How to Write a Book
Many of us come up with a great idea for a book at least once in our lifetime and while most of us don’t act on the urge to write a book, the few that do are usually extremely determined to write and complete their masterpiece. The good news is that writing a book is easier than ever and for individual writers there are more opportunities to write and publish their book on their own than ever before. However, for those that would not only like to write a book, but make sure it reaches the marketplace and is sold and read by the masses, there are definitely lots of hurdles an author must overcome before a book created for a commercial enterprise can launch. Here are some tips.
The Idea
First off, you will need to write about something, so having an interesting idea for a book is a must. In most cases, authors choose to write about ideas or topics that they are interested in and not necessarily an idea that has broad appeal. Whether you are thinking about writing a novel, a book on traveling or a coffee table book full of photos the most important first step is to have a comprehensive idea and purpose.
Research
Whether you are writing a biography, novel or textbook, you will need to know about your topic. Books are a great way to exchange information and if your information is deficient or downright incorrect it can seriously damage the credibility of you and your book. Whatever you decide to write about, make sure you do research and know about your topic of interest.
Plan out the Writing Process
Before you start actually writing your book, make sure you plan out your writing process. Many books are never finished due to poor planning. If you are organized and committed to finishing your book, you will have a greater chance of success. When planning your book, figure out how and when you will research and write your book. For most authors a book can take from 3 months to several years to complete. However, if you know lots about your topic and have the time to write a little each day, you can easily finish a book between 6 to 12 months of time.
Create an Outline
A great strategy to use to plan out your writing is with an outline. An outline can help you keep on track and stay focused. Writing a book can become extremely complicated and many people write for years developing characters, learning how to fine tune plots and just generally honing their writing style. While a background in writing is extremely helpful, it is not mandatory. Many writers have made it big with their own style and with very little knowledge of the writing process.
Schedule Your Writing
Once you have your book planned out and have a very good idea of what you would like to write about, you should schedule your writing. You may choose to write for 2 hours a day or spend every waking moment on your book for the next 6 months. Writers can be a strange breed; some are extremely methodical and hide away for many months at a time crafting their creations. Others are able to carry on a normal life and write a few hours a day or when they feel motivated to do so. It is really up to your goals and your lifestyle.
Tools for Writing Your Book
Today, it is easier than ever to write a book. You can do it in your home, in a coffee shop or even from the beach. With laptop computers and fancy software, you can write your book from just about anywhere.
The tools you use to write your book depend on your style. For instance, many authors take advantage of the newest word processors created specifically for writing books. Others are fine with off the shelf products such as Microsoft Word and others are old fashioned, they choose to write their book on an old typewriter or even by hand.
Creating Drafts
Many authors don’t write their book just once, sometimes they can write their book ten times over in the form of drafts. Whether you are writing a novel or composing your own autobiography, you will normally go through a few drafts. Drafts are an extremely important process of writing a book. Sometimes it takes you a few times to put on paper something that you are happy with. Writing drafts helps you fine tune your book and allows you to try out an idea or character in a few different ways. How many drafts you decide to write is up to you, but each draft can be beneficial as long as it does not affect your writing style or your book’s progress.
The Editing Process
Every writer needs a great editor. Editors help an author keep on track, help develop a character or alert the author to a part of a sentence or chapter that just doesn’t work right. Editors need to be honest, as well as have a good, trusting relationship with a writer in order to maximize their expertise. Every great writer has had a good editor that has pushed them and motivated them to write a book showcasing their full potential.
Editors can be good friends, a wife or husband or paid consultants. Most professional editors can profoundly help an author express themselves and make their book well put together and extremely focused. Editors will usually read every word, correct grammar, help you fine tune sentences, help you develop the characters, the plot, the big climax, and whatever it takes to create a compelling, well-written book.
Creating a Final Draft
Once you and your editor feel that your book is approaching completion, you will probably want to start putting together a final draft. A final draft is pretty much a working copy of your book. While it doesn’t include any graphics, photos or cover designs or any of the legalese in the book, it is the working copy of your finished book.
Creating a final copy can be time consuming or take less than a week. Pretty much you are going through your drafts and finished chapters and including in your book the written materials that are the highest quality. So if you have 3 drafts of a specific scene in your novel, this is the time to make the decision on which draft should be included.
Collecting Your Photos, Graphics and Resources
Once you have all your written material for your book, you will want to add your photos, graphics and resources for the final draft. For instance, if you are writing a biography on Winston Churchill, you will want to include photos, maybe a diary entry or a newspaper headline that corresponds to his life. While these items are not yet included or formatted into the book, you will need to make sure that you have collected everything you will want to include in the book.
Formatting the Book
Formatting the book is where you lay out your book and start to create the finished copy. This can include deciding on typeface, the size of the book, where illustrations, photos or graphics will be placed, as well as adding your resources, a title page, table of contents, preface, etc.
Printing Your Book
Once everything is laid out, you should be ready to print your book. For those authors who do not have a publisher lined up you can now create a few samples of your book in order to send out to select publishers requesting that they pick up your book for sale. In the last ten years, it has become incredibly simple for almost anyone to write and publish their book on their own. There are companies that you can contact online which will accept your manuscript and print your book including photos, bind your book and ship it to you for less than $30 a copy. Many authors spend a few hundred dollars, print out their own book and ship these sample books to select publishers. If they wrote the book for themselves, friends or family they can easily print out a dozen or less books just for their personal, private use.