 30 as your base rate.
• Work out how many words you write per hour: If you can write 30 per minute, you can write approximately 1800 words per hour (assuming you don’t stop to edit or rest). Factor in resting time for a more conservative estimate (e.g. 1000 words).
• Work out how many hours you will have to write each day on average over the next 30. If you write 1000 words of draft per hour on a good day, an 80, 000 word novel should take 80 hours of writing to complete.
• Eighty hours of writing over 30 days would mean spending an average of 2.6 hours of writing per day. This is a lot when you have other commitments.
• Based on the amount of time you have available to write each day, adjust the length of your first draft until you have a word count you can achieve. You can always expand during subsequent drafts. Or write your first draft as a brief, novella version .

If this seems like an impossible task, give yourself more days. Or write some scenes in summary form. You can add connective tissue between plot events (such as scene transitions) later.

2: Set a realistic daily word count target

Many authors find as they learn how to write a book that realistic, attainable targets help immensely.

You might say to yourself ‘I can write for an hour each day, easily.’ The truth is that surprises, last minute obligations and life in general can hijack your writing time. For every hour of free time you have, bank on getting half an hour of that to write.

Start thinking about how you can make your word target attainable:

• Cut down time taken up by other tasks: Make simpler, quicker meals, for example, and watch less TV – it’s only a temporary sacrifice)
• Ask for help: Rally friends and family who are willing to help you chase your goal (for example, grandparents willing to babysit if you’re juggling telling your story with parenting)

Once you know exactly which hours you have free, block them out in a calendar. Use a colour that separates them clearly from other events and obligations. Draw an ‘X’ through each day once you’ve reached your word target. The satisfaction of this action (the sense of completion) will keep you motivated to continue.

3: Reserve time for each part of the writing process

The different parts of writing a novel require different types of problem-solving. Sketching characters, for example, is more imagination-dependent, while editing is a somewhat more rational (though still creative) process. [You can create full character profiles in preparation using the step-by-step prompts in Now Novel’s story dashboard.]

When seeing if you can learn how to write a book in 30 days, being structured is key.  Divide each writing session into different tasks . Complete different sections of outlining or drafting simultaneously. This keeps the process varied and diminishes chances of getting stuck.

If, for example, you prefer writing dialogue to introducing scenes and settings, leave your favourite part of the storytelling process for the end of each session. This makes your favourite part a reward that you work towards every time you sit down to write.

4: Maintain a motivating reward scheme

Create a reward scheme for yourself to keep yourself motivated. Big gyms and insurance policies take this approach to keeping members active. Because they understand motivation, how reward-driven we are . Maximize your commitment to your story (and your word count targets) by:

• Scheduling short breaks as micro rewards for reaching small targets such as completing scenes
• Scheduling greater ‘bonus’ rewards for milestone achievements such as completing chapters

Rewards don’t have to be expensive, overly indulgent or distracting. Take a walk somewhere inspiring or beautiful, read a few pages from a favourite book or grab a coffee with a close friend. Make your rewards relaxing activities that will help you return to the track renewed and focused.

One crucial piece of advice on how to write a book in 30 days:

5: Make it a game to avoid unnecessary pressure

If you’ve ever watched competitive reality TV, you might have seen cases where the most competitive and committed participant cracked early under pressure. Placing too much pressure on yourself is a fast track to burnout.

Instead, treat writing a book in 30 days as an impossible goal that you’ll see whether you can reach, playfully. It’s crucial that this time is fun and varied. Some ways to make it a game:

• Enlist a friend to join in the challenge: You can have your own NaNoWriMo any time of year
• Create engaging prompts for yourself: Instead of saying ‘In this scene, the villain will discover a secret that sets him back’, tell yourself ‘Imagine a villain has just been informed of a development that ruins his plans. What does he discover? How does he react? Write 500 words’
• Find an inspiring picture via Google images that captures the mood or tone you want a scene to create:  Let images (or music) inspire you as you write

Try to write as freely as possible to maximize your speed:

6: How to write a book in 30 days: ‘Write drunk’

The quote ‘Write drunk; edit sober’ is often attributed to Ernest Hemingway, though it’s not clear whether Hemingway actually said this . Regardless of who said it, the quote does say something true about writing. It’s not that you should write drunk literally. But you should give yourself the freedom to write with that same uncontrolled giddiness. Before you get to editing.

A big part of how to write a novel in 30 days is letting go of complete control. Let the sober editor in you control when the time comes for that. The writing part should involve as little critical interference as possible,  if you want to draft fast .

Some ways to ‘write drunk’:

• Make the font colour of your word processor match the background . Only highlight and change the font colour back when you reach your target word count. This will prevent you from focusing too much on what you’ve just said as you can’t edit until you reach a point of pause.
• Give yourself licence to be bad. Write terribly. Use clichés at every turn. Do this with the understanding that once you have the full draft and you’ve met your targets, you can go through and fix whatever you like.
• Leap in anywhere: Just because your novel tells a linear story doesn’t mean you have to be linear in your approach. If you’ve written the start of a scene, skip to the ending if you have an idea where it will go. Put in simple notes for whatever you’ll add later.

On the subject of speeding up, use shorthand in places to keep up your momentum:

7: Cheat and use shorthand

If you’re trying to write a novel in 30 days, you’ll likely only have time to fill in essential details of character, setting and the most important events of a scene. To keep going at all costs:

• Fill in names of characters, places and other nouns with generic words and agonize over the right choice later (e.g. ‘[Character Y: Add character name meaning stubborn/headstrong here]’)
• Reduce connecting sequences to basic elements. Instead of describing in detail how the party escapes the collapsing building, write ‘[Party manages to escape collapsing building; minus characters X and Y’]
• Keep filling in these blanks for moments when you are tired and you need a quick, small win

8: Remember that progress never counts as failure

What people don’t always tell you when you ask how to write a novel in 30 days is that the most important part of this challenge is committing to it and trying.

Determination and dedication will help you make progress. If, by the end of the 30 days, you don’t have a continuous, polished first draft, congratulate yourself for the progress you have made. You have a sturdy skeleton for a book you can turn into a better read.

If you’re doing NaNoWriMo or simply trying to get through your draft, try to write an 800 word extract every day for a week in the note-keeping section on Now Novel . That’s 5600 words further if you succeed.

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• Tags how to write a book in 30 days

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.

4 replies on “How to write a book in 30 days: 8 key tips”

I am so excited to use NaNoWriMo to finish my novel. I am about 60,000 words in and I stalled out when I got distracted by a different story idea. I am now returning to my original plot and I’m planning on finishing it by Novermber 30th!

I hope it’s coming along well, Jeffrey! Let us know how you did. Any progress is a win, truthfully 🙂

Hi Jeffrey, I hope your NaNo draft is coming along well! Please feel free to share any extracts you’d like constructive critique on within the members’ area when you’re done, I’m interested to read it.

[…] time to wallow in that dank swampland. Inspiration is for suckers — you have a word count to hit. If you’re really stuck, online writing prompts, plotting exercises and character interview worksheets can be a big help. […]

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I wrote my first book in 30 days. Here are 11 tips and tricks to writing a novel.

• In addition to being an editor at Insider, I'm also a first-time published author.
• I wrote the bulk of my debut novel, " This Way Out ," in just one month in 2020.
• My key advice is to write what you love because you'll live with your story for a very long time.

I wrote my first novel in just one month. It was extremely challenging but I'm glad I did it.

In addition to working at Insider as an entertainment editor, this year I also became a published author.

My debut novel, "This Way Out," was published around the world on July 1.

It is the story of Amar, a British-Bangladeshi man who gets engaged to his partner, Joshua, and must tell his devout Muslim family that not only is he gay, but he's marrying a white man. Amar's confession sets off a chain of dramatic events — both heartbreaking and hilarious — as he navigates his family's disapproval of his sexuality, his continued grief over his mother, and a meddling future mother-in-law.

I wrote the first draft of "This Way Out" in one month, between mid-June and July 2020. It was a challenge, to say the least, but ultimately, I'm glad I pushed myself to write it so quickly. Or it might still only exist on my computer.

Here are my top tips if you want to turbo-boost your writing career and finish your manuscript, too.

Clear your mind of all distractions so you can focus on your writing.

The idea for "This Way Out" first came to me in 2019, and while I wrote two or three very rough chapters at the time, I quickly abandoned the novel amid my day job and a mammoth Netflix queue.

I returned to the story a year later when London, much like the rest of the world, was locked down due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

This time, I was determined not to abandon the book again. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. So, I set myself a 30-day deadline to write the whole manuscript, including rewriting the few chapters I had already written a year before.

But before that, I needed to be in the right frame of mind.

I had reached Netflix saturation point by the time I began writing. I'd binged all of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" and "Vikings," and my brain was yearning for more stimulation. Thankfully I had just the thing for it.

Get all the distractions out of your system before you sit down to write. Finish that show or gardening project, and go into your 30-day writing challenge focused and ready.

Treat your hobby like it's your job.

So, you're ready to start writing your book. What next?

I was super disciplined about my writing time over the 30 days I wrote "This Way Out."

I treated writing the book as if it was my job. After all, I considered it an investment in myself, and to get the best possible outcome — a published book! — I needed to put in the effort.

I made sure I sat at my desk each day and did some writing. If you have a day job, that can be hard but think about setting some time aside early in the morning before work if you're a morning person, or in the evening if you're a night owl.

For me, it was a combination of both. I blocked out a couple of hours each morning, around 7 a.m., and another two hours each evening, at around 8 p.m., for uninterrupted writing.

You may need to experiment with writing at different times of the day to figure out what works for you. I found that I was less productive during the daytime and easily distracted by household chores and my dog, so early mornings and after dinner worked really well.

Just remember: Consistency is key. Make sure you budget time each and every day, whatever time that may be.

Write what you love. Don't pander to industry trends.

While promoting "This Way Out," a lot of people have asked how I came up with the idea for my book and remarked something along the lines of, "I'd love to write a book but I don't know what I would write about."

My advice is to write the book you want to write, not the book that you think you should write. 

It can be demoralizing, particularly for authors of color, to see the same types of books — "Gone Girl"-esque thrillers, for example — dominate The New York Times bestseller list, but that shouldn't deter you from writing the book that is in your heart. (And if you want to write a "Gone Girl"-esque thriller, then go for it!)

"This Way Out" is a hugely personal story to me as it incorporates some of my own lived experiences as a gay, nonwhite Muslim man. It was a story I felt compelled to write because I'd never really seen myself represented in fiction before.

Is there a story you feel compelled to tell? That's the story you should write.

In my experience, the more passion and heart you can imbue into your novel, the more motivated you are to write every day, and the easier it will be. 

Because I felt so deeply about Amar's story and my cast of characters, there were days when the words just poured out of me onto the page.

And remember, you'll probably have to live with this story for a long time, so you want to  love it. From the first draft to publication, I've been immersed in all things "This Way Out" for two years.

Write a synopsis for your novel and work backward.

In writing, there are "plotters," who plot out their novel, and "pantsers," who simply start writing with no roadmap and see where their words take them.

There's no right or wrong way to write a book, but I'm someone that likes to be highly organized when I take on a project, and the thought of writing a book without a general roadmap would be overwhelming.

In order to give myself the best chance at success, I like to get organized before I start writing, and that means writing a synopsis of my novel first. A synopsis is a general overview of your story — beginning, middle, and end.

Most authors will have to write a synopsis when seeking representation from a literary agent, but it can serve the dual purpose of acting as a roadmap that you can always refer back to. So, instead of writing it after you write your book, I find it super helpful to write it first.

If you want synopsis inspiration, here is one about a famous boy wizard.

Break down your story, chapter by chapter.

Another highly organized way to tackle your novel is to outline the beats of your story by chapter.

After writing my synopsis, I then break that down into a more detailed plan, noting down the key events and main characters in each chapter.

You can do this in a spreadsheet or even just by making a table in a Google Doc or Word.

Like your synopsis, this is something you can always come back to for guidance and will help you keep your story on track.

A chapter breakdown is also useful for helping keep track of how many words you need to write. If a standard novel is around 70,000 to 75,000 words and you have plotted out 27 chapters, mathematically, you might aim to write roughly 2,500 to 3,000 words per chapter. 

Make sure you have a comfortable workspace.

Writing may not be the most physically taxing task, but you're going to be spending a lot of time on your manuscript, so you want to be comfortable.

When I first started writing "This Way Out," I didn't have a desk. I wrote in bed, on the couch, or at the kitchen table. After getting halfway through the book, I started to get antsy. Writing in bed would lead to a nap, and the couch would give way to the temptation of turning on the television.

So, I hit up IKEA for a desk and super comfortable ochre chair. My productivity rapidly improved.

Having a dedicated and comfortable writing space can make the world of difference. It's a space to focus and stay motivated.

When you sit down, you know you're there to work, and those other spaces — the bed or sofa — can go back to being for leisure when you're done for the day.

Have a general idea of how many words you will write each day.

Books are long, and when you're climbing the proverbial Everest of writing one, it can feel like you'll never make it to that magic number, whether it's 70,000, 80,000, or even 100,000 words.

With "This Way Out," I aimed for a chapter a day, with each chapter containing roughly 2,500 to 3,000 words.

When I'm drafting, I keep myself motivated by logging my word count on a piece of paper and sticking it to the wall in front of my desk. It shows me how far I've come and how much more I have to do.

There's a real sense of achievement each day when I cross off the previous word count and log the new, higher one.

Be kind to yourself. Don't beat yourself up if you write less than intended.

Conversely, we are all human. Not every day is going to be an amazing writing day.

Writing "This Way Out," there were some days I didn't write 2,500 to 3,000 words and I despaired that I'd never finish the manuscript. I even joked to friends that maybe I should just copy and paste excerpts from Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall" to make up the word count. (Don't do that.)

Don't beat yourself up if you have one bad day. Just stay consistent and sit back at your desk the next day.

It's OK to write less some days because there will be other days when you end up writing a lot more.

Allow yourself a break and be kind to yourself.

You don't have to rigidly stick to your plan. Take creative detours if your work calls for it.

Just because you've written a synopsis and chapter breakdown doesn't mean that your book is now set in stone. 

Give yourself the freedom to chop and change things, and allow the story to take you down different paths.

I had a eureka moment writing a scene midway through "This Way Out." A character did something that I hadn't plotted initially, but their actions just  made sense at that point in the story.

Even as I wrote the scene, I was surprised by how their actions deviated from my initial plan, but it really worked. That scene ended up being hugely pivotal to moving the plot forward and adding extra tension to the book.

Know when you're done and it's time to write "the end."

There is nothing quite like the feeling of finally finishing your manuscript and being able to write, "The end."

Sometimes, that point may come sooner or later than intended, however. Remember: You don't have to be rigid about your roadmap.

As you write, you may feel there is another chapter to add, or you may feel that a chapter is no longer needed and end up wrapping up your story sooner than planned.

I had the latter experience writing "This Way Out." As I reached the end of the book, I still had another chapter planned, but the scenes I was writing at the time felt like a fitting end. So, I went with my gut and ended it there. 

Don't force yourself to write more if you feel like you're done. Go with your gut instinct. The story will tell you when it's done.

Let your book breathe before diving back into it.

You've finished writing your book. Hurrah! But, what now?

The first draft is just the beginning. You might write a second draft yourself, tightening up the story and adding in more detail, or you might work on it with a critique partner , professional editor, or literary agent.

Before you go back to your book, give yourself a little time away from it. Take a week, or longer. Catch up with your housework, "Real Housewives" or with your friends.

A little bit of distance from your work will help you come back to it fresh and motivated.

Once you're ready, I recommend printing out the manuscript (it feels great to hold it in your hands!), sitting down on the sofa and simply reading it, not as an author, but as a reader. Absorb the story from the reader's perspective.

Then read it again. This time, maybe you'll make some notes in the margins or underline sentences to change.

Now you're ready for your second draft.

The reward is worth the hard work.

Writing a book isn't easy. If you manage to complete your manuscript — whether it's in 30 days or longer — be proud of your achievement. Not everyone has the discipline and resilience to write that many words.

Unfortunately, the publishing industry is a tough nut to crack, and it's notoriously difficult to get published by a major publishing house.

If you do get a publishing deal, congratulations. Savor the moment. 

Finally holding my book in my hands, and being able to share Amar's story with the world, made all the hard work worth it.

"This Way Out" is available now .

When you buy through our links, Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more .

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How to Write A Book in 30 Days: Complete Guide

 introduction .

Embarking on the 30-Day Book Writing Challenge can seem like a daunting task at first glance, but it’s an incredibly rewarding journey that can significantly benefit your writing career. This challenge is designed to push your limits, enhance your creative thinking, and instil a disciplined writing habit that could last a lifetime. Imagine turning your long-held dream into a tangible book in just one month. The benefits of this intense creative process include not only the satisfaction of completing a manuscript but also the improvement of your writing skills, a deeper understanding of narrative structures, and the ability to produce content consistently. The key to success in this challenge lies in persistence, flexibility, and a positive mindset. Each day offers a new opportunity to progress your story, and every challenge faced is a step towards becoming a more skilled and confident writer. Whether you’re an experienced author looking for a new way to challenge yourself, or a beginner hoping to write your first book, the 30-Day Book Writing Challenge is an open invitation to turn your writing dreams into reality. Let’s dive into the detailed guide that will help you navigate through this exciting journey, making sure your experience is both successful and enjoyable.

Week 1: Planning and Preparation 

Day 1-2: ideation and conceptualization.

The first step in your writing journey involves brainstorming and conceptualizing your book idea. It’s crucial to spend these initial days freely exploring various ideas without self-judgment. Utilize brainstorming techniques such as mind mapping, which involves writing down your central idea and branching out into related themes and concepts, or free writing, where you let your thoughts flow without editing or censoring. This stage is about unlocking your creative potential and discovering the core idea that you’re passionate about.

Selecting a genre is equally important as it sets the tone for your entire book. Whether you’re drawn to romance, fantasy, thriller, or non-fiction, ensure your choice aligns with your interests and the message you wish to share. After settling on a genre, sketch out a basic plot. This doesn’t have to be detailed but should outline the main conflict or theme of your book. Ask yourself what makes your idea unique and how it will captivate readers.

Day 3-4: Character Development

Characters are the heart of your story. These two days should be dedicated to developing characters that readers will care about. Start with your protagonist and antagonist, defining their goals, fears, strengths, and weaknesses. Consider how their backgrounds and experiences have shaped them and how they will change throughout your story. This depth makes your characters relatable and their journeys compelling.

Use character questionnaires to delve deeper into their personalities. Questions can range from their favourite memories to how they react under stress. Understanding your characters intimately will make their actions and decisions within your story more believable and impactful.

Day 5-7: Outline and Structure

Now it’s time to structure your book. Creating a chapter-by-chapter outline provides a clear path for your narrative. Identify the major plot points, such as the inciting incident, turning points, climax, and resolution. This outline will guide you through the writing process, keeping your story focused and cohesive.

Consider the pacing and how you want to reveal information to your readers. Plan key scenes that are crucial for advancing the plot or developing your characters. Remember, flexibility is key; your outline serves as a guide, not a strict blueprint. Be open to making changes as your story evolves.

Week 2: Starting the Writing Process 

Day 8-10: writing the first chapters.

The first chapters of your book are crucial for hooking your readers. Begin with a compelling opening that introduces the main conflict or theme. Establish the setting and introduce your main characters, providing just enough detail to intrigue readers without overwhelming them. Your opening should also set the tone for the rest of the book, whether it’s light and humorous, dark and mysterious, or somewhere in between.

Writing these initial chapters may feel daunting. Focus on getting your ideas down without worrying about perfection. There will be plenty of time for revisions later. Encourage yourself to write freely, understanding that the first draft is simply the beginning of the journey.

Day 11-14: Building Momentum

Building and maintaining momentum is critical during this stage. Writing every day, even if it’s just a small amount, keeps your ideas flowing and your project moving forward. Set realistic daily word count goals and find a writing routine that suits your schedule. If you encounter writer’s block, try changing your environment, brainstorming with friends, or taking a short break to clear your mind.

Stay motivated by tracking your progress and celebrating small victories. Remember, each word written brings you closer to your goal. Engaging with a writing community, either online or in person, can also provide support and encouragement.

Week 3: Continuing the Journey 

Day 15-17: midpoint analysis.

By the midpoint of your challenge, it’s beneficial to pause and evaluate your progress. Review your plot and character arcs to ensure they’re developing as planned. This is an opportune time to adjust the storyline, characters, or pacing as needed. Reflect on whether the story is heading in the direction you envisioned and if it’s still aligned with your original concept.

This analysis might reveal areas that require more research or development. Don’t hesitate to take the time needed to strengthen your manuscript. The goal is to enhance the quality of your story, ensuring it remains engaging and true to your vision.

Day 18-21: Deepening the Plot

Deepening the plot involves enriching the narrative with subplots and further character development. Subplots can add complexity and depth to your story, offering readers a break from the main action while still contributing to the overall theme. Consider relationships, backstories, or side quests that complement the main plot.

This period is also ideal for enhancing the emotional depth of your characters. Explore their motivations, fears, and desires more deeply. How do their experiences shape their actions? This layering of character depth and plot intricacies makes your story more compelling and memorable.

Week 4: The Final Push 

Day 22-24: climax and resolution.

The climax is the peak of your story, where tensions reach their highest point. It’s crucial that your climax is impactful and resolves the main conflict satisfactorily. Think about how your characters have grown and how they can demonstrate their development during this pivotal moment.

Following the climax, your resolution should tie up any loose ends, providing closure for your characters and readers. Ensure that your ending aligns with the tone of your book and feels earned by the characters’ journeys.

Day 25-27: Revisions and Editing

Begin revising your manuscript by focusing on structural issues, plot holes, and inconsistencies. Look at your story as a whole and identify areas that need clarification or trimming. Self-editing tips include reading your work aloud to catch awkward phrasings and taking breaks between editing sessions to return with fresh eyes.

Editing is an iterative process, so be prepared to go through several rounds, each focusing on different aspects, such as plot, character consistency, and dialogue.

Day 28-30: Final Touches and Reflection

In the final days, polish your manuscript by paying attention to grammar, style, and punctuation. Reflect on the journey you’ve undertaken, recognizing the growth you’ve experienced as a writer. Consider seeking feedback from beta readers for fresh perspectives on your work.

Thinking about the next steps, such as professional editing or exploring publishing options, can be exciting. Take a moment to celebrate your achievement; completing a book in 30 days is a significant accomplishment that requires dedication and hard work.

Conclusion 

Completing the 30-Day Book Writing Challenge is a testament to your commitment, discipline, and creativity. This journey from the initial concept to the finished manuscript is not just about writing a book; it’s about discovering your capabilities as a writer and pushing beyond your perceived limits. The experience brings invaluable insights into the writing process, teaches the importance of perseverance, and, most importantly, shows that your dream of writing a book is entirely achievable.

As you move forward, share your story and the lessons learned with others. The writing community is enriched by shared experiences and support. Whether you choose to publish, revise further, or start a new project, remember that this challenge has equipped you with the tools and confidence to continue your writing journey. The completion of your manuscript is a significant personal achievement that stands as a testament to your passion and dedication to your craft.

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20 Ways to Write a Book in 30 Days

Because, really: what self-respecting, intellectually ambitious, kick-ass entrepreneur could resist the challenge.

Maybe it's just time, you know?

Time to take on that lifelong dream . The one in the back of your head. The one you said you'd tackle, next time you were between projects, semesters, or significant others. 

November is National Novel Writing Month. The perfect excuse to write the book you've dreamed of, whether it's about business, your life, or something else entirely. Abbreviated  NaNoWriMo , the idea is straightforward: On November 1, you begin working toward the goal of writing 50,000 words by 11:59 p.m. on November 30. (Yes, you're a couple days behind, but don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good here.)

If starting a book scares you, here's the good news: You won't be alone. At least, not in November. Last year--the 15th year of the project--there were 325,142 participants, many of whom shared their progress on social media. NaNoWriMo boasts 133,000 Twitter followers, and uses hashtags like #NaNoCoach to spread tips of all types. As a novelist myself, I've got some tips of my own to share about the process. 

1. Enjoy yourself. 

If you look forward to writing, you're more likely to do it. What's more, the joy you're feeling will shine through to readers. Life is short--and the time any of us has to write is shorter. Don't waste it on a project you can't savor. (Especially if no one's paying you.)

2. Learn about yourself. 

If you're not having fun, that's OK too. It's what you're trying to discover, when you embark on a project like NaNoWriMo. If you long for sitcoms and podcasts during your writing time, consider it a sign. Maybe you don't want to write a book. Maybe your subject isn't amusing or engaging. 

3. Exercise.

Even if you use a standing desk , writing is a mostly motionless activity. You'll be more focused for it if you've worked out. If you prefer writing first thing in the morning, exercise in the afternoon. Remember, this is long-term practice--something you'll ideally continue beyond November. Staying in shape is essential, because health problems can derail you. 

4. Maintain the magic. 

Make sure you write--or at least edit what you've already done--each day. The idea is to stay engaged with the world you've created. More than 48 hours away from it will turn you from a parent to a babysitter. 

5. Settle for small windows.

If you tell yourself 30 minutes a day is not enough, you will never get anything done. Work with what you have. Over weeks, the minutes add up. 

6. Eat responsibly. 

Never too much--nor too little--before you write. You need to be attentive and awake.

7. Socialize. 

Don't let your project turn you into a hermit. Part of being a novelist is understanding how humans speak and behave. If you isolate yourself, you're neglecting your craft. 

8. Embrace your day job. 

The only thing harder than writing is writing when you're worried about money or your business. Don't view your job as an obligation that is oppositional to your craft. Instead, focus on how they can be complementary. View your company (or employer) as your sponsor. View your co-workers as your readers. 

9. Read. 

Aside from the act of writing, the best way you can improve your craft is by reading extensively. Inevitably, you'll encounter passages where authors have succeeded--or failed--to execute the same types of scenes you're working on. Either way, you're learning. 

10. Don't sweat the word count. 

It's just a number. The last thing you want to do is draft fluffy scenes for the sake of making the 50,000 total. If you finish November with 40,000 words you love, you'll be happy.

11. Bulldozing beats stalling.

By the same token, you don't want to spend all 30 days perfecting the 250 words you wrote the first day. Move on. The time for revision will come. And come again. And again. The joy of the first draft is not worrying about it yet.

