I’ve written a book – what do I do now?

I’ve written a book – what do I do now?

You’ve written your novel (congratulations!), and are wondering about the next steps.

Is it ready for proofreading? Does it need to be edited? Should you self-publish? Should you approach a publisher? Actually, how do you approach a publisher?

How many drafts does a novel need?

If you’ve literally just finished writing your novel, the best thing to do is to let it rest. This can be really hard to do – you’re probably really keen to move onto the next stage, to get your baby out into the big wide world. But the truth is that your book might need a lot more work – is it only the first draft? Or have you revised it multiple times? There is much discussion about how many drafts a novel needs – some say three, some say ten – but the consensus is that the first draft should never see the light of day. As Ernest Hemingway famously said, the first draft of anything is shit.

ProWriting Aid has an excellent article about how many drafts are needed – and why the first draft should be abandoned: How Many Drafts of Your Book Should You Go Through? (prowritingaid.com)

Often, when you’ve just finished writing your novel, it’s really hard to be objective about how good it is, and about whether it needs another draft. Letting it rest for a few weeks (if you can last that long) gives you space to review it from a distance. Of course, even after leaving it to rest, it’s still very hard to be objective about your own manuscript. So now it’s time to ask someone else to read it.

Who should I get to read my novel?

Once you have done your multiple drafts, and are reasonably happy with where you are at, the next step is to ask some people to read your book. This can be a very scary step, and it’s probably best to start with people whose judgement you trust, and whose opinion you respect. In any case, you should go into it expecting their feedback to be negative.

Not everyone is going to love your book as much as you do – in the same way that not everyone will love a TV series you’ve recommended, or the restaurant you’ve raved about.

You can also use some beta readers – these are people who you don’t know, who will read your book (normally for free or for a very small fee) and give you their opinion. Have a look at my article here : What Are Beta Readers and Why Should All Novelists Use Them?

Does my novel need proofreading?

Most first-time authors have no experience of using proofreaders and editors, and in fact many people don’t really understand the difference between the two.

Does your novel need proofreading? Absolutely. But when it needs proofreading might be a surprise.

If you haven’t had your novel edited, then it’s extremely likely you need to use an editor BEFORE you use a proofreader.

An editor is the one who picks up concerns with grammar, flow, consistency, character arcs, plot holes, sentence structure, unnecessary adverbs, over-use of stage direction and much much more.

A proofreader’s job is to check the book just before it is published, looking for spelling and punctuation mistakes – basically they are looking for things which are objectively wrong.

For information about how my editing service differs from my proofreading service, have a look at my website here: What’s the Difference Between Proofreading and Editing?

Does my novel need editing?

If you haven’t already had your novel edited, then the chances are that you absolutely, definitely DO need to have it edited.

Developmental Editing

But there are different types of editor! In the UK, there are two different types involved at this stage (it’s slightly different in the US). There are developmental editors (also called structural editors and substantive editors) who will look at the bigger picture elements – the plot, the story arc, issues with character development, inconsistent approaches to dialogue, etc. Effectively, they look at story-level concerns, and will produce a report or a letter outlining their findings. They won’t generally make changes directly to the manuscript.

Not all authors make use of a developmental editor – either because they are fully confident that their story holds water, or because of budget constraints.

A developmental editor is not 100% essential in the publishing process, but – to my mind – a copy/line editor is something you cannot do without.

Copy/Line Editing

The copy/line editor (in the UK, this is pretty much the same thing) will look at sentence-level issues. They will comb your manuscript line by line, word by word, looking at things like dialogue tags, point of view and head-hopping, showing vs. telling, chapter endings and beginnings, action beats, use of tentative language and filter words, overwriting (and, less frequently, underwriting).

Copy/line editors will make changes directly to your manuscript. Most will use MS Word, Track Changes (see my webinar on track changes here: MS Word Track Changes Webinar | MandaWaller, Edit and Check) – meaning you will be able to see each and every suggested change and choose to accept/reject each one (should you so wish!). They will return two versions of your manuscript – one showing all their suggested changes, and a clean version showing your manuscript as it would be if you accepted all their suggestions. Some copy/line editors (including me) will also include an editorial report which outlines your strengths and suggests ways to make your writing even stronger.

Proofreading

As mentioned above, the proofreading stage comes after the book has been edited. Proofreaders look for errors with spelling, punctuation and grammar. Having your book proofread before having it edited is a bit like ironing your shirt before you wash it – a complete waste of time and money.

Copy/line editors will also pick up on these same errors – but they are not specifically looking for them, and sometimes it’s hard to spot them as part of the bigger editing process. As a general rule of thumb, an editor should pick up about 95% of the errors. A proofreader will pick up 95% of what’s left. It’s generally accepted that no book currently in print is completely error-free, but clearly the more people look at your book, the fewer mistakes will remain.

Whether you use a proofreader or not is entirely up to you – it isn’t essential, but your book will be cleaner if you do.

How do I get my novel published?

So now you’ve had your book edited and (possibly) proofread, how do you actually get it published? In years gone by, the only way to get your novel published was to approach a publishing house. There was simply no other option. The publishing house paid all the costs involved in return for a hefty chunk of the author’s profits post-publication.

For this reason, only books which the publishers thought would be successful ever made it into print. The market was therefore shaped by, and limited to, the publishers’ tastes. Publishers also made all the decisions about marketing and selling books – and authors effectively had no control once the contract was signed.

Self-publishing is now also an option. Not so long ago, there was stigma involved in self-publishing. The view was that self-published books were not “good enough” to be traditionally published, and that therefore they were substandard. Self-publishers used vanity presses – whereby the authors paid a large sum of money just to get their book in print.

However, this view has changed hugely. In 2012, the Alliance of Independent Authors (Alli for short – pronounced “ally” (al-eye)) was launched. Their website states: As a self-publisher, you are part of a great flowering of creative expression in the literary arts.

Self-publishers can publish books which are not to the taste of the publishing houses – and this has resulted in a huge bloom in literary variety. Books can be published even though they aren’t going to be popular with the masses. Although some argue that the quality of published books has declined as a result – sometimes because a self-publisher has not used an editor or a proofreader – the result is still a massive growth in choice.

Advances in technology also mean it’s now possible for self-publishers to literally publish their books themselves. They can upload e-books directly to Amazon, and use various print-on-demand (POD) options to fulfil their orders.

Should I traditionally publish, or self-publish?

There are some excellent videos on my website which were produced by the Authors Guild (Help For Fiction Authors | MandaWaller). They discuss the various pros and cons of traditional publishing and self-publishing. One thing to note is that most traditional publishers don’t accept submissions directly – and this is where literary agents come in. In order to traditionally publish, you would first submit your manuscript to an agent for their consideration. If they believe your book will be picked up by a publisher, they will take you on and submit your manuscript to an acquisitions editor at a publishing house on your behalf. For more details about how to approach an agent, see my tips here: How to Write an Agent Query Letter | MandaWaller.

How do I sell my book?

If you do decide to self-publish, then you are in charge of EVERYTHING – including the sales and marketing. There is a lot of information out there about how to sell your novel – I’ve summarised some of it here: How to Sell a Novel using Cover Design | MandaWaller, Edit and Check

In summary

You have options! There is no right or wrong way to publish your book. Ultimately you are in charge at each step. Different authors have different advice – and several of them list their thoughts on the Compulsive Readers website: I’ve written a book…. now what? – Compulsive Readers.