This week’s episode is part of a series of replays while I’m on vacation (or “holiday,” as they say in Europe!). Rita and I pulled together some of our favorites—and yours—to share while I’m away. With over 250 episodes to choose from, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard this one, and if you have, maybe it’s just the reminder you need this week. Enjoy, and I’ll be back with you before you know it!
In this episode, I’m walking you through a realistic book publishing timeline—from first idea to finished book launch. Whether you’re planning to self-publish or go hybrid, this guide will help you understand what takes how long, what tasks overlap, and how to create a schedule that fits your life.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
- How long writing the first draft actually takes
- What editing involves and how to plan for it
- All the moving pieces in the publishing process
- What your launch timeline should really look like
- Why rushing rarely leads to great results
- And two timeline options to help you plan your own path: a 12-month sprint or an 18-month steady marathon.
🔗 Get the full blog post + timeline breakdown here.
Resources:
📘 Download my free 10 Things You Should Know Before Writing a Nonfiction Book
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- Instagram @stacyennis
- Facebook @stacyenniscreative
- YouTube @stacyennisauthor
To submit a question, email hello@stacyennis.com or join my email list http://stacyennis.com/join and fill out the form on the page.
Am I cut out to write a book? | Replay Episode 264 Transcript
These transcripts were generated by robots, not writers.
Stacy: Hello and welcome. As you are listening to my voice right now, I am on vacation or as they say in Europe, holiday. And so I am taking some time away. But of course I didn’t want to leave you hanging. Krita, the producer and I have done is. We’ve put together some of our favorites and your favorites as replays. Now, I have done over 250 episodes, so surely there are episodes of the podcast you haven’t heard. And even if you have heard it, maybe this will be exactly the refresher or reminder that you need this week. So with that, I’ll turn this over to our replay and I will be back with you after my holiday.
Stacy: Hi there. I am Stacy Ennis. I am a book coach and strategist and I get this question all the time. How long will it take me to write and publish my book? Actually, it kind of looks more like this. I get a message from an aspiring author. It’s like April, and they say, I want to write and publish my book by the end of the year. Okay. So I’m always like, wait a second, let’s talk about this. And that’s what you and I are going to do today.
Stacy: In this video, I’m going to break down the timeline for writing your book. I’m going to explain what happens in each stage at a very high level so you understand why it takes that long. And I hope to convince you by the end of this video that you should not follow other advice that tells you to write and publish your book in 30 days or 60 days. It’s bad advice. It’s not a good idea. And I hope this video will explain to you why. You’ll understand that you really should put the time, energy and attention into every single stage of the book writing journey. So let’s go. Let’s get started. First things first, let’s start really high level. As a general rule, my clients that follow my system and work with my publishing partners after the writing journey is complete.
Stacy: Not that it’s ever complete, it’s an ongoing journey. But the writing journey of writing your draft, it’s 18 months. That is the time frame that I typically recommend for authors. However, if you have the time, energy and a reason to get it done faster, 12 months can work. And I’m going to explain how that can look. If you were to follow a 12 month or an 18 month time frame, much faster than that is very likely going to sacrifice the quality of the book. But maybe as importantly, maybe more importantly is you’re really going to miss out on your author journey. Being where you are in every stage is so important. Engaging in the transformative journey of authorhood, putting in your full effort and energy, and creating something you are really proud to share with the world. Isn’t that the point?
Stacy: Isn’t that why you are doing this? I hope so. First things first, you have to write the draft. Nothing else can happen without that draft. The clients that I work with, these amazing aspiring authors, I have the honor of guiding on their journey and they follow my system to write their book in six months. Now, some authors may do this a little faster, some may do it a little slower, but in general, I would say six to 12 months is a good time frame to write your draft. Much more than that. And I get worried about momentum. I start to get concerned also about the amount of time between chapters. So a lot of the writing process is about making those connections as you write.
