How long does it take to write a nonfiction book? I’ve heard 10 days, 30 days…write a book in 7 days! It’s time we looked at the details. I’m going to break this down for you.
Lots of factors can influence the timeline to get a book published.
Publishing Stages
For traditional publishers, from acceptance of a book to published usually takes about 18 months. Many authors don’t want to wait that long, so they choose to self-publish.
Let’s break it down into stages. I’ll talk about three stages: planning, producing, and publishing.
Planning a Nonfiction Book
In planning, there are several factors to consider.
- Your Goal – you need to determine why you are writing this book and how it will fit into your life. If not, why take on such a large project? Let’s say you have that sorted going in.
- Your Ideal Reader – Before you write, you want to know exactly who your ideal reader is. If you run a business and you are writing to potential clients, this might be easy. If not, you will want to take time to research your ideal reader. I have seen this take one month or more. Depending on how in-depth you go with reader surveys, interviews, and other research methods.
- The Market – Market Research is about knowing your industry, genre, and similar books on the market. Many self-published authors skip this. We will put this at zero for them. For meticulous professionals who want to do the work, let’s say it takes another month.
- Content Research – Then you might need to do research. This really depends. I have seen books written with little to no research, and I have seen authors do detailed research. We will leave this out of our equation. If you are writing a book that requires a great deal of research, add that in for your project.
- A Book Outline – Finally, planners will want to create an outline based on their research. This shouldn’t take long if you have done all the tasks that lead up to this point. I always suggest creating an outline, leaving it for a few days and then reviewing it. Take a week with time away, or do it over a weekend. Your outline is fluid and might change, so you won’t spend much time on it.
Our planning is done. It can take a month, or it can take a year if you are doing in-depth research. Or you can skip the planning and jump into writing.
PLANNING: 1 MONTH
Producing a Nonfiction Book
Now that you are writing the book, you will want to get words on paper.
- Writing the Book – Here’s a thought. If you wrote 1000 words a day five days a week, you would write 5000 words per week. If you are writing a 50,000-word book, that first draft will take you 10 weeks.
- Editing the Book – Then you will need to revise and edit your book. I suggest walking away for a bit. The editing stage is tough to nail down. If you are doing all the work yourself, you could whip through it. You could do it in one month. If you hire professionals, then it will take longer. Let’s say that developmental editing takes a couple of months. And a line edit takes one month. That is three months of editing.
- Beta Readers – Then, you might want to send your book to beta readers. That will take another six weeks to get the book to them, give them time to read it, and receive the feedback.
Incorporating that feedback might take one month. If you have a lot to incorporate, you might go back and do another round of editing. Traditionally published books go through several rounds of editing. As a self-published author, how many rounds of editing you do is up to you. - Proofreading – The final stage of editing is proofreading. That can take two to three weeks.
Producing: 7 months
Publishing a Nonfiction Book
Your book is now ready for publishing.
- Cover Design – First, you need a cover – if you do it yourself, you can do it in one afternoon if you have the skills. Or you can pay someone and that will take about two weeks. If you are hiring it out, you will want to book the designer in advance if they are popular.
- Book Formatting – Next you need to format the interior. You can do that yourself if you have the skill, or you can send it to a professional. Professionals take about four weeks.
- Proof – Then, the manuscript is off to the distributor. If you are waiting for a proof to be mailed out to you, expect to wait up to two months for that. eBooks are faster, of course. This is for a paperback.
Publishing: 3.5 months
The Timeline
What I have listed are the basics and they vary in how long they take for each author. What I am offering is a timeline based on what I see in self-publishing.
- Planning: 1 month
- Producing: 7 months
- Publishing: 3.5 months
From idea to the proof in your hand is about 12 months.
Can't I Publish Faster?
Can you whip off a book faster than that? Yes, you can. Many authors do. Are they good quality? Some authors who really know what they are doing can publish high-quality books fast. They are professional authorpreneurs, often with a team working with them.
If this is your first book, give yourself some time to create something remarkable, rather than trying to run to the finish line. It isn’t a race.
If you are working on a book, download the Author Nation planning checklist to help you make your author journey easier and more successful.
Are you writing a book? Tell us about it in the comments.
– Keep writing
Melody Ann
Author Nation is your go-to resource for becoming a successful nonfiction author, from planning to promotion and everything in between. Download the resource for the stage you are in.