You Wrote A Book? Now What?

Congratulations on finishing your book! 

But hold off on popping the champaign and running to the presses with your fresh manuscript. 

Because now - the real work begins! 

What do you mean by real work? I already wrote the book! Wasn't that hard work enough?

Writing a book is by no means an easy feat as all the movies, television, and celebrities publishing their books of selfies make it seem, but I'm sorry to burst your bubble - writing the book is the easy part. 

Here's what comes next. 

Take A Break and Pick A Path 

You just wrote a whole book! You deserve a bit of a break from staring at your screen and from the world of your story so that you can gain some fresh perspective on it. 

Use this time to think about where you see your novel going. 

I'm sure in your head you have some vague idea of what the path of your novel is, but have you sat down to give it its due consideration?

Are you going to pursue traditional publishing despite the challenges and the hard work that's going to have to be put into it? 

Or are you going to self-publish your book because you are capable of being your own one-person band?

This answer doesn't change the steps of what's to happen next, but it'll give you a sense of what you're working towards at the end of the long dark tunnel. 

Revise. Rewrite. Refine. 

Now that you've taken a little break from the world of your story it's time to roll up your sleeves and jump back in head first. 

While I suggest printing your novel out to get hands-on in the editing process, this can come with a price tag so the decision is yours on how to approach this step. 

Read your novel front to back. WITHOUT changing a single thing. 

I know it's going to be hard. I know it's going to be nearly impossible to keep your hands from typing away, but you must be strong. 

You need to see where your novel stands as a whole. Front to back. If you begin by fixing little issues in the first chapter you'll never make it through to the end and by the time you get to the end that bit you fixed in the beginning might have to be changed entirely anyway. 

Print out your work, export it into a PDF, or email it to yourself as a read-only version. Anything you can do to make it so you aren't tempted to work on it as you read. 

Keep a notebook and a pen beside you at all times while reading and make all the notes about what you need to fix there. *It's going to be a huge help to have page numbers on your work* 

After you've read it it's time to get to work fixing all those notes that you made and improving your story as a whole as much as you can. You can repeat this step of revising editing and rewriting as many times as your story needs. 

It's not going to be the last time you see it, but when it's as good as YOU can get it - it's off to the next step. 

Feedback and Beta Readers 

Writing a book is 100% something you can do alone with nothing but your own hand and imagination. 

Editing on the other hand? Not possible. 

By the time we've spent as much time as we need to clean up our stories, it's like those old Febreze commercials. You don't notice your house stinks because you're always in it - well you won't notice if your novel stinks for the same reason. 

It's impossible for a writer to remain objective about their own work, so a helping hand is a must in the process. 

Feedback can be hard to hear, but remember that feedback is someone's opinion and you don't have to take it as fact. 

HOWEVER. If your beta readers do not understand something in your story do not explain it to them. If they don't understand it then there is a chance your readers won't understand it and they won't have you there to explain it to them. Fix it in your words, not with your words. 

Polish and Revise 

Feedback received and changes made it's time to go over your novel with a fine-tooth comb looking for those things your spell check was supposed to find but may have slipped through the electronic cracks. 

Grammar, punctuation, and formatting are all checked and fixed here. 

While I would highly suggest hiring an editor for the same reason I suggest outside feedback, this isn't always in the budget for new authors so if needed brush up on some grammar lessons before tackling this step. 

If you are going the route of traditional publishing make sure that you are paying attention to the requirements for formatting for each query you submit as each will be different. 

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These steps may seem daunting when you look at them as a whole and realize that this book that you wrote is going to be part of your daily life for much longer than you may have thought, but in the end, the process of revising and polishing your work until it shines is going to be worth it so don't get discouraged before you even start. 

You've got this! 

Best of luck!

With love, 

B. xo xo

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This story was originally posted on Medium.

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