Writing Your Book
To write a book, choose one reader, plan the structure, set a daily word count you can keep and write a complete first draft before you revise anything. That is the whole method, and the rest of this guide shows you how to do each part. It is the first of five guides in our author resources, so when your draft is done you can move on to editing and publishing.
You do not need a degree, a perfect idea or a free year. You need a plan, a routine and a way to keep going when the middle gets hard. If you would rather have a professional write the draft with you, we cover that honestly near the end. Along the way you will find checklists to print, word count tables and plain answers to the questions new authors ask most often.
Most abandoned books fail before page one, because the writer never decided who the book is for or what it promises. A few decisions up front make every later choice easier, from what to cut to how to describe the book to a stranger.
Picture a single person who would love your book, then write for them. A mystery fan who reads on the train needs a different pace than a manager who skims chapters between meetings. Write a short description of this reader: what they already know, what they want and what is likely to stop them reading. Books for everyone tend to land with no one. A narrow reader also helps you decide what to leave out, which is half of good writing.
Try to state your book in a single sentence. For fiction, name the character, the goal and the obstacle. For nonfiction, name the reader, the problem and the change they will experience. For memoir, name the stretch of life and the question it answers. If the sentence will not come, your idea needs more thought, and that is much cheaper to learn now than at chapter twelve. Pin the sentence above your desk and check each chapter against it.
Fiction asks readers to feel something through invented events. Nonfiction asks them to learn something or solve a problem. Memoir asks them to understand one life through a shaped, true story, which is different from a full autobiography. Each type has its own conventions for length, structure and voice, and readers notice when those are ignored. Pick the type that serves your reader and your story, and read three or four recent books in it before you begin. Notice how long the chapters are, how the openings work and how much the author explains. Mark the passages that made you want to keep reading. You are not copying anyone, you are learning what readers of that type expect so you can meet those expectations or break them on purpose.
An outline is a map, not a contract. You can change it as you write, but a rough route stops you from wandering for 20,000 words and then discovering you have no book. Some writers outline in great detail and others sketch a page, and both can work. What matters is that you know where the book begins, where it ends and what each part is doing in between. Spend a day or two on it and you will save weeks later.
Start with the ending, then work backward. List the major turning points: the event that disrupts your character's world, the choices that make things worse, the lowest moment and the resolution. Many writers use a three-act shape, with roughly a quarter of the book setting up, half building conflict and a quarter resolving it. Then break each turning point into scenes, and give every scene a purpose, such as revealing something, raising the stakes or changing a relationship. If a scene does none of these, it probably does not belong. Keep the outline as a simple list or a set of index cards so you can move scenes around easily. Characters need attention too: write a short note on what each major character wants, what they fear and how they change by the end.
For nonfiction, write your central argument or promise at the top of the page. Then list the chapters in the order a reader needs them, each one answering a single question. Add the story, example or evidence you will use to prove each point. For memoir, choose the through-line first, such as recovery, a career or a family secret, then select scenes that serve it. You are not obliged to include everything that happened, only what moves the story you chose. Gather your research, notes and source documents in one folder, and name files clearly so you can find them quickly so you are not hunting for them mid-chapter. If your book relies on facts, quotes or dates, record where each one came from now. Tracing a statistic back through a messy draft is slow and frustrating, and a clear source list also makes fact-checking easier during editing.
Finishing a book is mostly a scheduling problem. Inspiration comes and goes, but a routine keeps pages arriving. Choose a time of day when you are least likely to be interrupted, protect it, and decide on a number you can hit on a bad day, not just a good one. A small target met every day beats a big one met twice a month. Early mornings, lunch breaks and weekend blocks all work, as long as the time is yours. Treat it like an appointment you do not cancel, because the habit matters more than any single session, and tell family or housemates when you will be unavailable.
Work out the math before you start, so the goal feels real. Here is how a 60,000-word draft looks at different daily targets.
| Words per writing day | Writing days to reach 60,000 words | If you write 5 days a week |
|---|---|---|
| 250 | 240 | About 48 weeks |
| 500 | 120 | About 24 weeks |
| 1,000 | 60 | About 12 weeks |
Pick a tool that gets out of your way. A plain word processor is enough, and dedicated writing software can help you rearrange chapters. Whatever you choose, back up your work in at least two places, and save a dated copy at the end of every writing week. Few things hurt like losing 30,000 words to a dead laptop. Cloud storage and an external drive together cost very little compared with the work they protect.
Tell one person what you are doing and when you will have a draft. Accountability works. A writing group, an online community or a friend who checks in on Fridays can be the difference between a book and a good intention. Choose people who encourage you to keep writing rather than to critique every page, since detailed critique works better after the draft is done. For help with grammar questions as you go, the Purdue Online Writing Lab is a free and reliable reference.
The first draft has one job: to exist. Think of it as clay on the table, not a sculpture. It does not need to be good, it needs to be finished, because you cannot improve pages that were never written. Even experienced authors describe their first drafts as messy, and that is normal. Follow these steps in order.
When you type the last sentence, stop. Save the file, back it up and rest. A break of a few weeks before revising gives you the distance to read your own work like a reader. During that pause, avoid sharing the whole draft widely. Feedback is most useful after you have revised once yourself, and our guide to editing your manuscript explains how to use it.
Everyone stalls, and the cause is usually one of three things. Naming the problem is half of fixing it, and each one has a practical remedy you can try today.
The opening is exciting and the ending is in sight, but the middle sags. Go back to your one-sentence promise and ask what the reader still wants to know. In fiction, raise the stakes or force a hard choice. In nonfiction, check that each chapter moves the reader forward rather than repeating the last. Sometimes the cure is to skip ahead and write a scene you are eager about, then return to the gap. Another useful trick is to ask what would happen if the opposite occurred, which often reveals a more interesting path.
