How Do You Know When Your Book is Ready? Part 2 of 2

We’ve covered why I don’t think rejection of book ≠ lack of book quality. For the second part of this post, I’m going to stop ranting about the publishing industry (for once!) and actually talk about my writing. The original question was, “How do you know when your book is ready?” To me, the underlying question is, “How do you have enough confidence in your writing to put it into print without getting a thumbs up from a reliable third party (e.g., a publishing house)?”

These are my answers, and they are actually pretty similar to those of Rachel Starr Thompson, who posted a 4-part series of entries on this same topic.

1) I’ve been writing for a very long time. There are only two ways to get good at writing: Write more, and read more. I do a lot of both. As Rachel explains, when you write and read a lot, you develop an ear for what sounds good and what sounds, well, bad. I also used to be a professional book editor. I’ve edited 11 published books, and 6 more as a freelancer (pub status unknown). I’ve also worked with editors on my own writing. I write and edit professionally on a daily basis, so I am constantly in practice. Basically, writing and editing are second-nature to me by now, so I have a certain level of skill with words that allows me to do with them what I want. They don’t obey every time, but I do have a reasonable amount of success achieving the results I’m seeking with my writing.

I’m also educated about technique. I have studied creative writing in academic and personal settings for over 16 years. I have a degree in writing, specializing in fiction, and I have read numerous books on structure, editing, punctuation theory, publishing, and more. Not only do I know “best practices” in writing, but I understand why they’re important and how to apply them. You can never master a technique until you understand why it works—and when you can (and should) break the rules.

I won’t say I’ve mastered the novel, but I’ve written three or so long-form pieces, and I’m getting to know this form pretty well. I have also had multiple shorter works published, so I know publication quality is not an extreme reach for me.

2) I’ve rewritten Secernere from beginning to end twice. Some sections have been rewritten 4 or 5 times. This ain’t no first draft. I’ve put the most recent draft through the editing ringer twice. Now I have beta readers looking at my latest draft, and I’ll incorporate any feedback that resonates with me, and edit again. I have lined up a professional copyeditor to go through the final draft for typos—because I admit to being blind to those at this point.

I call editing a funnel, because on each pass there should be less to do. Developmental editing, which usually occurs after the first rough draft, takes a massive amount of work, and the changes will be substantial. I’ve done this on several authors’ novels when the backbone of the story was there, but the meat just wasn’t hanging right. After you’ve gone through large-scale developmental editing and gotten to another complete draft, you really oughtn’t need to do it again. If you find yourself continually re-jiggering large swaths of your book, you may have a bigger underlying problem in your premise that needs to be addressed before you can ever dream of getting the words right.

Once developmental editing is done, you can move onto editing on a smaller scale, usually at the chapter or scene level. Then comes line editing, where you get the words right. And finally, copyediting or proofreading, where you make sure all your T’s are crossed and your I’s are dotted.

I have needed “narrower” editing with each pass, and that makes me feel like I have been driving toward a quality product. I’m not just putting any old thing out there; I’m going out with a book that has been revised and improved numerous times.

3) I’ve read every single word of the novel out loud. If you have ever sought out writing advice, I’m sure you’ve come across this tip before, and it is one I stand by. Read every word aloud to yourself. It’s the only way you’ll find things that sound funny—not funny haha, but funny off. It’s easy for your brain to fill in the holes when you’re reading by sight (illusions of visual perception), but when you read out loud, you’re much more likely to catch mistakes and missteps.

4) My mom read it and she loved it. Just kidding. Well, not kidding. She did read it and she did love it. But that is not a valid reason to think my writing is ready for print.

5) I’m satisfied. I’m ready to move on. Yes, I could work on it some more. And maybe some more. I could probably fiddle with it forever, and never let anyone see it because I don’t think it’s perfect. But that’s not what I want to do. I don’t think any author is every 100% happy with their writing (if they are, they’re deluding themselves). I’ve been reading The Shining lately, and even the King says in his introduction that there are parts he would change now. But the writers who have writing in print knew when to stop, say “enough,” and move onto the next project. The bottom line is that you can’t get it published if you never stop working on it. For me, I think my book is ready for the next stage of its life, to move out of my house and get a job. And I know I’m sure as hell ready to move onto the next project.

Having the confidence to self-publish is a mix of talent, ego, guts, and willful, blissful ignorance: it’s about having a pretty good grasp of what you’re good at, being more que sera sera about what you can’t change, and not thinking about all the bad things that could happen.