How long does it take to write a book? This is a question you might have asked yourself at some point in your life. If you’ve already written a book, you have an idea of how long it took you personally.
In this post, we’ll seek to give you a writing a book timeline that will help you understand what goes into the book writing process. Every author is unique in their approach, style, and writing pace. No matter where you are in your writing journey, we want to help you finish what you’ve started so you’re able to push that publish button.
How Long Does it Take to Write a Book?
Factors Affecting Writing Time
There are several key factors that influence how long it takes to write a book. Here are just a few to consider.
Book Length and Complexity – Your writing a book timeline is going to vary depending on how many pages your book ends up being. Will it be a short Kindle book under 100 pages? If so, there’s a good possibility you might finish in a matter of weeks. Is it a 500 page biography? Now you’re looking at years, especially if there’s complex research involved.
Writing Speed and Discipline – Each individual writer is going to vary in their writing speed. We’ve known people who have cranked out 10 or more short Kindle books in a year or less. No matter where you find yourself in the speed spectrum, the most important thing is to be consistent.
Staying consistent is going to require discipline. One of our favorite examples of writing discipline is a man named Anthony Trollope who was one of the most successful novelists of the Victorian era. Over the course of 35 years, he wrote 47 novels. He did all of this while working a demanding job as a post office inspector.
He committed 15 minutes of every workday hour to writing 250 words. This commitment could produce up to 10 pages of a novel each day. Trollope made the decision to turn off all distractions during those 15-minute segments, only hearing the ticking of his watch.
Research and Planning – Good writers are typically good readers. That doesn’t mean they are fast writers or fast readers. Every book you and I consume becomes inspiration for our own writing. We’re introduced to new ideas and thoughts that might find their way into our own books. Every book or article we read is a form of research for any writing we undertake. Becoming an expert or authority on a given topic requires significant time devoted to researching that topic.
Your writing a book timeline will also incorporate the planning process. Half the battle is getting organized in order to get into a writing flow. It’s important to look at our calendars and mark off chunks of time that will be devoted to our writing goals. It’s been said that failure to plan is planning to fail.
Typical Time Frames
- Novels – The average full-length novel is about 90,000 words which adds up to a 360 page book. This might take some authors like Stephen King around 3 months to write. For others, especially when tons of historical research is involved, it might take 3 years. Needless to say, it takes time to develop a fictional plot and its characters.
- Non-fiction – When we’re looking at non-fiction books, a general guideline is 100-250 pages in length which adds up to around 20,000-60,000 words. Memoirs can be over 500 pages which might add up to over 130,000 words. Something like this could certainly turn into a multi-year project.
- Shorter Books – We’ve written many devotional non-fiction books in the 75-100 page range. Each of these books has taken us 1-3 months to write depending on how consistent we are.
What are your individual circumstances? Do you have another full-time or part-time job? How much time are you able to devote to your writing each week? How many commitments are you currently juggling? Answers to questions like these will vary from person to person but should be considered when thinking about your writing a book timeline.
Tips for Efficient Writing
Your writing a book timeline can be expedited when you choose to make it a priority. It’s amazing what a little perseverance and discipline can do in making us efficient writers. The following are a few tips to help your writing move forward.
Set Clear Goals and Deadlines – Think back to all the jobs you’ve had or currently have. Chances are, your manager or supervisor has given you clear goals and deadlines that must be met. You and I take those deadlines seriously, don’t we?
In a similar way, we need to view our writing goals and deadlines seriously. If God has called you to write the book you are working on, He is your ultimate Supervisor. Paul writes these words to the Colossian church, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” (Colossians 3:23)
As Kingdom writers, we are now writing and working for the Lord. This call to write needs to be taken seriously each day we have the opportunity to do it.
An example of a writing goal might be to finish your introduction and chapter 1 exactly 2 weeks from today. The long term goal might be finishing your book 8 months from today. In order to achieve these goals, we need to create a writing schedule.
Create a Writing Schedule – When you think of a runner training for a marathon, it typically takes 12-16 weeks of consistent training in order to be ready for race day. Each day in the training schedule has a specific amount of mileage and a specific purpose behind it. There are no overnight success stories in long-distance running.
As writers, our books seem like a marathon. Over weeks, months, and years, we are building our writing endurance. Each day is a deposit into our writing fitness account. Having a specific writing schedule laid out over the course of months can go a long way in helping us finish our books.
Each person is going to be a little different in the kind of calendar or schedule they prefer but the important thing is having something in writing. For example, CJ likes to add writing sessions (usually 2 hours) to his phone calendar. Once that session is scheduled, it’s going to be a priority. Only an emergency or something more urgent will cause him to break that writing session appointment.
When we have a doctor’s appointment, we do our best to keep that appointment. If a friend invites us to go to coffee during that time, we politely respond, “I’m sorry, I have a doctor’s appointment at that time.” We can respond the exact same way without an ounce of guilt if we’ve already scheduled a writing session.
Whatever method you use to create a writing schedule, it MUST be the priority in your life. This might require a serious talk with your family in order for everyone to be on the same page. Your call to write for the Lord is worth it!
One of the many benefits we offer to our Christian Book Academy members are monthly Virtual Writing Retreats. These happen on a Friday and Saturday for 8 hours each day on Zoom. Participants have writing blocks before taking short breaks throughout each day. These retreats are a built in form of accountability and a great way to schedule a fun couple days of writing with other Kingdom writers.
Minimize Distractions – In asking the question, “How long does it take to write a book”, minimizing distractions will certainly be one of the key factors. Where do you normally get the most writing done? For CJ, he enjoys going to local coffee shops. For him, it’s a similar feeling to someone going to the office. He knows that once he sits down at a table with that coffee in hand, it’s time to put in a couple hours of productive writing. For Shelley, she’s most productive working from her home office. Each of us will be a little different in terms of where our sweet spot is.
It’s also a good idea to put away the phone or turn it off completely. Our smartphones can be one of the biggest distractions in our pursuit as Kingdom writers. We are already the most distracted culture to ever step foot on planet earth so it takes real intentionality to stay focused on our writing craft. By minimizing the possible distractions around us, we put ourselves in a position to succeed as writers. What are your biggest distractions and how do you plan to minimize them?
How long does it take to write a book? That answer is going to vary from person to person, but each of us can make daily decisions that help us achieve our writing goals sooner than we initially thought. Does life happen and throw us curveballs? Absolutely. At the same time, our books won’t write themselves. With God’s help, we can finish the books we started. God will then impact others for His glory.
Our writing a book timeline can be as long or short as we want it to be. Keep chipping away one hour at a time and celebrate those little victories along the way!
Resources for How Long Does it Take to Write a Book
- Christian Book Academy – An online community that helps Christian authors of all genres write words that outlive you and publish books that fulfill your calling. We have 15-minute writing challenges, virtual writing retreats, and progress pods that can help you move forward in your writing with clarity and confidence.
- Outline to Finishline Workshop – Discover the easiest system to get organized so you can take a step of faith and finally finish your first draft in 90 days.
- National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) – A great resource for fiction writers. The challenge is to write 50,000 words of a novel or a full novella (15,000-40,000 words) in 30 days
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