Let us know if you plan to build from kits or from scratch, and if you plan to work in wood or plastic ...
Meanwhile I can recommend "Ship Modelling Simplified" by Frank Mastini; that is the first one Big Jake listed in his reply. Also "Ship Modelling from Scratch" by Edwin Leaf has a lot of good tips and techniques in it. Of course FSM ... most of what applies to other types of models translates over to ships. "Ships in Scale" is also a good magazine and pretty well covers the spectrum.
As to tips on building a hull; follow the directions, dry fit everything first, and make sure the components are square and symmetrical before you go for the glue. I use a flat melamine board as a base for each build, with a vertical strongback made for each project that holds the keel and frames upside down and stationary until the hull is finished.
Don't be in a hurry to rush out and buy a lot of specialty tools, you'll find a lot of them won't do the job for you or there are other cheaper alternatives. I recommend picking them up as necessity dictates.
Also consider your first ship carefully; don't be in a big hurry to do the full rigged clipper as a first project. Choose a subect that appeals to you and that is in the 'simple' category to start with, particularly if you are going to be working in wood. You will find that a lot of smaller craft in the larger scales are very challenging and detailed (I'm thinking of small wooden ships in 1:48 or 1:96, but the same idea applies in plastic).
One of my first wood models from scratch was a sailing dory; that embodied scaling plans, building a lapstrake hull on a mold, scratch building small metal parts, and rigging a mast. In other words, pretty much everything you will need to do on a large complex model without most of the frustration but also very satisfying. I scaled the plans from an old Popular Mechanics or something like that.
I hope this helps and there are a lot of good builders here in case you have more specific questions.
Regards,
Bruce