How Many Drafts of a Book Should You Write? Here’s My 5-Draft Plan for Authors

I once heard from a fella who had a book coming out soon and had signed up for my book marketing strategies course.

It had taken him 20 drafts, but he was now ready to self-publish. I said, “Huh?”

If you have written 20 drafts (and this ISN’T the record, by the way), then something is wrong.

  • You’re overwriting, overrevising, and inefficient.

  • You don’t have a plan or a system to follow.

  • You may lack confidence.

Don’t get me wrong: The process of writing and fine-tuning can be therapeutic or even fun.

It’s important to take pride in your work. You owe it to your readers to produce a quality product.

But it doesn’t take 20 drafts to write a nonfiction book (or a novel) that readers will love. You’ve got other things to do.

How many drafts should you write?

As a nonfiction author coach and book editor who’s also written two traditionally published books, I would argue 5.

You can write a great book in just 5 drafts. How many drafts before publishing? 5.


Are you an American author writing a nonfiction book that you want to dazzle readers?

Time to line up an editor that can help you do exactly that.

 

“Working with Daniel was by far the best decision I have made regarding my manuscript. Perfect fit for the subject matter. Professional and social. A perfect mix for a first-time author who has no idea what he is doing (me). His work delivered better than I could hope for. And I feel like I made a friend in the process. Wonderful man and an expert at the craft. Will definitely work with him again.”

 

Here’s my 5-Draft Plan for writing a book.

1️

Draft 1: Working from an outline, hammer it out. The point is to write; just keep the momentum going. Write in order, in large chunks. If you get stuck, move ahead. Each day, make a note of where you were and what to do when you resume. Some people have an author coach to help them get started.

2️

Draft 2: Self-edit carefully—big picture and small picture, chapter by chapter. I talk about self-editing techniques in my self-publishing course. But the most important thing you can do is make sure your chapters start and end in a way that grabs the readers’ attention. Run the dang spell checker. Try your darndest to get your punctuation right. And make your paragraphs relatively short!

3️

Draft 3: Get feedback. This is when you incorporate beta readers’ and other authors’ comments, or better yet, a manuscript assessment or developmental edit, and make revisions. Then do a spell-check and grammar check on it as you make revisions.

4️

Draft 4: Get a copy edit, or at the very least, put it through AI software like ProWritingAid. Very careful fine-tuning and proofreading is in order here. The Copyeditor’s Handbook can be a great resource, too, for folks on a budget.

5️

Draft 5: Fine-tuning and polishing. Here you’re mostly looking for any inconsistencies, overused phrases, factual errors, or little typos. When you’re done, it’s ready to self-publish or send to editors and agents.

 
 

Can’t-miss tips for self-editing and revising your book

When you’re reading and self-editing and revising your book manuscript, especially in Draft 5,

  • Change the font so you can trick your brain into seeing it with new eyes.

  • Read it aloud or have it read aloud to you. Or

  • Print it out and read it. I cringe at the thought, but it works.

Sometimes people get a professional editor after this point.

They know it needs a pro. They’ve set aside the funds. Or they’re having trouble getting publishers to bite or are motivated to make this book the best it can be.

In this case, you might have 6 drafts.

Five drafts is a best-case scenario.

But the bottom line is, it doesn’t take 20 drafts—or the record I’ve heard of, which is, ahem, 26 drafts—to write a book.

You’ve got other things to do. Like, um, your next book!

While we’re here, you might be wondering

How long should it take to write a book?

That is a very individual thing. It depends on the genre, the length of the book, and the author. It depends on your organization, too.

Generally speaking, a month to a year will get you a good result.

If you can write a book within a year, things will be fresh in your mind, your enthusiasm will likely stay high, and you’ll likely find your writing and revising sessions more effective.

The 5-Draft Method described above will help you finish sooner rather than later.

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Happy writing and revising,

Daniel