If you keep rewriting the same page, your inner editor is too loud. Try a timer: write for twenty minutes with no deleting. Switch the screen off if you must. Lower your standards on purpose, and remind yourself that every published book began as an awkward first draft that someone revised. Separate writing and editing time so you are never doing both at once.
Life interrupts, and nobody writes every day for a year. If you miss a week, do not restart from page one. Reread your last two pages, set a tiny goal of 100 words and write them. Momentum returns faster than you expect. If a cause is structural, such as a plot problem you cannot solve, consider talking it through with a writing partner or a developmental editor instead of waiting for it to resolve itself. Sometimes a walk or a night's sleep does the job too, so do not underestimate rest.
Length depends on genre and audience, and publishers and readers have expectations. The ranges below are general guides rather than rules, and your project may sit outside them.
| Book type | Typical word count |
|---|---|
| Picture book (ages 2 to 6) | 500 to 1,000 words |
| Early reader (ages 5 to 8) | 1,000 to 10,000 words |
| Chapter book (ages 7 to 10) | 10,000 to 30,000 words |
| Middle grade (ages 8 to 12) | 25,000 to 50,000 words |
| Short ebook or business guide | 5,000 to 15,000 words |
| Adult nonfiction or memoir | Often 40,000 to 90,000 words |
| Adult novel | Often 60,000 to 100,000 words |
If you are writing for children, our page on children's book writing services goes into age-by-age detail. A first novel that runs far above or below the usual range for its genre can be harder to sell to agents and publishers, though self-published authors have more freedom. Write the book the story needs, then trim or expand during revision. If you are heading toward self-publishing, you can choose the length that serves your reader, but be honest about whether the extra pages add value or just bulk.
Nonfiction authors should also think about purpose. A short, focused book that solves one problem can serve a reader better than a long one that tries to cover everything, and it is easier to finish. Business authors often start with a short guide and expand later.
Chapter length matters too. Many readers like chapters they can finish in one sitting, so aim for consistent lengths unless the story has a reason to vary. Short chapters can speed up pacing, while longer ones suit reflective or complex material.
Word count and page count are not the same thing. A paperback page holds a different number of words depending on trim size, font and spacing, so do not guess page numbers until the book is formatted. Our book formatting services cover different binding options, each with its own page range.
Use this list before you call the draft done and move on to editing. Tick each item honestly, because a skipped item usually returns as a problem later.
You do not have to do this alone, and doing it alone is not always the best choice. Different kinds of help solve different problems, so match the help to the need.
With our ghostwriting services, you own 100 percent of the rights and are named sole author, and a signed NDA is required before work begins. Memoir and personal projects start from $4,900 and business or thought leadership books from $9,900, with a final fixed quote that depends on scope. Typical turnaround runs 8 to 14 weeks for a non-fiction book or memoir of 40,000 to 60,000 words and 12 to 18 weeks for a full-length novel. See our pricing page for details.
Whichever route you take, be wary of anyone who guarantees sales. The Authors Guild publishes guidance for authors reading service contracts, and it is worth reading before you sign anything. Ask who owns the finished manuscript, what happens if you are not happy and whether pricing is fixed in writing.
It is also fair to ask whether you need help at all. Plenty of authors write wonderful books alone, and the guide you are reading is meant to help you do exactly that. Hire help to save time or to fill a skill gap, not because you feel you must.
A fair way to decide is to ask three questions. Do I have the time? Do I have the skill the book needs? Do I want to build that skill myself? If the answer to all three is yes, keep writing. If the answer to any is no, there is a form of help that fits.
It depends on length and how much time you can give it. At 500 words per writing day, a 60,000-word draft takes about 120 writing days. Plan extra time for planning and revision, which often take as long as the first draft itself. Slower, steadier schedules are fine, because a book finished in a year is still a book.
It varies by genre. Picture books run 500 to 1,000 words, middle grade 25,000 to 50,000, and many adult novels and nonfiction books fall between 60,000 and 100,000. Check recent books in your genre, since expectations differ, and remember that a clear, well-edited shorter book beats a bloated longer one.
Choose a number you can hit on a bad day. Many writers aim for 300 to 1,000 words. Consistency matters more than size, because a small daily habit adds up faster than occasional marathons. If you miss a day, simply start again the next day without guilt.
No, but some planning helps. Even a one-page sketch of the beginning, ending and main turning points reduces the risk of a stalled middle. Outline as much as feels useful and revise the plan as you learn. Many writers who prefer to discover the story as they go still sketch the ending first.
Yes. Every author wrote a first book without experience. Read widely in your genre, write regularly, expect an awkward first draft and get feedback. Skill comes from finishing projects and revising them. Starting small, such as writing a short piece first, can also help build confidence.
Yes. Ghostwriters write books for clients who are then credited as the author. A clear written agreement should confirm who owns the rights, the schedule, the price and the number of revisions before work begins. Our team can walk you through how this works if you are curious.
Finishing a draft is a real achievement, and many people who start never get there. Celebrate it, then rest the manuscript. Resist the urge to publish immediately, because a book needs revision, editing and design before it is ready for readers. The next stage is revision, which turns a rough draft into a book readers will enjoy. Our guide to how to edit your manuscript shows you the order to work in, and the guide to how to publish a book explains what comes after that.
If you are still working out how to write a book of your own, or want a professional to carry some of the load, get a free consultation. Our team will listen to your idea and tell you plainly what it would take, without pressure or hidden fees. If you already have a draft, you can submit your manuscript for review. You can also explore our free author tools to plan your word count and schedule.
However you proceed, remember the core of how to write a book: know your reader, plan lightly, write every day you can and finish before you polish. Do that and you will have a draft worth editing.
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