How to write a book in a week

Nerd blog

Jul 5

Ten steps to launch your book in one week.

Writing a book is difficult. Having it edited, designed, and uploaded with professional quality is even more so. Doing it in a week is implausible, but not impossible!

Photo by Pereanu Sebastian on Unsplash — Photo by Pereanu Sebastian on Unsplash

If you are reading this article, you are either a procrastinator, a bit cracked, a genius, or cleaning up someone else’s mess. Regardless of your reason, you are here, so we will get right to the point.

1) Get an editor

Get your editor on board. Yes, you need an editor.

If you need a book cover, call your graphic designer right after you call your editor. You may pay a premium for a rush job, but it’s worth it for a professional look, especially if your book will be printed.

2) Make the time

Clear your schedule — you don’t have time for anything else this week. Go to your day job if you have to, but plan on food delivery or frozen pizza (not literally, but you get the idea) and don’t let your friends or family distract you. If this book is important to you, let them know. Let them support you. But don’t let them convince you that you can go out tonight and work extra hard tomorrow to make up for it. It rarely works out. Besides, you can go out next week instead.

3) Pick a topic

Identify your topic. Your real topic. Writers often have one book in mind but another idea takes over and the book that emerges is completely different from the one they set out to write. That’s a luxury of time. You don’t have time. Dig deep. What is the primary point you want to address? One point. Not three. One. If you dilute your focus, you will have a mess. You can always write another book later.

Not sure what you really want to write? Ask yourself why. Why does [X] matter? Answer. Then ask, why does [answer] matter? Do this over and over until you get to the root (basic root-cause analysis). There’s your book.

Hint: this works in just about every decision, issue, discussion, problem, which is why every business/life coach uses this technique. Don’t underestimate its value.

Example: in the book How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking, the author, Jordan Ellenberg, shares many examples of the beauty of math, but he has one primary topic: how you can use math to not be wrong. Every example comes back to that point.

You believe me now? Great. Still not sure? Let us help.

Now check your topic. Make sure it is searchable, needed, and relatable.

Searchable because you need to be found. If your point is ocean life is being decimated by poor fishing practices and pollution, you want to use a specific topic like human effect on ocean life. This is a searchable topic and of interest to many readers whether they agree with the evidence or not.

Needed because science has a PR problem. Science is fantastic and fascinating and scientists are incredible and incredibly flawed. The public at large has a distrust of both born from many sources (not just conspiracy peddlers, annoying politicians, or celebrity spokespersons). And much of the distrust is earned — think water safety, Chernobyl, margarine vs butter, surgical mesh, the brontosaurus debacle, miasma theory, you get the point. Frankly, scientists have gotten it wrong many times. You can be part of the fix if you use rigorous methodology and add value to the conversation. Here’s the easy way to know if your topic is needed. Does your topic matter to you? If yes, then it is needed. Just be accurate in your representation and don’t overemphasize your point by cherry-picking or exaggeration just to get sales. Be part of the solution.

Relatable because you need people to read it. If your book is for high-tech industry leaders, write for and relate to them. If it’s for the general public, write for them. Not sure who your target demographic is? Let’s find out. You can’t write to everyone because when you write, draw, paint, create, dance, for everyone, you do it for no one. You have to be specific. Be a micro-influencer. This way you can write your book for your audience and use examples that work for them.

4) Start. Now.

I don’t care where you start. If the conclusion is rattling around nagging at your brain, start with the conclusion. Do you need a more organized approach? Create a complete outline of your book and fill in the gaps. Just start. Don’t expect to create a work of genius on your first pass. Very few do, most don’t. It’s ok. It’s going to be ugly and messy. Set your expectations low, write your best, and don’t beat yourself up. That’s what your editor is for :).

It’s likely you will re-write or completely scrap much of what you write. That’s ok.

“Every minute I spend writing is valuable, even if it doesn’t end up in the book.”
— Lisa Mangum

It’s difficult to pinpoint a good word-count for a book when I don’t know what your book is about, so my best advice for word count is write as many words as it takes to get the point across without being redundant or boring, then cut more out with your editor’s help.

Don’t get hung up on the title. It doesn’t matter how amazing your title is if the rest of the book is garbage. Seriously, don’t worry about the title. It will come.

5) One chapter at a time

You can’t expect your editor to edit your 60,000-word book on deadline day. As you write each chapter, send it off to be edited.

If you feel two chapters need to be linked in a specific way, let your editor know. If the chapters are closely related, they may really be one chapter disguised as two. More chapters does not a good book make, especially if they are redundant or repetitive (see what I did there). And two chapters closely related might need to be combined into one chapter. When the second one really completes the first.

Hint: keep everything you write saved in your book folder, don’t delete them. Ever. You never know.

6) Put the book together

Each chapter is now written, edited, revised, edited, revised, and proofread. Now it’s time to put them in order and add the tie-in elements for better flow. Make sure you use the correct versions of each part of your book. Your editor is invaluable here.

Hint: as delinquent savants, we gave up versioning books for collaborative writing using shareable programs. We can definitely nerd out about this if you ever want to hear why collaborating is better than versioning for quality.

7) Don’t forget credit

Acknowledge your team. We always negotiate authorship at the beginning of our projects, but it’s important to stick to the plan when the project is done.

There’s room on the copyright page to identify your editor, graphic designer, and cover artist. Give them some credit and you’ll get free publicity when they rave about your project to all their friends!

Giving credit is easy, and good karma!

8) Clean IT up

Self-publishing sites have specific requirements for using their platform. Formatting can be quick if you have a simple book with copy only — there are tutorials on how to do this if you want to try it yourself, or you can get help. Once you add extras (like pictures, text boxes, unique characters), you should consider getting a graphic designer or professional formatter who knows how to convert the photos to be ebook friendly.

9) Upload

Upload your book to whatever hosting site you choose. There are many options. Google it. (Sorry Google, you are a verb and a noun whether you like it or not.) Some hosting sites charge a monthly fee, others take a percentage of each sale. You have to decide what’s best for you.

Yup, there are probably things you should have changed. Shoot, that one line is stuck in your head and you wish you had fit it in somewhere. Did you fix that one typo? At some point you have to stop. You can edit and revise a book to death if you aren’t careful. At some point your book has turned 18 and is ready to live its own life.

Press the upload button and watch your manuscript go out to the aether.

10) Reflect & relax

Yes, this is a step. An important one. In all things, savor accomplishment when it happens.

You could stress over your book if you really want to, but I recommend going for a walk instead. Enjoy it. You can stress more when the reviews come in :).