12. Envision ideals. 

Even if you love what you're working on, there will be days when authorship feels like a fruitless task. Envisioning ideal outcomes--What will the book cover look like? Whom will you thank on your acknowledgments page?--can help you endure rough patches. 

13. Develop social explanations.

One sneaky challenge of authorship is explaining to family, friends, and strangers what you're doing. With harmless intentions, they'll ask what your book is about. Even though you know the answer, it's hard to convey it with cocktail party brevity--especially when you're still creating it. Develop a one-liner. It doesn't have to be accurate. It just has to get you through the conversation.

14. Solicit early feedback. 

You can also use social interactions to test the future elevator pitch of your book. How do people react to your one-liner? Are they intrigued? Indifferent? This feedback can help you--way down the line--when you're pondering how to pitch your book to agents or publishers. 

15. Find like-minded partners. 

In the fitness world,  training with a buddy  means you're less likely to veer from your routine, because you don't want to disappoint your friend. If you pursue NaNoWriMo with friends or colleagues you respect, you're more likely to stick with it. 

16. Stretch before you run. 

You need not dive right into your novel. Warm up by reviewing what you wrote yesterday. You can also warm up with crossword puzzles or  Legos . The idea is to break away mentally from what you were doing prior to your writing window.

17. Eliminate distractions.

Shut your phone off. Close your browser. All you need is pen and paper. Or whatever word-processing software you use. What you don't need is Wi-Fi. 

18. Forget research. 

Research is crucial for novels, business books, and short stories. But for NaNoWriMo purposes, you shouldn't worry about it yet. Focus first on figuring out if you enjoy the act of writing. Devote your writing window to the act of writing. 

19. Accept your wounds.

If what you're writing comes from your heart, you will cry. You will uncover sad memories. Depending on your disposition--and the memory--these moments can feel wonderfully therapeutic or trigger downward spirals. Don't let the mood mess with your writing window. If you must have a crying jag, get it out, and get back to your words. If that's too difficult, write a short note to yourself about what you're feeling. Take no more than one minute. Then get back to your words. 

20. Temper expectations.

If you've never tried writing a book before, you shouldn't expect to master the craft in one month. Long-term practices require long terms. Don't judge yourself based on where your book stands November 30. What matters is if you're still writing December 1.  

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How to Write a Novel in 30 Days

Last Updated: June 26, 2023 Approved

This article was co-authored by Grant Faulkner, MA . Grant Faulkner is the Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the co-founder of 100 Word Story, a literary magazine. Grant has published two books on writing and has been published in The New York Times and Writer’s Digest. He co-hosts Write-minded, a weekly podcast on writing and publishing, and has a M.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University.  wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 125,344 times.

Every year, people sign up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which challenges its participants to write a 50,000 word novel in November. Even if you’re not participating in NaNoWriMo, you might be interested in trying to finish a draft of the novel you’ve always wanted to write as quickly as possible. By preparing carefully and writing diligently, you’ll be able to finally get your novel down on paper!

Setting up Your Story

• If you don’t participate in an organized writing challenge, you should set your own ground rules. For instance, figure out what 30-day period you’d like to write during.

• While preparing, you can reread your favorite novels from the past or take the opportunity to read novels you’ve never read before.
• Try to read novels that are written in different styles. Some novelists write dense, complicated prose (for instance, William Faulkner and Toni Morrison) while others write in short, relatively simple sentences (such as Ernest Hemingway and Octavia E. Butler). Reading novels written in a range of styles will help you figure out not just what kind of story you want to tell but how you want to tell that story.

• You can also write a novel that blends genres. If your want to write a high-fantasy romance novel, go for it!

• If you don’t like writing with pen and paper or want to carry a notebook around, you can take notes electronically. There are a number of popular note-taking apps, like Evernote, that you can download for free. (You may already have one downloaded.)

• It might help to keep traditional plot structures in mind. Most stories begin with exposition, lead up to a climax, and then end with a resolution. You can learn more about plot structures in various writing manuals, such as Denise Jaden’s Fast Fiction: A Guide to Outlining and Writing a First Draft Novel in 30 Days . [6] X Research source
• In addition to outlining the plot, you should also have plans for your characters, settings, and other important details. Try to write backstories for your characters and make notes about how they fit into your novel.

• If you do include friends in the process, make sure that socialization doesn’t distract you from getting your writing done!
• NaNoWriMo has forums that enable writers to support one another and share ideas. While you’re writing your novel, these forums could be a great place to go for community and motivation! [9] X Research source You can also join general writing forums.

Writing the Novel

• You could also set a goal of writing a certain number of chapters or a specific number of double-spaced pages. Set a goal that makes the most sense for you and your novel.

• You don’t always have to start writing a novel at its beginning, but for writing one in 30 days it will probably be best to write it linearly from beginning to end.

• Try leaving your phone in a different room and disabling your wifi while you write if need be.

Revising Your Work

• Don’t look at it or talk about it, and try not to think about it too much. That way you’ll be able to return to it with fresh eyes and a clear head when you start the revision process.

• Ask your readers what they liked and didn’t like about the novel. You can also ask things like, “Which characters were compelling and which were annoying?” and “Did the plot make sense?”

• By knowing what parts of your novel are worth expanding, you’ll have a good idea of how to move forward with it.
• Ask your readers which parts of the book they wish were longer to help figure out what to expand.

• Even if you’re emotionally attached to a certain character, scene, or subplot in your novel, you may have to cut it if it isn’t moving the plot forward.

• If you end finding that you want to start your novel over from scratch, that’s fine too. But don’t think of your 30 days of intense writing as wasted time. You’ve learned a lot about the kind of novel you want to write and how to get writing done efficiently even if you don’t go further with what you wrote! [21] X Research source

Sample Writing Schedule and Examples

Expert Q&A

• If you couldn't convince your friends to join you, meet some new ones! Many sites have forums for you to join, and chances are you will find someone who is willing to help you edit their novel! Thanks Helpful 7 Not Helpful 0
• Enjoy yourself! It's about having fun. Thanks Helpful 8 Not Helpful 1
• Tell as many people as possible what you plan to do so that you have your own personal support group! This will also keep you from pitching out at the last minute. Thanks Helpful 6 Not Helpful 1
• Don't forget to save your document regularly (unless your document is automatically saved). Make sure you have a copy of your saved novel on an external hard drive, like a disc or a flash drive. This way, if your computer crashes you'll still have a way to access the novel! Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• Remember to prioritize. The quality of your schoolwork and/or your work at a day job might start to slip from all the intense writing. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ Grant Faulkner, MA. Professional Writer. Expert Interview. 8 January 2019.
• ↑ https://nybookeditors.com/2016/03/writing-a-novel-in-a-month-is-it-possible-and-should-you-try/
• ↑ http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/30-tips-for-writing-a-book-in-30-days
• ↑ https://nanowrimo.org/terms
• ↑ https://writetodone.com/how-to-write-a-novel-in-30-days/
• ↑ https://thewritelife.com/how-many-words-in-a-novel/

About this article

If you want to write a novel in 30 days for NaNoWriMo, keep in mind that NaNoWriMo's minimum word count requirement is 50,000 words, so you need to use your time efficiently. To get started, plan a routine to make sure you write each day and finish your novel on time. If you need help to stay motivated, give yourself small rewards, like a piece of chocolate for every 1,000 words you write. Additionally, try writing with a group of friends or contacting a local NaNoWriMo group if you work better with company. For tips on how to edit your draft and how to get feedback from readers, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Write a Book in 30 Days

Are you thinking about writing a book, but don’t know how to get started? This step-by-step guide will show you how to write a non-fiction book in 30 days. This is the exact process that I’ve used to write over 300 bestsellers and teach thousands of new writers to create their very first book.

This process is designed to last thirty days because this is a manageable amount of time. You want a goal that feel achievable and is in a short enough time frame that you won’t lose focus. This simple book writing process works because it’s easily measurable. We’ll give you a clear process to follow with the goal of completing your entire manuscript this month.

We’ll also recommend some great tools that will make the process easier for you. All writers are different and everyone has their own approach. It’s ok to use different software or a different process than another writer. You don’t need to replicate anyone else’s process. It’s ok to be unique.

So whether you’re an experienced writer or a complete novice, follow these steps and I’ll teach you how to write a book this month.

What do they want to learn?

How do you want to help them, find your purpose, i talk different than i write, develop a pre-writing ritual, phone dictation app, google docs, brainstorm book ideas, which book will make the most profit, which book you will finish the fastest, which book your the most passionate about, which book are you the most likely to finish, part one: the problem, part two: the solution, part three: the results, writing fiction, take your outline deeper, test your outline, set a deadline for your research, break your book into fragments, set a schedule.

• Writer's Block

Write Without Editing

Perfectionism kills great books, release the excuses, manage your book writing time, edit your book, use a template, launch your book, how long does it take to write a book, can i make money writing a book, can anyone write a book, what do i need to write a book, how much does it cost to publish a book, how hard is it to write a book, final thoughts, find your perfect reader.

Who do you want to help? Who is the ideal reader for your book? If you could get just one person to read your book, who would that be?

Writing a book for a large audience is really hard, but telling a story to a single friend is easy. You use the language and style of storytelling that you know they respond to. Use these questions to create the one person you are writing the book to.

This can be a real person that you know or an imaginary avatar that represents the bullseye of your ideal readers.

That imaginary, ideal reader can represent all the other people reading your book. Writing to one person is a lot easier than trying to write to an imaginary crowd.

When you know who your ideal reader is, it will be easier for you to write for them. They are the only person you are speaking to inside your book. Making language choices and deciding if a section is boring is a lot easier when there is only one person to measure against.

Your book should teach your reader something new. What information or skills can you share with them that they don’t already have? Do they have a problem you can help to solve? Pain you can help to alleviate? Or a solution you can move them one step closer to?

While a fiction book’s purpose is to entertain, a nonfiction book is meant to educate. There is still an emotional journey, but there is a big idea that you build the book around.

The bigger the problem you solve for a reader the more likely they are to buy your book. If you solve a problem that causes them pain from the moment they wake up until the moment they go back to bed, they are more likely to read your book than if you solve a problem that won’t start for ten years.

In addition to how much your book will affect the reader’s life, your level of passion is also important.

Write a list of potential book topis and then choose the one that you are most passionate about. While expertise on a subject is valuable, readers are more likely to finish the entire book if they sense your passion coming through the pages. The more they feel a sense of rapport with you, the more they will engage with the material.

It also helps that writing about your passion is a lot more fun. A writing career doesn’t have to feel like work. Successful writers enjoy their work.

What is your ideal reader’s biggest problem. How can you help them solve it? Your book should offer a solution to your reader’s problem.

We’ve looked at the reader’s motivation, now we want to look at yours. What is the best way you can improve you ideal reader’s life? How can you transform their life in a positive way?

There are multiple solutions to every problem. Do you have something to say that gets you really excited?

Why are you the one to write this book? What’s your unique story? What experiences do you have that make you the perfect person to write this book?

There are millions of books on every subject already. It’s very rarely the information that’s unique, more often it’s the person telling the story.

What is your unique story, passion or vision. What’s driving you to write this book?

You are the lens through which a reader looks at hte information. The more of your personality you embed into the story, the more powerful the book will become. A really solid book will combine research, passion and a topic that readers care about. When you combine all three you’re ready to begin writing.

Choose a Writing Process

Are you going to write with a typewriter, a laptop on the beach or dictate your book? Each writer has their own process, so find the one that works best for you. There is no wrong method. The most important part of success for a first-time writer is speed to results.

We’ve all met the writer who’s been working on their book for decades and you don’t want that to happen to you. A traditionally published book takes 18 months from when the book is finished to when the first copy is for sale in a bookstore.

That extremely long production cycle is disheartening. The faster your book is finished, the easier it is to stay on track. For the same reason it’s easier to stick with a one week diet than a six-month diet.

Choose a writing method that will let you get your first draft complete as quickly as possible. Here’s a writing secret:

It’s easy to improve a bad rough draft, it’s impossible to improve a blank page.

Our goal is to finish your book in thirty days and dictation is going to be our secret weapon. I’ve dictated over 300 bestsellers and you’ll find there is no faster way to lay down a rough draft.

That’s absolutely fine. The most important part of the writing process is laying down that first rough draft as quickly as possible. You can take that rough draft and edit and rewrite the entire thing book on your computer. We’ve found from working with thousands of clients that dictating your rough draft and then editing it to match your ideal style is massively more effective than trying to grind you a book using your keyboard.

If using the keyboard worked for you, you wouldn’t be here reading this article about how to write a book.

It’s much easier to polish a rough draft, even if you hate it, than it is to sit in front of a computer and write a book from scratch.

A lot of word processors underline words in red as soon as you make a typing mistake. We are trained to go back and fix that red error before we write the next sentence. This slows down the writing process as you start to think about editing and grammar which are logical processes rather than writing which is a creative process.

Dictation doesn’t allow you to edit. You can’t go back and change anything. You can only say it the right way after the mistake. The recording is always moving forward and forces you to lay down content in a purely creative process.

Create a Writing Space

Find a spot where you feel inspired. Your writing location is something sacred and should be a place where you are free to think and write without interruption. It doesn’t have to be a special room or anything like that, but it should be somewhere where you can focus on your writing.

Every writer has a favorite spot to work. If you’re dictating like I recommend, it can be at the park, in your car or at the beach. If you’re writing, then you want a dedicated writing space that gets your creative juices flowing.

My computer is set up in front of massive bay windows facing the ocean. I can’t use the computer during late afternoon because the sun is too bright, but the rest of the day I’m inspired by the view.

Your ideal writing space can be a coffee shop or a different chair in your house with your laptop. All that matters is you have a location that you think of as your writing space. When you go to that spot or sit in that chair, it will active the “time to write” part of your brain.

Every great writer talks about getting into the zone or flow state. The faster you can go from thinking about other things to writing at top speed, the better. The way to accomplish this is with a pre-writing ritual.

Everyone has a different way of doing this, but your ritual should be a series of steps that you go through before every single writing session. This can be something as simple as disconnecting the internet, setting your phone to silent and making a cup of tea.

You want a series of physical steps that tells your body that it’s time to start writing soon. This is the first of the writing habits you want to develop.

A good ritual will train your mind that it’s time to write and you’ll find getting into the flow that much easier.

Select the Perfect Book Tools

There are hundreds of tools designed to make the writing process better. Some authors still write entire books with pen and paper, others use a lucky typewriter. One thing I have notices it that most authors lock into a process early in their career are rarely change it.

I’ve been using the same writing tools for a decade and I’m really unlikely to change my word processor, even if one with a few new features some outs. For that reason you want to take this step seriously.

Switching from writing books by hand to dictation was really challenging for me and my first dictated book was a nightmare. I was learning a new process and also unlearning an old one. I want to help you skip over that challenge.

Most computers come with voice to text software that allows you to talk while words appear on the page. I don’t recommend that because you can still see the red underlining when you misspell a word and it can knock you out of your writing flow.

Instead, I dictate all of my books into an app in my phone. Right now the app I use is called Hi-Q, but it’s nothing special. I look for an app that has a good rating and automatically uploads backups to the cloud in real time. As long as the app creates backups in real time, I’m happy with it.

Try a few paid apps to see once that works for you and then upgrade to the paid version.

Scrivener is my favorite word processor and outlining tool. It’s great for writing books because you can see your entire outline at once and easily move sections around.

I also like how Scrivener keeps track of your progress and tells you how many words you have left to write in each section. This is a great way to stay on track and hit your daily word count goals. I like seeing my word count hit that daily goal so I can feel a sense of accomplishment when I’ve done enough work for hte day.

I have written numerous articles and trainings all around how Scrivener is the best word processor that I’ve every used. It’s my recommendation for the writing phase absolutely.

Word it the most well-known word processor in the world for a reason. Many writers use it because it’s the gold standard. It’s reliable, automatically saves your progress and everyone is familiar with the format.

It’s the standard because it’s been around so long and my last editor always made me convert my books from Scriver to Word before she edited them. It’s kind of the universal format and fortunately Scrivener can export to Word format as needed.

You can work on your book from different locations and different devices. Google docs always syncs and saves your progress automatically.

The downside is that it’s not as feature-rich as other word processors, but it makes up for it with its ease of use and portability. I write most of my blog posts in Google Docs so that I can switch between my desktop. laptop, tablets and phones with ease.

Every writer I talk to has more than one book idea in them. The key is to pick the right one.

There are a few things you should consider when brainstorming book ideas:

• Passions and interests
• Expertise and knowledge
• Experiences and stories

Your book idea should fit into one of these three categories. If it doesn’t, it’s probably not a good idea.

For example, I’m passionate about travel , but I don’t have any expertise or experience in the travel industry. So a book about how to travel the world on a budget wouldn’t be a good idea for me.

On the other hand, I’m passionate about personal finance, I have a lot of expertise and knowledge in the area and I have interesting stories to share. So a book about how to get out of debt and build wealth would be a good idea for me.

Build out a list of all your potential book ideas before you start narrowing down that list.

Decide Which Book to Write First

Now that you’ve brainstormed some ideas, it’s time to choose the best one. My primary business is an affiliate marketer , so I pick the book that will be the most profitable for that business. I come up with my book ideas using the creative side of my brain and I narrow down to the winner using the logical side of my brain.

There are several questions that you can ask to find which book you should write first.

If you’re writing a book as part of your business, choose the one that will generate the most revenue first. Which book opens up the most profitable niche or do you have the most resources you can leverage? The profit from your first book can give you the runway for your passion project.

You want to get your first book done as quickly as possible so that you can start generating revenue and building an audience. It’s better to finish a good book this month than a great book in five years.

Passion is the fuel for your writing engine. The more your book excites you, the more likely you are to stay the course. If you hate your book, you’ll get stuck in the middle.

One finished book is worth more than a hundred half-finished manuscripts. Choose the book that gives you the most points in the previous three categories. This is the book that you’re most likely to finish and that’s the most important part. This is how you write a book in thirty days.

Outline Your Book

Once you’ve decided which book to write, it’s time to outline it. This is where Scrivener comes in handy because you can see your entire outline at once. There are quite a few amazing dedicated outlining tools to choose from. Depending on the nature of your book, you may want a dedicated outlining option.

When creating my first outline, I like to start with a high-level overview of the chapters I want to include. Then I break each chapter down into smaller sections.

For each section, I write a brief description of what it’s going to cover. This helps me stay on track when I’m writing and make sure I hit all the key points I want to include.

Now that you’ve decided which book to write, it’s time to start planning it out. I like to use a simple three-part structure for my books:

• The Problem

This is the basic structure of how-to books, self-help books and business books. It’s simple and it works.

In the first part of your book, you need to identify the problem that your reader is facing. This is where you do the bulk of your research. You want to make sure you really understand the problem and that you’re not just making assumptions.

To do this, you can talk to people who are experiencing the problem, read books and articles about it, and look for statistics that support your claims.

You can find so much information online these days that this section is usually my favorite because it writes itself. Find a forum where people discuss the problem and find the threads with the most comments and replies. If people are talking about it, then it’s important that your book include it.

In the second part of your book, you need to offer a solution to the problem you’ve identified in Part One. This is where you share your expertise and show your reader how to solve their problem.

To do this, you can share your own experiences, give step-by-step instructions, and recommend resources that they can use. You can even interview experts and distill their wisdom into language that regular people can understand and implement. You can be the translator rather than the expert.

Some problems have multiple solutions so this section can show multiple paths for your readers to choose from.

Just helping readers to understand their available options is valuable.

In the third part of your book, you need to show your reader what they can expect if they implement your solution. This is where you show them how you’ve helped people who have been in their shoes and what results they can expect.

To do this, you can share case studies, testimonials, and statistics that support your claims.

Depending on the type of topic your covering, different types of proof will work the best. For a book on a medical treatment, you might have dozens of footnotes pointing to medical studies and peer-reviewed articles. For a book on finances, you might show case studies from companies that implemented your process.

The important thing is to back up your solution with real-world results to confirm that your idea is more than just an idea.

This is the one step that differs from writing non-fiction. If you want to write fiction, your book will be driven by characters and included dialog. In this additional step, it can help to create a character sheet for each character in your book. Even if you’re dictating the book, having a sheet that lists the character’s names and features really helps.

You don’t want to put the eye-patch on the wrong eye in chapter four!

When creating your outline, make sure to include character names more than you think that you need to. I’ve found when dictating fiction that if I don’t write down which characters are in each scene, I start to change character’s names.

An outline only needs to be as deep as it takes for you to know what you meant. Writer’s block happens when you hit a missing bullet point in your outline. If there was something you meant to say but you don’t remember or you can’t remember what was supposed to come next, you will stumble.

If you can fill in the blanks between each of your bullet points without needing any other notes to remind you, then your outline is complete. This usually means three layers to your outline – Chapters, sections, subheadings. Whether I’m using a mind map or linear outline, I find three layers works for me.

Have you ever written a list of tasks for the day and when you look a few hours later you cant’ even tell when you meant to do seventh? Sometimes this happens because the word got smudged and sometimes it’s because I didn’t write enough words to tell me exactly what the task was supposed to be.

After you finish your outline, wait at least one day and re-read the entire outline out loud. If you hit a single bullet point and think, “I’m not sure what I meant” then you have a problem. You need to fix that before you go into your writing phase because you will stumble. It’s better to fix those little gaps now.

Sometimes research becomes an excuse for inaction. If you’re book is going to take months of research, work on a different one first. We want to hit our goal of finishing your book fast, so create a realistic timeline for your research and make that a hard out.

I have seen writers get stuck in the research quicksand. There is always more information and a new study coming out. Waiting for that next piece of data can keep you frozen and your book will die before its even born.

Your book should be broken into 500-word sections. This is where Scrivener really shines as it’s designed to let you write one small section at a time. If you’re dictating, your sections can be slightly longer but never more than fifteen minutes of speaking. Anything longer and there is a good chance you’ll lose your train of thought.

When an outline is properly fragmented you can write any section in any order.

This is our second defense against writer’s block. If you hit a section where you don’t know what to write, you can skip to the next section and keep writing.

This is better than slamming the brakes on your writing process and switching back into the planning part of the process. You can deal with that missing section after the rough draft is complete when you’re back on the computer editing and rewriting.

The key to success is consistency . Set aside time each day to write, even if it’s just for 30 minutes. The important thing is to show up and do the work. Over time, you will develop the habit of writing and it will become easier and easier to sit down and write each day.

It doesn’t matter when you have your writing sessions, but we find that scheduling them in advance and putting them on your calendar makes them more likely to happen. Every writer has a different time of day that works for them. Find the time that works best for you and put it onto your calendar. Treat it just like any other important meeting and you’ll start to get some actual writing done.

The key to writing a book in 30 days is to set a daily word count goal and stick to it.

When writing on the computer, I like to set my goals using the Pomodoro Technique. I break my day down into 25-minute blocks and I use a timer to stay focused.

For each 25-minute block, I set a goal for how many words I want to write. For me, that number is usually between 500 and 1000 words. Each time I finish a fragment, I can reward myself with a feeling of accomplishment and a little break.

Your schedule is determined by the word length. To finish a 30,000-word book in thirty days, you need to write 1,000 words each day. That means completing two fragments each session.

Dictating your book can be measured in minutes. Most people speak around 115 words pre minute, so you need to dictate for 9 minutes to hit 1,000 words per day. Can you commit to ten minutes of writing time a day?

Start Writing

The outline will never be perfect. The atmosphere will never be ideal. There is always a reason to delay just one more day from starting, but once you start doing that it will keep happening. Don’t let procrastination become your writing habit.

This is where the actual writing begins. You know how to write a book, now you just have to do it.

Writer’s Block

Be prepared for a little writer’s block and know that it doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer. It happens to most authors and it’s always a function of a flaw in the outline.

Write’s block means you don’t know what to write next. And that means you haven’t planned what’s going to happen next. Sometimes you are writing a section and you don’t like how it’s turning out.

Both of these problems have the same solution. Skip to the next scene. If that doesn’t work, skip to the next chapter. Finish your rough draft and then come back during the editing process and re-outline the missing sections.

A common mistake is to bring your writing to a screeching halt and say I can’t do more writing until I figure out this section. Don’t do that.

If you’re writing on the computer, turn off all the editing options. You don’t need those red and green lines distracting you. The goal now is to pour out words as quickly as possible. We can worry about grammar, story structure and perfection in the editing process.

Make a commitment to yourself to never hit the back arrow or the delete key. If you make a mistake just write the word again or leave the misspelling. It sounds a little strange because we aren’t trained to write that way in school, but for your book the only metric that matters is word count.

When writing your first draft, you can unplug the mouse. There are some pretty cool word processors that are designed to be mouse-less and it’s a good rule to create. As soon as you reach for the mouse, you know you’re doing something wrong.

Every single one of my books was published with mistakes in grammar, tense and spelling. Even books I published with a professional editor doing multiple passes, mistakes made it out the door. It’s the price of doing business. I love writing nonfiction and that means my books are educational and true stories about myself.

I don’t want those books to have mistakes, but I accept that they are inevitable.

The beauty of modern publishing is that I can get an email about a typo, update the master file on all the bookstores and push the update. The mistake is erased from history.

Whenever I meet an author who is on their tenth rewrite, I get sad for them. They are trapped in a perfection cycle and it’s impossible to achieve perfection.

I know a few authors who are much better writers than me, but nobody else knows because they’ve never published their books. They are still trying to make them perfect.

Let go of that fear. There are going to be typos and you are going to get bad reviews and it’s ok.

One percent of all the reviews on Amazon for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone are 1 star reviews. One of of every hundred people who read that book, hate it.

It doesn’t matter how great your book is, somebody will hate it.

Accept you’ll make mistakes

You’re going to say the wrong phrase, mess up sections and even repeat yourself during the rough draft process. I know that because I’ve done this. And it’s ok.

Show yourself a little kindness and mercy.

You can fix all of these mistakes in the editing and rewriting phases.

Everyone has a reason for why they haven’t started their book. When I tell people that I’m an author, they tell me they are an author too. A few minutes later I discover that they haven’t started writing yet.

This appears to a profession where you can say it’s your job even if you’ve never done it.

Everyone has a reason to start tomorrow. Don’t be that person.

Be fastidious and strategic with your writing time. You have no idea how long it took me to write this article. And you don’t care.

Readers do not care how long it took you to write each chapter, so you might as well do it faster. Your book writing time is precious and you need to protect it however you can.

