How to start writing a book: ten steps for a first-time author

This guide is for nonfiction: a book that teaches, argues for an idea, or tells your own story. It does not promise a timeline: how long a book takes depends on the book, the author and the hours available.

Steps 1 to 5: before chapter one

None of these needs a long session, and you can revisit each one. Skipping them is the most common reason a first draft stalls at chapter three, because the author discovers mid-draft that they do not know who the book is for or what it is supposed to do.

1. Decide what the book is for

Not the subject: the job. The Scribe Method's chapter on book objectives groups most authors' goals into six kinds: visibility, authority, clients and opportunities, speaking, legacy and impact. Pick the main one. It decides almost everything that follows. Our guide to finding your book idea explains why the goal comes before the topic.

2. Name one reader

Write down one specific person: their situation, the problem in their words, and what they have already tried. "Anyone interested in leadership" is not a reader. "A nurse promoted to charge nurse over the colleagues she trained with" is. The guide who is your book for? and the reader profile worksheet take you through it.

3. Write the promise in one sentence

Where does the reader start, and where will they be when they finish? That before-and-after is the book's promise. Every chapter you write later is checked against it.

4. Choose the kind of book

A memoir, a how-to book and a thought leadership book are planned and written differently. Decide which one this is before you draft, or you may write half of each. See memoir, how-to or thought leadership, and the dedicated guides on writing a memoir and writing a business book.

5. Test the idea on a few real readers

Before you invest months, describe the book to five people who match your reader and listen to what they ask. If nobody leans in, change the idea now, while it costs nothing. The guide on testing a book idea lists which signals to trust.

Steps 6 to 10: from plan to first chapter

6. Outline the chapters

Write a list of chapters with one sentence each saying what that chapter teaches or shows. The Scribe Method's outline chapter suggests 5 to 15 chapters for most nonfiction books, with a hook, a thesis and supporting points for each. Our outlining guide covers it in detail.

The outline is often where a book really begins. Harris Nydick's story on scribemedia.com describes him sitting down in his kitchen in 2008 and typing out a table of contents before anything else; the stat on his story page reads 10 Years, "The Idea Lived in His Head Before He Wrote a Word". An outline turns the idea in your head into something you can work through one piece at a time.

7. Set a time and a place

The Scribe Method's chapter on creating a writing plan says to decide exactly when and where you will write, and to treat it as non-negotiable. It recommends at least one hour a day, or 30 minutes if that is not possible, and says consistency matters more than duration. Put the sessions in your calendar like meetings.

8. Set a word target, not a page target

The same chapter suggests 250 words per hour as a simple target, which it equates to about one book page. Small, countable targets build momentum. Keep a running total where you can see it.

9. Write the first chapter as a rough draft

The Scribe Method calls this the vomit draft: write without stopping, without editing and without judging, and fix it later. Its rule is worth saying out loud: "I will not edit my vomit draft until I am done writing it." Editing while drafting is how first chapters get rewritten endlessly while the second never starts.

If talking comes easier than typing, The Scribe Method also describes speaking a first draft: record yourself explaining each chapter to your ideal reader, following your outline, have it transcribed, then edit the transcript. The same chapter says it suits experts who can teach their subject aloud, and suits people still working out what the book says less well.

10. Choose which chapter to write first

It does not have to be chapter one. The vomit draft chapter says most authors write best from start to finish, but to skip ahead to an easier section when stuck. Neil Thanedar's story says he never wrote in order, working on whatever he had the motivation for that day. Many authors leave the introduction until last, because it describes a book that does not exist yet.

A writing routine that survives a busy week

Routines fail when they depend on a free day. Build yours from the small fixed pieces below.

The writing plan chapter's own conclusion: the best plan is the one that keeps you writing consistently. Choose the version you could still keep in your busiest month.

If you have never written anything this long

Many people who search "how to start writing a book with no experience" are experts in something else. That is a strength. The Scribe Method notes that writing is a specialized skill distinct from thinking and speaking, which is why so many people who know a subject well struggle to put it on a page. Some practical ways through:

• Write to one friend. The vomit draft chapter suggests imagining you are explaining your ideas to a close friend, or to someone going through a struggle you have already overcome. Your voice comes through when you stop trying to sound like an author.
• Keep it short, simple, direct and relevant. Those are the four principles of The Scribe Method's chapter on writing effective nonfiction. It suggests chapters typically under 4,000 words, and plain English over jargon.
• Test for plain language early. Harris Nydick handed his draft to four college students with different majors and asked them to circle any word they did not like or understand; his story's stat reads 4 Orange, "Sharpies. Read by 4 College Kids First." Then he rewrote.
• Use the software you already have. The Scribe Method's chapter on writing software says Google Docs or Microsoft Word is enough, and that hunting for the perfect tool is often a way of avoiding the writing.
• Collect what you already say. Nicholas Capman's story describes a Word document called "book notes" where he added every point he caught himself repeating in meetings. Four pages of those notes became the start of his book. Your repeated advice is raw material.

If the book is about your life

"How to start writing a book about your life" is really two questions. If the book is your story, told so readers recognize something of their own lives in it, it is a memoir, and it starts with choosing the slice of your life that carries the point. Our guide to writing a memoir step by step covers that, including writing about real people.

If you mainly want to help readers solve a problem, and your story is the evidence, it is a how-to or thought leadership book with personal stories in it. The Scribe Method's test for each story in that kind of book is simple: does this story add value for the reader?

When you get stuck

Everyone does. The Scribe Method's chapter on writer's block traces most blocks to one of three causes: fear (of judgment, or of writing a bad book), not knowing what to write next, or not actually wanting to write what you are trying to write. The fix depends on the cause:

• Fear: name it. The chapter says honesty with yourself about what is holding you back is the most effective step.
• No direction: go back to the outline. If the next chapter has no one-sentence thesis, write that sentence before you write the chapter.
• Wrong book: if you dread every session, check the promise and the kind of book. You may be writing the book you think you should write.
• Talk it out: the chapter's phrase is that writer's block exists but speaker's block does not. Have someone interview you about the chapter and record it.

Getting stuck is not proof you cannot do it. Michael J. Boydell's story is candid about his first attempt alone: its stat reads 1 paragraph, "What three weeks alone produced". What he took from it was that he needed help to get the book out, not that the book should not exist.

What most people get wrong

• Starting with chapter one before the plan. Steps 1 to 6 are the part that makes the draft possible.
• Waiting for inspiration. The writing plan chapter is blunt that inspiration alone will not finish a book; a scheduled session will.
• Editing as you go. Finish the rough draft of a chapter before you reread it.
• Writing for everyone. A book for everyone has no reader in particular, and it is much harder to write.
• Padding to reach a length. Write what the promise needs. The Scribe Method's draft chapter says a book should be as short as possible while still covering everything important.
• Showing early pages to the wrong people. Friends and family are kind, not useful. The Scribe Method's chapter on feedback recommends experienced writers or editors, subject experts and people in your target audience.

If you would like a person to look at your plan before you start, Scribe Media, which makes this site and sells book coaching, ghostwriting and publishing, offers a free call. The ten steps above work just as well on your own.