A funny infographic Time Breakdown of the Writing Process made me think about book writing process. From my own experience, I knew that only a fraction of time allocated for writing really is productive writing time. But how small fraction of time, and what other tasks writing involves? Since writing a book is a time consuming project, it would be beneficial to know where the time goes.
Below is an off-the-cuff estimation for time breakdown of writing a nonfiction book. In some cases, it doesn’t matter if it is a paper book or an ebook, the time breakdown is the same. In many cases, however, more graphs and photographs (even videos) are included in ebooks today, somewhat increasing the amount of work.
The following time breakdown estimation assumes that most of the research for the book has already been done. Also, the book concept has been developed (it is documented on the author’s mind, at least). Then, the book can be written (the pie below). After the book has been written – and often simultaneously with that – book marketing is carried out.
How other authors believe they use their precious writing time? What is your time breakdown? If you are planning to write a nonfiction book, here are a few tips.