Episode 40: Nonfiction Book Writing: The 5 Phases of "Writing"

Today on the show Jodi breaks down the phrase “writing a book” into the five stages of nonfiction book writing. Writing a book is a big task that encompasses a lot of steps and it’s important to know, as an author-entrepreneur, where you are in the process so you can stay on track, stay motivated, and finish your book. The five stages are:

• Prewriting

• Drafting

• Revising

• Editing

• Publishing

Prewriting

This is the prep phase. It involves doing a brain dump to create a working contents for the book, doing research, conducting interviews, and finding existing content to repurpose in the book.

Drafting

This stage involves writing — and just writing. The result of this stage is what the publishing industry refers to as a “shitty first draft.”

Revising

This is where the book is put together, like a puzzle, in its final form. Beta feedback is received and incorporated, text (at the sentence level up to the chapter level) is moved around, and material is added and deleted. At the end of this stage, a manuscript is considered complete, aside from polishing.

Editing

This stage involves polishing the manuscript. I recommend hiring a professional copy editor.

Publishing

At this stage the manuscript becomes a book. This stage includes interior and cover design and publication.

Listen here or on your favorite podcast player, and let me know what you think! Screenshot this episode and tag me on Instagram (@jodibrandoneditorial).

Have a book idea for your business but aren’t sure where to start? Check out my Jump-Start Guide here.