Book Genius 30-Day Manuscript Workshop
One Day Book Design Masterclass and Interactive Workshop plus Bonus 30 Days of Accountability and Support
Enroll in ProgramDesign your book in one day. Leave ready to write your first draft in 30 days.
Bestselling author Jayne Allen (six novels sold into traditional publishing, more than 300,000 copies sold to readers) leads a one-day, interactive Book Design Workshop. You'll leave with the roadmap for your book, a scene-by-scene outline, and the schedule to write your first draft in 30 days. Then, as a bonus, a 30-day sprint for mindset, accountability, and roadside assistance gives you a better shot at getting your manuscript done.
Early-bird price ends Sunday, Oct 25, at 11:59 pm PT. Then $99.
Taught by a bestselling author
Six novels sold into traditional publishing. More than 300,000 copies sold to readers.
Design your book in one day
One live, interactive day to create the roadmap for your book, scene by scene, and the schedule to write your first draft in 30 days.
The 30-day sprint
Mindset, daily accountability, and the Writer's Rescue, to give you a better shot at getting your manuscript done.
You don't need more inspiration.
You need a way to get from the idea to the last page.
- You've had this idea for years. It lives in a notes app, a journal, the back of your mind on long drives, and it still isn't a book.
- You've started before. You wrote a few chapters, read them back, decided they weren't good enough, and stopped.
- You sit down and judge every sentence before it's even finished, so an hour at the page turns into a paragraph you don't like.
- Life keeps taking the time. Work, family, everything else comes first, one missed day becomes a missed month, and the book slides to "someday" again.
- You're accomplished everywhere else. You run things, solve things, finish things. This is the one goal that keeps getting away from you.
- You've taken the classes and read the craft books, and you came away with notes, not a draft.
Not knowing how to finish doesn't mean you can't finish. It usually means no one has shown you how many working authors write: the book designed first, then written one scene at a time, on a schedule, with a plan for the hard days.
Early bird $79 or 2 payments of $45 · through Sun Oct 25
Imagine if, no matter how your day went, you could look forward to time that's just for you: writing with confidence and clarity toward the book you've wanted to write for years.
Most people try to write a book by opening a blank page at chapter one and hoping it works out. Many commercial authors work differently: they design the book first, then write it on a schedule. If you haven't finished a manuscript yet, it's the most reliable way to get there.
First, design a book you can write. In one interactive day, you'll test your idea to make sure it's one you can start and finish, map it out scene by scene from the first page to the last, and put every scene on a calendar. You'll leave knowing exactly what to write each day, and the date your first draft will be done.
Then, sprint. For 30 days, you sit down for the time you chose and write the scenes on your schedule, with a daily accountability email, a writing prompt, a short guided reset to get you into the writing zone, and roadside assistance for the days you get stuck.
Why 30 days? A deadline often makes the difference between a manuscript that gets finished and one that only gets started.
Daily writing is a habit you build against everything else your life asks of you, and it's a decision you make every day. A 30-day sprint gives you a reason to push back against your life on your own behalf, for a short, concentrated window, and to get as much of your book on the page as you possibly can. What you write is a first draft, what we call a discovery draft: the whole story, ready to be shaped in editing. Most people get further in 30 focused days than in years of "someday." And the daily practice you build is yours to keep when the sprint ends.
Along the way, you'll learn what keeps most writers from finishing, and how to get past it. It's usually not time or talent. It's the inner critic that tells you every sentence has to be good before you can move on. You'll learn the simple techniques working authors use to keep writing now and fix later, so a first draft can actually get finished.
This is how a book stops being something you'll do someday, and becomes something you're doing.
Early bird $79 or 2 payments of $45 · through Sun Oct 25
Finished manuscripts lead to finished books. And finished books are assets.
Learning how to finish starts with the first draft of your manuscript. That draft will be edited and rewritten, likely more than once, before it becomes a book. But every published book, every author career, and every book that ever earned a dollar started the same way: someone finished a first draft. Here's what that makes possible.
Publish it yourself
You don't need anyone's permission to reach readers. My first novel was passed on by over a dozen agents. I published it myself, it sold 20,000 copies in 18 months, and that led to a four-book deal with HarperCollins.
Query literary agents
For a first novel, agents want to see a complete manuscript. A finished draft, revised, is what puts you in the conversation for a publishing deal.
Build authority in your field
A story that teaches what you know can open doors to speaking, media, clients, and a platform in your work. The book becomes the way people find you.
Start a catalog
Your first book teaches you how to write the second, and readers who love one book look for the next. Authors build careers across a body of work, and it starts with the skill of finishing.
Leave a legacy
A story from your family, your community, or your own life, preserved for the people who come after you, in a form they can hold in their hands.
Reach the reader who needs it
Somewhere there's a person whose life will be different because your book exists. They can't read it until you write it.
Six novels sold into traditional publishing and more than 300,000 readers later, I can tell you where it starts: with one finished draft.
Early bird $79 or 2 payments of $45 · through Sun Oct 25
Design your book in one day. Then sprint to write it.
