# Anyone here ever written a book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 2, 2007, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204 "2007-08-02T23:00:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/1 "2007-08-02T23:00:28Z")
and how much time/energy/sweat/blood/toil/tears/dirt did it take? I’m writing my doctoral thesis at the minute and it kinda feels like writing a book. Except you might in the end sell a book! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/2 "2007-08-02T23:58:15Z")
Several of us have. I’ve written two published novels and about six unpublished ones. It generally takes me six months to write the first draft, with 2-3 months of editing. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/3 "2007-08-03T00:03:29Z")
It’s taken me 3 years to hammer out even a semblance of my work but that’s partly because of bereavement, full-time job (at one stage), and various other commitments. I’m giving myself another year. I feel like quitting now but I know I should persevere. I would like to at some stage in the future write a novel (who doesn’t?!) but this task I’ve found so daunting that the idea of another large scale writing project fills me with horror. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/4 "2007-08-03T00:21:20Z")
I’ve written five novels, two of which I completed as a teenager and are not even worth trying to sell, two of which I tried to sell and one I finished recently and won’t bother trying to sell. None published (despite having a professional agent and wasting a few years of my life with her). The two I wrote to try to sell took about two years each. Sending them off to my agent was like sending a child off to college. Having them fail miserably was like seeing that kid get arrested for selling crack. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/5 "2007-08-03T00:34:05Z")
See if you can’t arrange for your advisor to go on sabbatical. That will give you a drop-dead deadline for finishing, before s/he disappears for a year. Worked for me. ---
**Author:** ![5que](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/3bc359/32.png) [@5que](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5que)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/6 "2007-08-03T01:43:13Z")
Wrote two technology how-to books for the legal profession. One of them went through 7 drafts, the other around four. Based on my royalties compared to the writing/editing time, I’m sure my hourly rate was less than a dime. For a couple of years though they got me invited to speak at some conferences, so I got a few all expense paid trips to NY and SF, and even exciting Birmingham, AL. Won’t do it again though unless I get an advance! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/7 "2007-08-03T01:49:49Z")
I have written three erotic novels and self-published them: [http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/searchebooks.asp?Language=EN&searchStr=Pat+Powers&searchType=Author&lang=EN&orderBy=best](http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/searchebooks.asp?Language=EN&searchStr=Pat+Powers&searchType=Author&lang=EN&orderBy=best) Haven’t marketed them at all, sold about a hundred copies to date over the last year or so. I shouldn’t quit my day job, but it’s a nice ego boost. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/8 "2007-08-03T01:51:32Z")
I have written three erotic novels and self-published them: [http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/searchebooks.asp?Language=EN&searchStr=Pat+Powers&searchType=Author&lang=EN&orderBy=best](http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/searchebooks.asp?Language=EN&searchStr=Pat+Powers&searchType=Author&lang=EN&orderBy=best) ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/9 "2007-08-03T02:10:35Z")
Wrote a book the summer I was 15. My father burned it, which was probably not much of a loss to the world, but hit me hard. I don’t know how comparable writing a novel is to doing a doctoral thesis; what field are you in? ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/10 "2007-08-03T02:42:44Z")
I’ve written two novels and am part way through the third. The first took about four and a half months for the first draft, and probably another month for the second. The second book took about six months for the first draft, and I haven’t done the second draft yet. The third book is definitely taking the longest. Isn’t it supposed to get easier as you go? ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/11 "2007-08-03T03:04:29Z")
I’ve written eight complete novels, and three uncompleted ones. None published yet, but I’ve had some talks with a decent publisher. I’d completed the first before I was 14, so you can imagine the maturity and imagination in that one… It was, however, more than 500 pages of teen drivel. I was quite determined, and am now quite embarrassed to read my manuscript again. It has become easier for me; on the last one, I whipped out the first 85,000 words in five weeks. On that one, I had a dream that told me what happened, and it just flowed. I’m occasionally working on the rewrite of that one now, but not very frequently. Sometimes, life gets in the way. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/12 "2007-08-03T04:37:14Z")