Stacy: So if you’re not putting in enough momentum into the writing process, you’re going to miss some of those natural connections you’ll make when you write it in a little bit more condensed format. Of course, having a structured step by step process makes a big difference in being able to complete this within a reasonable timeframe, maybe that six month timeframe that I mentioned. So working with a coach or following a program, that can be hugely beneficial. Next up is editing. And I smile really big here because I spent a good chunk of my career as a book editor and I know what an incredible transformation a book can undergo with the right editor. I loved my role as an editor because I got to help transform books from good to great. And it really is an important stage for your book.
Stacy: There are four main stages of editing. Developmental editing, substantive, also known as content editing, copy editing, and proofreading. I won’t go into detail about all of those right now, but it’s important to know that there are four main stages and nearly all books need to go through at least three of them. Substantive content editing, copy editing, and proofreading. And those typically take place in multiple rounds. Certainly proofreading actually requires multiple rounds of proofreading if you’re doing it right. If you are making sure that end product is error free and as clean as can be. Coming out to market. The editing process can take anywhere from three to six months. It can take a little bit less. Let’s say if you are a more established writer and your draft is really structurally sound, it’s clean, it doesn’t need as much editing work.
Stacy: Certainly that could go a little bit faster. But three to six months is a good range to plan for when you are engaging in the editing process. And especially if we’re talking on that upper end, that would include your self revision process. So you write your first draft. Many authors will also go through a self revision process. Then they’ll go into the editing. So you can see how that would take some time to go through all of that, you need to send it to your editor, they have to do the editorial, it comes back to you revise the draft, sometimes it goes back to them again. It really depends on the status of your draft. I can’t diagnose that for you right now, but just expect that it could take somewhere in the range of three to six months.
Stacy: And of course this never becomes a book in reader’s hands without the publishing process. And the publishing process is way more complicated than you think it is, I guarantee it. Especially when we talk about distribution, which is how your book gets into reader’s hands. There is a lot to the publishing process. There are many layers, many people involved to help make that book a reality. This is easier if you’re working with somebody who can support you through this process. So if you’re a self publishing, working with a self publishing coach or consultant, or if you are hybrid publishing, you will have a team built in with that hybrid publisher that will be supporting you. And of course traditional is its own thing over here.
Stacy: But let me say, I’ll say as a side note about traditional, that timeline is going to be longer than all of this. The traditional timeline, typically from the moment your book is accepted with the traditional publisher, it’s usually about 18 months to market, give or take. Of course there’s many exceptions, but 18 months with hybrid publishing, once your draft is completed, it’s handed in. Maybe you’ve done some editing beforehand with an editor, or maybe you’re using in house services for the hybrid publish. That process is usually going to take six to nine months. Most of the hybrid publishers I work with want that nine month time frame to do all the things that they know will make a book successful. And you can do a really good job in six months.
Stacy: So just keep in mind that it’s very possible and doable to do it faster. But then again, I ask you why? What is the rush? Why are you trying to do it faster? There may be a good reason for that, such as a conference coming up that you need the book for, or you have a unique window of time and energy to pour into this. For most people there’s not a really good reason to push it three or six months faster. So I normally advise them to slow down and engage fully in the stage they’re in. You can absolutely start capitalizing on authorhood well before the book comes out. You can share about your book, you can talk about it, use it in your marketing. It’s just that it won’t be in readers hands to just yet.
Stacy: An important side note here that I need to make is we have to talk about your book launch. And this sort of fits within kind of overlapping the timeline we’re discussing. It’s not like at one point you’re done with editing, you move into publishing and then you just move into launch. It actually overlaps. So your launch window, meaning you’re putting that effort and energy into marketing the book, getting all the things prepared for the release of the book. That is usually somewhere around three to five months before the release of the book and three plus months after. So that also needs to be kept in consideration as you are planning this whole thing. The launch includes any publicity efforts you’re making.
Stacy: If you are wanting to pitch podcasts, if you are driving events around the release of your book, like a book tour or a book party when it releases, please have a book party. You deserve a book party, all the things that are connected to the release of that book. So it drives the success of your book, the energy around the launch. And I also encourage you to show up big during this process because it can be really fun and it can also help you be successful as an author. And then I also want to note along with the launch piece, you also have to think about ongoing marketing. So while I am showing you a timeline to write and publish your book, I also want to put in your brain that it’s not done when your book comes out.
