Day 2: Let’s Talk About Time

Let’s talk about time. Specifically, the time it takes to author a book.

This course is a year long, so you might be forgiven for thinking it’s going to take you a year to author your book. And I have collaborated with clients who had already spent years drafting their books when they came to me.

It’s not going to take that long. The last few modules of this course will talk you through the launch and marketing process. Before that you will have months of editing and revision. And before you begin writing, you will have done your research. 

In fact, the actual writing of your book should take around three months if you follow the system as I present it to you. If you’re aiming for a 90,000-word draft manuscript, that’s 1,000 words a day for three months. TAnd since you will already have your outline and notes in place, and won’t be editing at the same time, that shouldn’t take you more than an hour a day. o put that in perspective, 30,000-40,000 words would generally be considered short and punchy, 40,000-60,000 mid-range, and 60,000 words and over getting into the ‘lengthy’ category for nonfiction these days, especially if you have images, tables or other non-text elements to include.

Today, I want you to consider honestly whether you have the time, the determination, and the ability to commit one hour a day EVERY DAY to authoring your book. If not, how much time DO you have? How much time ARE you prepared to commit?

If you’re prepared to commit 30 minutes a day, you will come away with a shorter book. If you can’t commit to that, you may want to consider hiring some or all the following to help you with your book:

• A personal assistant to help with the Preparing to Write module
• A market researcher to complete the Research module
• A developmental editor to complete the Perfecting the Pitch and Outlining modules
• A ghost writer to complete the Telling stories, Citing Sources, and Connecting the Dots modules
• A line editor to complete the Editing for Content module
• A copyeditor to complete the Editing for Style module
• A book marketer to complete the Preparing to Launch, Launch, and Post Launch modules

Don’t worry, as we get to each part, we will include suggestions for where to find them and what to look for.

On top of that, almost everyone will need to hire a graphic designer to create a professional book cover and marketing materials.

Spend some time thinking about how much of the work, and which bits, you want to do yourself and how much you want to outsource. Tomorrow, we will look at the budgets you might need to outsource each of the modules, so that you can decide how best to spend your book budget.