When I’m writing, I’m very strict about distractions and how loud my children are allowed to be. It’s the one time that I keep sacrosanct because losing your writing rhythm is the worst.

No worse feeling that losing your train of thought and you can’t remember what you wanted to say.

Turn off as many distractions as you can responsibly. Turn off the internet, social media and your phone. This is a window of time you need to protect.

Once you’ve laid down your book, the editing process is easier. Editing a book on your own is really difficult and paying a professional editor is really expensive.

The built-in editors, grammar checkers and spell checkers in most word processors are garbage. The spell check in Scrivener is the worst I’ve even encountered and it’s very frequently unable to figure out a word where I’ve only messed up a single letter.

The best option is a purpose built editing tool for this phase. There are four well known tools for this phase,

• ProWritingAidc

I recommend using Pro Writing Aid. It’s an AI-powered editing tool that will help you improve your writing.

It’s really affordable and it has a free version that you can use to edit your book. If you’re going to go pro, get the lifetime license. It’s the best value and over time will pay for itself.

There are many different tools available to help you with the writing process, but ProWritingAid is one of the best. Here are some of the features that make ProWriting Add my favorite book writing software:

1. It can help you plan and structure your book. ProWritingAid will analyze your work and suggest a potential outline for you. This can be a great starting point for organizing your thoughts and getting a clear vision for your book.

2. It will catch errors and typos that you might miss. With ProWritingAid, you can be confident that your book will be free of any errors or typos. This will give it a professional look and make it more polished overall.

3. It can help you improve your writing style. ProWritingAid provides detailed feedback on your writing, including suggestions for improving clarity, conciseness, and more. This can be invaluable for polishing your writing and making it more engaging for readers.

Overall, ProWritingAid is an excellent tool for helping you write a book. If you’re looking for a way to streamline the process and produce a high-quality product, ProWritingAid is definitely worth considering.

Format Your Book

Once your book is edited, you need to put it into a format that the bookstores are going to like. For your paperback, this means a PDF file and for your ebook this means an ePUb file. Those are technical formats that don’t matter until your trying to upload to Amazon.

There are a few options that make it easy to format your book.

I love writing my books within Scrivener, but it also has some amazing export features. You can easily generate a final format that will look great from Scrivener. Scrivener calls this compiling and you can determine what each section-type will look like, the fil format and how you handle page breaks.

Many independent authors publish all their books straight from Scrivener. THe beauty of this tool is that you already own it, so it’s no additional cost.

My team and I ghostwrite a lot of books for clients and we deliver the final draft using Reedsy. It’s a free platform that generates all the necessary formats for you (EPUB, MOBI, PDF).

This tool has very limited options, which means it’s hard to break anything. It does one job and it does it very well.

It’s as easy as upload your manuscript file, choose your trim size, interior style and hit publish. Within seconds Reedsy generates a beautiful print-ready PDF that you can use as the interior for your paperback and hardback editions.

I’ve been formatting my books with Vellum for years now and I love their platform. The tool is Mac-only, but it’s a good investment if you plan on writing multiple books.

Vellum automatically formats your book for Kindle, iBooks, and Nook, so you don’t need to worry about the different file types. Vellum also includes features such as an automated table of contents and live preview, which allows you to see how your book will look on different devices before you publish it.

There are a lot of sections that I re-use in my books, such as my “About the Author” page. With Vellum, I can drag these pages from one book in to the next. That makes my life a lot easier. It’s a great tool that gives you a little more power than Reedsy.

Create a Captivating Book Cover

It’s true that people will judge your book by it’s cover. It doesn’t matter how good your book is if nobody ever reads it. You want a cover that’s going to captivate potential readers and make them want to learn more about your book.

There are a few things you should keep in mind when designing your book cover .

First, you want to make sure that the title and author name are legible. The title should be big and bold, while the author name should fill the entire width of the cover.

Second, choose an image that represents your book’s core idea. One image to create one idea. This will be different for each niche. If your book is a cosy mystery, I will expect to see the murder weapon sticking out of a cake. The image should be clean and represent one word to avoid confusion.

Third, treat your book like a book cover. It’s not a piece of art. It is meant to represent very specific meaning. It needs to match your niche, look good in black and white and be clear even when it’s very small.

By following these tips, you can create a book cover that will captivate potential readers and make them want to learn more about your book.

The easiest way to create a create cover without breaking the bank is to use a template. I’ve spent years working with top designers to create the Ultimate Cover Collection . It’s a set of over one hundred book cover templates .

Each cover is modeled on existing bestsellers from the blocking to the colors to the text. Every single book has a unique back cover, with the perfect fonts. You can mix and match front and back covers to your heart’s content.

Every single cover comes with a front cover, paperback, audiobook and social media template. Everything you need to inspire you to create a high-converting cover.

My cover for Serve No Master cost only five bucks. It’s hard to find anyone one Fiverr that still charges this price. I usually hire three designers at the same time, so I have a large pool of options to choose from. This helps me find an amazing cover, rather than an acceptable cover.

At a certain phase in your business you need multiple designs every month. When that happens you need more than the a la carte options on Fiverr and less than the headache of a full time in-house graphic designer. That’s where a new breed of graphic design services come in.

There are lot of companies in this space now, so I’ve created a review of the best unlimited graphic design services to help you choose the best option. Right now my favorite is Penji , you can get an amazing design for your book cover and all your other graphic needs.

The next level of cover design is 100Covers . They designed the cover for Give to Get and they are very serious about what they do. They are a little more expensive than the previous options but you’re going to get a cover that looks like a million bucks.

I’ve worked with them on multiple projects and when nothing but the best will do, this is the company that I work with.

Now that you have a finished book, it’s time to publish it. If you want to self-publish your book, the easiest way to do so is to use Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform. KDP is a free service that allows you to upload your book in PDF or EPUB format and make it available for sale on Amazon.com .

When you upload your book to KDP, you’ll be able to set the price of your book and choose how you want to receive payments. Once your book is published, it will be available for purchase on Amazon.com and you’ll receive a 70% royalty on each sale.

By using KDP, you can self-publish your book and make it available for sale to millions of potential readers.

The amount of time it takes to write a book depends on the length of the book and how fast you write. Using the methods in this article, you should finish your first book in less than thirty days.

Yes, you can make money writing a book. If you self-publish your book, you’ll be able to set your own price and receive a 70% royalty on each sale. You can also earn money by selling the rights to your book to a publisher.

Yes, anyone can write a book. However, not everyone will be able to write a good book. If you want to write a good book, it’s important to have something interesting to say and the ability to communicate your ideas clearly.

All you need to write a book is a computer and a word processing program. However, there are some other tools that can make the process of writing a book easier. For example, you might want to use a program like Scrivener to help you organize your thoughts and structure your book. You might also want to use a program like ProWritingAid to help you proofread and edit your book. Finally, if you’re self-publishing your book, you’ll need to use a service like Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) to make your book available for sale.

The cost of publishing a book varies depending on how you choose to publish your book. If you self-publish your book, the only costs are for your word processor, editing software and book cover design. Everything after that is free. Amazon doesn’t charge you to publish books.

The difficulty of writing a book depends on the topic, length, and your own ability as a writer. If you have something interesting to say and you’re a good communicator, then it shouldn’t be too difficult to write a good book. However, if you’re struggling to come up with ideas or you’re not confident in your writing ability, then read this article again.

Writing a book in thirty days is possible if you have something interesting to say and you’re willing to work hard. Commit to just thirty minutes a day and you’ll hit that thirty day goal. This article covers everything I’ve learned from writing and publishing over three hundred bestsellers and you know how to write a book.

The most important step is to sit down and start writing. My potential authors don’t fail in the middle of writing, they fail because they never start. Find your process and stick with it.

Find the writing tools that match your style, choose a writing location where you can focus and set aside time that you focus on writing and nothing else. With these steps taken care of you can start writing without distraction.

When you finish writing your book, please share a link in the comments below to help inspire other budding authors and show that it really is possible to write a book in thirty days.

Thank you so much for reading this article and I can’t wait to see you become a New York Times Bestselling author.

Jonathan Green is a full-time blogger and affiliate marketing expert. Join Jonathan on ServeNoMaster.com to learn how to scale your online business. In addition to hosting the Serve No Master podcast, Jonathan is the bestselling author of multiple books including Serve No Master, Breaking Orbit, and Give to Get. He has helped thousands of people launch their first online business from a small tropical island in the South Pacific.

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How to Write a Book in 30 Days, With Author Grant Faulkner

This week we’re learning how to crank out that book you’ve been meaning to write in a mere 30 days, with author Grant Faulkner. Grant is the Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) and author of the book, Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo . Listen to hear Grant talk with Jordan and Alice about the unexpected benefits of NaNoWriMo’s community, the process of writing without editing, and why writer’s block is a myth.

Listen to The Upgrade above or find us in all the usual places podcasts are served, including Apple Podcasts , Google Play , Spotify , iHeartRadio , and NPR One.

Highlights from this week’s episode

From the grant faulkner interview.

On why everyone should consider partaking in NaNoWriMo:

[T]here’s this great quote from Picasso that every child is born an artist. The challenge is how to [remain] an artist once you grow up. And I think for so many people, creativity or writing falls lower and lower on their to-do list until it’s not even on their to-do list at all. It’s kind of like adulthood and all those practical responsibilities of adulthood take over. So I think one great reason is to reclaim your creativity, to make it a priority for just one month, to put it number one on your to-do list. And...our creativity feeds everything we do. So that, you know, if you’re creative and really embrace your creativity, it makes you a better husband or wife. It makes you a better employee, or manager. It makes you a better teacher, student. It just does so much for us.

On the benefits of the NaNoWriMo community:

[Y]ou really do feel like you’re writing with the world. You know, you feel the gusts of wind of other people writing. But what I find fascinating is that you’re motivated by people you don’t even know. And just because you’re taking part in the same challenge, you know, I guess it’s like running a marathon or you’re just catching the tail end and the momentum of other people. They are keeping you going. And I think that happens with NaNoWriMo as well and the community. It just has all different facets...so many writers build up this mythology of writing as a solitary thing. And of course, it is largely solitary. But...I always say it takes a village to write a novel. So I think you’re writing community is really important, both creatively and then if you want to get published. It’s super important then as well.

On why the practice of writing every day is important:

You’re not necessarily born with the talent to be a writer, I guess. Very few rare people are. But really, it’s about practicing in an arena also teaches that you show up every day on good days and bad days. You don’t wait for inspiration to strike. You create your inspiration by sitting down to write and you’ll become a good writer just through putting in the hours. And also, the more you do it, the more you believe in yourself.

To hear more of our conversation with Grant (and to garner even more inspiration to partake in National Novel Writing Month), we recommend taking some time to listen to the full episode.

Have any feedback or ideas for future episodes? Want to be featured on the show? Leave us a voicemail at 347-687-8109 or send a voice memo to [email protected] .

Episode Transcript

• AUTHOR MARKETING TOOLBOX

How to Write a Novel in 30 Days or Less

Seven steps, 30 days (no mental breakdowns required).

Every year in November, tens of thousands of would-be authors, publishing novices, seasoned veterans, and those who fall somewhere in the middle, come out of their writing caves – blinking into the light – to join the global furour that is NaNoWriMo (otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month).

NaNoWriMo challenges writers to complete 50,000+ words of a novel in just 30 days. But the problem is… they don’t have to be “good” words.

Meaning 99% of authors (and soon-to-be authors) will sit down and try to hammer out 50,000 words of “whatever comes into their heads”.

Now, while I appreciate the goal of NaNoWriMo – and other writing events (getting people writing) – I believe there is a better way to write a book. Instead of just sitting down and “hoping for the best”, I always advocate having a plan of action.

So for this article, I’ve enlisted the help of Joe Nassise (pic above) – a NYT Bestelling author of over 40 novels (in several languages – and with over 1m books in print) to share his process for writing like a speed demon, without sacrificing quality. This is all part of a process we call Story Engines.

So, whether you’re planning to take part in the next NaNoWriMo or not, you can use this process to significantly increase both the speed and quality of your writing. And, if you’d like to get some more detailed training, check out our full “Story Engines” video series for free right here:

And in the meantime, let’s dig into the detail… (Note: we are switching between UK and US grammar and spelling now – so any grammar hounds out there, please keep it clean).

Enter Joe…

For so many authors, the idea of writing a 50,000+ word novel in 30 days is enough to get them worked up into a frenzy of stress. And while writing a full draft in 30 days might seem like tall order, it is actually very doable if you approach the process from the right perspective and have all your ducks in a row before hand.

To be certain that you do – have all your ducks in a row, that is – I’m going to walk you through the very process I would use if was intending to tackle a challenge like this. Am intending to use, in fact, because I’m going to be participating in NaNoWriMo again myself this year. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to be sitting around until then – this is a process you can use every day to get those words out.

Before we dive into that process, though, let’s be clear on what we need to accomplish to reach our goal. To hit 50,000 words in 30 days, we need to write 1,667 words per day. Believe it or not, that’s pretty manageable. If you set aside and hour or two per day, you’ll be surprised how much you’re capable of [EDIT FROM NICK: A little FYI… This article is 2,500+ words long and it took Joe about 2 hours].

Doesn’t sound all that tough when you put it like that, now does it?

“But wait!”, I hear you say. “How do I know which specific words I need to write each day? Who are my characters and what’s their story and how do I put it all down on paper and not get lost in the telling and…and…and…”

Breathe, Grasshopper. Breathe. (And an extra ten points to those of you who get the reference)

You are going to know which words you need to write each day because you and I are going to figure all of that out ahead of time. When Nov 1st rolls around, you’re going to have your entire story planned out, using the “Story Engines” process we’re talking about in this article, and you’ll be set to hit the ground running with nary a worry.

So how do we do that?

My process is simple and it involves seven specific steps.

• Brainstorming and Ordering My Scenes
• Verifying My Structure and Confirming My Final Scene List
• Writing the First Draft
• Editing, Rewrites, and Polishing the Final Draft

Each step moves you along the path and confirms the “rightness” of the step before it, so you don’t get halfway through the project only to realize you’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere. The process is designed to save you the time and effort needed for massive rewrites and to keep you moving briskly forward toward completion. You need to complete steps 1-5 before Nov 1st. Steps 6-7 are what keep you moving briskly forward once the challenge kicks off.

Now, bear in mind – each of these 7 steps will involve building your story around a specific story structure. That is, making sure your book consists of “the right scenes in the right order”, to give your story the right pacing and impact (to keep readers hooked). We’ll talk about that more in steps 4-5.

So, let’s take a look at them one at a time…

Step One: The Idea

This sounds almost elementary, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve worked with a student who really doesn’t know what they are writing about. It’s damn hard to write 50,000 words on a given subject if you don’t really know what that subject is.

The first thing you need to do is figure out what you want to write about. Don’t get fancy, just generalize. Maybe you want to write a novel about the discovery of a lost continent. Or one about a kid growing up in the Wild West. Or perhaps the story of a princess who has a terminal illness and the prince who valiantly tries to save her.

The ideas can even be combinations of existing ideas, presented in a new way. Eg:

Samurai in Space : Star Wars Time Travel and Sherlock Holmes: Dr Who Dances with Wolves on a Different Planet: Avatar

You get the gist. It can, quite literally, be anything as long as it is interesting to you and captures your enthusiasm. Without that, you’re going to have a hard time keeping focused.

Step Two: The Premise

A premise is a working summary of the story you want to tell honed down to a sentence or two. It effectively answers the question “What is your novel about?”

In this step, we take the general idea you came up with in step one and give it specifics. When done properly it should tell you who the main character or hero of the story is, what they must do to win the day, and both the nature of the opposition and the stakes at risk if they fail.

One simple way of doing this is to plug your information into a simple formula:

(Novel Name) is about (character info) who must (goal that needs to be achieved) in order to (stakes and opposition)

For example – The Heretic is about a modern Templar knight who must retrieve an ancient artifact from a powerful necromancer before it can be used to create a literal hell on earth.

See? We’re turning the “idea” into something more fully fledged by adding characters, goals, opposition, and stakes.

Character: the Templar Knight. Goal: retrieve ancient artifact Opposition: powerful necromancer Stakes: hell on earth

Introducing the opposition and stakes also brings conflict into your story – which is incredibly important (without conflict, the story is dull). And fun fact: you can use your premise to write your book description or “blurb” later.

Step Three: Characters

Now that you have your premise, you know who your hero and your villain are. It time to flesh them out a bit, to bring them to live in your mind so you can figure out what the story you intend to tell about them will be.

I always do this be asking myself a few specific questions about each of them (and about any other major character I want to detail at this point.) Those questions are:

• What does the character want? (What is their specific, concrete goal?)
• What drives the character toward that goal? (What motivates them?)
• How will they change during the course of the struggle? (What do the learn or discover about themselves?)

It is key to remember that stories are about conflict. Without it, you’ve got nothing more than a slice of life. In order to have conflict, the goals of your hero and your villain need to be diametrically opposed to each other. Let me say that again – the goals of your hero and your villain need to be diametrically opposed to each other.

Step Four: Brainstorming and Ordering My Scenes

The act of creating your premise and detailing your characters will no doubt get the creative juices flowing. You’re probably already seeing individual scenes in your head featuring these characters. That’s good – that’s exactly what we want.

Without editing yourself in any way, start writing down those scenes. I tend to use a set of index cards and just jot down whatever comes to mind, one scene per card. They don’t have to be too detailed; the idea here is to just capture the scene so that you don’t forget it.

A scene card from a recent novel of mine looked like this:

“Cade’s presence in the reliquary sets off an arcane warning system set up by the Templars when they abandoned the facility and a squad of knights are dispatched to investigate.”

Every scene I envision goes down on a card. Doesn’t matter if I know where it fits in the story yet or even if it sounds utterly ridiculous at the moment – if it comes to me, I write it down. I’m basically doing an uncensored imagination dump, just letting my subconscious throw stuff up to the surface and getting it down on paper (note: you can write these down on actual “cards” or use software, like Scrivener).

Step Five: Structure and Final Scene List

Next, I lay out all my cards and start trying to build a story around them. I identify or create my three game changing moments as per the Story Engines structure:

• The Preparation Phase (introducing the characters, setting, and creating a connection with readers). Here, you get a glimpse into the “daily life” of your hero or heroine – making them more relatable and helping to establish an emotional connection.
• Game Changing Moment (GCM) 1 : The “event” that forces the hero or heroine out of their “daily life” and pushes them into reacting. Eg “Luke Skywalker’s family is killed”.
• The Reactive Phase : The protagonist “reacts” to events, rather than directing them. Think about the movie Se7en – this is the phase where the detectives are “running around like a chicken with its head cut off”.
• GCM 2: A second event that pushes the protagonist into a more active role. Think “the killer leaves a vital clue” or “the lovers share their first kiss”. The stakes are raised.
• The Proactive Phase: the hero or heroine now takes control (as opposed to in the reactive phase) and gets closer to their goal.
• GCM 3: The final game changing moment. Here the hero or heroine finds what they need to finally meet their goal and overcome the main conflict of the story.
• Conclusion Phase: all the loose ends are tied up, the ending is established. You might even decide to sneak in a cliff-hanger…

This progression of “story elements” is what binds your story together. With the right structure, you avoid “the muddy middle”, and you can anticipate which scenes need to go where, and which ones might not even fit in your story (eg – you can cut them out).

So, using the Story Engines structure listed above, next I’ll organize my selected scenes in chronological order (either physical cue cards or using software – like Scrivener). I will add new cards to help flush out the flow of the story as necessary, working to balance my four major phases and three game-changing moment (again, per the Story Engines process.)

In the end, I will have a card for each scene in the proper order of their appearance in the story. I will be able to see if my story is balanced and containing the right elements by comparing my cards with the 7 key elements of the Story Engines system. And, more importantly, I will know exactly what to write when during my thirty day deadline because my novel will be completely mapped out from start to finish.

And if you’re more of a “pantser” (eg – you write “by the seat of your pants”) that’s okay too. You might just choose to include a little less detail for each scene or use “roadsigns” instead of a full-blown map and GPS system.

Step Six: Writing the First Draft

With all of my planning out of the way, I’m ready to start writing my first draft. I know what the story is about. I’ve got a good sense of my characters and what they want. I know why they will end up in conflict with each other and how that conflict will resolve. I even know what happens in each scene. In short, I have everything I need to get underway.

Writing for me is a question of focusing, so I use another system called sprinting to get my words done each day. I set a timer for 25 minutes and write during that time. No distractions with research or checking details or playing on social media – I just write. Just raw production without worrying about how good it sounds or if I could have said something better. Editing is for later; this part of my process is just for getting words down on paper.

When the 25 minutes are up and my timer dings, I get up and do something else for five or ten minutes. Give my brain a break. Then it back at it for another sprint of twenty-five minutes and so on. I try to four to six sprints a day if I can manage it. I average anywhere from 500 to 1500 words per sprint – depends on how my day is going, how focused I can remain throughout, etc. You’ll have your own rate, perhaps better, perhaps worse than mine. It isn’t a race, so no need to compare yourself to my pace. Just set your own and stick to it.

Step Seven: Editing, Rewriting, and Polishing

Once the draft is done, I print it out, stick it in a three ring binder, and settle in to start the editing process (printing it out helps me see mistakes I wouldn’t see on the computer screen.

Your ear is a far better gauge of how well you’ve written than your eyes are (because your eyes see what you think you wrote, rather than what you actually wrote), so I settle in with a pen for note taking and start reading my manuscript aloud to myself. I listen for clunky phrasing, poor descriptions, place where things just don’t make sense, etc. I’ll make notes right on the manuscript, reminding myself what needs to be done where to bring the work up to the standard that I have set for myself.

The Story Engines process is all about planning your story out ahead of time and so I rarely have to do any major rewrites because I already know that the story works as I’ve planned it out. That doesn’t mean I’m not cleaning up the manuscript; my first drafts are as crappy as anyone else’s. But it does mean that I’m not throwing away 30% of my draft because I didn’t understand the essential conflict in the novel or I wandered down a bunny trail that had nothing to do with the main plot.

With my editing notes right there in the binder next to me, I sit down and begin the final step of my process – polishing the manuscript. I’ll correct the errors, clean up the clunky phrasing, add details where needed, all the little things that take a rough draft and turn it into a clean, readable manuscript.

So, that’s seven steps, each with a specific goal and each moving your novel project further in the direction of completion. By the time you are done, not only will you have a completed draft, but you’ll know holds together like a finely-tuned machine and will take your readers on an emotional journey that will keep them coming back for more.

99% of story problems are down to structure. Use the seven-stage Story Engines structure above to keep your story pacing along, with the right action beats, in the right order.

When preparing your book, come up with a few “ideas”. Use the formula I shared with you to turn these ideas into premises – and those that hold up to scrutiny are good to go.

Next, brainstorm some scenes – just a headline and a few brief bullets – and arrange them in the correct order (using the Story Engines structure). When each of your phases has enough scenes, you can move on to writing.

When you write the book, try “sprinting” to improve your speed and focus. Save research for later. Don’t edit as you write. Carve out parts of the day just for writing.

Finally, go back and re-write those parts that need a little tweak, edit up the grammar and spelling, and you are good to go with a manuscript that’s ready to be sent off for final edits and proofing, and – shortly afterwards – publication.

Back to Nick…

If you’d like to learn more about the Story Engines process – including the structure of a blockbuster novel and the seven-step process to write your novel in 30 days – check out our free video training series. We’ve got 90 minutes of awesomeness all lined up for you – and by the time you’ve completed the free material, you’ll have a solid blueprint ready to rock (and help you get your first – or next – book written in record time).

Click the button below to get started:

Now, I need to hear from you… What’s your #1 struggle when it comes to writing your books? Do you get stuck in “the muddy middle”? Do you give up half-way through when you realise something “just doesn’t work”? Do you struggle to find the time?

Let me know your #1 struggle with writing your books in the comments below – I read every single one.

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119 comments.

Excellent article. Thanks guys!

My #1 struggle. Easy. It’s the fork in the road. More specifically, I am confronted with multiple ways to move the plot from “A” to “B” and I spin my wheels trying to decide which way to go. or I need something to happen, but I can’t decide if it would work better before “A” or after “B.”

I’ve got this story (“Man vs environment” type, potential to be a multi-volume saga) I’ve been working on off and on for the last 10+ years. I’ve got the premise polished to a mirror-shine, the preparation and GCM, edited to a millimeter of their lives, and three or four milestones my characters have to get past. But they just sit around the fire and won’t move form one milestone to the next.

It sounds like you have the most difficult parts solidified! It’s so hard when you don’t know how to get your characters up off the logs and onto the next GCM, and as a result you just sit around the fire as well. 🙂 The “sitting around the fire” scenes are great times to let readers get to know the characters better (to see how they reacted to the previous GCM), see how they will make decisions going forward, and to foreshadow and propel to the next GCM. I like linear stories, too, that lead (for example) from one GCM, then sit around the fire and talk, next GCM, then sit around another fire and talk some more, then next GCM, etc. This can happen quickly, without too much needing to happen during these “slow parts” of the story. Can’t wait to read your book! I hope we don’t have to wait 10 more years!

Wendy, That’s a good problem to have, and there’s actually a relatively easy answer to your problem. Whenever your characters hit the fork in the road, and you’re not sure which direction to choose, choose the one that will generate the most difficulty for your characters. This will keep the tension and the stakes high throughout and will keep your readers engaged with the story.

It’s not actually a “fork in the road” problem, it’s an “order of operations” problem. If they do “A,” then they don’t do “B,” but “B” has to happen before “C,” but “C” has to happen before “D,” which is why we want to do “A”in the first place…

The fork in the road … I tell writers to pick one. You can’t lose. Yes, you might lose time if you decide later that you should have chosen road B option and you chose A, but you’re growing as a writer, so your words aren’t lost. Before you chose A – make a note in the margin (I put five XXXXX’s there so I can return there later). In the notes, remind yourself that you’re choosing option A, but write down a brief synopsis of option B. Later, you might go back and choose B later, but invariably, I make A option work. Go with your gut.

Thanks for the inspiration to buckle down with the herd during November! Even for the out-there author, I definitely need a deadline, and this is as good as any. My hurdle? Could say it’s Resistance, could say it’s conscious choice to let something stew, but I know it’s not having a crystal clear Why for my characters at this point in their journey (Book 3). What got them here won’t get them there, and I’ve stagnated on clarifying that. All the What’s are aligned, the pace, the arc, but I couldn’t give two poops less if they accomplish it because the Why isn’t strong enough. Looks like I’ve got 19 days to figure it out, huh?