The Book Design Workshop
One interactive day, taught live by a bestselling author, with time for your questions throughout. Four sessions take you from an idea to a book you're ready to write:
- 1Your ideaFind the idea you can start and finish, and test it before you spend a month on it.
- 2Your outlineMap your book scene by scene, from the first page to the last.
- 3How to write a sceneLearn exactly what goes into one, so you know what to do when you sit down.
- 4Your 30-day schedulePut every scene on a dated day, choose your daily writing time, and leave with the schedule to write your book in 30 days.
You leave Sunday with a book idea you've tested, a scene-by-scene outline, and the schedule to get it written in 30 days.
The 30-day writing sprint
You have the plan. Now give yourself 30 days to put it on the page. For one short, concentrated window, you make your book a priority, sit down for the time you chose (30, 45, or 60 minutes), and write the scenes on your schedule. It's a sprint for mindset, accountability, and roadside assistance, built to give you a better shot at getting your manuscript done:
- Daily accountability email, every morning of the sprint, to keep you on your schedule
- Daily writing prompts, with optional craft exercises for more practice. Yours to keep.
- The Writer's Reset, a short guided practice that gets you into the creative zone from anywhere, even on a busy, stressful day
- The Writer's Rescue, roadside assistance for the days you're stuck, behind, or doubting yourself, with a clear path back to your page
- 2 live Q&As, Wednesday, Dec 2 and Tuesday, Dec 15, both at 7 pm ET, for guidance on your book
The Workshop recordings, the Q&A recordings, the Writer's Reset, and the Writer's Rescue are open for the sprint, through Dec 20.
The road to publication
A finished first draft is the first step, not the last. It will be edited and rewritten before it becomes a book, and Book Genius can take you the rest of the way, one stage at a time.
- Design and writeThe Book Design Workshop and the 30-day sprint. You are here.
- EditShape your draft into a book that's ready for readers, agents, and editors.
- Publish and marketBring your book to the readers who are waiting for it.
Early bird $79 or 2 payments of $45 · through Sun Oct 25
- The live Book Design Workshop, Sunday, Nov 15, 11 am ET: four interactive sessions
- Your 30-day writing schedule, built in the Workshop, with your finish date
- Daily accountability emails for all 30 days
- 30 daily writing prompts with optional craft exercises, yours to keep
- The Writer's Reset, guided recordings to get you into the creative zone anywhere
- The Writer's Rescue, roadside assistance for every kind of stuck
- 2 live Q&As during the sprint
- Workshop and Q&A recordings, open through Dec 20
Early bird $79 or 2 payments of $45 · through Sun Oct 25
Two kinds of books. One way to write them.
Book Genius is a philosophy that gets books done, not just talked about or attempted. This program is for people who want to build a real skill: conceptualizing, writing, and finishing books, with an eye toward publication and earning income from the books they write.
This program is for you if you're writing
- Fiction: a novel in any genre, from romance to literary to fantasy
- Your story: something you've lived through, what it taught you, and the lesson you want to share
And if you are
- Starting with an idea, a few ideas, or only a feeling that there's a book in you
- Coming back to a book you've started before and couldn't finish
- Busy, with 30 minutes a day you can protect
This program isn't the right fit if you're writing
- A step-by-step manual, workbook, or reference guide. Those are built differently. If you want to teach, the story approach below is often the stronger book.
Want to teach what you know? Write it as a story.
If you have a lesson you've lived (about money, leadership, work, health, or life) you don't have to write a manual. Some of the most popular books that teach are stories: a character faces the problem, learns the lesson, and the reader learns it with them. Readers remember stories and skim lists. In the Workshop, you'll start from what I call your grumble, the one thing you'd tell everyone if you could, and design the story that teaches it.
A few well-known examples of the form:
- The Five Dysfunctions of a TeamPatrick Lencioni · Leadership fableA new CEO works to turn around a struggling executive team, and the reader learns why teams fail and how to fix them.
- Who Moved My Cheese?Spencer Johnson · ParableCharacters in a maze find their cheese gone, and each responds differently. It teaches how people handle change.
- The GoalEliyahu M. Goldratt · Business novelA plant manager has 90 days to save his factory, and the reader learns a management method alongside him.
- The Risk Worth TakingTeri Ijeoma · NovelAn assistant principal leaves a toxic job and learns to invest, and the reader learns with her.
These titles are examples of a kind of book, for illustration only. Book Genius and Jayne Allen are not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by these authors or their publishers.
Write the book you can finish, so you can write the book you were meant to write.
Early bird $79 or 2 payments of $45 · through Sun Oct 25
You'll learn the drafting system she uses herself, for every book, every year.
- Sold six novels into traditional publishing, with five published one a year from 2021 to 2025, including the Black Girls Must Die Exhausted trilogy and The Most Wonderful Time
- Self-published Black Girls Must Die Exhausted after it was passed on by over a dozen agents, and sold 20,000 copies in 18 months
- Pre-emptive four-book deal with HarperCollins, December 2020
- 300,000+ copies sold to readers
- Next books on the way from Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, including an urban fantasy novel now in progress
- Has written and published both fiction and non-fiction, traditionally and as a self-published author; wrote her first commercial non-fiction book in three weeks
- Teaching writers through Book Genius since 2018; a mentee won the Adult Fiction category of the We Need Diverse Books 2025 Revisions Workshop
- In June 2026, wrote her own discovery draft alongside the program's writers, with daily videos from inside her process
Writers who were in the room.
