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Social media is full of people claiming they wrote a bestselling novel in just two weeks. Those viral stories give new authors terrible expectations. When your own book takes longer than a month, you immediately start to feel like you are failing.
Good writing is a slow process that requires heavy editing and long breaks. You need to ignore the internet gurus and look at how real publishing works. Having a clear and honest timeline protects you from burning out halfway through your first draft. Here is the actual schedule you should expect when you finally start writing.
The Average Book Writing Timeline
First-time writers will typically take from six months to one whole year before they finish their first draft. Of course, this assumes that you are taking your book writing seriously as a professional task and not just some casual weekend fun.
A normal business book or self-help book is typically written in about fifty thousand words. An ordinary fiction novel, on the other hand, is usually around eighty thousand words. With some dedicated hours per week, you should be able to accomplish all this within one year.
This period will cover the first draft of your manuscript only. The first draft is basically your attempt to tell yourself the story; hence, it is very likely to be a mess. Developing a book to its publication level requires much more than the writing of the first draft.
The complete journey from a blank page to a printed book often takes eighteen months to two years. Here is a realistic breakdown of the different writing stages for a standard publication.
- Outlining and initial topic research usually takes two to four weeks.
- Writing the actual rough draft takes six to twelve months.
- Taking a necessary break away from the manuscript takes two to four weeks.
- Self-editing and rewriting problem chapters takes two to three months.
- Professional editing and interior formatting take another two months.
If you understand these separate phases right now, you will not feel frustrated when your first draft is not immediately ready for the printer.
Planning Before You Write
A lot of young writers try to expedite the process by skipping the planning stage altogether. After all, there is no point in wasting two weeks outlining when you could be typing. This is a huge mistake that you should avoid at all costs, as skipping the planning stage will increase your writing time from 2x to 3x.
Without a planning stage, you will inevitably run out of ideas. You will write chapter four and wonder what happens in chapter five. Weeks will go by with you staring blankly into the computer.
An outline serves as a road map for the whole process. It lets you know what information should be included in each separate part. When you sit down at your computer, you never have to waste energy deciding what to write. You just look at your outline and follow the instructions you already created for yourself. Spending a few weeks planning your book will easily save you three months of confused writing later.
The Math Behind Your Daily Word Count
The ultimate secret in the publishing business is simply mathematics. It does not require any form of inspirational epiphany. All that is required is that you figure out how many words you need to write in a day. Your ultimate schedule will depend on how many words you are able to churn out in one single sitting.
Consider that you are working on a regular book of sixty thousand words. You would wish to complete the initial draft within six months. If you divide 60,000 by 180, the total will be 330 words. That is fewer than a page of work. Almost any person can easily manage to write one page a day.
The problem is that most people refuse to write consistently. They skip writing for two whole weeks and then try to type ten pages on a Sunday afternoon. This binge writing method almost never works. It creates massive stress and completely ruins the creative flow of the book. The authors who finish their books quickly write a tiny bit every single day without fail.
Here are a few common daily goals and how they affect your timeline.
- Writing two hundred words a day means a draft takes about ten months.
- Writing five hundred words a day means a draft takes about four months.
- Writing one thousand words a day means a draft takes about two months.
You just need to pick a daily number that fits your actual schedule. Do not lie to yourself. If you only have thirty free minutes a day, aim for two hundred words and be happy with that steady progress.
The Hidden Phases of Publishing
Writing the actual words is only the first part of the publishing journey. New writers get very disappointed with themselves because they do not realize that completing a draft does not necessarily mean finishing a book. It is important to prepare yourself psychologically for the editing and production process, which takes quite a lot of time.
Once you finish your rough draft, you actually need to stop writing. The manuscript needs to be put into a drawer and ignored for at least one month. This way, you can rest, and when you finally read your book again, you will look at it from the point of view of a reader.
After your own personal revisions, you have to hand the book over to a professional editor. A good editor will take several weeks to read your manuscript carefully. They will send it back covered in red ink and suggestions for improvement. You will then spend another month fixing those exact issues.
Finally, you have the actual production phase. This includes cover design and interior formatting.
- A professional cover designer needs two to four weeks to create a great visual concept.
- An interior formatter needs a week to make the text look perfect for commercial printing.
- Writing a strong book description and setting up your online store takes a few extra days.
Ghostwriting vs Writing It Yourself
Not everyone can afford to spend six months or a whole year on writing a book. Perhaps you’re a business owner or a corporate executive who works 80 hours a week. You know a published book would significantly boost your career, but you physically cannot find the time to write one page a day.
This is exactly why the professional ghostwriting industry exists. Hiring a ghostwriter completely changes the traditional publishing timeline. You do not have to struggle with daily word counts or structural revisions. The writer does all the heavy lifting for you.
When you hire a dedicated writing team, the process becomes incredibly efficient. All you have to do is spend a couple of hours talking about your ideas over the phone. Your writer will take all these recordings and transform them into well-written chapters.
Professional ghostwriters can produce a book within three to five months. They work much faster than an inexperienced writer since writing is their full-time job. They already know how to structure chapters and maintain a consistent tone.
You still get total creative control over the project from day one.
- You approve the detailed outline before any heavy writing begins.
- You review every single drafted chapter and request direct changes.
- You own all the legal publishing rights, and your name goes on the final cover.
Hiring a professional team is the absolute best way to cut your publishing timeline in half without sacrificing any quality.
Wrap Up
Writing a book is basically an endurance test. The authors who succeed are not necessarily the fastest typers in the world. They are simply the ones who show up consistently and stick to their chosen timeline. All you need to do is write at a pace that doesn’t leave you totally drained. But if you don’t want any stress at all, then you can always hire a writer and let them do it all. Mczell Book Writing specializes in turning raw notes into polished books without wasting your time. Reach out to our team today to get your manuscript started.