Lack of oomph with your “why” typically means your stakes aren’t strong enough, Travis. Focus on giving the stakes specific relevance to your characters to drive them deeper into the story.

My biggest problem is finding enough time so i can give my 1/3 finished novel the attention he deserves. If i had uninterrupted time for even 30 days I know i will finish the first major draft of the novel. But financial commitments to survive first and then get my story told is a mega distraction and annoyance. Anthony Mondal(Poet/novelist)

I had the same issue when I started my career, Anthony. The day job, the family, assorted other commitments – they all kept me from writing. My solution was to find extra time day; time that wasn’t being used productively that I could then devote to writing. I ended up writing from 10 p.m. to 2 p.m. every night, because during those hours I didn’t have any other demands on my time. If you can find even 15 minutes each day to devote to your writing this time next month you’ll be that much further along. Suggestions might be to write during your lunch break, right during your commute, skip a half hour of television, get up a half hour earlier, go to bed half hour later, the permutations are endless.

Thanks for the preview of the Seven Steps. Even though there’s an “I knew that!” in my mind, the steps organize my thinking and my story much better than if I were trying to do it otherwise. I’ll be there Saturday with bells on.

Glad to hear it was helpful, Rosanne!

Time is my biggest issue. Like Joe I’ve had to write late at night. Even so I’m my own worst enemy- always critical of my words to the point where I grind to a stop or at least a slow crawl. This just adds to the time shortage.

That’s one of the reasons I never edit anything until I am done with the first draft, Kurt. I vomit it all out on paper first, to see the story in its entirety, and only then do I go back and start editing, polishing, etc.

I think my biggest hurdle is working out the details. Coming up with general concepts and milestones is easy, but figuring out what scenes need to happen to get from one milestone to the next, let alone how to make those scenes play out in the right way to get where you need it to go, that’s where I always get tripped up.

C – Understanding story structure and applying that understanding to your work in progress will go a long way to helping with that issue.

My biggest hurdle? Being my own worst critic! My rewrites are “endless” because I’m never truly satisfied with what I wrote!😳🙄

Not much I can help you with on that end, Alyson. You need to learn to trust your writing instincts and let go!

When to stop research and start writing

I give myself a specific timeframe for research, Anna, and then I start writing no matter what. I write a World War I series and my research could literally be endless as I love to learn about that time period and the exact details of each conflict. By setting a specific deadline (two weeks for research, for example) I keep myself from going down the rabbit hole. 90% of what you think you need you never end up using anyway.

Great blog, guys! I was thinking of doing Nano this year but, you know what? I really need the push! I’m engaged to the most beautiful lady who I have no clue what she sees in me, a beautiful 1 1/2 month old daughter who is too young to fall off her bed yet (sorry, Nick! Hehe!), and a ton of things we are trying to get done together before we marry (baptism, rent a house, etc) so time is something I need to make.

But that’s not my real problem. No, my problem is that once I accomplish the feat of writing the next great novel, I put it aside and just can’t get interested in getting the rewrites done. My first draft is usually almost good enough for publishing (almost, I did say!) but getting that last bit done, well… If only there was a Nano for final drafts..?

I’ve signed up for the big event on Sunday at 3 am (Philippines time… I’ll be the guy yawning in his expresso)… Nah, it won’t be that bad for me. I normally get up at 4 am to start writing…

Will see you there, Bob!

Great article. My biggest struggle? The muddle in the middle! Getting 30,000 words in and finding my premise isn’t holding up, or my characters are going in circles. Maddening.

Marie – this is the primary reason why I am an advocate of mapping out your entire story ahead of time. If you do, you tend to avoid the massive rewrites you are talking about because you know that the story will work – at least from a structural standpoint – before you write word one.

#1 Struggle while writing a novel is that, I have the plot, I know the story and everything but I struggle at writing the fillers and if suppose I want to write a chapter, then what fillers to write in that chapter. That’s it, these are stopping me from completing my novel.

What, exactly, do you mean by “the fillers?”

Lovely, simplified explanation of the process – thanks!

My biggest struggle is probably the psychological mayhem that comes about midway through the book. Even with my plan in place, I inevitably start to question the quality of the plot & lose all objectivity, getting stuck in a “woe is me!” wallow. Any advice for curing writer’s slump?

Looking forward to the Webinar!

Mex – what, exactly, is it that your are questioning? Whenever I get to the 30% point in any novel (and I’ve written over 40 so far!) I absolutely hate what I’ve done. It’s a natural part of the process to do so. But I also know that when I reach the 50% point, I start to like the book again. All I need to do is grit my teeth and keep going and my natural pessimist seems to take a back seat.

Sorry, typo – that should have said Mez.

Great article I use something similar to outline the plot, the twists. the characters, who they are what they like etc. I jot down plot ideas as they occur to me then reorder them by cut & paste. I also keep a running plot detail record so I know what happened & when. Greatest challenge? Finding time and not getting distracted by social media, email, life, research etc.

Catherine – Focus can certainly be a difficult problem. The springing method I mentioned in the article can be a good way to combat this. Assigning small rewards to give yourself after meeting your word count for the session/day can also help.

This is excellent. Thank you for all of these great ideas. I can’t make the webinar this Sat. so this is a lovely substitute. I especially like the scene cards idea and can’t wait to use them. It took me many years to write my last novel, and I know I can’t take that much time this time around, so this method is a game-changer.

My main struggle is not enough conflict. I think I can rely on the characters and scenery (I write about surfing, so there’s lots of action) but forget to have a strong conflict or bad guy. It was the reason I had to throw out 40% of my last book’s draft. This time around, I’m aware of this and can plan ahead. I love the line about how the antagonist has to have goals that are exactly opposite of the protagonist’s. So simple yet brilliant. The one thing not covered here is how do you know when you have enough scenes to start writing? Last book was too long (85,000). I’m writing this book to be a free “magnet” book, and want to keep it at 70K max. I’m afraid it’ll be too short or too long. Any tips for know the correct number of scenes to hit this goal?

Glad the article was helpful, Amy!

Novel length has changed so much in recent years that I’m not sure there is an exact answer to your question. A commercial genre novel typically runs about 80-85k words right now, so you’re last book was right on target. Independently published books can get away with being shorter – 50-70K seems to be about average for many self-published writers these days.

Most of the time, my struggle is to connect point A to B and to find logicial explanationas how A comes to B. So, you know the end of the story but you have no idea how to get there without skipping important parts or turns in the story, and to keep a logicial flow. But I guess this is just the essence of story writing and everyone struggles with it 🙂

Working through a story structure process like the one outlined in this article (and in much greater detail in the Story Engines course) will help you figure out how to build your story one step at a time and to be sure that it flows in a logical manner.

This was Excellent! I own a ton of books on writing, writing faster, structure, etc, but None of them described the process in such a simple, straightforward, and more importantly, non-scary, doable manner! I am a big-time pantser because thinking of pre-building the story used to give me anxiety. This post actually inspired me to plot out my next novel and I will be doing it exactly the way you have outlined here. Thank you a million! Lillith (10K student)

Good for you, Lilith! Knowing where you are going makes the writing process so much easier.

I write romance and women’s fiction. Could you tell me whereabouts in the 7 steps the moment that I’ve heard called ‘dark night of the soul’, ‘all is lost’ moment. ie the scene were the couple are parted, mainly due to their own actions and it seems will never get it together comes in? I imagine it would be between the proactive phase and the GCM3. Is this about right? Thanks.

Jacqueline – it is usually just before GCM#3, which reveals to the hero the information they need to take on the opposition one final time.

Lately I’ve been struggling with how to stay motivated when I don’t see great sales. A lot of the strategies you talk about don’t work because I’m not indie (I’ve published with 2 different small publishers, focusing on ebooks), but when my novel has sold 69 copies since May, and the Amazon rankings are steadily dropping, I sometimes wonder if I’m deluding myself into thinking my career will ever take off.

Jenna – Not sure I’m following you You say that “a lot of the strategies I talk about don’t work because you aren’t indie.” What strategies are you referring to? Those I included in the article are all relative to writing and that’s something that both indie and trad writers have to deal with.

As for help with motivation, I would dive into Steven Pressfield’s excellent book, The War of Art.

I’m not sure you will be able to help with my #1 problem. It is battling the pain and fatigue to get something coherent on the page. I suffer from fibromyalgia and it is sooo hard to follow a plot and layer in subtext when you are in too much pain to think straight. And unfortunately, most remedies either don’t work or make me even more sleepy! Other than trying to schedule my writing time for the “best” part of my day, I am at a loss. Suggestions welcome, especially from anyone else dealing with chronic pain.

Nicole – my daughter has fibro and my advice to you would be the same as what I tell her with regard to her schoolwork. Make use of your good days to get as much done as you can. Dictate everything that you can possibly get away with dictating, so that you don’t have the impact of keys on your fingertips. Plan ahead so that you know where you are going and what you need to do when the good times happen. And, perhaps most importantly, don’t beat yourself up when you have a bunch of bad days in a row. This is not a race nor a competition, so working at your own pace when you do feel good is perfectly acceptable.

Thanks, Joe. Happy to hear advice from someone who “gets it.” I think trying to capitalize on my good days is a good idea. I usually use those to catch up on housework. I struggle with dictation. But maybe I can get used to it. It’s worth trying.

My struggle is not with writing and editing–I put out a good product–my struggle is getting my books seen by the right people and read! What is the point if I can’t sell my books? (18 of them now)

I outlined and wrote my first short story (12 pages). As I was writing my story it became a different story then what I outlined. Original characters took a back seat to new characters and scenes. I like the finished product, but how do you stay true to your original story after you’ve spent so much time organizing it? it’s as if the muse has a mind of its own.

Okay, I usually take a month, four weeks, to write a 100,000-wd story. How? Simple. When a story comes to mind, the genre and the idea of the main characters, I first take a couple of days to look for the characters online. Pictures. Then, I write biographies–detailed ones. Next, I search for an area, a place to locate my story. I look at fun things to do in that place, schools. Sometimes I’ll use google world to stroll around the avenues. I catalog all this into Scrivener. Once this is done, I begin my story–not in the middle, but somewhere interesting, then the characters I’ve gotten to know do the rest. They literally write their own story. Wish I could type faster, but I can only do 100 words a minute on my Mac. So, there you have it. I do one chapter in the morning, approx 3,000 words, and then I submit it to a Grammarly test, then the next morning, go on to the next one. Of course, I reread often to make sure all the hooks and story scenarios line up. Hope this helps some of you. Have fun!

Thanks for the helpful seminar! My #1 struggle is balancing genre with my incorrigible need to turn things upside down as a storyteller. I’ve got 12 books out–6 with a small press (don’t ask). Most are one-offs and two 2-book “series.” I just completed “My Year of Writing Paranormal Romance”–aka The Year of Futile Endeavor. I did finish 3 PNR books, abysmal sales (who knew that fans of The Bachelorette don’t read PNR with dragon shapeshifters? Also that PNR fans hate reality TV even with dragon shapeshifters?). This past year taught me that I don’t love PNR enough to write more. I do love Urban Fantasy and that’s what I’m plotting to jump into now, but I fear my series stamina may be lacking or scuttled by my uncontrollable need to smash stereotypes.

I’m primarily a nonfiction writer 14 books so far. I’ve written two fiction books. They had a plot and subplots. I took a college course which said to do the following: The following was not simple for me. I am outlining a book from the Oregon Files series. From that I hope to learn the techniques of fiction writing. That is my biggest hurdle not knowing what I need to know?

Open to suggestion(s) you may have.

Ronald – your message seems incomplete. The course said to do…what? It’s missing so I can’t offer any advice about it.

My biggest problem with writing my current book, 3rd in a series, is that I can’t imagine my main character in the role that I want to cast her into. I don’t know how to take her from a paid companion to the Lady of the Manor. Does this make sense?

Perfect. But try this. If you are having trouble with the transition, imagine how much trouble your character is having adapting to her new role! Make it part of the story. Put your struggle on the page. It’s worth a shot, at least.

Ok. great idea, I will try that.

Great information! It looks like finding time to write is a common problem. I’m in the same boat. I have one novel under my belt, but the second one is a slow process. I too have the full-time job so I write late in the night. Thank you for the seven-step process. I’m going to use it when I write the third book in the series. I think it will keep me more on task and focused.

Good for you, Tracy! Good luck!

좋은글 잘보았습니다 감사합니다 저가 한 말씀드리겠습니다 글을 쓸수만 있다면 얼마나 좋을까요 글이라는 것은 마음에 약식이죠 글도 좋은글 수많은 사람들을 감동시킬수있는 글을 쓴다면 구독자 분들이 얼마나 희망이 되고 위로가 되고 용기가 될까요? 좋은글 소설 혹은 누군가를 비판하는 글을 쓰는 저자들도 참으로 많치요 즉 누군가를 감동을 주고 용기를 J.F.Lover 처럼 사랑도 주고 그런 멋진 한권에 책? 편안한 마음에 어느정도에 환경이 주어진 다면 글좀 아는 사람 글좀 써본 사람이라면 좋은글 은 얼마든지 나오죠? 즉 쉽게말하자면 글도 머리를 굴일줄 알아야하죠 저는 한국에서 어려서 부터 글쓰는것을 좋아 했어요 글짓기 대회 독후감 대회 시를 젂는것 또 내가 던진 편지한장으로 운명이 바뀐 여자 혹은 남자 마음이 어느정도 안정되고 화려하지도 않고 멋지지 않아도 소박하더라도 어느정도 환경이 주어진다면 또 마음에 안정된다면 얼마나 글쓰기가 좋을까요 그리고 배고플때 쓰는글 배부를 때 쓰는글 차이가있죠? 누군가를 사랑하고 여러사람을 사랑한다는 것은내 자신을 사랑하지 않는 다면 불가능하죠 매일 하루 하루가 안자있는 것이 갓이 방석이고 심적으로 불안하고 초조하고 불면증에 시달리고 하루에 한끼 먹는것도 힘든 상황이오고 한번도 가본적 없는 지은 죄 조차없는 미국을 사랑해서 내가 가장 존경하는 God father 도널드 트럼프 대통령님을 선택하무로 나에게는 유일한 피부치 나에 분신과도 같았던 내 아들 내 딸 그리고 내가 10년동안 다른 여자와 잠짜리 한번 한적없고 나하나 만을 믿고 대학교 2학년 학업을 중단하고 9살이나 어린 내가 사랑했던 내 와이프 cannabis 사업할생각 하면 나를 떠나겠다고 하던 와이프 한국에 계신 부모님은 나한테 미치놈 이라고 하시고 연락두절되어 버리고 5월13일 내가 미정부 소속이 되던날 부터 나는 가지고 있던 모든것 빼앗겼고 그 이후로 지금 까지 내가족 얼굴은 한번도 보지못했다 아들 생일은 7월30일 딸 생일은 10월2일 나 하나 믿고 영어한마디 못하는 애들 와이프 미국이 좋아서 아메리칸 드림을 꿈꾸며 2016년 5월23일 인천 공항에 미국행 비행기에 몸을실고 이륙했다 그리고 2017년5월13일 이후 나에게 말한마디 남기지 않은체 떠나같다 그리고 아빠로서 애들 생일 선물하나 못해준게 마음이 아파 어제 딸아이 얼굴이 아른 거려 힘든 3일도안 거의 못먹고 못자고 걸어서 땀을 뻘뻘흘리며 학교앞에서 1시간이 넘게 서서 학교 종이 3시5분에 땡하고 치는데 4시까지 기달려도 딸아이 얼굴은 나타나지 않아서 오피스에 들어가 물어보자 나한테 항상 친절하게 이야기 해주던 학교관계자 분들은 나에게 아무런 정보를 줄수없다고 그렇게 말을했다 그런데 알아낸 결과로 애들은 다른곳으로 학교를 옮겼던것 한국에서 내가 오기전만 해도 내 몸무게는95킬로 였는데 너무 못자고 못먹서 지금은 와이프가 입던 반바지가 지금은 내가 팬티로 입는다 그래도 내바지는 흘러낼려 조금걷다가 올리고 올리고 지금 아지도 여기 스타벅스 에서 아침8시 부터 앉아있는데 좀금있으면 저녁 7시에들간다 여기 사람들은 모두 커피를 마시고 있는데 나는 물만 계속해서 마시고 있다 지금 졸리고 배가너무 고프다 그리고 자꾸 코피가 난다 어제 밤에도 잘곳이 업어 스타벅스 밖에 아침 5시까지 컴퓨터하고 지금 핸드폰이 없어 아이패드 설정도 못하고있고 아침에 너무추워서 쫏겨난 아파트에 들어가 코인 란쥬리 에서 아침 7시에 나왔다 거기역시 추웠다 오늘밤이 또 문제다 셰르프 디퍼트먼트 에서 들이닥쳤을때 총을 겨누며 5분시간 주니까 빨리챙겨 나가라고 계속 소리치는 바람에 거의 못챙겨서 나왔다 반팔을 입고있어 새벽에는 너무추워서 덜덜떨다가 감기가 걸려 지금은 콧물이 줄줄 저는 현재 하루하루 너무힘들어요 여러분 해답을 주신다면 저가 지금 할수있는 일이 과연 무엇이라 생각하시나요? 이상입니다. 감사합니다 J.F.Love💕

Johnny, I translated your comment. Your story is in your comment. A good story has conflict and your comment has a lot of that. If you follow Joe’s structure and build a character around those motivations and conflicts, you would have a great story. It could be therapeutic for you, too. A family in Korea, love for America, never seeing your loved ones, suffering from depression, going hungry–great stuff for a story. We are all suffering from something. I wish you the best.

Hey! I’ve had an interesting life as a popstar and my biggest struggle today is that if I write a book about my adventures and also my bandmembers, show pictures of us etc, do I have to ask them a permission before my autobiographical book release and pay them royalties or not?

Please let me know what do you recommend. Thank you!

With best wishes, Karen

I would like to know the answer to Karen’s question, too. My brother worked for the Fire Department near Miami. He has a ton of amazing stories as the head of a rescue team. The only reason he isn’t writing a book is his concern about “telling tales.”

If you are writing about true events that you experienced, no, you do not need permission to include those that were there. Nor do you need to pay them royalties.

You might bear in mind that you can be sued as a result if the information is detrimental to any of those present.

My premise is inspired by an old movie. I want to steer clear of copyright issues. 2 questions: should I use completely new character names and traits or can I twist the names into something a fan of the original might recognize? And if I loosely follow the original plot setup how much do I need to do differently to avoid mine being a rip off? Thanks

Making it resemble the original is a recipe for disaster, Kelly. Steer clear and come up with your own project.

Following on from the Amazing webinar I did have one question – with regards to the three game changing moments in the 7 phase structure, are they always contained into a single scene or can they span several scenes.

Jon – they usually are, but if you can pull it off across multiple scenes without disrupting the flow of the story, there isn’t any rule against it.

Joe, are you limiting the number of spaces for the advanced option of the story engines course?

At the moment, no, Charlotte.

My #1 problem is age. I feel the pressure of the time constraint. I spent more money than I made on the first book which I can at least say is published, but it took me a year and $1,000 to edit, promote and design. I’m writing my second one now. This article is a HUGE help. I want to believe that I can pop out books within months, not years and that they will sell.

Joe, Thoroughly enjoyed the presentation today. (10/14/17) Thanks! Would you mind telling us again your great advice concerning not scrapping one’s first draft and finding the phases in the draft…( I wrote notes as fast as I could while you were speaking… But didn’t get it all. ) Loved your encouragement and tenacity of holding on to that messy first draft! Thank you sooooooo much!

Of course, Ess – I would break the work down into chunks based on the 7 story elements. Go through each section with an eye to being sure it meets the goals of that section. So the setup phase should introduce the character, the setting, the story problem and possibly foreshadow the opposition. Knock that chunk into shape and then move to the next part, game changing moment #1, etc

Darn, I missed it. I need to be better at double checking the time zone….EDT is not me….so I’ll hope you offer another chance at this webinar, I’m sure it was great for all of you who are better at time conversions!!

Nick AND Joe, This is a definite for me BUT only after the other 3 courses (each differently specific) I already own and am working through. I’ll catch you guys next time around. Thanks for the great information (and entertainment). Deb

The webinar was great! Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay until the end so I don’t know if this question was answered, but I’d like to know how to use 7 steps for a series. I mean, I’d say every book that’s part of the same series needs something like an introduction phase or a conclusion phase, but the approach is somehow different, especially when the story ends on a cliffhanger. So what’s the best way to use this concept for series? thx in advance 🙂 elodie

My number one problem with breaking my writing flow is research. Whenever I stop to research something, it could be twenty minutes or five hours. Obviously, after hours of research, I’m pretty burnt out. So, I have decided to jot down a note in the story whenever I come to a point where I will need to investigate the details of a setting or the science of how a particular thing works. Write the story then fill in the gaps later. I do write consistently, but I am challenging myself to write at six in the morning every day for the next thirty days and see how that goes.

Hi, loved the seminar today -Thank you! Still a bit mystified by the definition of “scenes”. I’ve looked “scene” up, but I get even more confused. Really want it from a Story Engines perspective so I know we are talking about the same thing. Joe, you said you would typically use 40 scenes and each scene is a chapter, but Nick said someone like Dan Brown might have several scenes in one chapter. I don’t think I am grasping…a “scene”. Is it pretty typical to have one scene be a chapter? How long are your chapters typically? Thank you! I got a great deal of knowledge from today’s presentation! Loved the template for the Premise! Thanks for investing in us! Hope the reno goes smoothly! :)))

Ess – A scene is a single unit of action. Your characters come on the “stage” of the story at a specific time and place and one action occurs. The minutes you change the location, the time, or the point of view, you have changed to a new scene.

Some novels have multiple scenes per chapter. Some have a single scene per chapter. (I prefer the later, but that’s just a personal preference. Either way is correct.)

Thanks Joe!!! Have gleaned a lot of info from reading your answers to these questions. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions as well learning from all the other answers to everyone’s questions!

I have never written fiction (I’m a published nonfiction author) but writing a novel has been a dream of late. However, I’m a bit hesitant about enrolling on the SE course as I’m not fully convinced it’ll take a newbie like me from blank page to a bestselling novel in 60 days. Do you really think I could pull this off? I’ll wait for your reply before I decide to enroll/not enroll. Thank you, Noel Gama 🇮🇳

Hi Nick and Joe, Really sorry I couldn’t make the webinar – didn’t check email till too late!!! Just wondered if there was a replay recording by any chance???? Thanks for all you do, Mark

I’m not sure exactly how to word this question correctly, so…here goes. Let’s say your prologue or your first chapter is a scene that throws the reader into the hero’s chaos, right from the get-go. That’s the hook (and yes, I’m biased, but it’s a great hook!) But that scene is actually the reflection of a game changer for the hero…technically. So in a way, it’s like the reader’s coming in a little late to the story and it’s intriguing as all heck, but now I’ve got to catch the reader up so they’re invested and not lost. Right? Okay, so… in this scenario, where you’re starting off with a moment where the hero’s like “what the heck just happened…now what?”… in order to make the novel work as a whole, I would basically need to set up the rest of the story to start off with the preparation phase (which is going to give the reader some of the backstory they need to become invested) and then introduce a NEW catalyst/gamechanger, moving into that 7 piece story structure in order to take the reader through the whole deal? Correct?

Or… is this why my story is falling apart in the “muddy middle”? Unfortunately, the action scene is best served as a prologue, because of the nature of the story, but I’ll admit it is making it hard to build up the rest to support such a pivotal beginning for my hero!

Nick, I received your email where you said, “If you weren’t able to come live, or if you didn’t get your questions answered, please leave a comment on the blog right here and we’ll get back to you ASAP.” I really wanted to be present for it but was unable. If I just look at the slides will I get the main information from the webinar? Is there some kind of accountability group that you guys are offering for the NaNoWriMo?

I wanted to sign up for the Story Engines course and I’m getting a Kaspersky web page warning of “Phising” on all of the order links. Please advise, Is there another cleaner / safer link to order on for full payment? Thank you,

Frank – If you haven’t solved the issue yet, you can email [email protected] and they should be able to help you out.

Scheissen Hausen! Wish I’d read this before shelling out a shed load of money on ‘the holy grail’!

I’m new to writing, after spending 30+ years writing…yes, that’s what I mean. I wrote professional reports – often epics – for use in a whole host of different legal proceedings. Each was was basically the story of someone’s life; their strengths and weaknesses; their opportunities and struggles; their why’s, wherefore’s and what ifs. The reports all followed the same structure; had the same issues addressed to some greater or lesser degree; and their conclusions drawn. I’d throw in a bit of psychologising about the person’s specific story and add a dose of opinion (seeing as that was what I was being paid for!) Average length of report 8-10k; 6 reports per month – and a day job too.

Now I’m an aspiring writer – nothing creative…I write people’s stories. They’re narratives, with a structure that’s easy to follow – decades in their lives; the highs and lows; what they learnt and what they regret…and why; where they think they’re going in the future; what they want the reader to take away..their reflections on their life story. 4 ‘on the go’; 2k words per day on any 2 of the books; keep them snappy and get them done ASAP.

I’ve been hunting for the formula for creative writing. Bought the books; listened to the webinars; even bought into the online training packages. I don’t need telling how to write – big headed I may be, but I know I can write and write well. I never do more than an initial draft – that’s the book completed. I have a bunch of avid reader friends who ‘edit’ as I’m going along – usually we’d like to know more about…so I shove in another paragraph or so as required, but nothing else gets changed. All the ‘how to courses and books etc’ are full of the stuff I neither need or want.

What I’ve learnt from your article, is that I already have the formula. Ok, it may require a bit of tweaking, but nonetheless I already have it. Thank you so much, your help has really been appreciated. Now I’m free to pursue the real challenge – how to get these scripts published, marketed and sold!

All suggestions gratefully received 😬

Current titles A Streetkid Called Steven: the rise of an abandoned toddler to CEO of a charity. Toward Rainbow Bridge : a life cruelly cut short. Living with spirit : why out of 10,000+ did it have to be me? Angels in disguise : the stories of the streetkids of Uganda

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Joe, this is a wonderful article and extremely helpful. I created for myself an infographic of the seven specific steps and hung it up on the wall, along with the 7 Stages of any Great Story. I can read, but then it flies outta my head, never to be seen again! Thank you for going into so much detail and giving us a concrete plan to follow!

