You've written a novel. Great Job!!!
This is a huge accomplishment, and you should be very proud. Far less than one percent of the world's population achieves this milestone. You may feel excited to proceed with the publishing process, but don't send your masterpiece to an editor—or click "publish" on Amazon—quite yet.
The digital age has brought us e-books and opened new publishing opportunities. But with over one million books published every year, your novel needs to stand out from the rest to get the attention it deserves. First impressions matter.
If you want to sell your novel to a publishing house, editors know that a polished manuscript is a sign of a professional author. (Note: A manuscript is a draft of a novel before it travels through the publishing process and becomes a book.) And when editors have dozens, sometimes hundreds, of manuscripts waiting in their slush piles, they may reject a story simply because it's hidden under typos.
Self-editing is important in traditional publishing, but it's crucialin self-publishing. When you self-publish, you incur all the up-front costs in the publishing process, including cover design, interior formatting, and editing. The better you self-edit up front means the less work editors have to spend on your story, saving them time, which means the less they'll charge you for their services. Another bonus: The editing process won't seem nearly as overwhelming after you've gone through your story on your own, from an editorial perspective. And you'll discover that you'll become a better writer by broadening your linguistics expertise.
In this part—just thirty minutes of reading—I'll give you three clutter-free steps to revising, fixing, and polishing your manuscript so you can confidently carry it to the next step in process, whether that is self-publishing or submitting to agents or editors. The steps need not take long, and you can apply them to any length of prose, from novels to short stories. You can spend one session to go through all three steps in a single day, or you can break out the steps into multiple sessions.
I'll also provide you a free sample you can change to build your own, reusable style sheet. You'll have all the tools necessary to hone your story into an even better product.
Embrace the adventure!
YOU ARE READING
The Tidy Guide to Writing, Editing, and Publishing Your Novel
Non-FictionDo you dream of writing a novel, but not sure where to start? Have you been working on a book for ages but feel stuck? Despite all your best efforts, do you feel overwhelmed? Here's a clutter-free guide for planning and writing your novel right the...
