Did you think that writing the ending of a story is the last you see of it?
I used to think that. The truth is, writing the book is only part of the process of having a finished volume in your hands.
There are two stages left for you, the writer. There is the editing phase and the publishing phase. The publishing phase has two different “forks in the road,” one of which you will have to choose.
First off, though, it’s time to put your book on the shelf. By that, I mean you need to take a little time off from thinking, writing, and breathing your story. You need to step back for a while.
That’s because to the writer, the first draft is perfect. Sure, you see a few typos here and there, but overall you think your story is pretty good. That may be true, but every story has its problems. Taking some time off from the book will help you “forget” it in a sense. That way, when you come back to it, you’ll see all the problems.
Now, you should have two different kinds of editing to do: Structural editing and line editing.
Structural editing is the term used to describe the major plot issues, character development problems, and any other large errors you find. These are are the hardest and most painful to fix. Often it can involve cutting or adding a chapter, entirely removing a character, or even rewriting part of the book.
Line editing is much simpler. These are the quick fixes like typos, grammatical errors, and fixing a sentence that sounds awkward.
Both of those two aspects of editing are very important for you learn. There is a process for editing, however, which I’ll tell you.
To do one round of editing, you’ll need to go through your book three times. Once, just to read over it. Make notes of areas which you immediately notice need work. Keep an eye out for plot holes, situations that aren’t realistic, reactions that no person would ever have in the storybook situation.
Next comes the hardest part of editing. You need to make those structural edits. You need to think about your entire story. What rings true and what situation doesn’t make sense? Be honest with yourself. It’s vital for your story to have a solid structure in order for anyone to want to finish it when they’re halfway through, not to mention reading it twice. If you have a character who serves no purpose other than to make drama, get rid of it. Remove unnecessary scenes and add the ones which need to fill gaps you missed when you wrote the manuscript. Now is the time to make the major fixes. If you don’t catch the biggest errors now, chances are you won’t catch them at all.
Now you have the final step in the round: line edits. This is pretty straightforward, so I’m not going to spend much time on it. Fix any typos, check to be sure your grammar is fine, and smooth out any errors with awkward sentences.
Now you’re going to want to repeat the entire editing round again. Read it through, make structural edits, and then do line edits. Do it as many times as it needs until you think it doesn’t need any more work.
Now it’s time to find a beta reader. There are many different sources to find someone like this. Use social media on writing groups, hashtags, and any other means you can take advantage of to find someone who is willing to read your book. Often it will be another author trying to “trade” work. If you find someone who think is a good pick, do what you need to get a reader who will offer good criticism. Even if it means reading a four-hundred page book with your comments all over the pages, a good critic is invaluable for finding issues that even you couldn’t spot after scouring your book.
Once you have your manuscript back, you’ll know even more mistakes that need fixing. Time to go over it one last time with another round of structural and line editing.
But finally your book should be polished up and ready to be seen by outside eyes.
Here is where you need to make a decision about the direction you want to go with: traditional publishing or self-publishing.
Currently, I’m in the process of trying to get my fifth book traditionally published. I’m still a beginner at the process, but I’ll tell you what I know. You need to find a publishing agent to get your book to a publisher for you. Typically, finding an agent means scouring social medias like Twitter and sending out query letters to convince them your book is worth taking on. An agent never asks for money to take your book, instead taking a royalty of the proceeds from the book’s publishing, so if your prospective agent asks for a check, don’t hire him. From there, the agent will reach out to publishers for you to have the manuscript published.
Traditional publishing has many perks, including getting your name out there, some public recognition, and hopefully some money.
The other route you could take is self-publishing. I’ve used a platform called CreateSpace in the past, but there are other platforms out there. Self-publishing is good if you want to do everything yourself, and I literally mean everything. You need to make your own cover, format the book, and market it. All of those tasks are not easy, and they take time to learn. Self-published books require knowledge in order to be a success, but by doing your research your book could be exactly what you want it to be without a publisher telling you how they want it.
Whichever route you choose, don’t make the decision quickly. This is important, and do whichever one that you know will put your book where you envision it.
And so, here we are. We made it to the end of the blog series, Crafting a Book. I hope my tips and tricks have helped you or inspired you to write a book. I hope above all else that you learned one thing.
Everyone has a story, and it deserves to be written down, no matter what. Don’t let anyone stop you from writing yours down.
Now go write your book!
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