The 7-Step Book Creation Process
You’re not done when you write “The End.”
You’re reading this because you have a message to share. You might have only an idea. You might have a pristine 43rd draft of your book. Either way, if your book isn’t published, it isn’t complete (and in the world of self-publishing, even some books that are published aren’t complete).
This article will walk you through the major phases of creating a book. Before you tell the world you’re a published author, make sure you’re taken the following seven steps.
1. PLAN Your Book
- As with most things in life, it’s a good idea to begin with the end in mind. The first step in creating your book is planning. Although it’s possible (and valuable) to do your planning when you’re further along in the process, doing so can be costly—the longer you wait, the more time/money you’ll have to invest to align your book to your plan. An effective plan consists of the following elements:
• The purpose your book will play in your business, career, or personal legacy
• Your target audience, and what you want readers to get from your book
• A publication strategy
• A marketing strategy
• An outline of content (nonfiction) or plotline (fiction)
• A timeline for completing the book with dates for each major milestone
• A plan for when you’ll sit down and write (optional, but helpful)
• A budget for hiring help with phases of the project that you don’t have the time or the skills for (optional)
2. DRAFT Your Book
The next step to writing your book is to, well, write! Unless you hire a ghostwriter or convert existing material (blog posts, speeches, interview transcripts, etc.) into a book, the only way for you to bring your magnum opus into existence is to put in the hours and write until you have a rough draft. For most authors, this means a lot of late nights and early mornings while they type up 30k-60k words (learn more about the ideal book length here).
In addition to the main content of the book, make sure you have a description of the book (synopsis) and a paragraph or two for the “about the author” section.
3. EDIT Your Book
Once you’ve gotten past the most time-intensive step in the book creation process, it’s time to massage your first draft into something not only readable, but compelling. Editing entails more than just spell-checking the document. In this step, your editor (or you) also rewrites, rearranges, and fact-checks your material.
4. PROOFREAD Your Book
Even occasional typos and grammatical errors can embarrass your material. Proofreading turns your edited draft into a professionally polished manuscript. A good proofreader has a strong knowledge of grammar and an eye for detail; they carefully read the book, looking for textual errors. For this step in the book creation process, you need to hand your baby over to someone else—a professional, friends and family, or both. The more proofreaders read your book, the less chance that errors will sneak through to publication.
When you’re satisfied that the proofing step is complete, congratulate yourself! You have a fully-polished book manuscript. The following three steps concern how to present your content to the world.
5. ILLUSTRATE Your Book
As much as we tell people not to, they judge books by their covers. If you’re not an artist, you’ll need to hire an illustrator to create a cover (front and back) for you. Think through the message of your book and choose a cover that communicates that message in a way that your target audience will enjoy. If you include any images or illustrations inside the book, make sure they match the style of the cover.
6. FORMAT YOUR BOOK
The first thing people see when they pick up a book is the cover. The second thing they see is the interior layout. Formatting is the process of using typography visual design to make your book easy to read and sized properly for print. The final product is a book that’s ready for publication.
With more and more people reading books digitally these days, an important complement to formatting for print is formatting for eBook. There is a surprising number of nuances when it comes to formatting books, so unless you have a lot of free time, hire someone to do it for you.
7. PUBLISH Your Book
The final step in the book creation process is to get your book in front of readers. The ideal platform for you to publish on (your own website, Amazon, a traditional publishing company, etc.) depends on your objectives for your book and your writing career. Research the pros and cons thoroughly before deciding (alternatively, let our team give you some advice).
An important aspect of publishing is your initial marketing push. Plan your launch and gather your fans to help your book make a big splash.
Once your book is “live,” take a moment to celebrate; your book is done!
July 8, 2021
Founder, HBC
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