kaite arimasu or kakimasu?

Question

I want to make the following sentence:

the book has "english book" written on it

Is it

この本は「英語の本」と書きます

or

この本は「英語の本」と書いてあります

Answer 1

• the book has "english book" written on it
• ”この本は「英語の本」と書きます”　or ”この本は「英語の本」と書いてあります”

Both expressions are unnatural.

この本には「英語の本」と書いてあります。

This expression is also inadequate. Because it is unknown where "英語の本" is written only by this expression. In other word, it is unclear whether it is written just on the cover or somewhere in the body.

On the other hand, the given sentence has "on" not "in" that implies clearly that 「英語の本」 is written on the cover of it. Also for this reason, the above expression in Japanese is inadequate.

If you hear this phrase, you will have a series of conversations like the following until you reach the conclusion.

A: この本には「英語の本」と書いてあります。
B: どこに？
A: 表紙に。
B: う～ん。本の題名が「英語の本」なんだ。

I know following expressions are different from the English expression posted by the questioner, but the natural expressions in Japanese are as follows:

1. いい本があるよ。
2. どの本？　この本。
3. 何の本？　「英語の本」だよ。
4. 題名は？　「英語の本」だよ。
5. 「英語の本」って表紙に書いてあるの？　うん。
6. ということは、その本の表紙には「英語の本」って、本の名前/題名が書いてあるのか。

7. そうだよ。この本には表紙に「英語の本」と書いてあります。
   （or そうだよ。この本の表紙には「英語の本」と書いてあります。）

Even after these conversations, "この本には「英語の本」と書いてあります" sounds unnatural or unconfortable.

Answer 2

I'm going to tell you which one is right, and a little bit of why, but if you want more detail, comment on this answer, let me know, and I will edit it.

この本は「英語の本」と書きます。

The subject of this sentence is 本. What about the book? Well, when we see 「英語の本」と書きます. ~と書く can be written as to write ~. Compounding this together, we get something to the effect of `The book is writing "English Book." That's not quite right.

～と書いてある means something to the effect of already been written. If you want to get a better understanding of what it means, study the Base～て＋ある grammar, and you'll get a better picture.

I'm going to make a small change to the second sentence (in bold.)　

この本には「英語の本」と書いてあります。

"English Book" is written on this book.

In short, your second attempt was better, with minor changes. Nicely done!