Before You Publish

Whether you plan to self-publish or submit your manuscript to an agent or traditional publisher, here is a checklist of what you need to do first. Since I’ve never self-published, I’m focusing on the traditional publishing approach. However, most of these items apply to both.

Final Edit

Do a line-by-line reading of your manuscript, checking every word is accurate and correctly spelled. There are several ways of making this more efficient:

Change the font before you read. I don’t know why this makes catching mistakes easier, but it does.Print the manuscript and edit the print copy.Use the audio function on Word. It will help you not only spot incorrect or misspelled words (because the programme doesn’t know how to pronounce them), but also when you have used the same word too many times in succession. The downside, though, is it can’t tell the difference between homophones, so if you’ve written ‘there’ instead of ‘their’, this approach on its own won’t help.

Have someone Beta read the manuscript. I don’t know what I’d do without my BFF Jane, Beta-reader extraordinaire. If you decide to work with a Beta-reader, here are some things you should know in advance:

Decide your parameters in advance. Do you want a line-by-line analysis, or just a quick overview of the story? Be clear that you are not asking your Beta-reader to do any rewriting — unless that is what you want. Clarity now will prevent fall-outs later.Decide how feedback will be given. Do you want a marked-up manuscript returned, or a separate report, or a conversation. Set a time limit on how long the activity should take.Agree any form of recompense in advance.

Be prepared for some friction as you both define your boundaries. Try not to take your reader’s feedback personally, and be ready to do some work after he / she has finished reviewing. Ideally, you want this feedback after your manuscript is mostly finished, but before that final draft. I should warn you that if your Beta-reader spots a major plot hole (or three), it can make you want to tear your hair out. But better you see these problems before you start submitting the manuscript. I know it wouldn’t work for everyone, but Jane frequently calls me while she is reviewing my stories. Sometimes she’s confused about something (generally it’s because I’ve done something goofy, such as accidentally deleted a page or duplicated one), or because she thinks she’s spotted a plot-hole. That allows me to review those issues immediately. A phone call can be much more effective than a later written report. For me, anyway.

Select a Title

This is one of those things that sounds easy-peasy until you start to do it. Sometimes the title is obvious and you’ve had it in mind right from the beginning. My first novel in the Sherlock Holmes / Lady Beatrice series was called A Biased Judgement. I think I had the title from the minute I got the idea for the story. On the other hand, my most recent novel, Great Warrior, came after months of research and title-changes.

Whatever title you choose, it should be eye-catching and memorable. It can be useful, if you’re planning a series of books featuring the same character, to give the titles some element in common. Sue Grafton went with the alphabet, A is for Alibi, for instance. While Kathy Reichs used to use versions of ‘dead or death in hers — Death du Jour or Déjà Dead, though she seems to have moved on from that.

There used to be a rule that a title shouldn’t be longer than six words. Or maybe it was seven. I don’t think that’s true anymore. One-word titles remain popular. Try not to use anything too obscure, although, to be fair, if the book is good enough that isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker. Half the people who read The Big Sleep didn’t know it meant death, but it is still considered one of the best hard-boiled detective stories ever written. You can use quotes from scripture or poetry, or even suggested by the book itself. The Silence of the Lambs is a good example of the latter, as is To Kill a Mockingbird. Ultimately, pick a title you like, one that fits the story, and make it unique. A new novel called The Great Gatsby, for instance, is sure to confuse people.

Consider your Options

Consider your publishing options. If you decide to go the self-publishing route, be prepared to do all the hard graft yourself. You’ll need to format the manuscript, get a cover designed, pay for an ISBN number, and take care of all the marketing. Depending on your temperament, you may recoil from any of these tasks; I know I would. Fortunately for me, I found a publisher who will do all these things for me. That doesn’t mean I have no role to play, but somehow I feel comforted by knowing that I have a publisher backing me.

If your novel fits into a genre, make sure the agent or publisher you are submitting to accepts stories of that sort. No, you’re not the one they’ll be sure to make an exception for. Save yourself some time and a lot of frustration and send it to people who will be likely to appreciate it.

If possible — and I’ll grant you, it’s a big ‘if’ — try to have some other pieces sold that fit the genre of your novel. Look up markets that specialise in, for instance, science fiction, and submit stories to them. Then, by the time you go hunting for a publisher, you’ll not only have credits to your name, but you’ll have credits specific to that genre. It can do a lot to move you up the slush pile.

Next week: we’ll start to look at the actual submission process.

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