9 steps to write a book and edit it in just minutes a day

Writing a book is definitely one of the things that comes up most often on people's "bucket list."

The problem is that achieving it seems insurmountable from the outside, when in fact, anyone can do it! No need for money, no need to quit your job, all you need is a computer, an internet connection, and a few minutes a day.

My first book "Fortnite a-t-il transformé nos enfants en zombies" has just been released in paperback, and in this article, I'm going to explain how I got there.

Note that this article only applies to non-fiction books, not novels.

1 - Write the outline

Whether you want to write to pass on your knowledge, to offer solutions to a problem, or even to share your opinion/vision on a topic, you'll need to organize your information in a logical order.

While I don't recommend creating an outline when writing a novel, for a non-fiction book, it's essential!

My method: Start with the big sections (context, problem, solutions, conclusion), then gradually break them down into sub-sections.

The ideal is to reach a level detailed enough that the content of a section can fit on a slide, in the form of keywords.

And speaking of which...

2 - Prepare a talk

Yes, I know, it might sound strange, but trust me, this is a solution that will save you time, a lot of time!

The talk will let you validate four key points:

• That you have enough content to hold a 1-to-2-hour talk, which will ensure you have enough content for your book (which will surely be much longer to read)
• That the order of information and the separation of sections feels natural to you and logical to the audience
• That the topic attracts enough people (nobody likes writing for several months only to not be read)
• Start gathering (or creating) the illustrations/diagrams you need to convey your message

Preparing the talk shouldn't take you more than 2 to 3 weeks if you already have the info and your topic.

After that, all you have to do is find a partner venue, create an event on Eventbrite shared on Facebook, and you're off!

3 - Compile the feedback

During your talk, however small it may be, you'll have had questions, seen silent confusion in people's eyes, discovered gaps in documentation in certain places, and above all you'll have felt things.

Take all this information, and start annotating your talk's slideshow so you don't forget anything before moving on to the next step...

4 - Writing the draft

This is both the hardest part and also the most rewarding.

Your goal will be to put on paper all the information you shared out loud, while going deeper into each point, each topic.

Remember all the parts where you had to cut things short to avoid losing your audience, and think that this time, the reader will spread out their reading sessions, that they'll be able to follow you into every corner of your mind, provided the path is passable.

Personally, I wrote a large part of the draft from my iPad, and sometimes even from my smartphone on public transport. The ideal is to set one rule to follow in EVERY situation:

Write in your book EVERY day, even if you only have to write a single word that day

This is what will help you turn your motivation into a HABIT, and it's one of the secrets to staying the course over the long haul, and above all to finishing your draft faster because, trust me, it will be very rare for you to write just one word in a session.

Last rule: Don't reread your draft (except maybe the last few lines written) and above all, don't correct anything, otherwise you'll fall into an endless spiral of corrections and never finish your draft.

5 - Reading and editing

This isn't necessarily the most fun part. It's often the part where you hate yourself the most because even for those with nearly flawless spelling, you'll come across mistakes straight out of nowhere.

Don't beat yourself up, it's normal, it means you wrote with passion and with the drive to finish this draft, and that's exactly what you needed up until now!

Now your goal will be to reread the manuscript, add passages you feel are missing, but also remove passages that are too heavy and unnecessary for the reader's understanding.

Normally, once you've finished this step, your first corrected version should be significantly longer than your draft, but if it isn't, that's okay too.

Now, you're going to seek a fresh perspective on your book, because yes, you have now written a book!

6 - Beta readers

By now, you've read and reread the passages of your book so many times that you're no longer really able to spot new mistakes and/or inconsistencies.

Your brain will refuse to see its own oversights, and you need several outside perspectives to help you move forward (because yes, there are still things to change)!

Put together a group made up of close friends, colleagues, family members and ask them to read the book's content to help you move forward and give you constructive feedback.

The ideal is to have a fairly diverse group so that all the feedback is complementary: typos, inconsistencies, misunderstandings, style issues, etc...

Above all, remember to gather a group twice as large as what you'll actually need, because many will, in the end, never find the time to read the book, despite their good intentions.

Don't hold it against them!

7 - Finalizing the manuscript

Depending on the amount of feedback and changes you have to make, you'll be able to repeat steps 5 and 6 a number of times.

But be careful.

An author is never, and I mean NEVER, 100% satisfied with their book. You can spend 3 years writing a book, revising it, having it reviewed, and you'll always find something to criticize.

Don't fall into this trap, and simply ask yourself whether you've reached a point where this book will provide enough value to the reader. If so, it's time to take the leap!

8 - Publishing

I'm not going to go into detail about the methods for choosing, contacting, and negotiating with a traditional publisher, since I chose to self-publish my book.

But for those who would like to go that route, I recommend following author/writing coach @CecileDuquenne who talks about it regularly in her daily emails.

Personally, I chose to self-publish my book through the Amazon KDP platform, which allows you to sell your book on Amazon in paperback format and collect royalties very easily.

Be careful though, this means you'll be on your own for the entire marketing side of the book, including creating the cover (which you can of course have done by a professional)!

Personally, this is what I prefer, but it doesn't suit everyone

9 - Champagne

Congratulations, if you've made it this far you've surely fulfilled one of your dreams and maybe even discovered a calling for writing, you are officially an author!

As you can see, writing a book is within everyone's reach, even if some people lose their way along the road. If you've just read this article for the first time and the adventure tempts you, then I wish you...

Happy travels to the land of future authors!