How to Write a Book in 60 Days or Less
Commitment
Whether you choose 60 days, 30 days or 6 months as your goal, all that matters is that you commit to it and implement a schedule that will get you there. Choose a realistic time frame that you can stick to. A little bit every day is better than trying to do too much and then giving up.
How to choose your time goal? Start by determining:
- How many hours per day can you devote to writing?
- How many pages can you write per hour?
Example: Let’s say you commit to 2 hours per day and you’re able to write 3 pages per hour. To write an average length book of 300 pages will take 50 days. ( 300 pages per book/6 pages per day= 50 days)
Process for Novel Writing
For writing a novel, I can recommend Randy Ingermanson’s free online manual titled: “Writing a Novel Using The Snowflake Method.” This is a concise guide that will get your novel written if you follow it. For a sneak peek, here are the 10 steps of the method. You will want to visit his site and print out the entire instructions which has detailed instructions for each of these steps. (don’t worry it’s not too long)
Snowflake Method for Writing a Novel: (summary from http://www.ingermanson.com/writing/snowflake.php)
- Take an hour and write a one-sentence summary of your story.
- Take another hour and expand that sentence to a full paragraph describing the story setup, major disasters, and ending of the book.
- Write a short summary sheet for each character.
- Take several hours and expand each sentence of your summary paragraph into a full paragraph. All but the last paragraph should end in a disaster. The final paragraph should tell how the book ends.
- Take a day or two and write up a one-page description of each major character and a half-page description of the other important characters.
- Now take a week and expand the one-page plot synopsis of the story to a four-page synopsis.
- Take another week and expand your character descriptions into full-fledged character charts detailing everything there is to know about each character.
- Prep for writing the first draft: make a list of all the scenes that you’ll need to turn the story into a novel using a spreadsheet.
- (Optional.)Switch back to your word processor and begin writing a narrative description of the story.
- At this point, just sit down and start pounding out the real first draft of the story.
Randy has other products that he sells, usually for very good prices relative to the value he is offering. If you are very motivated, his free manual is probably all you will need. If you need more help from him, it is available. Please do yourself a favor and visit his site. He has 2 great free monthly ezines that I subscribe to, one on novel writing and one on marketing your work.
Process for Non-Fiction (also fiction and screenplays)
Another great process resource that I can recommend is Nick Daw’s program “Write Any Book in Under 28 days” which gives you “everything you need to know to devise, write, edit and sell a complete book in the shortest possible time, be it fiction, non-fiction or even a screenplay.” This program does have a cost which depends on which package you choose. It is provided in the form of a CD-ROM which will run on any computer using Windows 95 or later.
He suggests that anyone can write a non-fiction book. We all have experiences that others would find valuable and could learn from such as:
- Getting Married
- Having a Baby
- Bringing Up Children
- Living With Teenagers
- Dealing With Bereavement
- Being A Student
- Shopping for Bargains
- Coping With Divorce
- Buying/Selling a House
- Making Your Own Clothes
- Designing a Garden
- Getting a Job
- Starting Your Own Business
- Managing Staff
- Managing Your Time
- Investing Your Money
- Study skills for students
- Improve your memory
- How to work your way through college
- Making the most of student life
- What is YOUR Life Experience you will write about?
If you click on the link it does have one of those cheesy sales pages, but never fear, the product is very good. I bought it and used it and found it to be very helpful.
Writing Tools
1) For me, my favorite tool is pen and paper. I’m able to think more freely when I write straight onto paper. So I certainly recommend using this method and then typing your work onto the computer, which can also be the first editing session. If you like typing directly, go for it. Use whatever method that works best for you.
2) Here is a free tool that I discovered for book writing. It is called yWriter. It is free story writing software and it is offered via free download (this link just brings you to the download page only). I have this tool and I like it very much.
Some of the Features of yWriter:
- Organise your novel using a ‘project’.
- Add files to the project, each containing a chapter.
- Add a summary to each file, showing the scenes in each chapter.
- Print out summary cards, showing the structure of your novel.
- Display the word count for every file in the project, along with a total.
- Saves a log file every day, showing words per file and the total. (Tracks your progress)
- Saves automatic backups at user-specified intervals.
- Allows multiple scenes within chapters
- Viewpoint character, goal, conflict and outcome fields for each scene.
- Storyboard view, a visual layout of your work.
- Re-order scenes within chapters.
- Move scenes from one chapter to another.
- Automatic chapter renumbering.