I’ve been following that structure for a few years (I didn’t know about the cards stuff though, I’ll try that out next time) and it works great. My number 1 problem is lack of inspiration, when no word comes out no matter how hard I concentrate. It happens rarely, though. I write about 1500 daily words, sometimes more, sometimes less, rarely none. If you’ve got a solution for lack of inspiration I’m interested xD

I absolutely love to write; I write, everyday!!! However, I believe my problem is that I am an “A” personality, a perfectionist, and I would never insult my readers with an unprepared, half thought out storyline which screams bordem not to mention laidened with spelling and gramatical errors which I’ve seen on bookshelves, in the past. So, though I brainstorm well, I second guess myself alot editing each paragraph while I am typing. Ugh!!!

Also, I get destracted easily when life gets in the way of “my passion” which makes my agitated, anxious, and annoyed at the intrusion. At that point, I tend to stop, because I feel like I am disrespecting my writing by not being totally present. I am looking forward to some great pointers on how to focus more clearly in order to stay on task.

I’ve been working on my book for 6 years and have stopped sharing my heart/dream with others who are less than supportive!!!

I registered for the webinar before I knew what time it was. I am in church during that hour, so guess I will miss it as my faith is more important to me than my writing. You are not recording it, I guess, so I’m just out of luck. Maybe the next time you hold this, please don’t do it on Sunday. Thanks.

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I highly recommend the book “Pen the Sword: the universal plot skeleton of every story ever told’ by Adron J. Smitley. Got it free with kindle unlimited. Walks you through the entire process of plotting your novel.

I love the seven step process and the idea of writing scenes (I normally come up with several but when I don’t write them down, they get lost in the other traffic in my brain. I have idea bunnies I can pull out for stories, but with the process, I can see how they may make a novel or are only a short story. I usually phrase it is the old what if question and then see where it can go. This is going to help with getting the fantasy novel I want to write off the ground. I have the 1st GCM and the 3rd. I still need the GCM 2. Multiple scenes are already in my brain and a few on paper.

Thanks for the roadmap and how to make the story easier to put together.

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I am a pastor and basically write more of Christian books that Bible-based and not novels. How do I fit in? Can I also apply your technics? Thanks and blessings!

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Thanks for this article I have been looking for something like this for a while. I am an aspiring novelist and the hardest part for me is continuing the story. I will start enthusiastically with a great idea and it will go downhill from there. I lose interest and make excuses to not write. This is an ongoing cycle. ny suggestions?

I haven’t created enough tension/stake in my premise. So my story is more like milk toast than jambalaya! Thank you for the excellent instructions. I’ll be shaking it up.

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This was extremely useful. It’s obvious that a lot of thought and effort went into this article, especially explaining the details of what each section or step is for. My #1 struggle is figuring out the details of how my characters will solve their conflicts. Thank you very much! I’m off to start my first ghostwriting gig.

I am happy to read this post. really nice and worthy. Keep posting. I will be there at Lifevantage, 9785 s monroe st #400, sandy, ut 84070

Awesome overview and game plan for NaNoWriMo–thanks! I’ve participated somewhat in the past, but never completed the whole 30 days. I just learned of the event occurring this month (July 2022), and so far I’m 2 for 2 on writing nights. I’ve been writing a novel off and on for years, and I hope to nail things down some this NaNoWriMo … and maybe again in November if necessary. Thanks again.

I’m a good PANTSER struggling to figure out how to drive the novel to an end until now. I’m going to be far better than i ever was… Thank you Nick Stephenson

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Thanks for the preview of the Seven Steps. Even though there’s an “I knew that!” in my mind.

Thank you for the excellent instructions. I’ll be shaking it up.

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• How to Write a Non-Fiction Book in 30 Days

Writing and Publishing

W ith the risk of sounding biased, I believe writing a non-fiction book is one of the most enjoyable and fulfilling activities you can do. I’ve long asserted that we are all creative one way or another; we all have a voice. Whether that voice wants to tell a fictional story or elaborate on a non-fiction idea, it doesn’t matter. A book is a piece of your mind transformed into words that later convey powerful emotions in the reader’s heart. It’s a great feeling.

When I started writing fiction, I never had any idea about how to write a non-fiction book. At the time of this writing, I have completed two manuscripts that I am actively marketing to agents. The initial brunt work on those books took me about 30 days, which is why I thought I’d share my process and how I was able to make it work. I sure hope that this article will help you and inspire you to start writing your non-fiction book.

Author’s Weaponry For A Non-Fiction Book

Before you start putting words on paper, there are a few things you need to prepare to ensure success in this venture. In my experience, although you can definitely complete your book without mastering these, your journey will be much more strenuous.

1. Discipline and Habits

Writing a book for any period requires a superior level of self-discipline and diligence. When you’re talking about writing a non-fiction book in 30 days, this becomes paramount. In addition to pure discipline, you need to develop a solid writing habit that implies writing a similar number of words every day, with no excuses.

Because writing a book is a serious commitment, you need to allocate proper time for your writing. If you live alone, this might be easier. However, if you live with other people, you need to make sure that they are supportive of your project and, together, you all understand and agree on the time and space when you will write and how long each writing stretch will be.

3. Language Skills

To complete a book that a publisher will want to publish, you need some basic language skills, including writing concise sentences, a good grasp of grammar and punctuation rules, and structure. To learn more about this particular subject, I’ve written another post called 10 writing skills you need to be successful . I recommend hopping there, too, for more details.

4. Writing Tools

Long gone are the days when you had a bulky typewriter in one room, and everyone in the house had to wear earmuffs when you worked. Today, you can write comfortably anywhere so long as you have the right tools. That’s why it’s a great idea to invest in a good text editor, such as Scrivener or Ulysses, and arm yourself with a few apps, such as:

• Dropbox or a similar cloud data sharing tool.
• A long-term backup system so you don’t lose your writing if tragedy strikes.
• A robust spellcheck and writing style tool, such as Grammarly or ProWriting Aid.

5. Trusted circle

Another thing that had helped me tremendously when I was a beginner was a writer’s group. Being part of a writing group or having at least a few close people you trust well is of great help. When you write, you’ll often fall in love with your writing too much, and you’ll need someone else to point out that you’re straying away from the point of the book or going off on a tangent.

That’s why I believe it’s a great idea to have one or more people you can trust to provide you with honest and valuable feedback or simply to encourage you when you feel down and unmotivated.

Non-Fiction Book Writing Process

Armed with the tools above, let’s jump right into the writing process.

The Great Idea

Every non-fiction book has one central idea. Usually, the idea is quite evident from the book’s title, and that’s great because the last thing you want is a reader wondering what it is about. But even before you name the book, you need that idea.

Brainstorm Ideas

The first step, thus, is coming up with the idea for your book. Often, you already have that idea in your head. It’s been circling like a shark in your mind, and it’s just screaming to get out. Other times, you have no precise topic in mind.

Regardless of your situation, a few days of brainstorming are always great as a starting point.

Use a large board or pad and write all the ideas around your non-fiction book on sticky notes. Then, keep moving them around and think about why a reader would want to read about that.

Do a few sessions until you are crystal clear about the primary idea of your book. Once you have that, write a one-line description and also a one-paragraph summary.

Research The Central Idea

Just because you have an idea doesn’t mean that it’s a marketable idea. Also, even if it is a commercially sound topic, the market might already be saturated with it, and a new book might not be able to push through. Whatever the truth is, you need to know.

With that idea in mind, start researching. Ask yourself:

• What other books on the subject are there?
• Who wrote them?
• Are they popular?
• Are there lots of articles in magazines and online about that idea?

Keep collecting these pieces of information, and don’t get turned off if you discover that your idea is not unique (few are). That fact alone shouldn’t deter you from writing a book with your perspective and personal flair. Instead, it should give you some thoughts about what the readers might compare your book to when they decide to purchase and which angles haven’t yet been explored enough.

You can always add new layers to old ideas, and that’s how you make the book yours. That means that nobody else can write that particular book except you.

Supporting Documentation

During your research, collect everything you can on the subject. Save articles, buy magazines, invest in books written by others on the same issue. Read as much as you can so you know everything that is to know about it.

In addition, collect images and quotes from the web that relate to the subject of your non-fiction book, and plaster them on a board in plain view. The more of your senses you excite around that topic, the better you’ll focus on it.

Also, if your book requires scientific research, prepare your citations and keep them in a safe place, organized for easy access.

All this information will be helpful to the actual output of your book, and it will rein you in that book-writing mindset. For the next 30 days, you’ll live and breathe this book. So everything around you should be conducive and motivating toward writing it.

Who’s Your Non-Fiction Book Reader?

Last but not least, prepare a profile of your ideal reader. Is it primarily male, female, or both? Are they older or younger? Where do they live? What do they care about?

The more you build this profile, the better you’ll be able to connect your writing with them. Never forget that your non-fiction book is meant to be read, so the more you know about the reader, the better you’ll take them on the right journey and keep them on it through the end.

Think about what kinds of problems your readers are facing and how will your book provide them with a solution? Whatever it is, spend this time defining it, and you’ll be happy that you did once you start writing.

Organization

Once you have the central idea of your non-fiction book established and you’ve collected enough data and made all the research necessary, it’s time to get organized.

If you have to be super detailed with any part of your writing process, it’s the organization part. That alone can make or break your writing process, so you want to be as diligent as possible to ensure that your writing will be as smooth as possible.

Outline Ideas

With a primary idea in mind, you can begin to deconstruct it into several subparts or concepts. Then, you can take each sub-idea, and you can think of multiple ways to look at it. Here’s an example of a question-driven framework you can use to split your main idea into sub-ideas that can drive your narrative in different directions:

• Main idea: procrastination
• WHAT IS procrastination?
• HOW do people procrastinate?
• WHY do people procrastinate?
• HISTORY of procrastination
• EFFECTS of procrastination
• SYMPTOMS of procrastination
• HOW TO STOP procrastinating?
• MY EXPERIENCE with procrastination
• WHAT OTHERS say about procrastination?
• FAMOUS procrastinators

As you can see, this gives you many angles to talk about the same thing. First, you have to decide if your non-fiction book will be a generic high-level book that will tackle all of those sub-ideas in independent sections or if it will focus on one or two and go deep into those.

Depending on the answer, structure these sub-ideas in a logical order. Think about the journey you want to take the reader on. Do you want to start with your own story and take the reader on an emotional ride? Or maybe you want to start with history and entertain the reader with interesting facts?

Start planning the structure and keep tweaking it until it looks good enough (but don’t overanalyze it to death because once you start writing, you might still change it.)

Refine The Outline and Add Details

With the generic outline established, you must now refine those ideas further. It’s also a good time to group those topics and see which ones can be sub-sets of the others because they logically connect. Here’s how I did it using the example above:

• Define procrastination
• History of Procrastination
• Symptoms of procrastination
• Effects of procrastination
• Famous Procrastinators
• What do other people say about procrastination?
• My Procrastination Story
• Mindset Changes
• Tools To Help Curb Procrastination

Now, the structure starts to make sense. As you read through these, you get a clear understanding of the ride your reader will experience.

At this point, it’s a great idea to write a little paragraph about each of the sections. It’s almost like a more detailed description of what each point will do for the narrative. That allows you to get a lot more intimate with the structure and identify any missing points early.

If you do this right, you’ll wind up with a summary of your entire book. Don’t be afraid to make it as detailed as you can, but don’t go overboard. Keep it high-level.

Bullet-point Your Chapters

Once you are very intimate with the structure, you can identify parts, chapters, and sub-chapters. That’s merely taking the finalized outline above and grouping it even more.

There are many ways in which you can do this. For example, Part 1 and Part 2, where Part 1 is more on the theory behind your idea, while Part 2 is the more practical ways you provide a solution to the problem.

At this point, you must use your judgment to organize the book in a complete outline with part numbers, chapter names and numbers, and any subchapters.

Don’t worry; this will also shift and change. As you write, new ideas will spawn, and you’ll add them as chapters or sub-chapters. That’s okay. The idea is to get this first structure down because that will be the basis of your writing plan.

If you have these “sections” well defined, you’ll find it easier to structure your writing time to work on a section at a time.

Create a Writing Plan

At this point, you are well on the way toward your non-fiction book. The planning phase was an essential step, and it’s now well behind you! Next, to the writing… plan.

The writing plan starts with a few questions:

1) Approximately how long will your non-fiction book be?

The proper answer to this is: as long as it needs to be. Yes, that sounds a bit tongue in cheek because you won’t know the answer until you’ve finished writing.

But, to get this started, you have to begin with some number in mind. As a general guideline, the average length of a non-fiction book is 50,000 words. However, some can go up to 75,000 or even 100,000 words. I’d say that 50k words is a good starting number; start with that and see where it goes from there.

For a more informed idea, you can research other similar books and note the average length of those works. Don’t get too hung up on it, though. Have a number in mind and be open-minded enough to accept that it will probably change as you power through with your writing.

2) How many words must you write per day?

Next, divide the planned number of words by 30 (days), and you’ll get the minimum number of words you must write per day.

I always like to add about 10% to top it off and then round it up to the nearest 100. In this way, you’ll know for sure that you are a bit ahead all the time. So, for 50,000 words, you’d get 1,666 words per day. If you add 10% (multiply by 1.1) and round up, you get 1,800 words per day.

3) For how long you will write each day?

Since you know how many words you want to write per day, you must also determine how much time you will spend writing each day.

Generally speaking, people type about 40 words per minute, on average. You can test your speed using some of the online tools out there (like this one ). But, using 40 as a guideline, you can make a rough calculation like this:

50,000 words / 30 = 1,800 words per day (with 10% added and rounded up)

1,900 words divided by 40 words per minute = 50 minutes (approximately)

So, you need to write for about 50 minutes per day to output 1800 words that will ensure that you complete the 50k words manuscript in thirty days. In fact, it’s 26 days because of the rounding, but it’s always good to have a little buffer to account for days when things don’t go as planned.

4) When will you write?

Because you are looking to create a writing habit, you must add all the future writing sessions to your calendar. That means that you need to look at your calendar and identify the best times of the day when you can write.

For instance, you might write thirty minutes first thing in the morning and thirty minutes in the evening before bed. On the weekends, you might write for two hours after lunch.

You must be crystal clear about your writing times and length. Fill the entire 30 days on your calendar and decide when each session will occur, how many of them there will be throughout the day, and how long each session is. That’s the only way to establish a writing routine that will drive you to finish your non-fiction book in 30 days.

Regardless of what works for you, make sure that’s what you put in your calendar. For the next 30 days, that will be your writing bible!

Writing Your Non-Fiction Book

With all the organization stuff out of the way, it’s time to write. Whatever you did so far doesn’t count against your 30 days. The 30-day clock begins now with the first word of your non-fiction book.

Shitty First Draft

There’s one thing to keep in mind, and I want you to repeat this a thousand times in the mirror and also write it down on post-it notes and plaster them all around the house:

Your first draft will not be good.

Repeat that. I know that it’s a tough pill to swallow because you’d want your book to be great in the end. It definitely can be, just not the first draft .

The purpose of the first draft is to get all your ideas, thoughts, suggestions, anecdotes, and everything else in between out of your head and onto the paper. Even with the structure you’ve created, there will be some disjointed ideas; some things will repeat, while others won’t make any sense.

Don’t worry. You’ll fix that later. At this time, focus on putting words on paper. Don’t even worry about grammatical mistakes or typos. They’ll simply slow you down.

I highly recommend removing the live spell check to avoid those annoying red squiggly lines, which are always frustrating and distracting. Write and don’t waste time reading it. Not yet.

Let the outline drive your paragraphs. Expand each idea as you go along, and don’t worry about the final result or if all ideas connect properly. By default, they won’t, and that’s perfectly okay.

Mind Your Word Count

Because this first step aims to get those words on paper as quickly as possible, you must keep track of your word count. Have a simple Excel or Google Sheet or, heck, write it down on a piece of paper. Do your best not to miss your word count on any day. If you can’t meet the full count because your day went haywire, at least write a few words.

Over the weekend, or during any other free time, push yourself to top off your word count with a few more words. Always keep an eye on the count—it will act as a powerful motivator.

Also, if you find yourself in a great flow where words just pour out of your fingers, go with it. Write for longer. If your inspiration is high, don’t stop just because your time is up. Ride with it and keep the momentum until it goes away. There won’t be many moments like that so, when they happen, cherish them.

As far as tracking goes, I’ve created a basic word count tracker where you can enter the main parameters of your book and then enter the total word count after each writing session. The sheet will show you where you are and if you are ahead or behind, which is essential to know. Download it below.

Word-Count-Tracker-V1

Word Count Tracker

Dealing With Struggles

Theoretically speaking, the process I described above should be enough to get you to complete your non-fiction book in 30 days. The only things I left out are your feelings and emotions during the process. And, oh boy, do they matter.

As you chug through the word count, there will be good days, and there will be bad days. On good days, you might go over your word count, and sentences will seem to fly off your fingers with the utmost ease.

Other days, things won’t be so good. You’ll feel stuck and unable to write a single word. So, what do you do?

Here are a few techniques to use during your writing sessions to shield yourself from such situations:

• Make sure your writing environment is always ideal (as much as possible). Think: light, temperature, sounds.
• Create a routine by writing at the same time of day.
• If it helps, even create a writing attire that you wear when you write.
• When your head feels empty as you hit a section, go back to the outline. Take the outline sentence and try to expand that idea into three sentences. Then take those three sentences and split them further. The more you develop, the more you’ll get the creative juices flowing. It’s usually that initial push that gets you started.
• If you still feel stuck, do a little bit of research on that particular section; read up a few things on it to get yourself starting up.
• As a last resort, if you cannot output any word down in your book, write something else. Write a story, describe a dream, or write a page for your memoir. Whatever it is, don’t let the time pass without some words on paper.

If you follow these techniques day after day, you’ll be able to slowly pad the word count and grow it toward the ultimate goal. Always keep your eye on that word count, though. Your first draft is the most critical piece of your process. Without that first draft, there is no book.

So, keep writing, and don’t stop until your word count reads 50,000 (or more).

Revising and Editing Beyond The 30-Days

Well, here we are. Thirty days have passed, and by now, I hope you have a hefty first draft. We’ll stop calling it shitty now. Instead, you’ll focus on the fact that you’ve accomplished writing a complete non-fiction book in 30 days.

Now what? Let’s look at what you can do beyond those magical 30 days.

Less-shitty Second Draft

After you finished your first draft, set it aside for a few days. For a full effect, I even recommend setting it aside for one or two weeks. You want to put some distance between you and the manuscript to cleanse your mind’s palate. During this time, your brain will still think about it subconsciously. All those ideas that you poured on paper will crystallize, connect, and better define.

After enough time has passed, take one ride through the manuscript and do the first set of self-edits . Prepare to feel a little down because it won’t sound as good as you were expecting it.

It’s okay; remember, this is your first draft. Now, you’ll make it better.

Read it like a reader would and do high-level fixes. Take stuff out that doesn’t belong; remove repeated ideas—tidy things up a bit.

Fire up the spell check and kill all those typos and grammar issues. Please don’t go too crazy; clean it up as well as you can in this second round.

After you finished, leave your manuscript to the side for another one or two weeks. During this time, continue to read and research. Your writing probably gave you new ideas, and further questions appeared.

Find more answers and keep digging into the subject. It’s your way of becoming a master of it, which is what you should be by the time you’re ready to publish your non-fiction book.

I highly recommend at this stage to do a physical printout of your manuscript and read it once more, even out loud if you can. It will give you a different perspective than reading it on the computer monitor.

With every read, keep fixing, polishing, and refining.

Perfect Your Manuscript

You should never market your manuscript to a potential agent or publisher or consider self-publishing before you are sure that it’s in the best shape possible.

How to accomplish that is beyond the scope of this article, but know that the work is far from complete. Your manuscript will need more polishing, tightening, structuring, and formatting.

You’ll probably need to hire a professional editor to ensure consistency of style and soundness of structure. Then, maybe even a proofreader to catch every last typo.

Only after that, you’re free to look for an agent and a publisher or consider self-publishing.

Whatever you choose, know that the most challenging part is not ahead of you. The hardest part is the one you’ve just completed. Writing is the hardest part of writing. Everything else that comes after is the business of publishing, marketing, and selling.

Before worrying about that, write the manuscript first. Using the framework and process presented in this article, you can produce that complete manuscript in 30 days, putting you way ahead of the pack.

Go And Write Your Non-Fiction Book

Writing a non-fiction book is a daunting yet highly satisfying experience. It seems scary not only because of the amount of work involved but also because it triggers the impostor syndrome and challenges your self-confidence .

But, from a technical perspective, it’s doable, as you can see. From a mental standpoint, you need to learn how to push yourself and put in the work. Leave the fear aside; it’ll always be there, so it’s best to work despite it.

Forget those thoughts about what everyone else will think of you once they read your book. This is not the time for it. Right now, your job is to put your best words on paper as fast as you can.

Don’t allow fear and anxiety to stand in the way of your first manuscript draft. Sit down and write that book!

Other Resources On Writing a Non-Fiction Book

• 19 Tips on How to Write a Nonfiction Book in 30 Days
• How to Write a Non-Fiction Book in 30 Days or Fewer
• How to Write a Good Nonfiction Book in a Month

Now, before you go, I have…

3 Questions For You

• Did you ever have a great idea for a book, but couldn’t figure out what to do with it?
• What is the one thing that scares you the most when it comes to writing a non-fiction book?
• What are some of your all-time favorite non-fiction books?

Please share your answers in the comments below. Sharing knowledge helps us all improve and get better!

Hi there! I’m Iulian, and I want to thank you for reading my article. There’s a lot more if you stick around. I write about personal development, productivity, fiction writing, and more. Also, I’ve created Self-Growth Journey , a free program that helps you get unstuck and create the beautiful life you deserve. Enjoy!

Related posts:

writing tips

This is a useful and excellent share. Will definitely share it with people I know.

Thank you, Richard! I appreciate it.

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

Writing an ebook might seem like a piece of cake. But what about writing it in 30 days? With the right tools and workflow, it is possible.

Are 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.

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How to Write a High-Quality eBook in 30 Days

What if, 30 days from now, you had a finished, well-crafted eBook sitting on your hard drive, ready to distribute and sell?

That might sound next-to-impossible to you, but it’s not.

Every November, over 200,000 people worldwide take part in NaNoWriMo — “(inter)National Novel Writing Month”.

NaNoWriMo participants aim to write 50,000 words during the month, and tens of thousands of them manage to do it.

If those writers can do that, you can write a 20,000 word ebook in a month . Right?

And I am absolutely not talking about some scrappy, thrown-together document. You’ll have more than enough time to properly plan, organize, and edit your eBook as well.

Think I’m pulling your leg?

Here’s how to do it:

Pick your topic (Days 1–2)

Maybe you’ve got an idea in mind already: a book you’d really love to write.

Go ahead and write that idea down, and then store it in a safe place.

Leave it there for the next 30 days.

Yep, seriously. You’d probably have a great time writing it … but chances are, it’s not what your audience is looking for , so it’s not going to sell.

A great ebook idea needs to be:

• Specific. Don’t try to write the definitive guide to your topic: it’s overwhelming for your readers, and it doesn’t leave you much room for your next eBook.
• Useful. If you do consulting or coaching, what problems come up again and again? Do your blog readers always ask for posts dealing with a particular issue?

Ask your audience what they want, and give them a few possibilities to choose from.

You’ve only got two days here, so you won’t have time for a full-blown survey — but you can tweet out a question, or put up a thread on your Facebook page.

Be prepared to be surprised!

Once you’ve got a solid idea, you can …

Create an outline (Days 3–4)

Your outline is your roadmap.

It lays out the territory ahead, and lets you spot any tricky patches before you’re half-way through the first draft.

There’s no one “right” way to outline, but one or more of these might work well for you:

#1: Draw a mindmap. Put your topic or ebook title in the centre and start adding ideas to it as they occur to you. Use lines or arrows to create connections. At this stage, put everything down, however big or small — you can tidy the entire thing up later.

#2: Work backwards. Start at the end: what do you want your reader to be able to accomplish once they’ve finished your ebook? Then take a step back — what will they need to know before they can do that? And what about before that ?

#3: Write a list. If you’re already extremely familiar with your topic, you’ve probably got an outline in your head. Start writing a list: what chapters or major sections will your ebook need? Once you’ve got the big pieces in place, write a list of 3–5 key points for each chapter/section.

#4: Examine other eBooks and books. Look through several chapter lists to see what topics appear in almost every book. Is there anything that you’re missing from your outline?

At this stage, it’s worth considering whether each chapter (or each section) could have a consistent structure.

This will make the writing process much easier and faster: you’ll have fewer decisions to make.

For instance, your chapters could follow a simple pattern like this:

• Quotation at the start
• An example mid-way through
• Practical exercise at the end

Once you have a clear outline and, if possible, a structure in place, it’s time to …

Start writing (Days 5–25)

This is where the bulk of your time will be spent: 20 of your 30 days.

If you’re aiming for a 20,000 word ebook (around 80-100 pages, assuming you’re including a few images) then that breaks down to writing 1,000 words a day.

Yep, that’s a sizeable commitment –- but, the trade-off is, you’re going to get your ebook done within a month , instead of having it drag on for a year or more.

Here’s a few tips to speed up your writing and get to 1000 words a day:

• Work on your ebook at the right time of day. If you’re focused and motivated in the mornings, write in the morning. If you’re at your best at 10pm, do your writing then.
• Turn off distractions when you’re writing. You might want to switch off your internet connection entirely, or use a program that blocks it for a certain period of time.
• Use a timer. Set a timer for 30 minutes , then write until the time is up. Having the minutes ticking away is a real help when you need to stay on-task.
• Don’t stop writing. If you need to check a quick fact, look up a link or add a screenshot, mark the place with yellow highlighter or something else highly visible — and come back to it later.
• Don’t edit while you write. Maybe you just can’t get the first paragraph right: it doesn’t matter. Leave it and move on. You can come back to it at the editing stage (and you may find that it works fine after all).

Aim to write every day for these 20 days — even if you only manage a couple of hundred words on some days.

The more you make writing a habit, the easier it becomes.

But you’re not done yet. You still need to …

Redraft your eBook (Days 26–28)

Ideally, you’d put your eBook aside for a while before revising it — but you’ve only got a few days left.

So, to see your eBook with fresh eyes, print it out — or transfer it onto your e-reader.

