let's calculate How Long Will It Take Me to Write My Book? — How much should I write every day? for your nonfiction book

How Long Will It Take to Write My Book?

LaptopLauraBlog [read me!], Book Writing

New or aspiring authors often ask me, “How long will it take to write my book?” or “How much should I write every day?”

As a former math teacher and lover of numbers and spreadsheets…

This post is going to tell you exactly what to do! 🙂

But first, we need to set some parameters to work within.

ACCOUNTING FOR THE BOOK WRITING VARIABLES

Here are ALL the variables around writing a book:

  • length of your pages (how many words per page)
  • length of your book (how many pages)
  • number of days per week you want to write
  • number of weeks you want to take to write

Because we need to control some variables so that we can compare and deduce…

Let’s assume that:

  • length of your pages (how many words per page) = 250

We will also stipulate three situations around the:

  • length of your book (how many pages) = 100, 150, 200

Below you will find an embedded spreadsheet with calculations. There are THREE TABS on this sheet.

  1. tab 1: 100 page book
  2. tab 2: 150 page book
  3. tab 3: 200 page book

how long it takes to write your book will depend on the number of pages inside...the spreadsheet has 100 150 and 200 pages as options

So, pick which tab is closest to the length of the book you intend to write (approximate). How should you approximate the length of your book? Well, you could pick up a few books from authors you respect and see how long those are.

Now we are just down to number of days and weeks you want to write…

Starting with:

  • number of days per week you want to write

looking below on the spreadsheets, you will see a yellow section that indicates how often you’d like to plan to write each week. The options are 7, 5, 3, and 1 day per week (thus, four sections).

number of days per week you'll write your book

Lastly:

  • number of weeks you want to take to write

Under each yellow section, on the left-hand side you will see grey boxes. The numbers inside the grey boxes indicate the number of weeks you’d like to allot for writing. This ranges from 2 to 20 weeks for all days/week frequencies…but I added up to 38 weeks for the once a week option.

number of weeks to write the book

OKAY, I GET IT…WHAT CAN I READ FROM THIS SHEET [BELOW]?

Example 1

Now that you understand the numbers in the sheet below called “How Long Will It Take to Write My Book?” — the bold number on the right of each block of values is the answer you are looking for!

If you want to know the answer to “how much should I write every day?” look there!

number of words per day to write to hit your book writing goals

For example, let’s look at the very top set of boxes (also pictured just above)…

  • …assuming your book will be 100 pages
  • …and you have about 250 words per page
  • …and you want to knock it out in 4 weeks
  • …plan to write a bit each day…

Then, you need to shoot to write about 893 pages per day to hit your goal!

But is this the only way to use this cool book-writing spreadsheet?

No! 🙂

Example 2

What if you know how many words you’d like to write each day and want to see how long it will take you?

Okay…let’s scroll down and click onto the second tab for a 150-page book for this one…

  • …and now we know your book will be 150 pages…
  • …and you have about 250 words per page…
  • …let’s say that you want to write 500 words or fewer per day and 5 days a week or under

Okay, your options then are:

  1. write 5 days/week for 16 weeks, 18 weeks, or 20 weeks!
  2. but if you’re willing to write 7 days/week, you can do it in 12 weeks!

write only 500 words per day or fewer - how fast can you complete the book

Getting the hang of it?

HERE’S THE BOOK WRITING TIME SPREADSHEET TO ANSWER “HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO WRITE MY BOOK?” QUESTION

Conclusion

Ultimately, we are all humans 😜and not robots who can write ‘exactly 335 words per day, every day for 16 weeks to produce a 150 page book’…

…but, hopefully the calculations on these sheets above help you get an idea of what your writing goal could be to knock out your awesome book and use it to grow your credibility, sales, and brand!

If you want more help and moral support around writing, self-publishing, and marketing a book (that is an Amazon best-seller — you can do it!) then check out…

  1. The free 5-day training I made for ya!
  2. We also welcome you in the Facebook Community!
  3. Here are a few more blogs as well:
    1. How to Write a Book: 5 Crystal Clear Steps to Show Off Your Expertise WITHOUT Giving Up Halfway Through
    2. How to Format a Book for Amazon Book Publishing: Kindle Format, CreateSpace, and More
    3. Book Cover Design Tips: How to Make a Book Cover Even if You’re Not a Designer
    4. How To Choose The Right Self-Publishing Platform for Your Book