How Long Does It Take to Write a Book?

Many people feel like they have a book in them -- if only they had the time to write. Yet plenty of busy people write books. So how do they manage, or more to the point, how can you?

Consider first what you imagine it would be like to write a book. 

Debunking the Myth of the Writer’s Life 

Many people imagine an author’s life to be something like this: 

You wake up, make coffee, and write (with no distractions from kids, pets, spouses, or bosses.) Some hours later, you have lunch, get some exercise, perhaps teach a class, and post on social media. Later, you enjoy dinner with fascinating company. Then you read from the stack of books on your bedside table and do the same thing the next day.

It sounds like a great life—a fantasy even! And for most people, it is. 

The reality is otherwise: The media income for authors was $6,080, according to the Authors Guild’s 2018 Author Income Survey, the largest survey of writing-related earnings by American authors.

So, clearly, most people who write books also have a day job. And this isn’t just a recent phenomenon.

Wallace Stevens was an executive for an insurance company. William Carlos Williams was a doctor. And Toni Morrison, for many years, was an editor and single mom who got up to write before dawn. 

In other words, most people who write books make it happen – not because they’re flush with money or time but because they feel driven to get their book into the world. (See 5 Good Reasons)

So, how much time does it take? 

The Time It Takes to Write a Book

I don’t want to suggest that writing a book isn’t a big commitment. It is. And you need to know your topic well if you want to write efficiently. But just as there are myths about the writer’s life, there are myths about what it takes to finish a book. 

Consider these three data points: 

·       The average nonfiction book today is approximately 200 pages, which equals about 50,000 words. 

·       The number of words someone can write in an hour varies widely. For example, many professionals say they can write 1,000 words an hour. But let’s say you can write 500 words (or two pages) an hour. 

·       At that rate, how many days would it take before you get to 50,000 words or 200 pages? 100 days. Or about three months. 

Now, of course, that doesn’t mean all those 50,000 words would be perfect! 

So, you would need to plan for some time on the backend for rewriting and editing. And importantly, you would need to plan for time on the front end for planning. 

But even if you gave yourself six weeks of preparation time – to clarify your vision, develop an outline, and so on – and six weeks for rewrites, you can find yourself with a reasonably good manuscript within six months.

Add in three more months for copyediting, layout, getting cover art, and self-publishing if you’re going that way – and you could have a book in nine months. Yup, the time it takes to have a baby. 

Don’t Let the Fantasy of a Perfect Time to Write Stop You.

And here’s the kicker: Remember that Roy Lichtenstein pop art, “I can’t believe it. I forgot to have children!” Giving birth to a book is in some ways like having a baby (though truly less painful!) 

It’s a genuinely meaningful experience that you may regret not doing. But, on the other hand, you will never regret having done it – for both the potential external rewards and the internal ones. 

The bottom line is don’t buy into the myth of there being a perfect lifestyle or time or any other circumstance for writing a book. 

I once had the chance to interview beloved novelist Barbara Kingsolver who told me a story about when she was juggling pregnancy, full-time work, and insomnia while living in a one-bedroom apartment with her husband. 

Since she couldn’t sleep and didn’t have a room of her own to write, she literally holed herself up in the closet and wrote at night. The result was Bean Trees, a bestseller that changed her life—all because she made it work.