As regular readers know, I recently co-authored a business book. Though I once wrote some humongous manuals as a technical writer, and we previously wrote a 100-page ebook, this was my first grownup book. As you might expect, I learned some lessons about the process. On the day of our book launch, I thought I’d share eleven lessons with you:
- It’s way more work than you think it will be.
- A co-author is an excellent idea.
- This may be obvious, but if you get a publishing deal, you’re immediately on a schedule. There’s no looking back. If you want to write the book on your own time, write it first and then look for a publishing deal.
- There’s probably just enough time to write the average book in a year and a half of evenings and weekends.
- If I had to divide up the process, I’d say it’s 40% thinking and research, 30% writing a first draft, and 30% rewriting and proofreading.
- Don’t be precious. As a professional writer, the more I’m paid to write something, the less likely I am to receive credit for it. So I’ve learned to be fairly fire-and-forget about my writing. It’s probably not worth the emotional effort to argue with your editor or publisher about small stuff. Win the big battles, and let go of the rest.
- Once you submit a first draft, a ton of people touch your book. Our book had an editor, technical reviewer, copy editor, proofreader, production manager, graphic designer, cover designer and indexer (a soul-destroying job–I speak from experience). That excludes the marketing people and the publisher himself.
- You’ll never have enough time to make the writing as good as it could be.
- I forget where I heard this, but there’s so much truth in this quote: “Publishing isn’t an industry, it’s an organized hobby.”
- Amazon punishes publishers for missing publication dates. So publishers tend to initially set a publication date which is strikingly far into the future. Don’t let this panic you.
- This was something I already knew, but it’s worth mentioning: don’t write a book to make money. For the vast majority of authors, it’s not a moneymaking proposition. Write a book to spread your ideas, to earn ‘because-of’ income through speaking, consulting and so forth, or to get the perceived endorsement as a capital-a author.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
As an academic, for me writing a book is part of the whole “creating a career and disseminating my ideas”. In my case, I prefer to publish journal articles, but books are the standard norm in social sciences. So your advice is quite timely!
12. If you really want to make money from writing a book, make sure it’s about vampires (and not the corporate kind).
Oh my… #1 is so very, very true. Almost wish everything could have been done on a typewriter; at least then you’d have the reward of ripping the page from the carriage, crumpling it up and hurling it across the room, hitting the floor with that satisfying, whispered “slthact-slthact.”
Doesn’t work so well with monitors…
But it is all worth it in the end – isn’t it? Even if you don’t get rich! Hope the launch went well yesterday and that you got to sign loads of copies!
Good question–I’m not entirely sure if it was worth it. Let me think about that one.
I see I had my post incorrectly dated as yesterday–the book launch is, in fact, tonight.
13. Once it’s published, people immediately start to ask “When’s your next book?”
TTFN
Travis
Did you consider self-publishing (something like http://www.lulu.com — not *specifically* that company, just using it as an example)?
We self-published a previous book, so we wanted to go the traditional route this time.
Congratulations on today’s launch, Darren!. Looking forward to getting a hold of a copy.
I’m betting the answer to “was it worth it” won’t be entirely clear for at least a couple of months yet.
P.
Congrats on your book launch today Darren!
Your most important advice to others in my opinion is this.
11. Don’t write a book to make money. For the vast majority of authors, it’s not a moneymaking proposition. Write a book to spread your ideas, to earn ‘because-of’ income through speaking, consulting and so forth, or to get the perceived endorsement as a capital-a author.
My list is a lot shorter:
1) Don’t write a book.
😉
– chrish
Especially appreciated points #5 and #11 here. I’d approached someone before to help me co-author a book…he didn’t seem as enthusiastic as I did. Nevertheless, off I go!
Congratulations Darren!!
On #11, writing a book is a great way to become an expert. Sometimes, the book’s quality doesn’t even matter. As long as you can show something tangible with your name on it, people start listening.
And don’t just write about vampires, write a love triangle about vampires and werewolves 🙂
“You’ll never have enough time to make the writing as good as it could be.”
– this is the same in computer programming, interesting.
Also – I always thought creating indexes would be a terrible job. Don’t they have software to automate it?
They do, I gather, but a human needs to check it over. There are a ton of nuances that most software would miss as well.
Congratulations on your grownup book! 🙂
Absolutely agree with #3: There’s probably just enough time to write the average book in a year and a half of evenings and weekends.
And that was with paying a good friend good money to do the laborious indexing. I’m looking forward to buying a copy!
Darren, congrats and I wish you much success.
I wish I had know this defore we started writing our book. I would add one more. It is very hard to get a final version if you co-autor has a differnet view as the the approch to the subject. This is where I am. Any advice.
First, it’s hard to believe it’s only been five weeks. “Internet time” lives, I can tell you that.