Writing, publishing, and promoting a book can feel like a mountain to climb. And in many ways, it is. But you can do it. You just need to break the process down in a way that’s approachable.
What’s even better is you can do it all (from ideation to publication) in a single year. Yep. One year. After writing and publishing eight books of my own, I’ve created a timeline that works for me. Let me share it with you.
Get your idea
If you’re reading this, you probably already have an idea. If you’re like me, it’s knocked around your brain for a while and it’s begging to be told. That’s great!
Don’t have an idea? That’s okay. Think of movies, books, or TV shows you’ve consumed lately. How could you put your own spin on them? Think of the times you thought to yourself, “This story is okay, but it would be better if they…” BAM. That’s your idea.
Once you have your idea, you’re ready to outline and draft.
Six months of writing
“Six months?! Are you serious?”
Yup. And you can absolutely do it. Hear me out.
Outlining
Spend the first two weeks outlining. It’ll give you a roadmap for the rest of your book. It can be as simple as making a bulleted list of everything that happens from beginning to end.
If you need help on world building and character development, I made you some worksheets. Here’s my World Building Worksheet and Character Development Worksheet. They’ll prompt you with the right questions to make your character and setting feel real.
Drafting
This part is a grind, but don’t get in your head too much. A helpful piece of advice I heard is “Write drunk, edit sober.” So get your fingers on the keyboard and let loose.
With that in mind, you can write 1,000 words per day, six days per week for 2-3 months. This is assuming your book is the average novel length of 60-70k words. Word-barf it all out. Don’t go back and look at it. Just get it done.
Then you’ll have a complete-ish book. Bam. It’ll definitely need some refining, but you’ve essentially written a book from beginning to end. That’s big! Take a bow!
For the remaining 3 months, revise your work. You should be able to do at least one revision in that time, but try to do 3-4 revisions if possible. Every time you revise, your book gets better. And you want to hand your book to an editor after it’s positively shines.
Six months of promotion
When you’ve handed your book off to your editor, that’ll give you time to get cracking on promotion. Blech.
This is where a lot of writers struggle. But ask yourself… do you want to sell books? If the answer is yes, you need to promote. People aren’t going to find your work if you don’t put yourself out there.
Publicity outreach
The most effective form of marketing I’ve seen is outreach to influencers and critics. Find bookish bloggers and influencers that love the kind of book you’ve written, then ask them if you can send them a free copy in exchange for an honest review. Most book influencers will be happy to read your book if it sounds interesting and they have time for it.
That being said, the sooner you reach out, the better. If your book comes out in October and you’re contacting people in September, you’re going to get a lot of no’s. That’s why I recommend six months of promotion time.
I’ve put together a Publicity Outreach Spreadsheet to help you keep track of all the bookish folks you’ll contact.
Social media
Post on social media regularly with engaging content that not only highlights your book, but invites visitors to interact. Tell them to leave comments or follow you. Tell them to sign up for your newsletter. Your social media should be a gathering place for people who like your books. Make it feel welcoming.
Email Marketing
Build an email list by inviting people to join for special updates. You can push it on your social media or even with Meta ads. When someone signs up for your email list, you have their info until they unsubscribe.
MailerLite is a powerful, easy-to-use platform that’s free for your first 1,000 subscribers. There’s a paid version that gives you a lot of great tools, but the free version is a great place to start. Keep your newsletter subscribers updated on your writing progress, preorder options, and events!
A more detailed guide
There are a lot of steps I didn’t mention in this blog post. You’ll want to consider the time it takes to design your cover, hire an audiobook narrator, and more. That’s in my additional resource.
The link below features a week-by-week guide to help you stay on track for a one-year writing and release window, including every facet of book production from creative to promotion.
Download it if you’d like a more detailed version of my one-year writing and publishing guide.
GET MY 12-MONTH BOOK RELEASE GUIDE
Misc. tips
Read your book out loud to yourself. You’ll be amazed at the things you catch when you read the book out loud to yourself, word for word. It’s a terrific way to self-edit.
Consistency! It’s easier to write a little bit every day instead of taking one day to barf out a ton of words. Writing a book is a marathon, not a sprint.
Your cover is king. No amount of marketing can save you from a bad book cover. Don’t just hire a designer friend because you know them and they’re cheap. Find someone who can design a killer cover at a price you can afford, then hire them. People may not judge a book by its cover, but they’ll absolutely buy one based on it.
Post at least three times a week on social media. Social media platforms reward users to create frequent, high-quality content. Pay attention to the kind of posts that are performing well—meaning the ones that garner lots of interaction and add to your followers. Do more of those posts.
If you want a release party, plan it a couple months in advance. I recommend hosting it at a local bookstore. Giving your bookstore two months of advance notice will give them plenty of time to order books and help promote.