The most important element you need to write a good book is time. Anyone can slap words on a page and upload it to Amazon. But to put something together people want to read, well, that is a different story altogether. But how long does it actually take?
For some, it can take as few as three or four months. For others, writing a book could take more than a year or two. That’s because everyone has varying amounts of time to produce a good book.
Some of us have full-time jobs and family to care for before we get to sit down at the computer and write.
An Estimation of Publishing Time
Let’s say you can commit to 2,000 words per day. If you’re trying to write an average-sized book, you’ll more than likely aim for 85,000 words. That means it will take about 43 days to finish the first draft.
Then, you’ll want to polish it up as best you can so that it reads well. This includes adding or removing scenes that just don’t work. The editing process can take quite a long time to finish, depending on the manuscript.
Now, let’s take into consideration the cover art. If you plan to do it yourself with something like Photoshop or Canva, it’ll add another day or two if you work on it non-stop. Yes, people will judge a book by its cover.
If you hire someone else to design the cover for you, it can take weeks (if not longer) to get a product back that you like. The actual design time varies on the professional, though.
If you put the hammer down and focus on your book, it’s possible to get one self-published within 90 days. But will it be a good book?
That depends on how well you can weave a comprehensive story while keeping the reader engaged.
Always keep in mind that a “good” book is subjective to the audience. What one person thinks is good, another might believe is terrible.
6 Ways to Write and Publish a Book Faster
You should never rush a book. That includes using AI to write it for you, which I am completely against for a variety of reasons. Nonetheless, there are things you can do to help you write it faster.
But as I said before, it all comes down to the amount of time you can put into the manuscript.
Set Daily Writing Goals and Deadlines
Goals and deadlines can make a world of difference helping you write a good book in less time. Of course, that also depends on how dedicated you are to those goals and deadlines.
That’s one of the highlights of the Reedsy Studio. You can set a deadline for when you want the first draft complete and it will break down how many words you need to write per day to reach that objective.
Using the goals and deadlines in Reedsy, I was able to finish the first draft of Kingmaker a couple of weeks early. My goal was to go beyond the daily word counts and see how much time I could shave off the end.
Don’t Fret on Perfection
Trying to make every single sentence perfect is going to slow you down. Sure, it might make for a better read, but perfection isn’t the goal when you’re writing the first draft. You polish up the story in the editing phase.
I’ve seen too many new authors agonize over trying to make sure it’s the best version from the jump. And while some authors can edit while writing without taking up too much time, most that I’ve seen can’t.
Focus on getting the story out of you first. You can worry about sprucing it up later. Besides, finishing the first draft will fill you with pride and accomplishment. It’ll help drive your effort for the rest of the journey.
Outline the Book
Outlining the book can save all kinds of time down the road. Yes, it’ll take a bit of time in the beginning to plot out everything in the book. But when you have an outline in front of you, there’s less chance of getting hit with writer’s block.
This is more of an optional method, really. Some authors out there can write by the seat of their pants (pantsers). But I’ve found having guideposts throughout the manuscript makes the process of writing the first draft so much easier and quicker.
There are all kinds of ways to outline a book. I’ll use one to three sentences within brackets of things I want in the scenes while others will plan out the book using sticky notes. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to outlining as long as it serves its purpose.
Use AutoCrit for Editing
Human editors can take a long time to get back to you. However, editing is a vital part of writing a good book, especially if you are new to publishing. If you want to save more time, AutoCrit is a great tool to help you polish up the story.
AutoCrit uses AI to scan through your text to find common problems based on real-world examples. Then, it’ll highlight those issues as reports that you can use to tighten up the manuscript. It does not write a single line for you.
It’s also worth mentioning that AutoCrit is far less expensive than a human editor. Still, humans are much better at understanding the style, nuance, and flow of a good story.
If you have the money and have a quick editor on hand, that would be better.
Consider Pre-Designed Cover Art
Cover art can take up a great deal of time depending on who you commission to create the piece. Sometimes, you can get a quick turnaround of some amazing artwork. Then again, you could be left holding the bag for months waiting on the designer.
If you want to write a book as quickly as possible, consider using pre-designed cover art. These are covers that artists have already put together. All they need is your title, author name, and any adjustments you’d like to see in the piece.