I’ve written two complete novels, but never tried to get either of them published. I don’t even think I have a copy of the first one anymore. The second one I still find kind of funny at times, but its faults glare so obviously at me now that I’m just going to keep it to read for its comedy/nostalgia value sometime in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Phantom\_Dennis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Phantom\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantom_Dennis)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/13 "2007-08-03T05:10:02Z")
How do you guys develop the stamina and willpower to finish a book? I’ve dreamed of writing a book on occasion, and I’ve even started writing a few, but I always get discouraged and lose interest after a few thousand words. How do you force yourself to keep writing knowing that 1) the finished product may not be good enough to publish, and 2) even if it’s a masterpiece, it may still be impossible to find a publisher? ---
**Author:** ![straykat23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@straykat23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straykat23)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/14 "2007-08-03T05:39:13Z")
Where’s **Eve**? She’s successfully authored several books: [Eve Golden](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-3230376-2399056?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=eve+golden&Go.x=9&Go.y=11) Haven’t seen her around in a while and I miss her. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/15 "2007-08-03T06:04:39Z")
Written, yes. Submitted for publication, no, as I’m continually rewriting it. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/16 "2007-08-03T06:05:44Z")
Co-wrote a history book for the sesquicentennial of our county three years ago. It was a project of the newspaper where I work. (Among other things, I run a weekly history feature). The book had a limited print run of 2,000, nicely designed hardcover with slick pages, hundreds of historic photos, complex timeline, etc. We jobbed it out to a regular book publisher. Sold at $29.95; there are maybe 100 copies left. The two of us got a modest flat fee, a few copies, and a lot of egoboost. There is something magical about being asked to autograph a real book you’ve written, with a Library of Congress number and everything. Took us about a year. Four months to write, four months to recheck every bit through a committee of local historians, and proof, proof and more proof. Four months to wait for it to come back from the publisher. Certainly not your typical author experience, but a wonderful experience nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/17 "2007-08-03T06:08:38Z")
I’ve written and self-published [two](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0966604423/matthewholm-20)[books](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0966604415/matthewholm-20) with a co-author. They each took a little under a year to complete. I’ve written one YA novel with that same co-author that is complete but unpublished. We’re currently about halfway through another one that has a decent shot at being published. (My editor has shown interest and has given us direction on it after we gave her a treatment, outline, etc.) We hope to be finished by the end of the year. We’ve technically been working on it for about 4 years. (!) I also have 8 published [graphic novels](http://www.babymouse.com), with more on the way and another series on the way. But, luckily, my sister did most of the writing on those. I just had to draw until my arm fell off. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/18 "2007-08-03T06:14:13Z")
I wasn’t considering them, but I’ve co-written a couple of textbooks on Information Sources. Those are much different: you receive a contract and in my case a set assignment of what to write, and it’s more of a creative challenge than you might think, but in my case I was paid a flat-fee and the book’s not really something that I think of as one of my “writings” (a bastard child by a camp follower I suppose). What subject is your dissertation in? (And here’s something a bit excremental: many doctoral dissertations are sold and the author never gets a penny- not for a lot, mind, but various departments/libraries will make them available for companies to sell to interested researchers for anywhere from a few dollars on up.) . ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/19 "2007-08-03T06:20:44Z")
[QUOTE=Phantom Dennis] How do you guys develop the stamina and willpower to finish a book? I’ve dreamed of writing a book on occasion, and I’ve even started writing a few, but I always get discouraged and lose interest after a few thousand words. How do you force yourself to keep writing knowing that 1) the finished product may not be good enough to publish, and 2) even if it’s a masterpiece, it may still be impossible to find a publisher? [/QUOTE] I’ve written four. After the first one I had contracts and deadlines. Contracts and deadlines are quite helpful. Actually, I had a contract for the first one, but I had to write the whole book in order to get the contract, as most people (but not all people) do with first novels. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204/20 "2007-08-03T11:04:51Z")
Write one? Yes, I have. Get it published? Well, no… ☹ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-written-a-book/414204.md?page=2)