How to Write a Book (in Seven Steps)

How to Write a Book: In Seven Steps

It starts with a single, priceless treasure: Clarity.

It ends with a single, priceless outcome: Your book.

In the middle: Magic.

And by “magic” I mean: Proven Process + Expert Guidance.

There’s a reason I guarantee that all of my full program clients will produce a book they’re proud of. Because the magic works.

The spell that unlocks the magic? These seven steps.

Step One: Clarity

To avoid overwhelm, distractions, and wasted effort, ground yourself from the very beginning in the three W’s:

• Who you are writing for

• What you are writing

• Why you are writing it

In my Clarity workshop, I help authors craft a one-sentence statement (the foundation statement) that becomes the through line for the rest of the work. Having seen the power that clarity brings to the work, I recommend every author begin by establishing a foundation statement for themselves before beginning.

You know you’ve achieved clarity for your book when you feel a moment of “aha!”–a deep breath, chills, sometimes even tears.

Now print that statement and post it where you can see it every day when you sit down to work.

Step Two: The Outline

With your foundation statement firmly in hand, you can begin to know what belongs in your book and what doesn’t.

From that centerpoint, you can group related concepts and then organize them into an order that makes sense for your readers. 

This becomes your outline. It’s not a straitjacket. It will grow and shift in the course of writing. That’s okay.

A working outline is a priceless tool to guide you through the writing process. You’ll know you’ve gotten this right when you feel a sense of clear direction and motivation to get started.

Step Three: The Writing Plan

Notice that we are three steps in and you haven’t even written the first word of your book!

Grounded action is one of my core values, and the writing process I teach reflects that. When you slow down to plan your work, you make it easier on yourself and guarantee a better result.

So stick with me here.

Once you have your foundation statement and your working outline, time to figure out how you’re going to do the thing. That’s your writing plan. 

Ask yourself:

• How does your brain work? Do you work best in long sessions, short sessions, frequent sessions, infrequent sessions? Best in the morning, afternoon, evening, caffeine-fueled late nights? Take stock and plan to work WITH your flow, not against it.

• What does your schedule look like and where can you fit writing sessions in effectively? Authors in my program have worked with all kinds of plans–some find it easiest to do it first thing in the morning for one to two hours every weekday; some block out time every weekend in larger chunks; others find it best to take a whole week off and just knock it all out at once (maybe in Mexico–new places spark new ideas). One author asked me to text writing prompts every morning and they worked from those when the spirit hit them. The key here is how YOU work and when YOU can fit it in.

• How long is it going to take? Most of our authors punch out a first draft in about five weeks, working between five and ten hours a week. This is a pretty good average to aim for if you’ve got a good coach on board to help you clear blocks and stay on target. Otherwise, give yourself a little more time, but try to keep it under 90 days for a first draft, and under 5-10 hours per week to prevent burnout.

Based on the above, decide what blocks of time you’re going to work, and put them in your calendar. This is your writing plan.

You’ll know your writing plan is right when you feel confident in your readiness to take action, and you know exactly when, where, and how you’ll go about it.

Step Four: The First Draft

Ready? It’s time to put actual words in an actual document.

Scared? That’s okay. You’ve got this.

First job is to simply get what’s in your head out of your head. Don’t worry about perfection. That’ll come later. Check that foundation statement. Review your outline. Work the plan.

Remember these keys:

• Focus on getting that first draft down, not perfect.

• Use your working outline to guide your process.

• Each day, choose something to work on from your outline, and work on it. You do not have to work in order.

• Follow your joy. Don’t try to force yourself through the hard bits. Each session, work on the part of your book that sounds fun and enticing. Use your dopamine production center to motivate you forward!

• Leave yourself bread crumbs - notes within the draft or a separate location to remind you where you left off, and what you want to work on next.

• Don’t judge yourself. Just get the words down.

Hire a book coach to guide you through this process. A great book coach will help you clear blocks, avoid overwhelm, and stay in the flow to get that first draft complete.

You’ll know you’re done when you have a messy, magical, wonderful, awful first draft in your hand. Print it out, even though it’s a hot mess.

Step Five: Developmental Review, Revisions, Editing

You have GOT to get some expert eyes on your draft at this point. That’s where a  great developmental editor comes in.

You need someone to look at the hot mess you have dumped on the page and see the beautiful book that is trying to be born through you. This person, if they’re good and they’re doing their job, will provide visionary, structural, and storytelling insights and feedback to help you shape the mess into a gorgeous manuscript.

Expect to do at least two rounds of developmental editing, followed by additional editorial review at closer and closer magnification.

The end result will be a manuscript that claims your voice, and manifests your vision.

You’ll know you’ve done it when you feel an enormous sense of pride in your accomplishment.

Step Six: Publish that Baby

Oh, did you think the hard work was done? Not quite! Before you hold the book in your hands, you’ve got to get a copyeditor to tighten everything up, a proofreader to make sure every comma is in place, a cover artist, someone to format and design the interior, purchase your ISBNs, and … etc.

Or, if you’re going the traditional publishing route, your publisher will handle a lot of this. But you’ll pay for it in the form of lost artistic control and ownership. 

Either way, once you’ve got that manuscript complete, you’ve got to get it into the world.

Hiring someone to help guide you through this process can be a life saver.

You’ll know you’ve done it… well, when you’re holding that baby in your hand!

Step Seven: Reach Your People

Now that it’s complete (and, realistically, starting long before it actually hits bookshelves), you want to get your book to as many of the right people as you can.

Your foundation statement (remember step one?) is still your guiding star here. It tells you who you want to reach and why. And that’s the foundation of everything.

You’ll want to develop a plan for leveraging your existing network as well as expanding it via social media, email, and other means. You can do this yourself, or hire a book launch strategist to help you develop a 90-day (and beyond) attraction plan.

You’ll know you’re getting this right when the right people are finding you and connecting with your book and your work.

Did any of these steps surprise you? Inspire you? Is it finally time for you to finally turn your magic into a book?