19 Best Books on How To Write a Book for Aspiring Authors in 2024
Everyone has a story to tell, but you may need some help getting that story down on paper; get that advice from books on how to write a book! The task may seem daunting, especially if you're a beginning writer, changing genres or new to navigating the challenges of the publishing world. While anyone can probably write a book, writing a book you are happy with necessitates a little help from those who have trod the same path you are embarking on, be they teachers, experts or other fellow writers who’ve decided to pass on their wisdom.
We’ve rounded up a few great solutions to check out if you're looking for books on how to write a book, helping you as you embark on your writing journey. Check them out, even if you’re looking to freshen up on your skills and you've been writing for years. They include advice for various genres, whether you want to write an epic or the latest best cookbook, as well as valuable ways to build your skills from the experts. You can find most online, in print, e-book and audiobook form. Or you can spend the afternoon browsing the writing section of your favorite bookstore, which makes for a great indoor activity in Los Angeles or indoor activity in Chicago for bookworms.
Jump to Section
- Books on How To Write a Book for Beginners
- Best Books on Writing Fiction for Beginners
- Books on Writing by Famous Authors
- Best Books for Writing Skills
- Books on Writing Books for Adults
- Books on Writing Children's Books
- Books on How To Write a Book FAQs
Books on How To Write a Book for Beginners
1. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
This New York Times bestseller has long been regarded as one of the best books on how to write a book for both beginner and experienced writers. Often described as a warm and humorous take on the task of being a writer, it advises building stories (and your work/life in general) from the ground up, one thing, or one bird, at a time to deal with feelings of overwhelm that often plague creatives.
2. The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers by Betsy Lerner
This book is filled with great advice from those in the weeds of the publishing world. It's one of the books on how to write a book that tells writers what to know as they begin to write and publish their work. The book helps budding authors be more productive when beginning to seek readers, agents and editors. It does a particularly great job of helping you navigate the tricky spaces where art and commerce meet in the publishing world.
3. Writing Past Dark: Envy, Fear, Distraction and Other Dilemmas in the Writer’s Life by Bonnie Friedman
This book addresses some of the creative challenges writers face, both in their writing process and out in the greater literary world, including writer’s block, procrastination, rejection and more. One of the great books on how to write a book for beginners, it focuses on the obstacles you may face in bringing a book to life and how to make it successfully past them and on your way to creating the book you desire.
4. First You Write a Sentence: The Elements of Reading, Writing…and Life by Joe Moran
This is one of the books on how to write a book that focuses on how to get started writing sentences, paragraphs, chapters and entire works with grace and professionalism. The author brings in examples ranging from Shakespeare to modern authors on how to write beautiful sentences and by extension, beautiful books that connect with readers.
Best Books on Writing Fiction for Beginners
5. Save the Cat! Writes A Novel: The Last Book on Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need by Jessica Brody
A novel-specific volume from the famous Save the Cat! Story writing structure, this is one of the books on how to write a book that talks about essential plot points that every novel needs to have to make it a success. There are 15 beats that all good writers hit, as well as 10 story genres, every novel ever written subscribes to. This book will show you how to successfully deal with all of them.
6. Just Write!: A Calming, Realistic and Optimistic Approach to Writing Your First Book by Lauren Bingham
Looking at writing as a transformative experience, this is one of the top books on how to write a book that deals with connecting with your readers in a meaningful way from the beginning. It includes dealing with and expressing complicated emotions and unlocking the skills to convey them. It can also help you find focus and direction, stay focused and see the project to its end.
7. How to Write a Novel in 6 Months: A Published Authors Guide to Writing a 50,000-Word Book in 24 Weeks by Thomas Emson
This is one of the books on how to write a book that can help you begin writing and see it to completion within just a few short months with a step-by-step guide. It includes how to balance life and writing, where to get great ideas, how to structure your book and how to keep to a writing routine. It also helps you deal with obstacles like writer’s block, self-criticism and making progress.
Books on Writing by Famous Authors
8. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
This incredible book from bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert (author Eat, Pray, Love) doesn’t just cover writing, but the creative life in general and how to navigate it amid the obstacles of the modern world. It does have some great advice from Gilbert’s own experiences writing and making stories and focuses on how to embrace creativity with curiosity and shed the idea that making art and books is supposed to be all about struggle. It's not really one of the books on how to write a book per se, but Gilbert gives advice on changing our attitudes about the idea of the tortured artist and embracing joy as part of creativity.
9. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
From one of the most prolific and successful novelists of the modern age, this is one of the great books on how to write a book as it allows King to reveal his own experiences, habits, and obstacles as a writer. It also shows you how to take his advice and put it to use in your own creative life to make your writing as rich and plentiful as his.
10. Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story by Ursula LeGuin
Written by famed sci-fi master Ursula K. LeGuin, this is one of the books on how to write a book that centers around creating writing that is well-crafted and masterful, both in language and narrative. It draws in samples of other writers and Le Guin’s own work to make her points on how to write a successful book. It also discusses the value of writing groups and writing communities.
Best Books for Writing Skills
11. The Elements of Style: The Classic Writing Style Guide by E.B. White and William Strunk
A long time staple on any writer’s shelf for just over 100 years since its publication in 1923, this slender volume deals with basics like sentence structure, point of view and punctuation. It also features crafting paragraphs that make sense and support the structure of your work, be it nonfiction or fiction. It’s a great book to help you brush up on skills you may already have or answer questions that arise as you write your first book.
12. Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark
Composed of 50 short essays from the author, this is one of the books on how to write a book that details everything from good writerly habits to detailed story blueprints and structures to help you craft your book. It has examples taken from both literary and journalistic sources. It’s a great book for beginners as well as seasoned authors.
13. A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver
Award-winning poet Mary Oliver not only helps you understand contemporary poets as an insider, but gives advice on writing in the genre, covering everything from form and diction, meter and rhyme and how a poem is built from the ground up. The author draws on samples from great poetry of the last two centuries, as well as offers a peek into Oliver’s own process as a writer.
14. Pity The Reader: On Writing With Style by Kurt Vonnegut
From one of the last century’s masters, this book gathers together everything Vonnegut ever said and taught his students about the craft of writing, including information gleaned from classroom discussions, interviews, speeches, essays, letters and his own creative output.
Books on Writing Books for Adults
15. Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere) by Lisa Cron
This is one of the books on writing a book that presents a scene-by-scene blueprint for writing the perfect story and seeing it through to completion using storytelling strategies that can help you along the way. Using psychology and various ways of approaching a novel, the author helps you go from idea to a great first draft without any strange trajectories or misdirections that plague new writers.
16. Shut Up and Write the Book: A Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting Your Novel from Plan to Print by Jenna Moreci and Lisa Cordileone
This easy step-by-step guide can help you get from just the tiniest kernel of an idea to a finished novel without feeling overwhelmed by the process. Focusing on basic principles of storytelling, the author helps you hone valuable skills in crafting narrative, creating characters, writing dialogue and mastering story structure without getting too bogged down in the middle of the long and treacherous writing process.
Books on Writing Children's Books
17. Writing Picture Books: A Hands-On Guide from Story Creation to Publication by Ann Whitford Paul
This volume sheds light on writing illustrated books for younger readers including the skills, habits and collaborative energy when working with an illustrator to bring your book to life. It includes great advice on coming up with ideas, creating characters and mastering skills in plotting and point-of-view. It also includes valuable devices for the children’s book industry.
18. Writing Great Books for Young Adults: Everything You Need to Know, from Crafting the Idea to Getting Published by Regina L. Brooks
This book, written by a long-time literary agent in the genre, can help you delve into the bustling YA fiction market, whether you are looking to pen your first novel or trying to find a publisher for one you’ve written. This is one of the top books on how to write a book in YA. Information includes how to develop an engaging voice and style, how to plot your book for the best storytelling structure, as well as how to craft pitches and query letters for agents and publishers.
19. Writing Irresistible Picture Books: Insider Insights Into Crafting Compelling Modern Stories for Young Readers by Mary Kole
This book includes great advice on how to make the most of slender picture books in terms of storytelling, plot and language. It uses over a hundred published examples as guides with attention to theme, plot, conflict and other elements for young readers from an experienced publishing insider.
Books on How To Write a Book FAQs
What Is the Best Book on How To Write a Book?
Many writers state the value of Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, which shows you how to tackle the monumental task of writing a book and forging a creative career one step or one bird, at a time, is probably one of the best books on how to write a book.
How Does a Beginner Write a Book?
The most important thing to consider when setting out to write a book is what sort of book you wish to write. Fiction? Memoire? Poetry? The second step is considering who your audience is and how to reach them. See our Quick Guide on How To Write a Book to get started.
How To Write a Book With No Experience?
The best way to learn how to write a book is to look to those who have done it before you, including craft manuals and volumes on the writing skills needed and discussions of their own process.
What Are the 7 Steps To Writing a Book?
Here are the 7 steps to writing a book:
- What genre do you want to write about? Fiction? Non-fiction? Memoir? Poetry?
- Who is your audience? Adults? Teens? Children? Experts in a particular field? People looking for advice? How will you reach them?
- Plan an outline of your project, either loose or highly specific.
- Create your messy first draft with an emphasis on getting it out onto the page.
- Create multiple drafts with greater attention to elements like grammar, structure and character development.
- Share your work with preliminary readers like peers, family or professional developmental editors.
- Fine-tune your final draft with reader feedback.
The information in these books on how to write a book will easily set you on your way to writing the next great novel or at the very least, a novel you and your potential readers will love and adore.
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