- FREE
3) Google Docs. I’ve talked about Google Docs before on my blog. I discovered it from Leo over at ZenHabits, a top notch productivity blog. Google Docs is a great online document application. It doesn’t have as many bells and whistles as MS Word, but it has everything the basic user needs!
The benefits to using Google Docs are:
- Online storage of your documents makes them completely portable. Access them from any computer.
- Copy/Pasting into blogging editors is smooth and clean, perfect formatting, unlike MS Word.
- It’s in my browser which is my main computer tool. No extra applications to open and slow me down.
- Online sharing and publishing of your document to the web.
4) Check out my previous post on writing your book via a blog.
Getting It Done
The simple answer:
- Schedule in your writing time and do it.
- Don’t start if you are starting other new major goals.
- Ask a friend if they will be your Goal Buddy Turn in your draft each week to this person. They don’t even have to read them, but this can help force you to get it done. (In turn you can help keep your Goal Buddy on track for one of their goals, i.e. “What exercise did you complete today?”
The longer answer: get a copy of “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. This is the ultimate book on productivity that is customizable to the system that works best for you.
Publishing Your Book
This topic is far too extensive to give all the information that you will need in one article. But I can recommend a world class book by a very successful self-published author. It is called “The Well Fed Self Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living” by Peter Bowerman. In this book, Peter covers self-publishing for both fiction and non-fiction writers.
How “The Well Fed Self Publisher” will help you:
- Develop a “marketing mindset� – minus the anxiety!
- Create a book that turns heads and grabs eyeballs
- Find tons of reviewers anxious to publicize your book
- Get the bookstore chains to come looking for you
- Build a cash-generating web site that works 24/7
- Minimize your dependence on fickle mainstream media
- Parlay one book into multiple income streams
- Separate the “Print-on-Demand� hype from reality
Peter is a freelance commercial writer who offers a free ezine for freelance writers. He is very successful speaker, consultant for writers, and self-published author. I have been learning from him for many years. He has two books on freelance writing, but you only need this updated one: “The Well-Fed Writer: Back for Seconds.” It gives you everything you need to know to make real money as a commercial freelance writer, the ultimate no gimmic Work-At-Home business!
Conclusion
It’s not easy to write a book, but if you are committed, have a plan, and persevere, over time you will have a book! One page a day will yield a 365 page book in one year! What are you waiting for?
Steps to take today:
- Commit your time
- Plan the book
- Write it day by day
- Celebrate!
Please share your comments, experiences, and tips on Writing a Book. All comments big and small are very welcomed!
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Pipe Smoking | May 23, 2007 | Reply
This is super huge post! Really a cool guide on how to write a book though.
I really wanted to write my own book but then I started a blog. In a lot of ways it’s just like a book
AgentSully | May 23, 2007 | Reply
Thanks, PS. I know, I’ve been working on a book too and it has taken back burner to this blog. The book will come later. Just a matter of priorities. Once the blog is a little more automatic, I’ll have time to work on it.
Ioannus de Verani | Jun 19, 2007 | Reply
Thanks so much for writing this post. You have helped motivate to work on my unfinished novel.
Geert | Jun 19, 2007 | Reply
Another good free writing software is Celtx :
http://www.celtx.com/
Dan BIrchall | Jun 19, 2007 | Reply
When you say “( 300 pages per day /6 pages per hour= 50 days)” I think what you really mean is “(300 pages / 6 pages per day = 50 days)”
garg | Jun 20, 2007 | Reply
Thank you
This can be applied to many things. I’ve written articles using this technique as well as computer programs and even created paintings.
1. Create a theme/idea
2. Rough it out
3. Refine
4. Repeat
Thanks!
A Tentative Personal Finance Blog | Jun 20, 2007 | Reply
I’m going to write an ebook.
agentsully | Jun 24, 2007 | Reply
Ioarnus - good luck finishing your novel!
Geert - thanks for that free link.
Dan - Yes, you’re right. I’ve fixed this. thanks!
Garg - Thanks for sharing!
Pers Fin Blog - let us all know when your ebook is complete and we’ll come over to check it out!
Leisa Watkins | Jul 5, 2007 | Reply
Interesting article. I am currently taking an TeleSeminar from a New York Times bestselling author who says that he edits his book on average at least 800 times, so I was a little skeptical when I read the title of your article. But the beauty of the system is that it gives people a deadline, and thus it gets done.
agentsully | Jul 7, 2007 | Reply
Leisa - thanks. you’re right that 60 days is a challenging timeframe, and you’re also right that having a deadline is what gets things done! It’s all about priorities and can you fit it in.
