Are you waiting for the perfect time to write your academic book? Do we even know what the perfect time would be? In today’s episode, I’m going to teach you how to identify the right time to write your book. We’re going to discuss what factors to consider in deciding how much time to devote to your book, and how to create a timeline that will work for you. Let’s get into it. Welcome to Academic Book Writing Simplified. I’m your host, Jane Joanne Jones, a writing coach and developmental editor who’s here to give you some tough love about the way you write. This podcast is for women and non binary scholars in academia who are writing academic books, but feel as if the process is a little or a lot like a mystery. If you’re ready to trade your confusion and frustration for ease, clarity, and purpose, You’re in the right place. Let’s head into today’s episode.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to today’s episode of Academic Book Writing Simplified. I’m your host, Jane Joanne Jones. Today, we’re going to talk about timelines and how to determine the right time to write your book. I encounter a lot of writers who find their way to elevate. That’s my book coaching and writing program for women and non binary scholars. And quickly realized that they did not give themselves enough time to write their books in an easeful way. In fact, I’ve even turned people away from the program because I think they’re too short on time to really benefit from the structure. Also, on a personal note, I don’t know about you, but I hate rushing.

I don’t like being frazzled. I’m not deadline driven. And I like to be able to set a real a reasonable pace for everything I do. I live in New York City, and I wouldn’t even run for a subway train. So if you’re similar, if you’re like, I hate rushing. I don’t wanna feel like I’m down to the wire, then this is the episode for you to listen to. Because I’m gonna help you make a timeline that’s actually realistic and doesn’t feel like you’re always running on a hamster wheel trying to get things done.

So in episode 13, which you should go listen to first, I explained why you don’t need a sabbatical to write your book. And that’s because I want you to stop romanticizing some ideal moments to write your book. Instead, I want you to think about the right time. And here’s the thing, the right time may not feel like the best time. So I’m going to teach you a three step process for determining the right time to write your book. But first, I want you to think about what you actually want. What is your goal for the process of writing your book? Besides, of course, getting it done and getting it published. I’m going to give you two options, and these goals are based on a scenario where you aren’t staring down an imminent timeline. Okay? So option one for the goal for your process of writing your book.

Option A, I wanna give myself as much time as possible. Option B, I want to get this over and done with as soon as possible. Which of these goals resonates with you? Keep your goal in mind as you think about your timeline. Alright. So let’s get into this three step process for determining the right time to write your book. Step one is figure out your book timeline. And if you have listened to me on this podcast, if you’ve ever seen me do an Instagram live, if you read my newsletter, you know that the most important factor in determining your timeline is your book’s deadline.

It’s not all the other articles you have to write. It’s not when your sabbatical is. It’s not about going up for, you know, pre tenure or anything like that, although that can be important. You know, like, pre tenure review, like, that matters. But the most important factor is your book’s deadline. So if you are pre tenure, what do you need for tenure? Do you need a published book? Do you need a contract? If it’s a contract, are you working with a press that will give you a contract before you submit a full manuscript? Because if you’re not, then you need a full manuscript for tenure. Figure that out. Ask around. Look at what other colleagues in your department have submitted who are close to you in year.

You know, if the last person was tenured ten years ago, then that might not be the most adequate representation of the requirements now. But there are people who are just your senior, ask them. Get all of the information that you can. Now based on what you need, you have to figure out the date you need to submit that material. So to go back to our example of a published book, you have to account for the time it will take for peer review, for revision, and for production. And this can take time to figure all of this out. I have a course called Jumpstart, which is a self paced planning and project management course for book writers, and there’s an entire curriculum devoted to this. So give yourself time to figure this out.

Learn a little bit about the press. Ask other people who have published at the press. So you can find out that, you know, if I need this full published book for tenure in I want it by August 2027, when should I submit the first version of my manuscript to the press? I’m gonna tell you, it’s not in 2027. Okay? It’s earlier than that. The step one is to figure that out. And now that you have that date, you have a timeline, and that timeline starts today, and it ends at that deadline. Next, sketch out your publication pipeline. Now you probably already have something like this, so this stuff might be very easy for you.

What else do you have to write over the course of your timeline? For instance, again, let’s talk about being pre tenure. You might be obliged to publish an article a year or to secure a grant, for instance. Figure out what those writing commitments are and write them all down. Then figure out where they fall over your timeline. So for instance, if you have to write that article every year, then every year there’s going to be time to write an article on your timeline. There’s also going to be time for revise and resubmit. You may not be able to predict exactly when that happens, but you know you will likely need to revise and resubmit. Okay? So write out all of those commitments.

Next, determine how much time you truly have. This means figuring out when you’ll work on each project. You’re gonna have to go back to step two and look at your list. Now there may be moments where you are in article mode. There will also be moments where you have to shift all of your attention to the book. You’re also going to have to resolve what seem like competing priorities and be very meticulous about your time. You might have to turn some things down in order to make sure you’re giving your yourself time for the things that really count for tenure. Or you might have to be really stringent and strict about how much time you give yourself for certain projects.

You’re likely doing some of that already, but you might have to double down, especially if your timeline is shorter or if you have the desire to write your book as soon as possible. Now the reason that steps two and three are so important, because they’re going to force you to be honest with yourself. If you’re looking at your timeline and thinking, I have three years. You know, that’s plenty of time. It’s not, and you don’t. What seems like three years will not be three full years of working on your book. Cumulatively, it might be more like one year if you add up the amount of time in hours that you have to devote to the book. So be really honest here, and I’m going to warn you, it might be stressful.

Okay? But what is more stressful is turning around three months, six months out from your book deadline and realizing that you don’t have enough done. That is way more stressful than writing everything down now and realizing you have a lot of work to do. Okay? So let’s let’s deal with the stress now. Give you a little coaching. Let’s sit with that discomfort now when we have time to address it instead of putting it off until later where we have way fewer options for dealing with it. Okay? Deal with the stress of looking at your list now and maybe feeling overwhelmed versus ignoring it and then getting to a point where you don’t have enough time to deal with all of the overwhelming tasks on your list. Okay. Now that you have completed these three steps, you should be able to determine the right times, in the plural, to write your book.

Again, as I’ve been saying, don’t pin all of your hopes on, you know, one special six month stretch. Right? You’re going to find different times to write your book. When you have your pipeline put together, you’ll start to understand when you can devote the bulk of your time to your book, and when you might only be able to spare, say, 10% of your writing time for your book. This is the most important takeaway, that there’s no single moment where the stars will align to write your book. If I’m repeating that, it’s because it’s important. There’s no single special moment that is going to just fall into your lap. You have to create those moments yourself. And with a little advanced planning, you definitely can.

Alright. As always, thank you for listening, and I will see you in the next episode. Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Remember, writing an academic book is challenging, but that doesn’t mean you have to overcomplicate it. If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, please leave a review. This helps get the word out about the podcast so more people will listen and we can continue the conversation. Take care, and tune in for our next episode.