Stacy: It’s a long game, it’s something that should be integrated into your mission, your business, all of your efforts should integrate that book. So if you’re writing your book as part of your business strategy or your impact mission, that book should become part of that and you should be talking about it, you should be promoting it. All of this should Continue on. It doesn’t just end when the book comes out. All right, let me summarize two potential time frames to get your book out into the world. So first would be that 12 month sprint. So that’s the volume turned up a little faster, a little bit more aggressive in how you’re writing, editing, publishing and launching that book. First, you’ll spend six months on the writing. That’s for me, pretty non negotiable, but you could do it a little faster if you need to.
Stacy: You’ll be in the editing process for three months, but you will overlap the publishing with that editing process. So you will be in publishing for six months in total. But you’ll start that publishing process as your book is going through editorial. So you’ll begin design, you’ll begin building landing pages for it, you’ll begin planning your launch. All of that will overlap. And as you are in the editing stage, so you can see how this will be much more high intensity, it will be higher stress. But if you have a reason to get it to market faster, you can certainly follow this timeline. My preference is 18 months. It’s a steadier pace, but there’s still a lot of momentum behind it. You’re still gonna be busy. It’s not, it’s not a cakewalk.
Stacy: You are going to be showing up, you’re going to be driving energy and focus and intention around this and you’ll be doing it in a way that will let you be present in every stage. So this will look like six months of writing, three months of editing, but if you need a little bit more, you can overlap some of that with the publishing process. Of course you will be doing proofreading and that sort of thing during the publishing process. But just keep in mind, if you need a little bit more time, there is some space with a nine month publishing process, which is what I wrote recommend in this time frame. So that’s six months of writing, 3ish months of editing, 9 months of publishing.
Stacy: To have that release of your book and step fully into your next level of impact and influence as an author, which is so exciting. So you can understand, I hope now that you’ve gotten all the detail on this, why I’m always a little put off when people in my industry try to convince people that they should write and publish a book in 30 or 60 days. And there are a lot of reasons for this. Number one is that you will be completely robbed of your author journey and why you have a goal to write a book. Probably you’ve held it for a long time. So what is the rush? Why rush it? And why do something that you’re not deeply proud of? 2 Is that it just is going to create a book on the other side that is not as good.
Stacy: There is absolutely no way that a book that is written and published in 60 days compared to 18 months is going to be a better book. It’s pretty universally not ever going to happen. If you have an exception that you can point me to, please do that. The author actually wrote themselves, not with the ghostwriter, and they truly did it in that period of time. I don’t think it exists. And then lastly, there’s often some unethical tools that are used in the process. If you’re doing it this fast. Of course in that would be generative AI. I would really tread lightly in these areas. I would be really careful about using any generative AI in your book. I actually require that my clients do not use generative AI while writing their books. I see the legal writing on the wall.
Stacy: I also know that when you’re using some of these tools, you’re not engaging your brain in a way that is going to benefit you in the long term. You are not going to undergo that absolutely amazing transformative journey of authorhood. It requires you to put in the thought. It requires you to show up. It requires you to wade through the muck and the mud to create something that you are just deeply proud of. I hope this was really helpful for you. I’d love to hear from you as you listen to these timelines. Which one resonates with you? Do you feel more inclined to the get it faster to market in the 12 months? Do you lean more toward the 18 months? Would you imagine doing it a little bit slower?
Stacy: If you’re in your publishing process or you’ve already gone through this, what did you learn about the timeline? Please share with me in the comments. I love hearing from you and you can learn from each other. It’s such a great way to knowledge share. This is a big journey and why not share what we’ve learned with each other? Everything that I’ve mentioned I have included in a blog post with a lot of detail really well outlined for you so that you can utilize it in your own planning for your author journey. Be sure to add a link to that in the description of this video. And you’re still here, you’re still watching this, so be sure to subscribe. I put out regular content on book writing.
Stacy: I try to be very useful, practical, and sometimes give you like a little nudge to help you along your author journey. Thanks so much for being with me. Now go write your book.
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