Thank you for visiting. Hope to see you here again!
Writing Course | Aug 30, 2007 | Reply
I’ve been sitting the course at http://www.writequickly.com/ from Nick Daws and it’s brilliant!
The writers circle at http://www.mywriterscircle.com/ contains many thousands who’ve sat the course and published books in under a month.
Highly recommend.
Writers Circle | Aug 30, 2007 | Reply
Sorry, I forgot to say that his site is about writing a book in 28 days or less…
Visitor404 | Oct 3, 2007 | Reply
I have visited your site 961-times
Jerad Kaliher | Oct 11, 2007 | Reply
I stumbled across this post back in June. It actually inspired me to begin blogging. I have always wanted to try to write and I figured that I should start with an informative topic and in a news style before I try my hand at fiction or a serious title.
Thank you for the great information, it makes a big difference.
agentsully | Oct 16, 2007 | Reply
Visitor 404 - wow. that’s a lot of visits! How can you tell it’s been that many times?
Jerad - so happy to hear that this post was helpful. Stay in touch!
suicidalsam | Nov 20, 2007 | Reply
Great tips. I never even imagine i would ever write a book but with your tips i think i can now.
ArchAngel | Nov 27, 2007 | Reply
Thank you
I just started putting pen to paper (followed by fingers to keyboard) and was wavering as to whether I was being a fool or not. You just gave me the kick I needed 
Phoenix Homes Guy | Jan 9, 2008 | Reply
Definitely wish I would have read this a year or so ago! I’ve got a few unfinished books and figured out why they’re still unfinished!! Thanks for the tips - the conclusion says it all.
tekstil | Jan 10, 2008 | Reply
i think, it is very hard to write a book even in 6 months
sam | Jan 11, 2008 | Reply
@ tekstil
it depends on the person actually, some learn quickly so the timeframe can differ from person to person. we can’t actually give a date, its all upto the person.
nice post btw, it would certainly be helpful for people who wanted take up writing.
Carol Denbow | Jan 13, 2008 | Reply
I’ve writen books in less than 2 months. But then there’s the editing, layout, etc. These things take time, especially if you are relying on an outside entity to complete this process for you.
The process of writing, publishing, and “selling” (the hardest part) can be especially frustrating to many upcoming authors. This may be why so many talented writers never see their books in print. It is also why I chose to write my third book, “A Book Inside, Writing, publishing, and selling your story.” (will be released in 2008).
I am always happy to offer advice to new writer’s. Feel free to e-mail me at cdenbow@plainandsimplebooks.com or visit my website at http://www.plainandsimplebooks.com
Divorce | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Lots of great info here. Very inspiring. Now to get to work turning my blog into an ebook.
Robert Eckert | Jan 27, 2008 | Reply
Excellent Blog!Very well designed and focused.
Jeff Deese, Sr. | Feb 3, 2008 | Reply
I’m thinking about writing a book. I appreciate reading your comments without it ending up to be some sells pitch.
Travis R. Thomas | Feb 4, 2008 | Reply
This is an excellent resource!
Very Sincerely,
Travis R. Thomas
http://www.InkProvoking.com
Michael Ashley | Feb 4, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for the great tips. I wanted to add FastPencil.com to your Writing Tools section. I created FastPencil.com to help authors write better. It’s like yWriter and Google Docs on Steroids… Let me know what you think: FastPencil.com - The fast, easy, organized way to write. Thanks, Michael Ashley
Pamela Williams | Feb 9, 2008 | Reply
Great information on writing a book in 60 days. Thank you for the tips!
Free eBooks | Feb 12, 2008 | Reply
Great post! One day I will write an ebook!
sing_anyway | Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
I am so glad I found this. I love that you are a mom and author, that is 1/2 of what I am so far!
I write all the time at home. My mother and husband just ganged up to ask me why I do not try to write a book. They basically dared me to.
I am glad to already find some rescourses out there, because all I do is pound on keys or wear down pencils, it will be nice to have a little help formatting it all.
Thank you!
Heidi | Feb 28, 2008 | Reply
Can you connect me with a writing “coach”.
thank you,
Heidi
agentsully | Mar 3, 2008 | Reply
@Heidi - try either the snowflake guy or the Nick Daws site. Either of them might have coaching programs available, although I’m not 100% sure.
agentsully | Mar 3, 2008 | Reply
@sing-anyway - thanks!
