If you’re a blogger, writing a book may be easier than you think. I’m not necessarily talking about turning your blog into a book, although this post from lifehacker explains how that can work.
What I’m talking about is the discipline of writing regularly. One of the biggest hurdles for would-be authors is actually getting the book done. How many writers have unfinished manuscripts? (Come on, ‘fess up if you want to.)
Indeed, if you look at a book as a whole, then the prospect of writing a 150 to 300 page document can seem daunting. However, if you’ve been blogging regularly for at least a year, then you may have already written the equivalent of 150 to 300 pages.
An average page in a book has about 400 words. (Of course page sizes and typefaces vary, so there’s no way to get a figure that will represent every single book.)Â For me, my average blog post is about 250 words.
So, using my own posts as an example, if I blogged five days a week every week I would wind up with about 65,000 words (250 x 5 = 1,250 | 1,250 x 52 = 65,000).
Now, if you divide 65,000 words by a page (400 words), then you will see that you wind up with 162 pages. That’s easily enough for a short book!
Am I going to do this myself? Probably not this year …Â However, as I was thinking about these statistics the other day I found them to be very encouraging. I hope that this post encourages some of you.
Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved
12 responses so far ↓
1 Brandon Satrom // Jan 8, 2008 at
Laura,
Thanks for the encouraging perspective. Last November, I participated in NaNoWriMo and found that “writing a book” (or at least a draft) is far less daunting than it needs to be. By writing for at least an hour every day, I found that I was able to complete a 55k word manuscript (about 190 pages double-spaced for all my editing notes 🙂 ) easily within the 30 days. I heartily agree with your encouragement to write regularly, even if it has to be in small spurts.
Thanks again. You’re words are inspiring to this wannabe author in editing mode who plans to finish this book in 2008!
– Brandon
2 Robert Hruzek // Jan 8, 2008 at
Interesting thought, Laura! I never thought about it before, but you’re right – it adds up to quite a few words!
Hmm… when I post something of actual, you know, substance, it’s usually around 900 words or so. So say I average two of those a week.
Wow! That’s upwards of 90,000 words last year!
Now all I have to do is figure out how to string them together into a book!
3 Laura // Jan 8, 2008 at
Exactly Robert!
4 Loy // Jan 9, 2008 at
Great post Laura! For me it’s been difficult to settle my thoughts together to writing a book. Since I started blogging, I think I’m mastering that discipline that it takes to write regularly.
But on the flip side, my genre of writing (fiction) may not allow me to finish a thriller novel in one year. It has nothing to do with number of pages, it’s about the rigorous research and creative imagination that comes with writing such books. I can if I try, but that may not produce a bestseller;-)
5 Laura // Jan 9, 2008 at
Hi Brandon and Loy!
Of course, a year is an arbitrary figure. Loy, you’re right. Some genre’s do require more research than the average blog post.
I think the point is not to be overwhelmed by the seemingly huge task of writing a book, but to write a little bit every day.
6 Paula Mooney // Jan 9, 2008 at
Very good inspiration, Laura.
I always look at it that way, too: Even if you only write one page per day, at the end of a year you’ll have 365 pages!
Albeit, pages that need rewriting…
7 Laura // Jan 9, 2008 at
Hi Paula!
LOL about the rewriting. That’s so true. Especially if you didn’t plan for your blogging to become a book.
8 Jeanne Dininni // Jan 9, 2008 at
Laura,
The thought has crossed my mind to make writing a book–or at least an e-book–one of my 2008 goals, though I haven’t actually gone so far as to resolve to do it.
Nevertheless, your post is an inspiration, pointing out in a very practical way, how little effort might actually be needed to make that goal a reality.
(Of course, there’s a bit more to writing a book than merely amassing several hundred pages of content; but we’ll just assume that most writers can handle both the planning and organizational aspects of a book project every bit as well as the writing portion.)
Thanks for the gentle nudge, though. It’s definitely something to consider attempting in the New Year!
Jeanne
9 Laura // Jan 9, 2008 at
Thanks Jeanne!
Of course, the post was an oversimplification. However, I hope it makes the task less formidable for those who are considering it.
10 Chris // Jan 12, 2008 at
I had a teacher who said that writing takes a love of language, desire and disipline. By discipline she meant writing every day. And that’s why I blog, I’m trying to develop the discipline. After a while, maybe I’ll find a voice and an idea, but for now I’m happy just to be posting anything.
Baby steps here.
11 Laura // Jan 12, 2008 at
It sounds good Chris. By writing every day you’ll become a better writer.
12 Krissy // Jan 31, 2008 at
Thanks for sharing this entry. It was helpful.
Krissy Knox
http://journals.aol.com/fisherkristina/SometimesIThink