How to Write a Book With No Experience: A Beginner's Plan
Written by ebookwriters.us Editorial Desk. Reviewed by Hannah Collins, Managing Editor. Published . Updated . 6 min read
So you want to write a book and you've never written anything longer than a work report. Good news, that's how almost everybody starts. The skills a first book needs mostly get built while you're writing it, and what you actually need on day one is a project small enough to finish, a standing weekly slot in your calendar and some way of getting a little better (and a little braver) as the pages pile up. That's the beginner side of things, and it's what this piece is about. If you're after the nuts and bolts, outline through to upload, our guide on how to write an ebook covers that.
Can you really write a book with no experience?
Yep. Every author on every shelf wrote a first book at some point, and you're not showing up empty-handed either. You've got whatever you know from your job, or a story you lived through, or a problem you've figured out how to solve for people.
Where most beginners come up short is stamina for something long, and that's about it. Picture a nurse who's been explaining the same discharge instructions to patients for fifteen years. She knows the material cold. What she's never done is carry one idea around for six months and decide, over and over, that a chapter is good enough to leave alone. That part you only get by doing it, and you get it pretty quickly once you start.
What mindset helps a first-time author finish?
The authors we've seen actually finish tend to think of the first book as a sort of practice run that just happens to end in a real book. They're after a whole draft they can fix later, and they're okay with it being lumpy, because a lumpy finished draft teaches you about a hundred times more than an opening chapter you've polished to death.
So, messy pages are allowed. We'd even say expected. A lot of writers keep the writing days and the judging days apart, since trying to do both in one sitting is a great way to write four sentences and delete three. It also helps to pick your finish line before you begin (twelve chapters, say, or 25,000 words), otherwise the book has a habit of growing forever.
And somewhere around the halfway point, you'll probably decide the whole thing is terrible. Pretty much everyone does! It passes if you just keep turning up.
How do you choose a first book you can actually finish?
Our advice is always to go smaller than you'd like to. Think about a lawn care owner who wants to write "the complete guide to running a lawn care business." That's a huge book. "How to price your first 20 lawn care clients" is one he could actually finish by spring, and it's much simpler to edit and put out as an ebook too.
Before writing any chapters, we get people to jot down two sentences, one on why the book needs to exist and one naming the single reader it's for and what they'll have by the end. Tape them to the monitor if you have to. You'll be amazed how many arguments with yourself they settle later on.
Then it's worth pulling three books off the shelf (or out of Amazon) that look like yours, counting their chapters, checking roughly how long they run, and then aiming for the short end. When you get to mapping out chapters, our nonfiction book outline template should save you some head-scratching.
How do you build a writing habit as a beginner?
Writing has to go in the calendar like anything else you'd hate to miss. Tuesday and Thursday at 6 a.m., Saturday after breakfast, whatever. Same slots every week, and you guard them.
One giant weekend sprint feels productive, but in our experience it's the boring months of regular little sessions that actually get books written. Half an hour is plenty to start with if that's what you can keep. Give yourself a small goal each time, a few hundred words maybe, and leave the scary total in the plan where you don't have to look at it.
A couple of tricks that seem to help people. Write before email or Instagram get their hooks in you. Keep a tiny log of each session, because on the bad weeks it's nice to see you've actually been moving. And if you miss a day, don't try to make it up with a double session, just come back next time like nothing happened.
How do you build writing skill while you write?
Funny thing is, you mostly get better by writing the book itself, with a couple of other books open beside you.
Grab two books from your category and read them sort of nosily, the way a mechanic looks at someone else's engine. How does each chapter start? How long do the sections go before there's a break? What's the author doing at the end of a chapter that makes you keep reading? Then steal the shape of a chapter you like (just the shape) and pour your own material into it. Loads of writers learned exactly that way.
Once a week, read what you wrote out loud. You'll wince at a few lines, and that's the point, since your ear catches what your eyes skip. We also like keeping a short notes file of your own bad habits, stuff like "I always explain before I give the example," and peeking at it before each session.
When you get to the end, go reread chapter one. It's usually a bit of a shock, in a good way, because you'll see how far you've come and you'll know exactly what to fix.
How do you stay confident when the writing gets hard?