Wishing you tons of success!
dizi videolari | Mar 6, 2008 | Reply
this is impossible!!
inzoni | Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
hello everyone..
Hi agentsully …
I really appriciate good content when i see some … also i`m a:
- father of one boy
- married ten years ago
- blogger
- furniture sales man
i have bookmarked your site also
keep posting good content …
inzoni
Abbey | Mar 9, 2008 | Reply
I just wanted to point out that if you do use Google Docs to store your draft online, make sure to be careful of your login info being stolen. Gmail is known for security flaws and you should definitely back up your work somewhere else too, just in case.
yadotgninraelefil | Mar 11, 2008 | Reply
I’ve wrote half of my book this month and what really helped me was wearing that cafepress T-shirt with “I WANT TO WRITE A BOOK” written on it.
Lambert | Mar 17, 2008 | Reply
Wow! the main reason why i was browsing the web was to find an inspiring page like ours. I want to thank you for allowing me to see the other side of myself. A side that isnt afraid to write becuz others might ridicule me and etc..nah.! you gave me hope, you gave me a breath of life and finally you challenge me into writing again. I dont beleive that it was an accident that out of all these site’s online i found yours. Its a heaven sent message to fear not what your fixed mindset might imagine but explore your growing mindset into a journey that would make me smile for all eternity. Yes..I am back on my pen to the pad and isnt stopping becuz i feel a certain way nor get distracted becuz i want to be distracted.
Lambert | Mar 17, 2008 | Reply
Fear not the laughter of the minds of millions but rejoice in the writing of thousands. We tend to shy away from our goals due to Fear. We are afraid that people will not accept our abilities and therefore feel like we are a totally failure. However,. I see life not in the socially aceeptable consensus(reality).but in a growing and developing way.
New Age Books | Mar 18, 2008 | Reply
The best tip I can offer for pumping out a novel fast is to take some article writing work on a deadline, to stretch the muscles and raise the bar. My last novel took nearly three months, but a freelance assignment had me writing over 20,000 words just last week!
Floroskop | Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
Hello!
I think this try.
gadabout | Mar 20, 2008 | Reply
Thank you so much for this resource!!
agentsully | Mar 21, 2008 | Reply
@gadabout - glad you find it valuable!
agentsully | Mar 22, 2008 | Reply
Thanks New Age Books. That’s a really good point!
agentsully | Mar 22, 2008 | Reply
Thanks to everyone who has been visiting, reading, and commenting. Please let me know how things are going with your journey to write a book!
cameron | Mar 22, 2008 | Reply
I bookmarked this page. Thanks.
Nai | Mar 23, 2008 | Reply
Wow. You are the first person I know who has written something like this. It’s very comprehensive and useful. Now, if only I had the time, and the motivation.. sigh
Jayne | Mar 24, 2008 | Reply
Lambert, I totally agree with you. It’s the fear of ridicule that one’s writing will not be ‘worthy’ compared to other well-known authors. We forget that they, too, were once struggling, anxious and anonymous writers. Sites like these, and comments like yours, feed the inspiration in one’s soul to get up and get on with it. Good luck to everyone seeking inspiration from this site. I, too, have found it very worthwhile.
Jayne
agentsully | Mar 25, 2008 | Reply
@Jayne - Welcome! and thank you for sharing your thoughts! Hope to see you again soon!
J.Harry Thomas | Mar 29, 2008 | Reply
Thank you.
This is a fantastic site.It never ceases to amaze me how people are so willing to help others who have only been on the road for awhile.
More power to you!
Harry
Harry Potter | Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
Great post with many useful details.
I wish I could write a book!
DailySpends | Apr 16, 2008 | Reply
3 Times I tried to write an eBook. It’s really hard! Great tips though . . . and a great article . . . maybe I’ll give it another bash.
Tuna | Apr 17, 2008 | Reply
This site really helped me get started. I got some great ideas, on how to get this done. It was like a little push for me, this website was really helpful. THANKS!!!!
Allon | Apr 20, 2008 | Reply
Super post!
It will take commitment to complete the task of writing a novel.
I like the snowflake method of writing presented in your article.
Just stick with it because nothing can take the place of persistence!
agentsully | Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
@Allon - thanks! Wishing you the best of luck!!!
agentsully | Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
@Tuna -Yay! I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know! When your book is finished, please come back and let us know the title and where to buy it!
agentsully | Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
@DailySpends - give it another try!! And keep us updtated on your progress!!!