How to Write a Book: Insights from My Experience and Proven Strategies

In November 2021, I received an email that would lead me to do one of the things I am most proud of in my life, professionally and personally. Penguin Random House, one of the largest publishing houses in the world, offered me the opportunity to write a book. My name is Jordi Reche, and I am the author of the book ‘Convence sin abrir la boca.’

I think most people have thought about writing a book at some point, but when the time comes, the most natural thing is to feel a bit lost and not know where to start. I was incredibly fortunate to have the guidance of my editor, Alba, and the entire Penguin team. Today, I want to share everything I learned from them and my experience writing my first book. My initial worries of not knowing where to begin ended with a book boasting six editions and always at the top of the bestseller list in its field. The book is ‘Convence sin abrir la boca' (‘Convince With Your Mouth Closed’), a landmark book in the world of non-verbal language and unconscious communication.

I wrote this article to help you on your own adventure of writing a book for the first time—especially if you’ve never been formally trained for it and, like me, didn’t know where to start.

“Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use – do the work you want to see done.”
― Austin Kleon, ‘Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative’

Before you start

For me, the first question anyone who wants to write a book should ask themselves is why they want to write it. What is your motivation? What are your objectives?

There are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic.

Intrinsic motivation comes from within, while extrinsic motivation comes from outside. Of course, the one that guarantees a better chance of success is the first one, as it only depends on you.

In my opinion, you should write a book because you feel a personal desire to do so. In my case, my writing goal was to capture everything I shared over the years in my courses and training sessions. In effect, it was a way to preserve the essence of what I teach, and that was my objective.

 It had to be a serious, professional book and a manual to help improve the communication of those who read it. From there, I started working.

However, I’m sure that if my motivation had been extrinsic, it wouldn’t have worked as well. If I had written a book to sell a lot, to become more well-known, or to feed my ego, the result wouldn’t have been the same.

Developing the structure and book idea

Here is the most important point. What are you going to talk about? What topics will be covered in your nonfiction book? The method that worked best for me was to lay out step-by-step all the topics, subtopics, examples, and case studies that I use daily in my courses, talks, workshops, and social media posts.

I wanted to make absolutely sure that I wasn’t leaving anything important out. To do this, I started writing EVERYTHING on a large piece of paper. The next step was organizing everything into chapters or sections. This way, I had a very clear and visual image of how my book was taking shape. I could also see what was most important and less critical so I could allocate the appropriate space to each section.

Of course, this changes and evolves throughout the creative writing process. Think of it as your reference, but it is also flexible.

It’s also a great exercise to observe how other published authors have written similar books, including how they present and organize their content and chapters. No one is born knowing how to write a good book, so learning from bestselling authors who have already done it is a very good option.

On the other hand, you may find yourself in a situation where you don’t have the necessary resources, ideas, or materials to start book writing. In other words, you might have the main idea or ideas but don't know how to begin working on them.

In this case, I recommend you learn as much as possible about how this topic has been addressed in different media, including books, magazines, websites, and social media platforms. This way, you’ll have a clearer idea to inspire you and start brainstorming ideas.

Moreover, you might need to learn and gather more information on the subject until you gain the confidence to begin your work. Without this confidence, it’s very difficult to start writing, and most likely, the process will become frustrating.

Get organized

For me, the number one requirement when writing a book is to have a plan. To be organized, identify a method and know what deadlines you want to set. In my case, the process of writing a book took a year. I spent the first two months on the previous point — organizing, compiling, and focusing on everything I would talk about. I must say that throughout that year, I never fully dedicated myself to writing the book itself except for specific moments. I never stopped my regular pace of life.

I started writing the first sentences of my book in the third month of that year and finished by the eighth month. The following three months were dedicated to revising and finalizing the text. Your experience might be different, yet there is one thing you need to be very sure about: the timeline you aim to stick to. It’s extremely easy to get delayed, slow down, or get distracted. To avoid that, I organized myself by weeks. Once I learned how quickly I wrote, I knew how much time I should roughly spend on each chapter.

All of this helped me establish a sustainable work routine, and I wrote between two and three hours every day.

“Progress, not perfection, is what we should be asking of ourselves.”
― Julia Cameron, ‘The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity’

Research

I’ve always believed that writing a book is an important task. It’s a responsibility, something that transcends you. And because of that, I used every necessary mechanism to ensure everything I wrote was accurate and true. I researched as much as possible about all the studies I referred to, as I didn’t want to cite any that weren’t valid or didn’t even exist.

As any good writer, I also made 100% sure that my bibliography was correct and that all the sources I cited were of high quality.

Whether you opt for the Internet or books, everything is valid as long as you cross-check the information and filter your sources. Unfortunately, not everyone does this.

Outlining your book’s writing schedule

Creating a schedule is probably the hardest part of writing a book. Everyone has written things countless times, but not everyone has written a book. To do so, you need a routine, writing habits, and discipline.

It’s very important to have an effective work plan, but one that you can also sustain and integrate into your lifestyle. Remember to set achievable goals for yourself; for example, it makes no sense to try to write eight hours a day if you already have a full-time job. Instead, identify which hours of the day are best for your writing sessions. If you can’t write during those hours, try doing it on weekends. If you have to do it, for example, after work, try to maintain a lifestyle and habits that allow you to stay fresh and energized during those hours.