There are a lot of sites online where you can buy unique cover art for your book. For example, The Book Cover Designer has more than 14,000 pre-made designs covering a wide range of genres. The price range is all over the map, but the more attractive covers will cost more than $100.
Use the Grammarly Chrome Extension
If you use an online writing app like Reedsy, the Grammarly Chrome extension is a great addition. It works awesomely in Reedsy and will fix spelling errors as you type. That is unless you completely jack up a word so badly that even Grammarly has no idea what you wrote.
Grammarly will also provide tips and suggestions while you write, helping you tighten the manuscript as you work.
Keep in mind that Grammarly is not perfect – no automated editing system is. Don’t just fix something because an editor app suggested it. Always consider context and your writing style.
Nonetheless, I’ve found Grammarly to be a great tool when writing content of all kinds.
My Theoretical Timeline
If I were to push myself and write a book as quickly as possible, I’d commit to the following:
- Two 2-hour blocks of time for writing the first draft (sacrificing a blog post to write the book 4 hours per day)
- Write every day for 22 days (average of 4,000 words per day)
- Send it to beta readers while I edit every day for three weeks (2-hour time block)
- Buy a pre-made book cover ($150 cap)
- Spend one more week polishing it up (2-hour time block every day)
- Publish the book
Theoretically, I could write and publish a book in 50 days. Of course, that depends on a lot of factors. The biggest is the usage of time. Because I have so much on my plate, I’m not sure if I could dedicate four hours per day to writing a book.
I know I can easily write 4,000 words per day. But will I have the time to do so?
Perhaps I could do it if I write and schedule a month’s worth of blog posts ahead of time. That might make for an interesting writing challenge.
Will it be a good book? Again, that is subjective to the reader. Still, I put 100% of myself into everything I create. Not everything lands the same, and some pieces are just better than others simply because of the topic.
Never Rush a Work of Art
Your story should never be rushed. When you’re simply trying to get something out as quickly as possible, it tends to be of far less quality than if you were to take your time writing.
Don’t get me wrong, some people out there can crank out great books like machines on crack. But not everyone will instantly have a best seller if they only spend 50 days writing and editing the manuscript.
As the saying goes, “Anything worth doing, is worth doing well.” Sometimes, it takes time to get the story just right for your audience.
It’s better to build momentum for yourself. By this, I mean work at a good pace for yourself and gain the skills necessary to whip out a book people will want to read quickly.
Now, you’ll probably hear a lot of folks say they can slap out 10 or more books per year without using AI. The problem is that most of the books I’ve seen from some of those authors have had terrible reviews.
Never base your success to write a good book based on the performance of others. Your audience is unique as is your writing style. And there is a big difference between efficiency and cutting corners to cut down publishing times.
AI Is NOT the Answer
I am against using AI-generated text in your manuscript. If you’re using a bot to write your book, you’re not an author. You’re a prompt jockey.
People want to read your books because of your personality and style. Letting artificial intelligence fill in the blanks for you deprives your readers of what makes you a unique author.
Not to mention how the publishing community views AI as a form of fraud while using published works to drive machine learning. Most authors worth their salt view AI-generated material in a very dim light.
Now, there are logical and ethical reasons for using AI to some degree. For example, I use AI to crunch the numbers for my YouTube channel to give me ideas of what videos I should create next based on my statistics. Or, I’ll use the AI in AutoCrit to find problematic writing I might want to consider changing.
However, none of these platforms ever create a single line of text for me. I am the one who makes those changes if I feel they’re necessary.
I’d rather learn how to write better to develop a skill than have a program do it for me.
What Kind of Book Are You Writing?
Time is your number one enemy when it comes to writing a book as quickly as possible. If you have family and work, it’s an uphill battle to write and publish a good book in fewer than three months.
It’s possible you can produce a work of art in a couple of months. But it’s always better to go at a logical pace for yourself to create the best manuscript you can.
Too many people are hung up on instant gratification. They want things now, which is why AI is so popular today. But learning and growing will make you a far better writer in the end.
Don’t push something out for the sake of publishing. Work at a good pace for yourself and let the cards fall where they may.
- How to Write, Edit, and Publish a Decent Book for Free - December 2, 2024
- Breaking My Record of 95,393 Words in a Single Month - November 29, 2024
- How Long Does It Realy Take to Write a Good Book? - November 27, 2024