You will stall. Everyone does. The trick is to keep moving with something small and specific when it happens.
Drop a quick note in the text like "example goes here" and keep going. If one chapter's being stubborn, jump to a different one for a while. Some of our authors talk a tough section out loud into their phone and type it up afterward, which works surprisingly well. And try stopping each session mid-thought, so tomorrow's session has an easy way in.
When should a beginner ask for feedback?
Wait until the full manuscript exists. Feedback on early chapters has a way of dragging beginners back into rewriting the opening for the fifth time.
Find two or three readers who are a lot like the person you're writing for, and give them specific questions. Where did you get bored? What confused you? What did you want more of? Then look for patterns. One person's comment is just one person's comment, but if three people all get stuck in the same chapter, that's something to fix. For where to find readers and what to ask them, have a look at how to find beta readers.
What comes after your first complete manuscript?
Revision goes in layers, starting with the big structural stuff and working down to the commas. Do it the other way round and you'll end up lovingly polishing a chapter you later cut, which, trust us, stings. Not sure which kind of pass you need? developmental editing vs copyediting sorts that out.
When it's ready, KDP lets you self-publish ebooks, paperbacks and hardcovers for free, and our KDP publishing checklist for first-time authors walks you through the upload one step at a time.
What mistakes do first-time authors make?
The ones we see most often? Picking a book that's way too big for a first go. Writing without a named reader or any kind of chapter plan. Rewriting chapter one for months while the rest of the book just sits there.
There's also waiting for free time to magically appear (it won't, you have to schedule it), asking for feedback only from people who love you, and skipping revision because the draft "feels done." It almost never is, and that's fine.
When does it make sense to hire an ebook writer?
If you've got the time and you're curious about the craft, writing it yourself is a lovely thing to do. Where we come in is usually a bit different. It's the consultant who has the expertise and a calendar with zero gaps, or the person who's started the same book three times and keeps grinding to a halt around chapter four.
A ghost writer does the research, the outline and the actual writing in your voice, and the book is still yours with your name on it. Our post on what a ghostwriter does goes into the role in more detail. With our ebook ghostwriting services, a writer who knows your genre works from a fixed quote and a dated schedule. We work under NDA, the rights and royalties stay 100% yours, and the book goes live in your own KDP account.
If you'd like some guidance while still writing it yourself, take a look at book coach vs ghostwriter. And if you're tempted by software, read AI ebook writer vs human ghostwriter first.
FAQ
Can I write a book if I've never written anything long?
You can, really. Nobody's born knowing how to write long, people just do it badly a few times until they don't. Keep the first book short, hang on to that weekly slot, and save the fixing for when the draft is done. That's where sentences actually get good, and it's also where an editor can step in if you want one.
How to start writing a book for beginners: where do I begin?
Start with the two sentences. Why should this book exist, and who's it for? Once you've got those, scribble a rough chapter list and write 500 words of whichever chapter looks least scary. We'd also put the next three sessions in your calendar before you shut the laptop.
Should my first book be fiction or nonfiction?
Whichever one you've got the most material for. Nonfiction can be easier to get going on if you know the subject well, since the topic kind of hands you the chapter order.
How many words a day should a first-time author write?
Whatever you could still manage on a lousy day when the kids were up all night. Keep the session the same length each time. It's the regular showing up that does it, more than any magic number, and once the habit feels solid you can nudge the goal up.
How long does it take to write a first book?
It really depends on how long the book is and how much time you give it each week. A short ebook written in steady weekly sessions gets done a lot sooner than a full-length memoir. How long it takes to write and publish a book breaks the stages down.
Do I need an agent to publish my first book?
Nope. You can self-publish an ebook on Amazon KDP without an agent or a publisher. If you're hoping for a traditional deal, check each publisher's submission guidelines, because some of them only take agented submissions.
Ready to write your first book?
If you're going to write it yourself, write your two sentences today and put your first session in the calendar for this week. If you'd rather have an ebook writer in the USA write it in your voice, tell us about your book. We'll get back to you within one working day, with a fixed quote and a dated schedule if it looks like a fit.
Related articles
Publishing guides follow the ebookwriters.us editorial policy.