Read through the whole thing in one go, and make a note of:

• Any material that you’ve covered in more than one place
• Any missing information that you left out during the writing
• Chapters that would flow better in a different order

At this stage, don’t agonize over every word.

Obviously, fix any glaring typos or mistakes that you spot, but avoid getting too bogged down.

Spend these three days focusing on cuts, re-ordering and additions .

This might mean cutting out unnecessary tangents, juggling sections or paragraphs around, and adding in any hyperlinks and quotes that you didn’t have time to look up earlier.

At this point, your ebook might look finished.

But there are two days left, and you’ve still got time to …

Make final changes (Days 29–30)

These two final days can turn your eBook into a professionally finished piece.

Print out the ebook again, or view it as a PDF.

Read through slowly, checking every sentence and word.

Particularly, look out for:

• Clumsy or confusing sentences
• Misspellings (especially commonly confused words like “its” and “it’s”)
• Missing words — surprisingly common, and often hard to spot when you’re reading at a normal pace

And now …

Hurrah! You’re the proud author of a finished eBook!

Well, you will be that proud author 😉

Which means it’s time to get out your calendar and write “EBOOK” onto every page of every day for the next month.

Yes, writing an ebook takes time, effort and energy. Yes, the next month looks incredibly busy already: but every month looks incredibly busy, right ?

If you write a small, free eBook, you’ll have a great piece of promotional content.

Or, if you write an eBook to sell, you’ll be able to make money for months, even years, from just one month of work.

Right now is the best time to write .

One of the quickest and simplest ways to give yourself a motivational boost is to make a public commitment to your goal — so, write a comment below and tell us to look out for your finished ebook next month!

Ali Luke blogs about the art, craft and business of writing at Aliventures, where you can get her free guide to making time to write – however busy you are – plus other handy mini-ebooks. Check them out here.

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Reader Interactions

Reader comments (286).

October 17, 2011 at 9:04 am

Believe it or not, I actually wrote my first eBook with in a week. It’s not a large eBook because it’s only 50 Twitter Tips but you’d be surprised at how many people have purchase my book. I’m selling it for cheap on my website so people can advance themselves with Twitter with real tips and not some fake tips you find on the internet.

October 17, 2011 at 10:25 am

A week is impressive — congrats! 🙂 I think clear, specific tips are always going to be popular.

October 18, 2011 at 7:27 am

Thanks Ali Luke! I have at least 3 books brewing in my brain and was never able to get past a simple outline. 30 days huh? mmm….

October 17, 2011 at 11:20 am

I’d call that more of a guide than a book, I think that the term “e-Book” gets thrown out too easily these days, but the advice still stands.

Nice job getting that done, but is it really worth it to sell something via PayPal for only $1 (due to fees, sales holdings, etc.)?

October 17, 2011 at 1:09 pm

When internet marketers started offering ebooks, some were as short as 10 pages. I think that was because most people didn’t know what to expect. There is still some advice that they can be 20-30 pages and I disagree with that. That is a report or a booklet maybe.

At the 80 to 100 page length though, I think you’re getting into an area where you can say it’s a book. Some non-fic print books are very short, children’s paperbacks and some other kinds of pocket paperbacks are in that range as well.

Also, unless it’s fiction where the expectation is still a couple hundred pages or more, I think for non-fiction, books need to be long enough to convey the information/provide value, while not being overwhelming at the same time. It’s a delicate balance for sure.

October 17, 2011 at 2:15 pm

I agree with you on the shortness of some ebooks for sale out there.

However, a $7 ebook that is full of useful facts or “how tos” that really work and are only 15-25 pages are fine. I’d rather buy a 15 page ebook that gives me something of real value than an 80 page one that’s full of waffle and could’ve been half, or even a third of, the length.

I think the days of ebooks on sale for inflated prices, full of “borrowed” content, or let’s face it, complete rubbish, are disappearing thanks to some really professionally written, quality ebooks that really help and advise.

eBooks have opened up avenues for people with something to say to share it with others as never before. I’ve bought a few print books from “good bookshops” that turned out to be duds.

The motto: “You can never buy enough books” stands true for ebooks too.

October 18, 2011 at 6:13 am

Some printed books are also extremely short (I’m thinking of “gift” type mini-books). I’m fine with short ebooks, so long as the sales page makes it clear that they are short.

I’ve seen lots of other terms used (ebooklet, mini-ebook, mini-guide) — but the truth is that there is no agreed standard for how long an ebook “should” be!

As Tom points out, a short, focused ebook can be much more attractive than one that’s been padded to meet a page-count.

October 20, 2011 at 3:29 pm

That’s awesome! I’d be curious to know how many of those Twitter Tip ebooks you sold for $1. I go the opposite approach… my Facebook eBook is $50, but it’s more than 60 pages of content, and it took me about two months to write. But I wonder if spending a week on an eBook for a lower price, which sold more, is a better investment of time.

February 27, 2012 at 7:59 pm

I really like the outline. However, do you think this outline will work for an E-Cookbook?

February 28, 2012 at 12:42 pm

You might want to do some things a bit differently (I imagine you’ll be spending some of the “writing” time taking photos, for instance) — but I think the general plan should work. 🙂

October 17, 2011 at 9:30 am

Writing an ebook is going to take a long time. But breaking down into number of words and dividing them with the number of days, it seems to be do-able now. It is really incredible how this can possibly done.

October 17, 2011 at 10:27 am

It’s the same for any big project, really; if you break it down, it looks so much more possible! Hope you give ebook-writing a go, Alan. 🙂

October 17, 2011 at 7:48 pm

I’m giving it ago like one week ago before this post is published. One thing I learned is to stop editing while writing which I found that most people think the same after reading this post.

October 18, 2011 at 10:53 pm

Reading your comment made me realize that this is equally applicable to video projects as well.

October 17, 2011 at 9:42 am

Very interesting post. I think a 30 day e-book is possible, if we follow the guidelines and are truly motivated. I would try this. It is always nice to try and see how well we can do something we have never tried before.

October 17, 2011 at 10:28 am

It’s absolutely possible, though I’ll admit it’s a bit of a challenge (unless you’re very used to writing a lot of content). Good luck if you do give it a go, Marianne!

October 17, 2011 at 9:57 am

This outline is extremely detailed and informative. Thanks!

October 17, 2011 at 12:17 pm

Thanks, Dewane! 🙂

October 17, 2011 at 10:19 am

That’s cool. I’ve always wanted to do NaNoWriMo, but I never thought of doing it for an ebook.. That’s a clever take on things. I’m too busy with managing my own blog that I probably don’t have time to weave a work of fiction, but maybe I can string together an ebook.

Maybe we can call it NaEBoWroMo.

Maybe not… Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue…

October 17, 2011 at 12:19 pm

Haha! Yeah, I think we’d need a better name 😉

It’s tough to balance writing something longer (whether that’s an ebook or a novel) with writing a blog — but it’s also extremely rewarding, and an ebook can bring some valuable extra attention to your blog.

November 2, 2012 at 11:33 pm

Hey Clayton and Ali!

How about NaeBoWriMo? (Nay-Bo-Wry-Moe)

Also, I created a Facebook Group if anyone is interested in joining.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/NaeBoWriMo/

Just to keep each other accountable, motivate, publish how many words you’ve written that day, and share your final product at the end.

Thanks for this great post, and I too will be joining.

P.S. Bought your Dummies book on writing an ebook. Thanks for writing that.

November 5, 2012 at 12:55 pm

Sonia came up with the new name “EbookWriMo” … but I think NaeBoWriMo has a great ring to it too. 🙂 Big thanks for buying my Dummies book!

October 17, 2011 at 10:33 am

While it’s not specifically stated in the article, it seems as though you support the use of free writing. Do you recommend the book “Accidental Genius” as a source for information on how to do this more effectively?

October 17, 2011 at 12:22 pm

I’ve got no strong feelings about free writing (also known as “morning pages” or “private writing”) — it works for lots of people, though it’s not really designed to produce something for public consumption (like an ebook).

I haven’t read “Accidental Genius”, I’m afraid! From a quick glance at Amazon, there are used copies available for under a dollar — so it’s probably worth a try. 😉

October 17, 2011 at 10:44 am

Ali: Great write-up. I love your process.

For me, that $3 timer has been one of the best investments I’ve made. I definitely use it to help me stay focused when I need to be. Where I get stuck in this process is in drafting my outlines. A simple bullet list will do, but every now and then, I get stuck.

See you in LA!

October 17, 2011 at 12:23 pm

Cheers, Ricardo! I find timers incredibly useful when my focus is slipping.

Catch you in LA… 🙂

October 17, 2011 at 10:58 am

Simplicity is a wonderful thing! It’s been a struggle to figure out how to go about what seems to be such a daunting endeavor, but this article does a fantastic job at putting things in proper perspective. What better time to write a book about building websites than when I’m in the process of creating one for myself? The site planning process becomes the outline for a book! Thanks for the great article!

October 17, 2011 at 12:25 pm

Thanks Bob! And that sounds like the perfect time — whenever I’m doing a “step by step” bit of an ebook or ecourse, I find I have to go back over the whole process to make sure I don’t leave anything out.

Many thanks indeed for this priceless info. I’ve had so many ideas about my specialist area in the past 2 years the blogs aren’t enough and I’ve felt fit to burst! Now I know I have an outlet! I’m so excited I won’t sleep tonight so might as well stay up and write! And just to get a few of life’s experiences down I just started on my first semi-auto-biographical novel and it’s like magic…Many thanks indeed Ali.

October 17, 2011 at 12:26 pm

😀 Yay, and thanks Jonny! I’m really thrilled that this post struck a chord with you. And I hope the novel goes brilliantly too — I think fiction (or semi-fiction!) is not only valuable in itself, it’s also a great way to stretch your skills as a writer.

October 17, 2011 at 11:22 am

The biggest obstacle for me has been determining my topic (really refining it down to something meaningful and specific) and just getting started. Biting that bullet and making it happen. Bookmarking this page – and one week today, the month-long countdown begins!

October 17, 2011 at 12:27 pm

Hurrah! 😀 Best of luck, Ruth — hope the month goes brilliantly for you!

October 17, 2011 at 11:33 am

Coincidentally, I have 35 days (including today) to write my first ebook, a ghost-written ebook for a client. Lucky for me, I got to skip the outline and idea processes. But I will definitely be referring to this post over the coming month and in the future, when I secure some time to work on producing a few self-written ebooks.

October 17, 2011 at 11:38 am

An excellent process. I would add two things to it:

on day 31, have Shane Arthur edit your ebook. <— blatant plug for Shane!

while that’s going on, figure out where and how you’re going to market it – and expect that to take longer than you want it to

October 17, 2011 at 2:10 pm

#AwShucks. When I’m ready with my Editing Hacks book, I plan on purchasing Ali’s Irresistible EBook for the template she offers. I haven’t seen anybody else offering that, and I’m guessing that should be the first thing people should begin with when writing an ebook.

October 18, 2011 at 6:14 am

Aw, cheers, Shane! The templates are very much an extra, with the ebook itself being the main attraction, but I hope you find them useful 🙂

October 18, 2011 at 6:15 am

Haha! I think having someone else edit your ebook is a great idea (either paying someone, or at least asking a few friends to read it through). If you’re trying to finish within a month, there’s not much time to run it past someone else — but if you’ve got an extra couple of weeks, it’s a great idea.

October 17, 2011 at 11:49 am

I think an ebook can definitely be drafted in 30 days, but I would take another 30 afterwards to really step away from it for a while and get some perspective before editing/rewriting. And I agree about skipping stuff you can look up later so you can forge ahead with the writing, but I don’t think the opening should be left in the air. I would spend 60-70% of my time and energy nailing that opening. It’s critical to everything that follows, in tone and structure and viewpoint. Finally, another good way to open is to introduce the challenge or problem the reader faces that this chapter will tackle. “Most people find …” or “We’ve all faced the problem where …” If possible, point to a study, trend, statistic or, as you suggest, a quote to support it. Then show how to solve it.

October 18, 2011 at 6:16 am

Great suggestions, Rob. Everyone writes differently, and I know that some writers do indeed find it best to spend plenty of time nailing the introduction. (The type of ebook you’re writing also makes a difference: some are essentially a collection of discrete chapters, others need more of a flow.)

October 17, 2011 at 11:55 am

This is great! It always helps to have specific steps on the way to a goal. Writing in chunks is nothing new to me, as that is how I deal with writing lessons and teacher helps for my Vacation Bible School programs: study, study, study, and then I sit down and write, write, write–huge amounts at a time.

I have been contemplating writing an ebook related to children’s ministry–most likely, specifically Vacation Bible School, as that is my focus. This is great timing for me. I think I will wrap up the children’s book I am finishing this week and plan to start this project next week. Even with taking a weekly Sabbath, and allowing for a break on Thanksgiving, I should have a quality ebook ready to go before December 1st!

There’s my commitment. Now mix in some real life and prayer; and it should be an interesting and exciting journey! 🙂

The only thing left to decide will be whether it should be a free offering/incentive or for sale. Any thoughts on how to make that decision?

(By the way, I have been reading a lot on your site lately, and have found it very helpful and well-written. Thank you for all the great tips!)

October 18, 2011 at 6:20 am

Tricky one on free vs paid, Sheila — and I think that it’s a decision only you can make! Do you see it as part of your business, or part of your ministry? Charging a few dollars could help people to value it and actually use it — on the other hand, providing it for free would be a good incentive for folks to share it, come to your website, etc.

October 18, 2011 at 6:54 pm

Thanks for the input, Ali. My teenage son gave me an idea that I really like, which balances the two options: have the ebook available for purchase, but offer a free chapter as a bonus for signing up on Hasten Home’s (soon to be created) email list. I was thinking along the lines you were–that is, “charging a few dollars could help people to value it and actually use it.” That is my hope for my ebook, of course! 🙂

I do already have a whole lot of free material on my blog, and I plan on much more to come; but the ebook will be a helpful tool for sharing information with those who really want to go deeper.

October 17, 2011 at 12:03 pm

I’ve been wanting to write an Ebook, but I admit I’ve been overwhelmed by the idea of writing one on my own. And like Ruth, I am having a hard time pin-pointing a topic. But I really like how your post has broken it down and made it manageable to do. Like eating an elephant! Thank you!!

October 18, 2011 at 6:21 am

Thanks Jodie! My biggest tip for choosing a topic is to ask your readers what they’d find most useful — that way, you know that you’re producing something valuable.

October 17, 2011 at 12:12 pm

You make some really great points here. Particularly the 30 minute time limit. I was surprised how much more effective i became with my writing when I was “under the gun” with a ticking clock. It really does work.

October 18, 2011 at 6:23 am

Yep! It’s something I always encourage writers to try at least once. 🙂

October 17, 2011 at 12:32 pm

I do not have a problem in writing an ebook in 30 days. But I do have a problem marketing me ebooks.

October 17, 2011 at 1:00 pm

Thanks for the information. This is very helpful as I will be writing an e-book in the near future.

October 17, 2011 at 1:01 pm

I love, love, LOVE this! In fact, I’m forwarding it to all my writer’s coaching clients. Half the battle writers face is visualizing HOW to get a book from head to paper, and your step-by-step plan is great.

Earlier this year I ghost-wrote a book for a client in 23 days; each day I posted tips on how I did it:

Day 1: I’m writing a book in 23 days (really!) http://dianascimone.typepad.com/how_to_write_a_book/2011/05/day-1-im-writing-a-book-in-23-days-really.html

Thanks again for your great post!

Diana Scimone Writer’s coach http://www.howtowriteabook.biz http://www.peapodpublishing.com

October 18, 2011 at 6:24 am

Thanks Diana! And wow, 23 days … that’s impressively fast! It’s awesome that you blogged about the process, too (I’m not sure I’d be brave enough to blog my ebook-writing in real-time..!)

October 17, 2011 at 1:18 pm

Thanks for breaking down the process. You really simplified creating an Ebook on a step by step level. I’m sure it will be very useful for anyone looking to create an Ebook in the near future.

October 17, 2011 at 1:33 pm

I’m planning on attempting NaNoWriMo for the first time this year. I was trying to figure out the best way to tackle everything and your outline makes perfect sense!! Thanks a million for it! I am somewhat prepping for it now as I want a bit of historical flare to it and need to make sure my facts are straight but it 30 days still isn’t too bad to write and still research at the same time!

Thanks from Serbia!

October 18, 2011 at 6:25 am

Good luck with NaNo, Kiki! Hope it goes brilliantly for you. 🙂

I know I can write 20,000 words in a month, because I’ve done it before, problem is that they are like 7-8 incomplete ebooks I started writing!! lol

I think I will give myself a challenge to write a 20,000+ word ebook from start to finish including graphics (cover+banners) in the month of November, in fact I’m putting this in my calendar right now, and will make a post on my personal blog about the challenge and link your post Ali, thanks for sharing, this might be the kick in the … I really needed!

October 18, 2011 at 6:26 am

Woot! 🙂 Go Jamie! And you’re definitely not the only writer who finds it easy to start but much tougher to finish… Hope your November goes fantastically!

Great post, Ali.

My book will be out next month in both digital formats and print. I cannot wait. Tying up all of the loose ends these past couple of months prior to launch has been pretty miserable.

The only point I would add to this post is to have someone else read your work and give feedback. Someone with fresh eyes who will be brutally honest. After reading and re-reading your own work, it’s tough to actually see what’s on the page.

My book wouldn’t be as strong as it is if I hadn’t done this. In fact, I had several people read and give feedback and a lot of it was very valuable to the end product.

Hope that helps someone.

Btw, I’ve followed your work for over a year now (at your blog, DLM, etc.) and think you’re wonderful. Keep up the great work.

Best, Jennifer

October 18, 2011 at 6:27 am

Congrats on the book, Jennifer! And thanks for your kind words too (I’m blushing now… :-))

I absolutely agree with you about getting feedback: it’s something I do with all my ebooks (I usually get several people involved for a range of opinions) and it’s definitely made them stronger. I decided it was going to be a tough thing to fit into a 30-day challenge, but if folks allow themselves an extra week or two, it’s a must-have!

October 17, 2011 at 2:20 pm

Great idea. I actually have a piece I wrote two weeks ago that’s being published this Thursday on the same topic at awaionline.com’s “The Writer’s Life”. Great minds think alike!

October 17, 2011 at 2:40 pm

I think this process works well for fiction writing too.

Writing 1,500 words per days for 2 months (60days) produces 90,000 words: a proud length. I’ve tried it and discovered once you’ve written the first 1,000 each day, writing the extra 500 words on top is simple.

Knowing where you’re going with your writing helps. A plan, if not a plot, just a good story (as Stephen King might say) helps you get those 1,500 written every day. Once you start, it actually gets easier as you go along. Writer’s block doesn’t seem to apply (at least not so far!). Momentum seems to keeps the Block down.

Two tips: #1: Don’t edit. Keep your inner editor locked inside a cupboard until you’ve written those 90,000 words. Ignore the banging on the cupdoor and pleas to be let loose.

#2: If you can’t actively write, e.g. you can’t get access to your respective “writing machines” of choice easily to write your 1,500, invest in a digital recorder. One of those that are little bigger than a UP-what’s it! And get one of those clip-on mics that look like speakers for mobile phones so people just think you’re talking to someone when you speak your 1,500 a day. You can write all 60 days of them later – unless to have software that writes while you speak.

eBooks, like blogging, have opened up huge worlds for individuals to enjoy sharing their ideas and making money. That is a good thing. A democracy in action.

As ever the point made by Ali Luke to write what readers want to read is a good one. I wonder however, if the motto: “Write the kind of novels you would like to read, and others will want to read them too.” is true of non-fiction?

October 18, 2011 at 6:29 am

I agree, it absolutely works for fiction books.

“Write the kind of novels you would like to read, and others will want to read them too” is a GREAT way to approach fiction. With non-fiction, however, I’m less convinced! Something that works for many of the people I coach is to “write for yourself a few years ago” — try to get back into the mindset of someone fairly new to your area or topic.

October 17, 2011 at 2:42 pm

Already committed to it with a couple of friends…

Thanks for the kick in the pants Ali!

and thanks for the formula!

October 18, 2011 at 6:30 am

Good luck, Ed (and good luck, Ed’s friends)! 🙂

October 17, 2011 at 3:00 pm

I think you’ve just convinced me to sign up for that NaNoWriMo!

October 17, 2011 at 3:03 pm

It doesn’t have to be just an ebook. You can use CreateSpace to publish it on Kindle and as a “real” book for back of the room sales and to sell on Amazon.com.

October 17, 2011 at 3:57 pm

LuLu.com and Blurb.com are the two other major contenders here. Each has their merits, so define your needs first, then look at them all & compare.

As David alludes, we’re talking street cred here. That may very well make you a lot more $$ than out & out book sales.

October 18, 2011 at 6:31 am

Depending on your topic area, a paper book could well be a fantastic addition. I’ve used Lulu, and it’s relatively simple to get to grips with.

It’s not only good for street cred, you can also give a copy to your proud parents! 😉

October 17, 2011 at 3:47 pm

Great job on making the writing process more accessible by putting it on a timeline. Seeing a plan on a calendar / day-timer and then doing the steps in bite sized-pieces really makes things much more “do-able.”

RE: The editing / proofreading steps in days 26-30… It can be tricky to catch our own mistakes. Since we know what we meant to say when we were writing, that’s usually what we’ll see on the page / screen when we’re editing / proofreading for ourselves.

I’ve helped people with editing and proofreading for online business for almost 20 years. People often ask me how they can improve their own skills.

My favorite trick to help with this is to suggest they actually take a printout of the document away from their normal writing environment and then read it out loud. Reading out loud, especially in a slightly different environment than we’re used to, can actually force us to slow down a bit and see more of what’s on the page. It’s also a simple and easy thing to do. (Not to mention a good reason to stop for a minute, make a great cup of coffee or tea, and spend a few minutes simply enjoying the process of writing and creating!)

October 17, 2011 at 4:49 pm

Amen to that Lauren – back in the early 90s I met an editor from Simon and Schuster. This was the early days of word processors being used – and she said she could read a manuscript and tell immediately if it had been edited on a computer screen or it had been printed out.

It’s the biggest editing tip I have to share with content creators.

Plus you can make your print out look different – use a different font, a different font size and print that out so it looks different to what you’re used to on the screen.

October 18, 2011 at 6:34 am

Great tip, Lauren and Paul, and one that I’ve heard from writers/editors before (and, indeed, one I often use myself when editing) — thanks for adding it!

And even if you don’t want to print out your manuscript, changing the font or font size (as Paul points out) can really make a difference. So can double-spacing the lines — it creates more white space around the words, making it easy to focus on each individual one.

I’m actually going to be writing my fiction novel during NaNoWriMo next month. But I have been outlining an eGuide I’d like to write soon, so maybe I will make that my December project… or save it for the first of the year. Thanks for the detailed guidance for making an eBook happen in a month!

October 18, 2011 at 7:49 am

Good luck with the novel, Jennifer! December can be a great month for ebook-writing, as the blogosphere tends to slow down a bit around Christmas time. 🙂

October 17, 2011 at 5:04 pm

Now you got me pondering . . .

Very nice outline and making something as challenging as writing a book, to very simple.

Thanks Paul! Writing a book is definitely challenging … but also definitely do-able. 🙂

October 17, 2011 at 5:09 pm

Boy, do I ever need a motivational schedule to abide by like this one. I have to imagine that your tips here work for general writing projects – not just eBooks.

October 18, 2011 at 7:50 am

They absolutely do, Emma! Any big writing project can be broken down in a similar way (though some will need a fair bit longer than 30 days…)

October 17, 2011 at 5:37 pm

This post came at just the right time. I have decided on a topic for my free ebook so this will really help me get on and get the job done. Many thanks.

October 18, 2011 at 7:52 am

Hurrah! Best of luck, Sharon, hope the writing goes well and that the free ebook brings you lots of great traffic. 🙂

October 17, 2011 at 5:54 pm

Very informative and timely!!

Just about t begin writing an e-book and your article has just broken down for me – step by step 🙂

Thank you so much!

October 18, 2011 at 7:54 am

Yay, and thanks Ngina! Best of luck with your ebook. 🙂

October 17, 2011 at 7:06 pm

Ali thanks so much for challenging me to put into action something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. Love your process and the way you chunk it down. I can do this!

October 18, 2011 at 7:56 am

Absolutely! Ebooks really aren’t as hard to write as they look … which is why I wanted to break it all down like this. 🙂

October 17, 2011 at 8:00 pm

Ali –

Thanks–I’m excited at the prospect, now!

I’ve heard so many ridiculous methods for throwing together garbage and calling it an ebook, that this is such a breath of fresh air.

Just what I needed right now!

October 18, 2011 at 7:57 am

Yay, thanks Nancy!

Like you, I’ve got no time for the “shove it all together in an afternoon and call it an ebook” way of doing things. Quality is crucial — and achievable in a realistic time-frame.

October 17, 2011 at 8:37 pm

This post is epic. I love that it breaks down all the tasks from idea to outline to writing to editing. I was expecting a formula for 30 days of writing, but this is even better.

October 18, 2011 at 7:59 am

Thanks Joseph!

One of the biggest problems I see is that people try to launch straight into writing — without a clear outline, or even an idea that they’re confident they can sell. I wanted to give the 30 days a structure that emphasised the importance of the planning and editing phases (as well as the writing itself) — so it’s great to hear this worked!

October 19, 2011 at 12:16 pm

I found that my local university had a creative writing class that I could take for about $400 that helped me immensely with writing. Improved my blog writing as well as helping me to write this ebook.

I learned that its not so much to just write 10,000 words but to write that keeps the engagement of the reader as well as teaches or tells that story.

My instructor would say, “Great job but are they going to buy your next book?”

October 20, 2011 at 8:53 am

Great tip — I’ve definitely found creative writing classes helpful, both for practical knowledge and for motivation!

October 17, 2011 at 9:08 pm

Wow, that sounds really easy, but am sure the days 5 – 25 will be a killer and will easily take a toll on anyone. Hopefully I will get the courage to start thinking about it one of these days.

October 18, 2011 at 8:01 am

You don’t necessarily have to write a full 20,000 word ebook — I know that 1,000 words per day is a stretch for many writers.

How about a shorter ebook (10,000 words, say) — 500 per day is an average blog post!

