Apologies in advance, as you are probably not going to like this, but it is at least intended to be honest and to help. The caveat is that it assumes you have no little or no design and typographic experience.
That being the case, your question Is a bit like asking, ‘I want to launch my first novel in a fortnight. How do I go about it?
To give you some idea of how wildly optimistic your question is; I am a qualified and experienced designer (mostly book design) with around 30 years of experience under my belt. My passion is typography. Right now, I am using a particular typeface I designed in a book for the very first time.
It has been more than 10-years in the making (not solidly, of course) and it is still not something I’m ready to launch, but for this project, I can accommodate the kerning flaws.
A good, well-designed family, should probably take about as long as a good, well-written novel. Of course, almost anyone, with some literary talent can bash out cheap pulp fiction in a few months, but it’s never going to be crafted like, say, a Steinbeck is, and is very unlikely to become a bestseller. Type design is similar in this respect.
One of the areas you need unquestionably legible typography is book design. Even if you learned the machinations of the software, within the trial period – highly unlikely – if you were a qualified designer, to learn the intricacies, of typography enough to create a cohesive typeface, takes about a lifetime – or 5-10 years as a minimum.
I am not saying don’t start such a project, but just know that it, even if you have aptitude, knowledge and talent it may just be usable by about your fifth book, but if you didn’t embark such a project, your fifth book would be about your seventh or eighth! There is a quite lot to learn.
My advice would be use a good, existing typeface that is appropriate for your book. Speak to a good designer. Even if you don’t want them to design the book for you (though I would suggest getting them to design the book for you, as you will likely sell more copies), could advise on the correct font to choose, in order to reflect the tenor of your book. After all, the whole point is to communicate what you want to say from your head to your readers’ in as uninterrupted way as possible.
To drag up the oft-cited, but incredibly apt, quote by Adrian Frutiger. ‘ If you remember the shape of your spoon at lunch, it has to be the wrong shape’
Don’t pollute the world with yet another poorly-designed typeface. It needs one like it needs another trashy novel.
Blimey; that was quite the epic. I usually lurk and learn on this forum and rarely post. Hope it helps in some small way.