How long does it take to write a book, you say? That’s a big question and one that’s going to have a big answer to it. The amount of time that it will take to write your book is directly correlated to the desired length, the genre of the book, and the amount of discipline that you’re willing to pour into writing!
Oftentimes, a book COULD be written much more quickly than it is. But the writer’s own process can cause delays, writer’s blip, and revision issues.
Many others say that it takes up to a year to write a book, but a common industry baseline is to allow for about 4 months to write your book.
At Made for Success, we’re a little more bold, as we offer a course that allows you to draft a book in a weekend. This streamlines the process and gets you writing as quickly as possible.
Ultimately, how long it takes to write a book depends on how much time you as the writer are willing to put into writing. If you’re the type to “not be in the mood” to write or commonly procrastinate your writing, it’s likely going to take much longer to write your book.
Guidelines for How long it takes to write a book
Below is some basic math that will show you about how long you expect it to take to write your book, based on word count as well as the premise of writing 500 words each day.
Books that are 30,000 – 50,000 Words
If your book is 30,000 to 50,000 words long, it will take you 60-100 days to finish your book.
Books that are 50,000 – 80,000 Words
If you are planning to write a book that’s around 50,000 – 80,000 words in length, it will take you 100-160 days to write the book
Books that are 80,000 – 100,000 Words
A 100,000 word book will take you about 200 days to write, if you stick with the pace of 500 words per day.
As you can see, it will usually take anywhere from two months to 7 months to write a book. And that’s if you are regimented about your 500 words a day! Think about how much slower it will be if you only write your 500 words every other day; it would take 4 to 14 months to write the book. You get the math.
How Long Does it Take to Write a Nonfiction Book?
Actually most of the time estimates above are based upon writing a nonfiction book. How long does it take to write a nonfiction book? Well, a smart alec-y answer is “A lot less time than writing a fiction book!”
Nonfiction is much more straightforward for most authors, as they can easily plan out the content that will be within the book using various book outlining techniques to speed the process up. We have a great guide on how to outline a nonfiction book, for those that need a jumpstart.
What is the average time it takes to write a book?
So you’re not sure how long your book needs to be, and how long you can expect it to take to write it. You’re just looking for the average time it takes to write a book. We get that; and we’re happy to help.
The average author who writes a book for the first time usually will spend around 4 months to a year writing their book. Drafting it and outlining it can be done in a weekend, but in terms of raw content output, you can expect it to take somewhere between 4 to 12 months.
Even though that may seem like an eternity to write a book, it can be accelerated to the degree that you’re committed to your writing.
For example, our time estimates up above showed how long it would take to write a book based on writing 500 words a day. But let’s look at what would happen if you doubled your output and only wrote for 5 days each week.
- 30,000 – 50,000 words: 1000 words 5 days per week = 1.5 months – 2.5 months
- 50,000 – 80,000 words: 1000 words 5 days per week = 2.5 months – 4 months
- 80,000 – 100,000 words: 1000 words 5 days per week = 4 months – 5 months
With this in mind, you can see why there’s a great argument to be made for the discipline that goes into writing. If you only write 250 words one week, you’d really be adding to the length of time it takes to write your book.
How long does it take to write a book in terms of pages?
Maybe you’re not thinking so much about word count in your book, but instead are trying to hit a certain page threshold. Here’s some quick math for you to go by, based on how many pages you’d like your book to be. Bear in mind that 1 “page” is usually around 300 words.
How long does it take to write a 100 page book?
With a 100 page book being around 30,000 words, and writing 1500 words per week, you would need 2 to 4 months to finish your book.
How long does it take to write a 200 page book?
A 200 page book is around 60,000 words, so you can expect it to be double the time as a 100 page book. Expect 4 to 8 months at your pace of 1500 words per week.
You can scale the math up from here.
It’s really important to note that if you have the right coaching and system, it will NOT take you nearly this long to write your book. Made for Success specializes in equipping authors with everything that they need for publishing success, and that includes having a manuscript written efficiently and effectively.
Best Tips for Writing a Book Quicker
Having a system is vital to being publishing a successful book. Here are a few tips to keep in the forefront of your mind when writing your first (or next) book.
- Have firm deadlines and stick to them
Deadlines don’t need to be an authoritarian bain of your existence. They’re meant to help you stay on track with hitting your goals. Set a realistic deadline for completing X number of words or pages.
- Set expectations with yourself that are honest
Honest, realistic expectations are going to be your best buddy here. If you know that you can’t commit to writing 1,000 words a day, then scale your goal down to a figure that is more feasible for you and your schedule.
- Treat yourself!
Treat yourself! You should be rewarded for your hard work. If you put in the right reward mechanisms, then you’ll always know there’s something good waiting for you when you finish your writing.
How long does it take to write a book and get it published
The actual amount of time it takes to write a book and get it published depends on so many more factors than just writing the book.
You’ll not only need to consider the writing process, but the editing, cover art, formatting, and marketing strategy. As a Seattle book publisher, Made for Success has decades of experience in helping authors cover all of their bases for a successful book publishing.
We hope you’ve found this helpful! Please always reach out to us if you have questions about writing your book or how to get published.