One Step You Should Take Before Handing Your Book Over To Your Editor
Once you've written your first draft, there is one more thing you should do
About a week and a half ago, I finished my first draft for my next book. Getting it done has been a labor, but I finally finished it.
Writing and finishing a first draft can be a struggle. No matter how long your book is, writing can be difficult. Now, there are some ways to make it more interesting. But this is the first significant barrier keeping people from writing a book.
But once you finish your book, what do you do?
Do you hand it over to your editor just like that? Or is there another step you should take before you hand it over?
Okay, of course, there is another step to take. It’s a simple one, and it can be the next significant barrier to publishing your book, but it is essential.
Self-editing is your next step.
This is the step I am currently working through right now. It is where I go through and read it aloud. I fix anything that doesn’t make sense, clean up simple grammar errors (mostly because I am terrible with grammar), and prepare it for reading as one complete work.
Then, I take it and run it through Grammarly. This step helps me look at everything with a computer-generated eye. It looks at context, word usage, and all the other things I don’t naturally think about.
After that, I read it aloud to fix anything the computer messed up, and it was ready to go to my editor. Yes, I also get the manuscript into a relatively orderly format, but that is done along the way for the final part of the process.
Why should you self-edit before you send it to your editor?
There are a few reasons for self-editing. First, it gives you a chance to read your completed work. A lot of times, during the writing process, you might take lots of breaks. These breaks can beat up your continuity, and you need to fix these things.
Secondly, editing first helps you knock out useless words. One is to shorten things up so it is more concise. And because most editors charge by the word, deleting many useless words can save you a little money (Not a lot, but some).
Lastly, self-editing helps prepare you for your editor. I remember the first time I wrote a book. I finished it and hired an editor; he had to take extra time because of all the errors. It was demoralizing for me. When you can take out some of the mistakes upfront, it can prepare you for the work your editor will do.
Once you edit your book, get it to your editor ASAP.
One last thing I want to tell you. Again, here are the three steps to self-editing that I complete with every manuscript:
Read out loud and fix continuity.
Run through Grammarly for grammar issues.
Read out loud to fix what Grammarly messed up.
Once you have completed these steps, don’t do anything else. Hire your editor, get your book to them, and start working on the other aspects of publishing a book (cover design, building an ARC team, categories, and keywords).
You can edit your book all day on your own. But that will keep you from moving forward and make you crazy. Once you have finished the short steps above, move forward. It won’t be perfect, but done and moving is better than stalled out.
If you have written a book, how do you self-edit?
J.R. Heimbigner is a #1 Bestselling Author on Amazon who loves helping people grow in their faith and helping writers become authors. You can connect with him on Medium, his website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Substack!
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Hi JR, many of my readers suggest I should venture into the world of romance novels - I have no idea how - would appreciate it if you could offer some advice - thanks!