From Hobby to Published Author: An Honest Look at What It Takes
Can anyone write a publishable book? No. Sorry. But can you? Maybe. Today, I’m going to share the truth about how to get past writing as just a hobby and make a career of it as a published author. We’re going to take an honest look at what it takes.
Every few years, someone reaches out to me…or comes up to me at a party…and tells me that they have a book idea. They ask me what I think of it. I say, sounds interesting! Because it usually does. Then they say, the problem is, I don’t have time to write it. Do you want to collaborate? I give you the idea, and you write the book?
HAHAHA.
When I tell this story to actual writers, they always laugh, because writers get that the writing isn’t the idea…that’s the easy part. The hard part is writing the book.
Writing a publishable book comes down to 3 things.
First: Want
You have to want to write a book—badly.
This may seem very obvious, but as a writer for many years and, more recently, a writing coach, I’ve met many, many people who say they want to write a book, but I can sense that they don’t...not really. They want to write a book the way I’d like to learn French: enough that every 6 months, I spend $14.99 on a language app subscription that I use for two nights then abandon.
If I really wanted to learn French, I’d learn it. I’d make it a priority.
If you really want to write a book, you know it.
I’m not saying that if you haven’t made time to write your book, you don’t really want it.
There are definitely things I really want but haven’t done yet—I want to see the Northern Lights.
I want to do a yoga teacher training.
I haven’t done these yet, but I know that if I want them badly enough that, when it’s time, I will make them happen.
I’ll find a way to get us to Iceland.
I’ll sign up for the training and show up for it.
How badly do you want to write a book? Because here’s what it is likely to require of you:
→ Years of your life working on it—I don’t mean every single day for years, but in fits and starts, you’ll be working on this thing for years. The publication process is long. It’s typically two years between when you get a book deal and when your book hits shelves. And that’s after your book is done.
→ At least 3 hours a week for periods of a few months each, while you’re working on your draft. I’ll talk more about what an actual timeline might look like in a moment.
→ Working through your inner demons (Am I worthy? Am I smart enough? Am I creative enough?)
If hearing these things makes you cringe, I’m with you. It’s brutal.
But if you’re cringing while still thinking, “But I still want to do it,” congrats, you have the Want!
And so I believe in you.
The second thing you need is perseverance
You need to be able to persevere.
I don’t mean to sound condescending—I know you know this. But we’re going through criteria for being able to write a publishable book, and this is one of them.
Unless you’re in the .00000001% of writers, writing your first novel is going to take you longer than you want it to. That’s been the case for every writer I know.
This is why you need to like writing—because if you don’t enjoy the process, you won’t keep doing it.
In the fastest case, meaning, as fast as I’ve ever known someone to write a book that was published, your timeline might look something like this:
→ Months 1-3: Write your first draft
→ Month 4: Let your book sit
→ Month 5: Revise your draft
→ Months 6-7: Query literary agents
→ Months 8-10: Work on your draft with your agent
→ Month 11: Sell your novel (yay!)
→ Months 12-20: Work on your draft with your editor
→ Month 21-23: Wait nervously for your book to come out
→ Month 24: Start promoting your book, and never stop…
In other words, fastest case scenario, it’s a 2-year process.
And for most people, it’s slower—the entire process for my first novel, When You Read This, was 6 years, and 4 years for Privilege. And for Privilege I already had an agent and an editor.
Cringing again?
That’s okay. If you’re cringing but you still want to write your book…you have the burn!
Third: You need to have skill
If you want to write a book, you need to know how to write a good sentence, and you need to know how to put sentences together well so that the rhythm of your writing is readable.
In other words, it doesn't feel like the reading equivalent of an automatic weapon, or cause the reader to have to do so much work to understand what you're saying that by the fifth paragraph, they're exhausted.
But here’s the thing—I don't want you to mistake knowing how to write a good sentence and how to string sentences together for "being educated."
I have worked with people who don't have a high school diploma who are stunning writers.
I've worked with more lawyers and PhDs than I can count who have to unlearn grammatical rules that only cripple their fiction, like the usage of "whom", and stilted rules about infinitives.
So if you don't have an MFA in Creative Writing—or if you don't have a college degree—trust me: it doesn't matter.
But you still need to learn how to write readable prose.
The best way to learn to write well is to read, and then to emulate the writing you love.
The second best way to learn is to read and internalize this tiny book:The Elements of Style. It’s classic, digestible, and will take you under a day to read.
Ready to write your book?
Everything else, you can learn—and quite quickly; I teach it in my program The Book Incubator, which you can apply for below this video.
I created my program because I discovered a writing process that works for authors writing novels and memoirs.
You don’t need to make yourself miserable.
You don’t need to get feedback on every page for it to be good.
You don’t even need to write every day.
But you do need to know where you’re going, and why you’re writing.
You need to have a purpose—and I can help you find that purpose.
Writing a book is like any other long-term, ambitious goal—the mere effort of pursuing it will change you. It’s the best growth experience I’ve ever had, and one of my favorite parts of being alive.
If you have the three things I’ve talked about here, you have it in you to write a book. If you’re ready, join us—we’d love to welcome you into our community! Just click below.