October 17, 2011 at 9:15 pm

Great post, Ali. I like the way you break down the process of writing an e-book. I’m going to give this a try, but probably not until January. November is our art sale season so I’ll be busy making felted clothing for sale. But after reading your post I’m torn by my priorities — to create through writing or to create through felting. Hmmm. Thanks for complicating my life. It will be fun sorting it all out.

October 18, 2011 at 8:02 am

Thanks Chris! And hey, a little complication isn’t necessary a bad thing … 😉 Good luck with the felting and the ebook, whatever order you tackle them in!

October 18, 2011 at 1:08 am

Wow, this is just the right kind of stuff on e-book writing that I’ve been waiting for. I have learned that one way to promote your site is to write an e-book. Your post gives me the push and tips to come up with my first e-book ever. More power to you Ali!

Thanks Jonan! Hope your first ebook goes brilliantly — you’re quite right that it’s a great way to promote a website.

October 18, 2011 at 1:44 am

I happened to read this at just the right time, writing a book is definitely in my bucket list,starting with an e-book seems like a brilliant idea, really grateful for the way in which you have shared yourself so freely, am daring myself to write an ebook in a month, come 1st December, will be talking a different story. Watch this space 😉

October 18, 2011 at 8:03 am

Hurrah, and good luck, Veehcirra! Hope your November goes really well. 🙂

October 18, 2011 at 3:54 am

Yep, I’m going to do it. I’ve been working on it for a while, but haven’t been focused as much as I should be. Knowing that a bunch of people will also be doing it in November might keep me going. I’ve done NaNoWriMo before and it’s fun.

If you need some help and coaching, check out my friend Joel Canfield’s site at http://somedaybox.com/

Get your book out of the ‘someday box.’

November 25, 2011 at 7:51 am

Thanks for the plug, Rex 🙂

I notice a whole bunch of people coming up with all the things that *could* be wrong with an ebook written in one month.

What if they just did it, and didn’t make those mistakes? if you’re truly concerned about your ability to deliver a quality product in just one month, for instance, write less, but make it better. Or write for a month, and take a month to polish, though I think that’s overkill.

Chances are, if you can foresee a problem, you’ll find a way around it. I challenge every one who’s made a comment about “But what about . . . ” or “You can’t . . . ” to suspend disbelief for 30 days, and give this an honest try. Slay the dragon of Resistance. (And, like Rex said, if you really want help . . . )

November 25, 2011 at 12:28 pm

Exactly … I’m certainly NOT suggesting that people throw any old rubbish out there. Absolutely not. But really, when you knuckle down and *write*, it’s surprising just how much you can achieve.

And great point about writing less. Your ebook doesn’t need to be long or complex. If this is your first time writing one, a 5,000 word free ebook could be a fantastic project to spend 30 days on. 🙂

October 18, 2011 at 5:28 am

I’m also busy writing an ebook and its taking me quite some time now ! But yes as you mentioned I think I need an internet blocker. That’s all thats going to stop me from wasting my time on browsing. Thanks !

October 18, 2011 at 5:46 am

Interesting article. Where would be the best place to look if I wanted to outsource the preparation of an ebook using content I have created over a series of articles? How much would it likely cost. Haven’t decided if I will look into it yet just interested on the details.

October 18, 2011 at 8:05 am

Good question, Dane! I’d suggest looking for someone who specialises in ebook creation. Kelly Kingman comes to mind — her site is http://stickyebooks.com (I don’t know what her rates are).

October 18, 2011 at 6:59 am

Simple and concise tips Ali. Getting clear on your subject and making sure it’s useful to others form the foundation for a special offering.

Thanks Ryan! 🙂

October 18, 2011 at 8:36 am

One of my top NaNo tips is: set aside a weekend or two for catching up in case you fall behind (especially if you’re in the US and have Thanksgiving available to you).

If you say “I’m going to get up on time and do nothing but write and drink coffee today”, it’s amazing how much you can get done even in a morning.

October 19, 2011 at 5:19 am

I occasionally fail at the “get up on time” hurdle… 😉 But in seriousness, YES! This is great advice. Having even one whole day to work single-mindedly on a writing project makes a massive difference.

October 18, 2011 at 6:58 pm

Excellent tips!

October 18, 2011 at 7:49 pm

Thanks Ali, Your tips were inspiring and also straight to the point. I’ve linked to your article on my blog, added some tips of my own, and thrown down the gauntlet to others to join me during nanowrimo to write an eBook. What a powerful post yours was! I wonder how many new eBooks will be the result of your helpful guidance?

October 19, 2011 at 5:22 am

Hurrah, and good luck in November!

After reading all the lovely, enthusiastic comments here, I’m looking out for a spate of launches in a month’s time 😉

October 18, 2011 at 10:50 pm

This is one of those article that I’ve saved and put into evernote to allow me to read and refer back often. Definitely a great piece of article as this is my single biggest problem, procrastination on putting out content because of the overwhelming task of writing a full blown ebook. But if I break it down like what you advice, it is suddenly manageable and writing a few pages each day seems like a minute task all of a sudden.

October 19, 2011 at 5:23 am

Thanks Ted! Procrastination is a huge issue for so many writers — especially bloggers, because there’s always the sense that blog posts are more urgent (and, let’s face it, easier!) than writing an ebook.

Hope you do go for those few pages a day! 🙂

October 19, 2011 at 12:10 pm

I’m writing an ebook about the gastric bypass experience.

The writing part won’t be a problem, I’m concerned about how the website looks to sell it. Anyone have any examples of successful ebook site designs?

October 20, 2011 at 8:52 am

Most people write what’s called a “sales page” to sell their ebook — either a separate page on their existing website, or a one-page website.

Here are a couple of (quite different!) examples: http://freelancefolder.com/book/ http://rockablepress.com/books/rockstar-wordpress-designer-2/

There’s loads of advice on writing sales pages here on Copyblogger, so you might want to dig around in the archives. 🙂

October 20, 2011 at 10:46 am

Love all the tips in this post, Ali. I’m already signed up for the novel writing challenge and have decided I’m finally going to use it to get the book I’ve been working on for two years written. (That’s really embarrassing to say)

October 20, 2011 at 3:32 pm

This is an excellent post. I wrote an eBook once in fewer than 30 days, and I followed the same course (though not on purpose, but what you outline is a really natural and realistic approach).

Do you have any advice (or have you written any other posts) on how to price eBooks?

October 21, 2011 at 7:38 am

This is really great formula to write an e-book in 30 days. The best thing is that we can be organized without losing our attention. I have used some of the parts especially mind maps, but never put such a goal to write 1000 words daily with such a discipline.

It’s worth trying the formula.

October 24, 2011 at 11:54 am

Thanks, Dragan! It’s tough to stick with a daily writing habit (and many people find that something slightly different works — e.g. writing on weekdays only or weekends only) — but getting into a good routine is really helpful when you’re working on a long-term project like an ebook.

October 21, 2011 at 8:46 am

This is really great information. I envy people who can create such logical plans and plot them out. I have been stuck on moving forward with my e-book. It starts and stops and I am not really sure what is currently stopping me. Thanks for this post.

October 24, 2011 at 11:52 am

Nicole, do you know where you’re going next with the ebook? I often get stuck if I try to write without a clear plan! Even a list of several key points that you want to cover in the next chapter could help.

Best of luck getting back into it!

October 27, 2011 at 1:16 pm

Do you believe in your ebook’s purpose still? How does your ebook fit into your “actualizing purpose”, for example, what goal do you intend your ebook to achieve for you – increased subscribers? creating your authority in your niche? These are the questions which you need to ask yourself to get back into action for your ebook and get writing again. Answering these questions will help you set out the plan Ali talks about.

Remember, your ebook should be a tool; an employee even, with a specific role. If you have no specific role for it, then you’ll find your ebook (and you) flounders around, and any opportunity you wanted your ebook to bring, will dissolve.

Check out Ali’s “create an outline” tips and read “what your audience is looking” again, as these will help you decide your ebook’s “actualizing purpose” and fire-up your inspiration again.

October 27, 2011 at 7:49 pm

I have been thinking on this response from Ali and from Tom. Because this is exactly what the topic of my e-book is about. The frustrations of working at home and building a business online when you are a ‘daydreamer.’ Online business training is very left brained targeted. My e-book is targeted towards artists, writers, seekers and daydreamers in general. (Some mistakenly diagnosed with attention deficit.)

The point of my response is that plans do not pan out for some. It comes down to routines not plans. This e-book has to be part of my daily routine. It is not really the content that has me stuck, but working it into my day. I can take the plans and outlines passed my way and pick parts here and there to use and implement, but for someone like me to work through a 90 day plan or an outline or what-not is almost impossible. There is nothing wrong with this. Our minds are wired differently and it is always good to hook up with others who are more logically wired. The e-book is about the possibility of this. How we can stay true to our daydreamer tendencies and move forward with our lives and our businesses. How do the unfocused find their focus and get things done.

Tom, it does fit into my ‘actualizing purpose’ and I went back and read all the things you recommended above and I do know what I want to achieve with the e-book. Routines are vitally important to creatives and ‘daydreamers.’ I think there was a section on this is Uncertainty, the new Jonathon Fields book.

If you say the word plan or rules to a daydreamer they will run the other way. But I know that ‘daydreamers’ are probably not Ali’s market. I just happened to be reading the post. But thank-you both for your responses because it got me thinking about how to make this e-book part of my daily routine.

October 28, 2011 at 12:47 pm

Ah, I get where you’re coming from, Nicole. Maybe you could try setting aside a whole day just for writing — I know Catherine Caine (awesome gal) does that, and her work is amazingly full of energy.

Your ebook sounds great (and probably much-needed!) I’m definitely left-brained as creative types go — I thrive on plans and routine! But I’m very much open to exploring my right-brained side too, and I’d love to see the alternative anti-plan to mine…

November 3, 2011 at 6:01 pm

This is good advice. I think I will pick a day and actually leave the house. Go to the library or something.

October 28, 2011 at 2:10 am

I bookmarked this post a few weeks ago while I tested out a few ways to make money. None of those methods worked out, so I’m back! I’ve had quite a few good ebook ideas saved on my PC for a year or so, but I have a hard time staying on task. This post is terrific and I think it’ll help me out a lot! I would love to make residual income with an army of useful ebooks I wrote myself, so thanks for this great post 🙂

Welcome back, Rose! And good luck making some money from ebooks — they’ve definitely worked well for me. 🙂

October 28, 2011 at 7:16 am

i’m joining this year’s nanowrimo. it’s going to be my first. and i’m excited about it. i thought nanowrimo is about writing fiction! you can do non-fic too: http://productcreationblog.com/385/nano4info-challenge-joining-information/ i have an ebook in mind. and a story idea i want to turn into a novel. so i have to make up my mind if i’m to write an ebook or a novel. why is it so difficult to be writing a novel 🙁 when it’s so easy talking like a dirigible pirate!

October 29, 2011 at 11:04 am

I am excited about this challenge. Iam just starting my business and don’t really have an following yet. But, I am still going to create the E-Book for my future client. i love your e-mails..I save them for the weekend or when I have time..that is why I am just writing this post.

November 1, 2011 at 8:30 am

Love this, Ali! Most of success is just about showing up every day, whether it’s to write a book or market your business, or set an appointment. Small daily habits make huge changes over the long term. Thanks for such practical guidance and good common sense!

November 2, 2011 at 4:32 pm

Thanks, Darlene! And I completely agree — showing up is half the battle won.

November 25, 2011 at 8:01 am

Ali, your stuff always makes me smile. You say “and then do this, and this, and this, and look—you’re done!” in a way that inspires confidence. Which, as I’m about to share, is far more important to this process than most folks realise.

I recently had a big party to celebrate publishing 6 books in 6 months.

Now, I didn’t completely write all 6 during that time, but at least 2 of them were conceived, written, and published within the 6 months. Since I’m also a web developer, I created a website for each book, and even created Kindle versions of all 6 of them. I publish independently, so each book had to be proofread and formatted, have a cover designed, and all the other bits of creating a book from scratch.

I don’t have some big team helping me; just my wife, who is, you might get, spectacularly organised and a brilliant admin type. But the single biggest reason I got this done was because I chose to ship instead of worrying about the myriad reasons this was an insane idea.

If you have the chutzpah and smarts to operate your own business, you have what it takes to deliver a solid, worthwhile ebook in 30 days.

You just have to stop being afraid.

November 25, 2011 at 12:26 pm

Thanks, Joel! I like breaking things down into practical steps (otherwise, I’d never manage to get anything done myself…)

Publishing 6 books in 6 months is an amazing achievement — wow! I know just how much work goes into proofreading, formatting, etc — so huge congrats to you (and to your wife). There’s a lot to be said for taking a deep breath and taking the plunge into publishing. 🙂

November 29, 2011 at 2:57 am

You will find everything you need about musical instruments and professional sound

November 30, 2011 at 7:56 pm

Alright, Ali, I know I’m a little late, but I’m going to do it. I’m making the public commitment. Next month, I will write a 20000 word eBook. By 2012, I will have writteny first eBook–on a topic both dear to my heart and poignantly relevant to my community as well as the world at large!

December 1, 2011 at 8:08 am

It’s never too late, Doug! 😉 Hope your December goes brilliantly; let me know how you get on. 🙂

February 7, 2012 at 5:28 am

Hi Ali & everyone else who’s posted some great comments & tips. I’m late to the party!! Wanting to write an ebook I came across your site & this fantastic blog which helped galvanise a lot of my thinking & gave me some brilliant tips, advice & a starting point. I’ve now got a questionnaire together to research my market so thanks for that great tip. My ebook is about working from home. My difficulty is a chicken & egg situation. What comes first? The blog or the ebook? Also reading so much info that there is online often leads to overwhelm rather than clarity for someone who isn’t concerned about the writing process regarding the content & the discipline. What’s holding me back is what comes after it’s written so I’m more concerned about the marketing & selling of it especially as I’m a bit of technology dinosaur! Any comments would be appreciated.

February 7, 2012 at 12:50 pm

Chris, I’d suggest taking things one step at a time. Focus on writing the ebook first, then worry about marketing and selling after that.

It is a bit chicken-and-egg… perhaps you could start the blog by posting excerpts from the ebook-in-progress or links to related resources (maybe a couple of short posts each week), that way you can repurpose some of what you’re already writing!

Best of luck. 🙂

February 17, 2012 at 1:36 am

In few months of blogging, I found out one of the best strategies to make your blogging business more successful as possible is ebook marketing, in which I was searching now on certain tips on how to make a highly created e-book. Holla!… I found this very helpful and interesting post, Thank for this bro…. I have a great idea now on how to make my own ebook!

March 18, 2012 at 9:49 am

Great tips, Ali – thanks for posting such helpful information!

I found this post while searching for information on how to create an eBook. I was feeling a little overwhelmed until I came across your post. I am starting immediately!

Do you think using specialized eBook software or programs is necessary?

Thanks! Lisa

March 18, 2012 at 3:32 pm

Lisa, while you can just create a PDF, it doesn’t have any real “features” the way a Kindle or ePub book would. Kindle and Nook users are used to having access to a table of contents and other built-in tools which are part of those formats.

You can start from MS Word, save it as HTML, then upload to your Kindle or Nook account and they’re converted automatically, and as much as it pains this15-year web geek to say it, fairly accurately.

March 19, 2012 at 12:57 pm

It depends a bit on what you’re planning to do. Some ebooks are just .pdfs — that works well if your audience will mostly be reading them on a computer (or printing them out). So it’s not 100% “necessary” to use specialized software — I just use Word to create my .pdf ebooks.

If you do want to create Kindle (.mobi) or Nook (.epub) versions then Calibre is a nice piece of software for that, and it’s free to download. (It has Windows, OS X and Linux versions too.) Like Joel, I start in Word and convert to HTML, though I then fiddle around with the code to remove lots of the junk that Word puts in there!

March 20, 2012 at 12:52 pm

Joel & Ali – thanks so much. I appreciate you sharing the perspectives for each.

March 21, 2012 at 4:10 am

Hello Ali, Do you cut and paste from Word to Notepad before converting to HTML?

@Tom_Southern

March 21, 2012 at 4:37 pm

I’m not Ali, but I’ll share what I’ve learned.

Despite my 15 years of experience hand-coding websites, I was surprised to discover that Word’s “Save as HTML (Filtered)” spews out something the Kindle uploader finds acceptable. I’ve used barely polished Word HTML for ePub (Nook) and Kindle books, and they work just fine. And since there’s no “view source” function, nobody sees the horrific code.

My first couple ebooks, I hand-coded, because that’s what I do. But in a hurry one day, I experimented with doing it the easy way. I was simultaneously dismayed and glad that it works.

There’s always a bit of tidying, things like page breaks, table of contents, formatting. But it’s minimal.

March 23, 2012 at 1:10 pm

Like Joel, I save as HTML (filtered) from Word (though I do clean up the document a fair bit first). In the past, I’ve gone through documents and cleaned up the code, just to make sure there are never any nasty surprises for people reading it on different devices … but I might get less obsessive about it in the future!

My main tip is to ALWAYS preview your ebook on an actual Kindle (or whatever ereader you have) to make absolutely sure that nothing’s come through weirdly…

March 25, 2012 at 4:11 am

Many thanks. You’ve both saved me time – and money! There’s several “offers” going round the publish-to-kindle world starting from $30 + for software/packages meant to help convert documents into eReader-friendly formats. From what you both seem to saying this conversion can be done quite easily and, the premise that (without these offers) the end result could be poor formatting that turns readers off, is not a likely one after all. Am I right?

March 25, 2012 at 7:09 am

With care and attention, you’re correct, Tom.

I’d say there are two reasonable options: do it yourself using the free tools available, or completely hand it off to someone else who does it for you. In case a disclaimer is necessary, I’m one of those people, but the truth is, you’d hire someone to get out of the process entirely, not because you can’t create a good end product on your own.

As Ali has emphasized, the code can use a little cleanup, and you should always preview on a real Kindle or Nook, not just on the preview tools those formats provide. And keep asking questions because if you can do this stuff yourself, you take even more control of the process.

March 27, 2012 at 7:03 am

I’d echo what Joel says here. Either doing it yourself or hiring help is valid; it depends how comfortable you are with things like HTML code and using new software programs. I spent quite a while figuring out how to get things right when I did my first few ebooks into .mobi and .epub, but I wanted to do it myself. (I’m comfortable with HTML and CSS, too, which helped when I was trying to get everything to look right.)

There are plenty of people offering services to convert documents for you; like Joel says, the best use of that is probably to just get someone else to sort it all out for you, rather than to pay for a half-way service.

April 5, 2012 at 4:48 am

A very well written guide to writing an ebook I am in the process of writing one a over the easter weeks and I stumbled across this content which has helped to clarify and improve my work – thanks 🙂

April 5, 2012 at 12:11 pm

Thanks Adam, and best of luck with your ebook, hope it goes well!

July 14, 2012 at 9:24 am

Thank you Ali, that’s a very good guide. I’m thinking about writing a free ebook for my blog and so I found your tips very useful. Take care! 🙂

September 27, 2012 at 7:02 pm

Thanks Ali but what if I have so many ideas I can’t narrow them down or maybe I don’t have ideas or I don’t have a blog, website and not on Twitter or Facebook, etc., what would you suggest I do to come up with a subject/topic that’s in demand?

September 28, 2012 at 10:10 am

Jennifer, I’m not Ali, nor will I ever be, but here are some thoughts.

If you don’t have an online presence of any kind, an ebook probably isn’t the right tool for you.

But it seems likely there are people in your life, yes? First sort out why you want to write something, then sort out where your audience might be, then go ask them, in person, what would help them.

With no online presence, you’re better off writing a non-fiction how-to for small businesses. Hang out at the Chamber of Commerce or a local small biz networking mixer. Get to know people. Ask what they need. They’ll be glad to tell you.

September 28, 2012 at 12:38 pm

Joel, I did not mean to offend. Clearly I hit the wrong “reply” button when posting my question. No, I do not have an online presence but it doesn’t mean I can’t get one or several when the time is right. My interest with this blog focuses on topic research and developing content. I have noted your comments and will consider them as I move forward. Thank you.

September 28, 2012 at 1:14 pm

Jennifer, I’m sorry my sense of humor didn’t translate to my comment. If you’ll re-read my comment, imagining a big ol’ smile on my face while we share our tea or coffee or whatever, you’ll get closer to the point I meant to make.

If you’re going to work toward an online presence, as a web developer with 15+ years’ experience I’d recommend starting with a free blog at WordPress.com which will translate well to a professional website when the time comes. That way, at least you have a website folks can visit, a place they can leave comments, and a way to interact with your intended audience.

I’m a cheerful friendly helpful person. Really I am. I just find myself more amusing than I really am, sometimes 😉

September 28, 2012 at 2:12 pm

Joel, I have to say you humanized yourself to me with your words of kindness and I sincerely appreciate it. I can tell you are a nice person by your response. I agree, sometimes emails, text, etc. don’t translate as well as we’d like. I made a note of your suggestions and as I move forward in my efforts to learn how to write an ebook I will remember your recommendations.

September 30, 2012 at 12:20 pm

Hi Jennifer! And Joel, thanks for jumping in with some great advice — I’ve been offline much of the weekend.

Jennifer, I’d echo everything Joel says. Feedback from contacts in an area or industry that you want to write about will be invaluable. (When I’m choosing between several different ideas, I’m sometimes surprised by what turns out to be popular!)

WordPress.com is a great place to begin, once you’re ready to start building your online presence. By the way, I think you’re doing exactly the right thing in reading Copyblogger and soaking up lots of knowledge before you take the plunge — there’s a ton of practical and encouraging advice here. 🙂

Very best of luck!

September 30, 2012 at 10:15 pm

I appreciate your comments but are you saying an ebook only works if you have an online presence? If someone has value information or interesting antidote but no current online presence I don’t see why an ebook would not be an effective vehicle, coupled with a creative a marketing strategy. Seems like that old proverbial (and rhetorical) saying, “which comes first, the chicken or the egg?” 🙂

October 1, 2012 at 8:08 am

I’m not suggesting an ebook has no value if you don’t have an online presence, but consider your audience: people who prefer digital to analog (that is, ebook to print.)

If those readers can’t find your website, blog, Twitter and Facebook pages, if they Google your name and come up with 11 other people who aren’t you, but not you, you lose credibility to some extent.

And in this day and age, if someone wants to produce an ebook, what’s a valid reason NOT to start a free WordPress blog and write twice a week about your subject? You could have a blog started five minutes from now, and by the time your ebook is ready in 30 days, you could have a dozen posts on it for your ebook readers to comment on and connect with.

October 1, 2012 at 12:13 pm

Jennifer, I think an ebook *can* work with a minimal online presence … but for me, at least, I can’t imagine marketing an ebook very easily offline (if that’s what you might be thinking of?)

When I launched my first Blogger’s Guide ebook, I didn’t actually have a current blog of my own (though I did have a static website, where the ebook was sold — and I’d had active blogs in the past, and was a paid blogger on several sites). I promoted it through guest posting on other people’s blogs — though I did already have some connections due to my existing online presence.

It’s honestly completely up to you what path you follow, and what you do first — my only concern is that you might put lots of effort into writing an ebook, only to struggle to market it effectively. For me, blogging, email lists, and Twitter have been hugely useful marketing tools.

It’s the same as with a print book, really; if you can’t get that book in front of people (e.g. through conferences, through personal contacts, through speaking engagements) then it’s hard to make sales — even if the book itself is excellent, people won’t know it exists!

October 1, 2012 at 4:07 pm

Hi Ali and Joel,

Thanks, I get your point. Using online connections for researching topics for an ebook and using those connections to market the ebook seems plausible to me. I appreciate your insightful feedback. 🙂

October 26, 2012 at 9:17 am

I plan to implement these tips over the next month, and we;ll see how it works out.

October 26, 2012 at 2:14 pm

Best of luck, Kenneth!

October 26, 2012 at 9:41 am

Great article! I just finished two eBooks recently. My suggestion is that you start to write short eBooks about 30 pages. It is a lot easier to accomplish. Once you have done it, you will be motivated to write more. Having an outline will definitely make your writing task easy to manage.

October 26, 2012 at 2:15 pm

Great tip on keeping it short, Mary — I think that’s definitely a good plan for anyone who’s new (or fairly new) to e-book writing.

October 26, 2012 at 9:57 am

I’ve met some people who’ve written full-length and or short films in 30 days or less. All it takes is discipline, commitment, structure, and organization. And…The ability to say “no” to family and friends when they ask you to go out or even attend some sort of function. You may have to disappoint people. If you can do this without feeling guilty, you’ll have a polished eBook, screenplay, book, etc. in no time.

October 26, 2012 at 2:18 pm

The saying “no” part can be tough. Sometimes, a simple “I’m sorry, I’m busy that night” is easier than explaining the ins and outs of your e-book (screenplay, novel, etc) writing plan. It’s really crucial to carve out time for your business / your writing — and the good thing about a 30-day period is that you can always promise to make up for it next month!

October 26, 2012 at 10:16 am

Great posting – and very timely. I came across NaNoWriMo a couple of years ago. The result of that November is now up on Amazon Kindle site as ‘Another Glorious Day’. The 2011 November’s month of writing has taken a few months of editing and will be up as an ebook soon hopefully to join the other four up there. I am already getting ideas together for this November – which is coming round all too quickly! My experience is that, with determination, a 50,000 novel can be roughly knocked out in the month but then begins the longer task of editing and refining – but a great spur to getting something concrete out at least once a year.

October 26, 2012 at 2:19 pm

Thanks Geoff — and congratulations on the fruits of your last two NaNos! I agree that the editing / refining is a huge part of NaNo — if you’re writing 50,000 words in a month, they’re almost certainly going to need some heavy work. With a non-fiction ebook, you can go for a much shorter word count and fit in a bit of editing during the month.

October 26, 2012 at 10:43 am

Timely with NaNoWriMo around the corner.

October 26, 2012 at 10:47 am

Where does one find great e-books that can be studied as models?

Amazon, presumably? But it’s such a new medium, it seems like there isn’t yet a “canon” of commonly accepted great e-books like there is with print books in almost any genre. Or is there?

Obviously I know it depends somewhat on the genre you’re trying to write in, but I’d love to get some examples of e-books that are a clinic on how to do it right–structure, style, level of specificity etc.

Also, for those of us who struggle with distraction (looking at Ali’s point about shutting off your internet), I really like the app “Write or Die” which plays horrible loud noises if more than a few seconds elapse without you typing.

