How long does it take to write a book?
Most first drafts take three months to a year, and the honest arithmetic is yours to run: a 90,000-word novel at 500 words a day is 180 days of drafting, then add roughly half that again for revision. Production of the audio and film editions runs after that, in weeks rather than months.
Work it out yourself, free
The Reader's Clock →Free: set your word target, see your finish date, and see the finished runtime waiting at the end of it.
Set the target, not the mood
Divide your intended word count by the words you can honestly write on an ordinary bad day, not a good one. 90,000 words at 1,000 a day is three months; at 250 a day it is a year.
Then plan revision as its own season. Drafts that are revised in the same breath as they are written rarely finish at all.
What happens after the last page
Editing, cover and formatting run in sequence; audio and film production can begin the moment the manuscript is locked, because the word count is what sets the schedule and the price.
Finished runtime here is roughly one minute per 1,000 words, in both vessels, so you can tell your readers what they are getting before a single line is recorded.
Asked and answered
- How many words a day should I write?
- Whatever number you can repeat for months. Consistency beats intensity every time on a book-length work.
- Can production start before I finish?
- No, and it should not. A moving word count means a moving price and wasted recording.
Also asked
Every answer in the hall
- How much does it cost to make an audiobook?
- What is a film book?
- How long is an audiobook by word count?
- Book trailers: how do you make one, what does it cost, and how is it different from a film book?
- How many voices does an audiobook need?
- How do you turn a book into a video?
- Can I narrate my own audiobook?
- How long does it take to make an audiobook?
- How do you make an audiobook?
- Should I use ACX or a professional audiobook producer?
- How much does a film book cost?
- How do I get my audiobook on Audible and Spotify?
- What does audiobook production for indie authors involve?
- How much does an audiobook narrator cost?
- How do I record an audiobook?
- How do I publish an audiobook?
- What do book marketing services actually do?
- How do I self-publish a book?
- How many words are in a novel?
- How do I copyright a book?
- What is BookTok?
- How much do authors make per book?
- How do I find the best narrator for my audiobook?
- How do I get reviews for my book?
- What should be on my book launch checklist?
- How do I write a book blurb?
Strength and Solidarity LLC — 27 answers kept in this hall