Thinking about pressing the publish button on your choice of self-publishing sites? WAIT! While there is nothing more exciting than holding a copy of a novel you’ve slaved over, chances are that it is in no way ready to be held in the hands of someone who has purchased your work.
I have self-published six novels. After participating in my first book signing and selling out of nearly all my works, I thought it might be a good idea to do a reading in my home town. After setting up the gig, I went about picking excerpts from my works. I was horrified to find that what I thought were exceptionally well prepared manuscripts that I couldn’t have been more wrong. While my stories are all well received by those who have read them, I found that there were still typos and difficult to read sentences. This is something I had no idea was the case until I read them aloud.
All the reviews I’ve received are nothing less than stellar. I found after reading them, in some cases a couple of years after publication, they could be vastly improved upon. The following suggestions come from finding my published works less than perfect. While I’m not bashing my storytelling capability, I have found that as far as readability and the fact there are still numerous typos, there is plenty of room for improvement.
So you’ve finished your manuscript. You’re thrilled. You’ve got a number one best seller. Publishers are going to be screaming for you to send them your full manuscript. Producers are going to be knocking down your door for you to sign a contract for the movie writes. Television producers are going to be wanting to make a series based upon your story. Forget it. The odds of that happening are somewhere in the half a million to one neighborhood. The truth of the matter is, if you can sell a hundred copies a month you are going to be exceptionally lucky.
Put your work aside for at least a month. Reread it and edit what you can find. Remember the directions on your shampoo bottle. Lather, rinse, repeat. After doing this a few times, put it aside for at least ninety days. Now read it aloud. You’ll find numerous sentences which you will find difficult to read. If you, who fully understand what you’re trying to impart are having difficulty with the ease with which you can read it, anyone else will have ten times the difficulty.
Now find yourself as many beta readers as you can. Ask them to rip you a new one. There is no such thing too harsh a criticism. Listen to everything they say. Go through it again keeping in mind their thoughts. You don’t have to agree with everything said, but think seriously about the comments before disregarding the input.
At this point you need to employ a PROFFESIONAL editor. I went through several people claiming to be editors. Most, even the one I settled on to perfect my works, came up short. If you have sent a sample chapter of your manuscript to an editor and have found several problems with their work on your sample chapter, know that when they have the entire manuscript before them, their ability to catch everything is only going to diminish. Don’t think because someone calls themselves an editor that they have the knowledge and skills needed to perfect your work. DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Talk to everyone whose works have been published with the editor you’re thinking of paying to refine your transcript. Read their finished products!
You get your work back from your editor, make the necessary changes and put it aside again. Ninety days this time. Find a new set of beta readers. Make the necessary adjustments and get as many people as you can to review it for you. Remember, your friends and family are never going to be harsh enough.
In conclusion…there is no such thing as having too many eyes on your work prior to publishing. And publishing something which isn’t perfect is something which should not have been published in the first place. Take it from someone who has to go back and update the files for everything he’s done. It will cost you more in the long run to do it all twice; hiring a new editor, formatting, sizing the cover so the page count fits what you’ve already had your cover sized for.
DO IT ONCE! DO IT RIGHT! AND WRITE ON!
Robert Mackey – Author, The Amazing and Ludicrous Adventures of Antonio Agular Frigiliana Ribadio Valdecarzana, The Other Side of the Wall
Member of SPOKANE FICTION WRITERS GROUP