October 26, 2012 at 2:22 pm

James, this really depends what sort of e-book you’re writing — whether it’s fiction, non-fiction, free, in-depth, etc. You can certainly look on Amazon, or you could turn to blogs that offer free ebooks as .pdf downloads (many will use these as an incentive to encourage you onto their email lists) — you’ll find that the quality varies, but you should get a good idea of what works well and what doesn’t.

I agree that Write or Die is a great app!

October 26, 2012 at 11:01 am

Thanks so much for always taking the time to email to me your wonderful information.

October 26, 2012 at 11:19 am

This is a wonderful opportunity for us to put our ideas into concrete form. I have several books that I am currently working on. I will choose one to complete in the 30 days. It takes discipline and determination. Thank you Ali for the insights, tips and information you share.

October 26, 2012 at 11:33 am

***Addition** Don’t just edit and proofread yourself, you’ll be too involved and you’ll make mistakes. If you can afford it, have a proofreader review it. You’ll be amazed at what errors are found.

October 26, 2012 at 2:23 pm

Great addition! And if you can’t afford a professional editor / proof-reader, it’s a great idea to find a writing buddy who you can swap manuscripts with — it’s amazing how tough it can be to spot your own typos and how easy it can be to spot other people’s.

October 26, 2012 at 11:37 am

Ali, As a veteran book coach, I applaud this blog how to and agree with your points. RE:Write a list. If you’re already extremely familiar with your topic, you’ve probably got an outline in your head.

Tips I can add that will help others here…

1.Write chapters faster with a structure–begtin, middle and end and instead of waiting to edit at the end, the structure will allow you to write well enough for only one edit. This blueprint is in my book, “Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast!” (Ask Q in hook, and answer in middle part)

2. Remember to add the selling points before you finish your book– the cover, the title page, the About the Aurhor, the TOC and the Resources page. If it’s a free eBook to brand you and attract customers, then add short promotional copy and a link that leads back to your site where you sell more expensive products and services.

3. Market While you Write. Make your 3-5 chapters titles (for short eBook) include a key word similar to your book title to make it searchable and distribute more copies..

4. Keep a marketing mindset as your book. What are questions your audience wants answered? Waht are 5 benefits of your book to them? Ali, it’s great to see this specific help for authors because they need it to succeed!

October 26, 2012 at 2:24 pm

Judy, thanks so much for your kind words, and also your excellent tips. It’s definitely a good plan to focus on the selling and marketing right through the writing process … makes things so much easier when you get to publication!

October 26, 2012 at 12:02 pm

Hi Ali – this is a scrumptious post that I will definitely be sharing, tweeting and Evernoting for future reference – I’m planning to write an eBook in the near future, so your tips will be extremely helpful.

I like the idea of starting at the end, with a clear idea of what you want the book to achieve – I can see the logic in that. Apart from helping structure the book, I suspect it might also boost your motivation, by having the finishing line in sight right from the start of the race.

Regarding the choice of subject, isn’t it also worth having a look at what people are actually buying – for example, by checking out Amazon’s best sellers? Otherwise, there’s a danger you could spend a lot of effort writing a book on a subject that people are interested in – but maybe not quite so keen that they’d be prepared to pay money for it. Just a thought.

Thanks very much for providing such actionable advice – great stuff,

October 26, 2012 at 2:26 pm

Thanks so much, Sue, both for your lovely comment and for sharing the post!

That’s a great point about subject — yes, definitely check out best sellers (whether that’s on Amazon or on blogs / websites in your niche — depends a bit what sort of audience you’re aiming for). Some topics are popular ones but they’re not necessarily ones people will pay for.

October 26, 2012 at 12:11 pm

Count me in! Provisional title: The Maximized You.

Thanks for providing the incentive and the tool :-] ~Beat

October 26, 2012 at 2:28 pm

Best of luck, Beat!

October 26, 2012 at 2:53 pm

What a FANTASTIC idea! I have been actually struggling with getting an eBook written this year on content and blog marketing so this may just be the motivation I need to finally get it done. Thanks for putting some fire under my behind and those of my fellow eBook writers!

– Tess

October 29, 2012 at 12:48 pm

Thanks Tess! Best of luck on getting your ebook done — content and blog marketing are definitely hot topics right now, so I’m sure you’ll find plenty of buyers. 🙂

October 26, 2012 at 3:10 pm

OMG I am sooo doing this!! Time is certainly going to be an issue, BUT if I can earn a smart phone during November (agreement with my hubs, lol – lost some points by getting stitches in my thumb last night, oops!!) and just block out a little time each day, it’s SO doable!! I have a great ebook idea for my audience and I’ve just set it off to the side. Mostly because I hadn’t gotten my niche down pat, and I just crystallized my plan this week, so I am READY. Thank you!!!!! I’m sooo looking forward to this! 😀

October 29, 2012 at 12:51 pm

Best of luck, Rose! And with the smart-phone-earning too..!

October 26, 2012 at 5:19 pm

I absolutely agree with this. Anyone can create a fully-functional and high quality e-book in a month. Everything you need is time and will. I especially like the part with a timer – absolutely one of the best tools for writers.

October 29, 2012 at 12:52 pm

Thanks Nadia! Yes, I’ve found timers hugely valuable … especially when I’m struggling to stay focused / motivated. It’s such a simple tip, but I guess the really effective ones often are. 🙂

October 26, 2012 at 8:20 pm

I highly recommend using this time and the momentum of the writing buzz to write an ebook. A group of us are going to be posting each week and coordinating our efforts on the #30days hashtag. See details and feel free to follow along at http://www.angengland.com/write-an-ebook-in-30-days-nanowrimo-alternative/

October 29, 2012 at 12:57 pm

Getting together with a group is a brilliant idea (and I’ll be keeping an eye on the hashtag) — best of luck to you and everyone else involved, Angela!

October 27, 2012 at 10:14 am

I’m going to follow ur November ebook guide to create my first book. I still have a few days to select my topic. One that deliverls or sways people’s desires to action!

October 29, 2012 at 12:58 pm

Good luck, Cathy! If you’re not yet decided on what to write about, I definitely recommend surveying your blog readers / Twitter followers / etc to see which topics they’d prefer.

October 27, 2012 at 9:21 pm

Look at all these comments! I’m very appreciative for this kick in the pants. I want to write a simple ebook along the lines of, “30 Days of Kale Smoothie Recipes,” or something. I only have 12 recipes so far, but maybe I can pad it out. Maybe “Two Weeks of Kale Smoothie Recipes,” and “Why Kale Smoothies Make You Feel Great!”

Or something. All I know is I love making them, and showing people how to make them, and I figure that will somehow shine through in anything I write about them.

Only thing I can’t decide is whether to give it away for free – as email list incentive – or charge for it! Thanks again for the motivation!

October 29, 2012 at 12:59 pm

Thanks Paul! If you don’t have an email list incentive yet, I’d recommend going for that initially — my subscriber count rocketed after I introduced an incentive. You could also go for a shortish ebook that way (2 weeks of recipes sounds perfect) and then write a more detailed ebook once you see how that one goes down. 🙂

October 28, 2012 at 6:03 am

Hi Ali, what a wonderful, high value post you have shared with us here!

The parts of your post that I like the most are the ones related to being productive and also being accountable to both yourself and your target audience in terms of really committing yourself to achieving your goals.

Personally, I can very passionately speak in favor of being productive as well as maintaining your focus on achieving your most important goals because one of the main reasons why I have wasted my last 7 and more years not being able to make money online and also not being able to live my life to the fullest is simply because I was paying my attention to the wrong things.

Having said that, I am glad to tell you that I have recently started my first blog ever in order to connect with my audience and write on topics that they are truly interested in based on some of the tips you have generously shared with us here.

Subsequently, having making my first sale of an ebook that would cost anywhere between $7 and $97 as my goal that I have also shared on the first post of my blog, I definitely look to invest part of the earned money in buying a countdown timer that will keep me even more focused as both an ebooks producer and an ambitious online entrepreneur.

Finally, any of your comments on my first ever post displayed on my first ever personal blog that I have recently created after a very painful, shocking and agonizing 7 year struggle of trying to make money online in order to reach and fully enjoy my ever desired dream lifestyle would be more than welcome and well appreciated.

Bruno Babic

October 29, 2012 at 1:03 pm

Thanks Bruno … and very best of luck with your blog and with your goal. For what it’s worth, I’d suggest shooting for the lower-priced end of the ebook market to begin with (think “sales funnel”) — so the $7 – $37 range. Hope it goes well!

October 28, 2012 at 11:29 am

I’m late commenting, but that’s because I’ve been mulling this over. I’m going to do it. (Notice the high confidence level there, yes? Hahahahaha.)

My one practical (not motivational) concern is that some sections will necessitate research that will bog me down during the writing phase. It *seems* like research should happen during the 2-day outline phase..but that’s a pretty compressed schedule already. I think, though, that I’ll restrict it to the outline stage (since research is a temptation to not-write, at least for me, and I really do have a good grip on my subject already).

For what comes up during writing, I think I’m going to tackle this with your advice to “mark the place somehow” with the exact question that I would have gone to look up & keep plowing ahead.

Thanks for the advice and motivation!

October 29, 2012 at 1:06 pm

Karen, that is tough — and when I made the outline, I decided to work on the (probably slightly unfair!) assumption that people would generally be writing about topics that they wouldn’t need to research in too much depth. (I always try to choose ebook topics that I already know a lot about, because I get bored quickly with research…)

I think the “mark the place” technique should work well for you — get the first draft down, and do any bits of fact-checking etc once the writing is pretty much done. Best of luck!

October 28, 2012 at 1:44 pm

Nice Strategy Ali, I write about blogging from last one and half year. Now I wanna publish my free ebook on wordpress customization and globalization. Now I am very motivated after reading this article. I’m happy to know, I can complete this dream in at-least 30-40 days. The most important part is “Start writing (Days 5–25)”. It need so much concentration and freshness also. Hope your strategy will also work for me.

October 29, 2012 at 1:07 pm

Thanks Priyank, glad this was motivating — and best of luck with your free ebook!

October 28, 2012 at 11:42 pm

Hi all, Great idea – I’m in. I was invited by a friend to participate in NaNoWriMo this year, and accepted. However, since then, I have been really feeling that what I need to write is an eBook for my website, rather than fiction. I had just recently decided that was what I was going to do anyway – complete the task in the spirit if not the letter of the NaNoWriMo law. I like the public commitment and knowing that others are doing it too. Thanks – good luck everyone!

October 29, 2012 at 1:09 pm

Good luck with the ebook, Brent! There are plenty of NaNo “rebels” out there, so you’ll be far from the only NaNo-er doing non-fiction. Hope you have a great November. 🙂

October 29, 2012 at 6:53 am

Great piece of advice. Nice Article. I was in a process for my first e-book and i found this article on the right time. You know what they say ‘if you are willing to do something and you are struggling for something, it starts coming near to you depending on the quality of your efforts.

October 29, 2012 at 1:10 pm

Thanks Hassann — and I’m so glad this was good timing for you. 🙂

October 29, 2012 at 8:13 am

I have been toying with the idea for a couple of years now of just sitting myself down and getting started on a few topics I have in mind for E-Books. I had never thought about the 30 minute timer before, that is an excellent idea! Not to mention I have an extremely bad habit of editing what I write as I go rather than using the draft type style. You’re mention of the mindmapping technique did bring back memories from years ago. I believe I may just sit down and get started…Thanks!

October 29, 2012 at 1:12 pm

Thanks Brad — and good luck! The timer trick works well for an awful lot of writers, so I hope it helps you out too. 🙂

November 4, 2012 at 1:09 pm

Thanks Ali, It already has to be honest with more than just writing, after reading this I also implemented the timer practice in my web development too. I always have a number of projects going at once and would often get caught up in one and fall behind in the others, using the time I have been able to work for a set time on all of them and work on all of them throughout the day. Production is up! 🙂

October 29, 2012 at 2:24 pm

I’ve been thinking I should get a paid product on my site for a while now, but have been pushing it to the back of my mind for “when I’ve got more time.” (Ha!) This sounds like exactly the kick in the pants I need to make this happen, now, because I will never “have more time,” but I COULD use some more passive income asap!

Look out in December for the first draft of “The Hustler’s Handbook: How to Stay Motivated, Stay Productive, and Stay Sane While Leading the Day Job/Dream Job Double Life.” (!!)

October 31, 2012 at 9:59 am

Have a great November, Cordelia — The Hustler’s Handbook sounds awesome. 🙂 And I’ve learnt (in both writing and life in general) that you often have to MAKE time rather than find it … sounds like you’re doing just that.

October 29, 2012 at 4:19 pm

I wrote a short autobiography few years pass, protecting it and having it registered in the Library of Congress. I had been looking for a publisher, when an administrator of “togetherweserved” suggested that I should put it in ebook. I will have to re-write it to remove certain entries that will not take away any idea or points of information. My current concern is time and eyesight,one eye and it is currently stable but somewhat diminished. I have the cover of the publication fixed in my mind, to posittively wet the mental appetite of every reader. Although I am a combat veteran of Vietnam, (Southeast Asia 1966,7,8,9,’70 and ’71) It has very little to do with such, beginning before and continuing afterwards, even to the very moment I type these words.

October 31, 2012 at 10:01 am

Gene, best of luck with publishing your autobiography in ebook format — I’m sure you’ll find it rewarding.

October 29, 2012 at 7:07 pm

I did write a short “how to” book (40-50 pages) many years ago and sold hard copies after advertising online. I am presently redoing the book as an Ebook for online sales and have been trying to figure the whole process out. Your information has been a big help. I am still going through your site and trying to implement the good suggestions. Thanks so much!

October 31, 2012 at 10:04 am

Thanks Fran, so glad this was helpful!

October 30, 2012 at 7:02 pm

Hi Ali — I write a blog for an online company which sells home decorations which are mostly handmade, mostly in South East Asia. I have free rein for many of the posts and have enjoyed coming up with topics of interest to me. I am also an interior designer who works on multiple projects in my “day job.” I would love to run with some of the ideas from my blog and turn them into an e-book but the premise means that the content is would need to be very photo-heavy. I would definitely need time to create and photograph the content. A couple of questions: is this challenge still going to work? Is your “Dummy” book relevant to photo books / interior design books? What is your recommendation? Thanks for this inspiring-and-motivating idea.

October 31, 2012 at 10:08 am

Catherine, that sounds like a wonderfully exciting project!

Not being a photographer myself, I’m not sure how easy it’d be to keep to the timescale above if you need to create as well as photograph the content. I suspect you’d need to allow more time — perhaps 60 days rather than 30.

The Dummies book covers general fiction and non-fiction, but because of the graphical limitations of major e-readers like the Kindle, I don’t go into detail on including photos. There is one chapter on iBooks Author (which allows for much more visual content, creating an ebook that iPad users can buy) — but I’d suggest purchasing a dedicated book on iBooks Author if you choose to go down that route. There’s an “iBooks Author For Dummies” which might well suit you — http://www.dummies.com/store/product/iBooks-Author-For-Dummies.productCd-111837679X.html

November 1, 2012 at 2:20 pm

Well this is timely because I’ve started writing my new eBook, “10-MInute B2B Marketing”. Looking forward to FINISHING it!

I’m writing the eBook as a series of blog posts at http://www.b2bmarketingportal.com so I can feel a sense of accomplishment instead of just having it on my hard drive 🙂

November 2, 2012 at 11:09 am

Best of luck, Jeff! I think serialising your ebook on your blog sounds like a great way to stay motivated. 🙂

November 2, 2012 at 6:58 pm

Thanks so much Ali for doing this! I gave myself this goal for the month of October and it was an epic fail. I am definitely going to get it down this month!! May the games begin!

November 5, 2012 at 12:50 pm

Best of luck this time round, Monique! Hope your November goes brilliantly. 🙂

November 3, 2012 at 8:09 am

OK! I make a public commitment to complete an eBook on Custom Club Fitting Facts based on my blog posts – by December 3!!

November 5, 2012 at 12:51 pm

Good for you, Tony! Hope it goes well. 🙂

November 4, 2012 at 6:47 am

I am in the process of writing an ebook over energy niche. Thanks for step by step process in writing an ebook. Timely and very informative. Could you let me know how to market our self made ebooks?

November 5, 2012 at 12:54 pm

Thanks, Richard, glad this was helpful! For advice on marketing ebooks, you might take a look at Copyblogger’s “Tutorials” section (in the sidebar — you’ll have to go right back up to the top of the page from here!) The “Landing Pages” and “Email Marketing” tutorials should be a great place to start. 🙂

November 7, 2012 at 5:59 am

The public commitment thing doesn’t work, it was scientifically proved that our brain feels like we are closer to the final goals if we brag about it to our fiends. I started writing an e-book with maths exercises but I am kinda lazy and I get distracted very easily. I think I will try the 30 days deadline, maybe I will be more motivated.

November 8, 2012 at 12:25 pm

Good luck, Thalinda! I think there’s a right way and a wrong way to do public commitment. For me, the right way is saying “I’m going to write my ebook draft this month” and perhaps “I’m going to write 1,000 words today” or similar on a regular basis. The wrong way is constantly talking about your project plans without actually committing to the action you’re going to take — that, for me, is where it becomes all too easy to talk without doing.

November 8, 2012 at 3:14 pm

I’m just too happy to come across this wonderful article on how to write your first ebook in 30 days, it sound great, is just speak to me directly because I’m preparing to write my first ebook, I have made lot of researched on the topic I’m going to cover, and I’m filled with much information now but how to arrange it and make an outline is just the problem, looking for where to start and how to start it. But I’m glad today because I have found an article that answer my question on how to start. I hope I can still meet up with it at the end of November, I want my ebook to get published and I know that coming to here to read this article is not by my doing, it is just God that sent me here. Thanks very much Ali Luke

November 9, 2012 at 9:46 am

Thanks so much, Anthony! Very best of luck with your ebook — I’m so glad you found this article at the right time for you. If you’ve already done the research, I’m sure you can make really good progress before the end of November (even if you still need to do a little bit of editing or finishing off next month). 🙂

November 19, 2012 at 1:27 pm

Reading this post i think that never ever give up .Write a good Quality post which will give you a best feedback like this post .

January 1, 2013 at 8:21 pm

Thanks for these tips! I have been mulling over the idea of an ebook but not sure where to start and don’t want to waste my time. I think planning it out like this will make it much more possible.

January 3, 2013 at 11:56 am

Thanks, Vicki! And best of luck with your ebook — I think a good plan is always the best place to start. 🙂

May 5, 2013 at 12:00 pm

I’ve come up with some good ideas for e-books over the years and for the first time, I’m taking action on my ideas and beginning to write. I was always a good writing in school and college and have always had good ideas. Writing an actual book, however, just seemed like a really intimidating task.

That being said, I’ve started writing and the ideas really flow onto paper at a fast rate if you are knowledgeable and passionate about your topic. I buy into the idea that you can write ebooks in 30 days and my experience has shown that to be entirely possible. Nice article, it was a good read.

July 11, 2013 at 9:58 pm

Great post Ali. I’m already a professional writer (newspaper, magazines, website copy, etc.) and my real challenge is knowing what platform/format to use. Which e-book creation platforms or methods do you recommend?

August 31, 2013 at 10:03 am

Thanks for the great advice – very motivating. I’m not quite ready to make the commitment in writing here and now…need a little more info. I’m a food blogger and my book will have lots of photographs as well as recipes that require specific formatting. Do you have any advice on what platform to use to create the book? Thanks, Lisa

September 13, 2013 at 11:20 pm

What a great post! I am definetly going to be participating in NaNoWriMo this year, thanks to discovering it with this post. I have recently come up with an ebook idea, which has only been written about in two other ebooks. Do you think that this is probably an unpopular subject or an undiscovered niche by ebook writers? Are there any ways of going about finding this out?

September 17, 2013 at 9:24 am

If I were you, Andy, I’d see what other resources exist online: are there blogs, YouTube videos, or similar? It so, it might simply be that it’s a fairly untapped niche in ebooks.

September 20, 2013 at 8:19 pm

Great blog! I am going to work on my e-book 🙂

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Guidelines For Self-Publishing Your Book

How To Write A Book In 30 Days

Writing a book within a month’s timeframe is a challenging but achievable goal. Here are some tips on how to write a book in 30 days but it will take strict time management and a lot of discipline.

Do your research before taking on the 30-day challenge. Have your research information at your finger tips.

As you do your research take note of your source material and document this. You will need to acknowledge the sources and then list them in your Bibliography at the end of your manuscript.  

If your book requires further research, set aside a specific time to do this. Avoid getting caught up in excessive research during your actual writing sessions.

Decide on the total word count for your book. Then work out how many words you need to write each day.

Make a decision on how long your book is going to be. If crafting a book for the first time consider writing a straightforward, short book. It could be just 10,000 words.

If typically a non-fiction book is 60,000 to 80,000 words and you want to write a book in 30 days then make it a short book.

An A4 page can easily fit 200 words so a 10,000-word book is 50 pages.

But if you factor in the size of the font, the physical size of the book – the trim size – adding illustrative matter, and the book’s layout it is possible that a 10,000-word book can be as long as 100 pages.

Set milestones

Decide when you plan to complete your manuscript and make a commitment to have it finished within a 30-day  timeframe.

To help you reach that deadline decide the length of your book and then a daily word count. It could be 500 or 1000 words a day.

For a 10,000 word manuscript if you produced 500 words a day your first draft could be completed in 20 days. By increasing your daily word count to 1000 words your first draft would be done in much less time.

A non-fiction book consists of an introduction, a number of chapters and a conclusion, so create an outline for your book.  

Create chapter headings. Think in terms of 10 chapter headings and allow 1000 words for each chapter. Break the manuscript down into even smaller units with sub-headings under each chapter heading.

Once you have a rough outline, set out the book’s content in the form of bullet points. Estimate the number of words you will need for each bullet point.  

So if you have 5 sub-headings in the form of bullet points each sub-heading could be 200 words. That will give you a 1000-word chapter.

Spend time outlining the content of your book. This will give you a clear structure and a direction to follow during the writing process.  

Writing Schedule 

Establish a daily writing schedule.   Decide the best time of day for you to write and stick to that time.

Consistency is key to completing your book on time so aim to write your quota of words each day. If you write approximately 1000 to 1500 words a day you should complete a first draft within a couple of weeks.

When I’m writing a book I write every morning seven days a week. Each writing session is about 3 hours and I do this each day before breakfast.

It is simply amazing how if you consistently do a quota of writing each day, how you can move forward exponentially. My daily word count goal was approximately 1500 words.

Once the planning has been done start writing the first draft. This first draft can be very rough.  

Embrace imperfection. Give yourself permission to write badly and trust that you can refine your work later. Refrain from editing your writing; that comes later.

Consider doing timed writing sprints. Set up a timer for a specific amount of time. This could be   25 minutes. Write as much as you can during that time and take short breaks between each sprint to recharge.

Minimise distractions. Put your phone away, and focus solely on your writing during your scheduled writing times.  

Once you’ve created that first very rough draft plan some time for editing, revising, and refining your manuscript. You have a couple of weeks to do this.

Writing a book in 30 days is an ambitious endeavour, so be kind to yourself and celebrate your progress along the way.  

The key is to stay focused, motivated and committed to the process.  

By maintaining a strict schedule there is then time each month for the rewriting and reworking of the manuscript.

These steps may seem very mechanical, even mathematical, but as an author who has produced many non-fiction books I find it an excellent method to achieve productivity. It is far less overwhelming to do your planning and then chunk the contents of your manuscript down into small bits.

Will this method work perfectly for you? Maybe, maybe not?  

The important take on this is to have a plan of action that will help you focus and provide you with direction.  

Sure, you may not be perfect and you may deviate at times from the plan. But this gives you a course to follow, and like a sailing boat, the sails can always be adjusted.

To learn more about writing and publishing your book access my free, live class. Get your free ticket by clicking the green button below.

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Write your book in 30 days.

Have you ever thought about publishing a book? If you’re a business owner, publishing a book can do wonders for your business. It can:

• Brand your Business
• Boost your Credibility and Authority
• Provide Value to Your Audience
• Increase Profits
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NaNoWriMo-How to Write a Novel in 30 Days Kindle Edition

• Print length 36 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publication date October 15, 2015
• File size 1217 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Not Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
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• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B016QIY0XW
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 15, 2015
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 1217 KB
• Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 36 pages
• #2,053 in Authorship
• #4,152 in Authorship Reference
• #11,090 in Fiction Writing Reference (Books)

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Susan palmquist.

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How ChatGPT Kicked Off an A.I. Arms Race

Even inside the company, the chatbot’s popularity has come as something of a shock.

Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, is in the rare position of trying to downplay a hit product. Credit... Ian C. Bates for The New York Times

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By Kevin Roose

• Feb. 3, 2023

One day in mid-November, workers at OpenAI got an unexpected assignment: Release a chatbot, fast.

The chatbot, an executive announced, would be known as “Chat with GPT-3.5,” and it would be made available free to the public. In two weeks.

The announcement confused some OpenAI employees. All year, the San Francisco artificial intelligence company had been working toward the release of GPT-4, a new A.I. model that was stunningly good at writing essays, solving complex coding problems and more. After months of testing and fine-tuning, GPT-4 was nearly ready. The plan was to release the model in early 2023, along with a few chatbots that would allow users to try it for themselves, according to three people with knowledge of the inner workings of OpenAI.

But OpenAI’s top executives had changed their minds. Some were worried that rival companies might upstage them by releasing their own A.I. chatbots before GPT-4, according to the people with knowledge of OpenAI. And putting something out quickly using an old model, they reasoned, could help them collect feedback to improve the new one.

So they decided to dust off and update an unreleased chatbot that used a souped-up version of GPT-3, the company’s previous language model, which came out in 2020.

Thirteen days later, ChatGPT was born.

In the months since its debut, ChatGPT (the name was, mercifully, shortened) has become a global phenomenon. Millions of people have used it to write poetry, build apps and conduct makeshift therapy sessions. It has been embraced (with mixed results ) by news publishers, marketing firms and business leaders. And it has set off a feeding frenzy of investors trying to get in on the next wave of the A.I. boom.

It has also caused controversy. Users have complained that ChatGPT is prone to giving biased or incorrect answers. Some A.I. researchers have accused OpenAI of recklessness. And school districts around the country, including New York City’s, have banned ChatGPT to try to prevent a flood of A.I.-generated homework.

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