In my case, the best way I found to fit writing time into my daily routine was by doing it for an average of three hours each night after dinner, roughly from nine to twelve. To make this work, I had to ensure I was rested and not tired by that time of the day. I adjusted my sleep and even eating routines to achieve this. Soon enough, I realized I could keep up this pace for about three to four days during the week and one day on the weekend. Then, I calculated how much time I would need to finish my book.

Overcoming procrastination and writer’s block

I believe it’s very important that you create a writing routine that is reasonably demanding but one you can maintain. It should also be flexible: there will be days when you feel completely unable to write a single word. That’s perfectly fine. Take that day off and come back stronger the next day. Or the next. But don’t delay your return too much because the longer you wait, the harder it will be to get back into it.

In my experience, forcing myself to write when neither the ideas nor the words were flowing didn’t work at all. And, even if I managed to write despite my writer’s block, it wasn’t good writing.

To get to the starting point of actual writing, you’ll first have to do the hardest thing: start writing your first chapter. Don’t try to make every text memorable from the start. Instead, start writing to develop the habit, and then you can learn about yourself and see how you write. You’ll have all the time in the world to revise your texts and make any changes necessary, but make sure you start, and the sooner, the better. After all, the best way to face a blank page is to fill it with text.

For me, it was very important to send what I had written to someone I trusted as soon as possible so I could get an external opinion. You can do it with one person or several, but I found it really useful because it’s a way not to feel so alone and to feel like there are people accompanying you in what, in theory, is such an individual process.

That said, there will be moments of procrastination, and you’ll feel like you can’t continue. Stop. Take your time, distract yourself, and return that day or the next, but again, don’t delay too long.

Identify your method

As for how to write, I had no doubt that I would use my laptop because I could write from anywhere. Also, it’s crucial to work with a cloud-based file. So that, whether your writing space is at home or a coffee shop, you can continue no matter what.

It’s also very important to have a notebook (or a note-taking app or other writing tool) at hand to write down any ideas you may come up with when you’re not at your laptop. Because when you’re writing, the process constantly runs in your brain. At any moment of the day, a great idea might come to you, and you will hate yourself if you forget it because you didn’t write it down.

Finally, it’s important to talk about your writing style. Here are my writing tips: You can make it more or less formal. Fresher and more direct, or not. The decision will depend on the tone you want to give to the book. But above all, it’s important to always keep one thing in mind: your authenticity. If you opt for several styles or ways of writing, the book may end up feeling soulless. But if you stay true to your authenticity, it will preserve the credibility of the book itself. Write a book that people can recognize as yours, one that anyone who knows you will instantly realize belongs to you.

Finishing the first draft

This moment seems like it will never come, but it does, and even then, you probably won’t be fully convinced. You’ll always feel like you could make some changes or improvements to almost any part of your book. However, you must set a point at which you consider your first draft complete. It’s the only way to stop writing and move your rough draft to the next step: the editing process.

If you self-publish, you’ll have to rely on yourself and, if possible, people who want or can help you. If, like me, you’ve written your book with a publishing house, you’ll notice that “the team,” including the proofreader and professional editor, starts to get fully involved.

Understanding publishing options

There are two ways to publish a book: self-publishing or traditional publishing. Of course, each has its pros and cons.

When you self-publish, you have full control over the entire process, from self-editing to cover design and distribution. You also keep a higher profit margin from your published books. However, there are downsides — you take on all the risk and don’t have the publishing, distribution, and commercial muscle of a traditional publishing house to support your whole book journey.

When you publish with a publishing house, your profit margin is, of course, reduced. But in return, you get to reach and visibility, which would be very hard to achieve on your own.

That said, to publish with a publishing house, you first need to get their attention — you need to make them choose you. You can do this in two ways: by submitting your manuscript through a literary agent or by becoming someone well-known enough to attract their attention and who also has a minimum guaranteed number of potential buyers. I achieved this by starting to create content on social media and building a community.

I had a very positive experience with my publisher. That said, both parties must engage in an exercise of mutual trust. They trust you to write the entire book, and you must trust them to advise, correct, or modify some of your ideas. I fully entrusted them with the process because I understood it was the best thing I could do. And the result was great. However, I always had the confidence to express my opinion if I didn’t like any proposed changes or modifications, and my opinion was always taken into account. After all, you’re working as a team.

This last point is the reason I have no doubts about repeating the process with a potential new book: I prefer to do it as a team rather than alone. And, of course, I try to do it with the best team possible.

Marketing and promoting your book

There’s a belief that writing a book is just the beginning. That after writing it, comes the hardest part: telling the world that your book exists. According to UNESCO, 2.2 million books are published worldwide each year, both physical and digital. Imagine how difficult it is to make your book stand out.

That’s why it’s crucial to have an action plan. In my case, it consisted of:

• Constantly promoting my book through my social media.

• Rewarding those who bought my book in advance. I held an online workshop with everyone who bought my book before it was published.

• Giving away copies to people who could read them and spread the word.

• Offering my clients the option to buy my book for their team when I give a conference or course.

• Even after time passed, I continued promoting and talking about the book on my social media platforms, both professional and personal.

Your Writing Journey Starts Here: Stay Inspired with Headway

To sum up, writing a book is one of the most exciting journeys you can take in life. That’s why preparation is so important— it can even make the process more enjoyable! Download the Headway app to stay inspired and learn from the world’s best non-fiction books in a quick and accessible way. With bite-sized summaries and key insights, Headway helps you develop your writing skills, spark new ideas, and stay motivated every step of the way.