In June, writers worked through this approach for the first time, with daily guidance and live sessions alongside me. November is the rebuilt version, shaped by what they taught me about where writers get stuck and what gets them moving again.
Thank you for today's masterclass. I joined from Toronto. You had great information that I think will help me push through writing my first novel. I'm excited. […]
OMG!! I'm loving it. I've wanted to write a book for so long that when I saw your post I did a lil dance! I had no idea where or how to start. Thank you for doing this.
Thank you for the Masterclass yesterday! I'm excited to share about my other books in my book series in my book proposal. Great advice!
Early bird $79 or 2 payments of $45 · through Sun Oct 25
Reserve your seat. Choose how you'd like to pay.
Enrollment closes at midnight PT at the end of Saturday, Nov 14. All sales are final. Can't make it live? Every session is recorded and available through Dec 20.
Everything you need to know.
How does the program work?
On Sunday, Nov 15, you join a live, interactive Book Design Workshop. In one day, you'll test your idea, map your book scene by scene, and leave with a 30-day schedule to write it. Then, as a bonus, the 30-day writing sprint begins the next morning: a daily accountability email, daily writing prompts, the Writer's Reset, the Writer's Rescue for hard days, and two live Q&As.
Will I finish my first draft in 30 days?
Your schedule is built to get you there, and the sprint is designed to help you get as much of your book on the page as possible. Some writers finish their whole first draft in 30 days. Others don't, because life is real, and that's okay: you'll still have written more in 30 focused days than in years of "someday," and you'll have built the daily habit that finishes manuscripts. The deadline is the point. It gives you a reason to make yourself a priority for a short window, and to push back against everything else on your own behalf.
How long do I have access?
The Workshop recordings, the Q&A recordings, the Writer's Reset, and the Writer's Rescue are open for the sprint, through Dec 20. The daily writing prompts are yours to keep.
I don't know what my book is yet. Is it too early?
Not at all. You don't need to know your book to enroll. In Session 1 of the Workshop we'll find the one you can start and finish. If you have three ideas, or only a feeling, that's a perfectly good place to begin.
Can I write my story?
Yes. Writing your story, and the lesson you learned living it, is one of the two kinds of books this program is built for. In the Workshop, we'll shape your story into a book you can write, and you'll leave with the outline and the schedule to draft it in 30 days.
I want to write a self-help or how-to book. Is this for me?
Yes, if you're willing to write it as a story. This program doesn't teach the step-by-step manual. It teaches the book that teaches through story: the lesson you've lived, told through a character who learns it, so the reader learns it too. Books like The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Who Moved My Cheese? work this way, and readers often remember them long after a list of steps is forgotten. In the Workshop, you'll start from your grumble, the one thing you'd tell everyone if you could, and design the story around it.
I've already started a draft. Can I join?
Yes, you're welcome. The goal of the Workshop and the sprint is to finish a draft. If you're stuck, the Workshop can help you find your forward momentum, choose an interim idea you can actually finish, or find and make the time to write.
How much time does it take each day?
You choose: 30, 45, or 60 minutes, at a time you can protect most days. The daily practice is measured in time at the page, not word count, and we'll set it together in the Workshop.
Do I have to write a certain number of words?
No. Sitting down for the time you chose is what counts. Many writers find their word count grows on its own once the habit is in place.
What if I miss the live Workshop or a Q&A?
Every live session is recorded and available through Dec 20. If you watch the Workshop replay a day or two late, start your sprint as soon as you've watched it and adjust your schedule.
What if I fall behind? Thanksgiving is in there.
It is, and you'll plan for it in the Workshop. Your schedule is built to be adjusted, the Writer's Rescue has step-by-step help for falling behind, and a missed day is never a reason to stop. The goal is to get as much written as you can in 30 days, not to be perfect.
Will my draft be good?
It will be a first draft, and every published book starts as one. First drafts are supposed to be rough; that's not a sign you're doing it wrong. The polish comes later, in editing, once the whole story is on the page. One of the most valuable things you'll learn in these 30 days is how to keep writing without stopping to judge every sentence, which is exactly what gets a draft finished.
What happens after Day 30?
You rest, then read your draft back with fresh eyes. You'll leave with a plan for keeping your writing practice going and for what your draft needs next.
Is there a payment plan?
Yes, two payments: $45 each during the early bird, $55 each after.
What's your refund policy?
All sales are final. If you can't make the Workshop or a Q&A live, every session is recorded and available through Dec 20.
Design your book in one day. Then give it 30.
Not someday, and not once you've figured everything out. This year, with a book designed to be written, a schedule for the first draft, and a 30-day sprint to get it on the page.
Early bird $79 or 2 payments of $45 · through Sun Oct 25