5 Must-Dos After Finishing Your Novel

You must do these 5 things after finishing your novel manuscript.

Do a Self-Edit. 

Your manuscript should be messy at this point. Well, if you’re a pantser, it should definitely be messy. If you’re a planner, it probably still will be messy, and that is okay. But, before giving it to anyone to read and (gasp!) critique, you’ve got to self edit it. Otherwise the story may not make enough sense for anyone to give valuable advice. A skilled editor might be able to make sense of it, but the best they could do is a rough edit, because no one knows your story better than you. So you’ve gotta go in and do the dirty work of editing. (or if you’re like me, this is the best part). To read more about how to self-edit, check out my blog post here.

Seek out beta readers. 

After you’ve edited as much as you can. It’s time to see what other people think. Seek out your betas or recruit family and friends. Ask folks to read it, and give their honest thoughts. Please listen to their praises and criticism with an open mind. They give criticism to help your novel be the best it can be. 

Whether you hire a Beta Reader, exchange beta reads with a fellow author, or ask a friend, is up to you and your individual timeline for publication, as well as your budget. But I do recommend asking someone who at least reads a lot and is passionate about stories. If you have no idea where to find Betas, check out this blog post.

SET IT ASIDE.

You just wrote and edited a whole manuscript. Take a breather. Write down other book ideas, write daily if you want, just don’t look at your manuscript. Trust me, you do not want to keep editing or changing things while your Betas read your novel. Doing so will make the editing process so messy and you will likely need to start the self-edit all over again. So, take a break from your novel, you’ll thank me later. 

Keep a journal during the break. 

That being said, consider keeping a ‘brain dump’ journal. You probably will have ideas for your manuscript knocking around even while taking a break, it’s okay to write those ideas down, just don’t peek at your manuscript. Rather, write those ideas down so that you can forget about them until you do open your manuscript again.

Review your Beta’s Comments and Assess. 

Once your Betas have finished reading, it’s time to review their comments and assess your next steps. Review their advice and either a) write/edit again & repeat until it is perfected for the agent querying step / publishing or, b) consider hiring a freelance editor to make your manuscript even better, or c) get ready to query if your manuscript is ready for that. 

Most writers will go through more edits of their manuscript before sending it to a freelance editor or an agent. If you are wondering whether a freelance editor is worth the money, please know that even agented manuscripts are often rejected. And that rejection doesn’t come down to the quality of your novel, necessarily, but rather it comes down to what will be profitable, (i.e. what will be easy to edit, market, and publish) for the publishing house. So, if you have the extra dough, consider hiring a freelance editor. We can really help you out in a way that beta readers usually can’t and friends may be scared to. I start my editing services at $0.01/word, though it varies with the type of editing and number of times the manuscript has already been revised. I offer sample edits and give quotes for your work. 

Best of luck with your manuscript & Happy Writing! 

-Bridget