The One-Year Mark Looms With So Many Books Almost Done

Rethinking my approach to try to create dozens of books concurrently

I’m rapidly closing in on one year since I announced my plan to publish 100 books. And so far, I’ve published… two.

My plan is not for this project to take me 50 years. I’m aiming for a fraction of that, in fact.

But it’s my current pace because of the approach I decided to take.

Rather than go one book at a time, I’ve been working on lots and lots of books simultaneously.

On any given day I’ll write on a few, edit another, do research for a nonfiction series, dictate ideas, work on design or production or art, and maybe work on this update or my weekly newsletter or another ancillary project.

As a result, I have two books published and more than a dozen other that are close but need the final push.

I still think I chose the right approach. I set out to publish a ton of books, so working on them one-by-one didn’t seem particularly viable. And now, 11 months in, I’ve got a massive pile of almost done books.

But again… only two published.

And often, it’s getting over that final hump from “almost ready” to “published” that’s the hardest. That’s actually one of the main reasons I announced what I’m doing in public.

So I’ve decided I need to make a big change for year two.

For the next month, I’m going to continue getting every book project as far as I possibly can.

And then, as of October 17th and the one-year mark, I’m switching my approach to one at a time. Finish, publish, then on to the next.

A year from now, my published book tally isn’t going to be at four.

To see what I’ve been working on this week in my journey toward 100 books, check out the Work Log.