S. M. Boyce’s Critique and Editing process—Part III: The Spitshine

Welcome back to round two of how I write and edit. To start at the beginning, click here .

This is part of my Indie How-To Index , which is a complete guide on everything from writing to marketing your novel. I designed the Indie Index to help authors on the road to being published. It’s totally free, so all I ask is that you have fun, learn something, and add to the discussion.

 
The Polish

Oh, God. There’s more to revise. How…how is there more?

That’s the polish. Editing just has a way of making you question every bit of spelling, grammar, and punctuation you know.

In the polish phase, you spray everything with Windex to get rid of the duplicate words, typos, and other minor changes like that. Get your book as close to perfect as you possibly can. I recommend reading through it at least 3-5 times. I read the book out loud for one entire go just to make sure it sounds right.

An old joke from my creative writing classes is, “you’re not done with a manuscript until you can’t stand to look at it anymore.”

Once it’s as done as you can get it, move on to the proofreading editing stage—the advance readers.

[image error]

Advance Readers

So here’s where you get others to proofread your book. I recommend a group of 5-10 people you trust with a mixed blend of readers/writers/editors. Very often, writers hire a professional proofreader as well for this stage. I sure do. See my article on hiring editors for more.

What I like to do is find a group of people I know and trust to go through my book and help me find minor errors like typos. These are readers, writers, and a few editors I’ve hired or met along my roads in life. Between the group and my professional proofreader (two weeks, $300), I’m bound to find most errors. Any other typos will be minor and fixable if they come up.

[box]

Some people call these readers “beta readers.” Check my glossary—I’ve actually heard of two definitions for that term. While some refer to beta readers in my advance reader sense, others use the term to refer to readers who read the critique draft. Whichever you use, be consistent. I prefer to just not use the term at all.

[/box]

 

Advance Reader Fixes

Advance readers will rarely come back with anything more than typos. Some will give you feedback on what did and didn’t work for them, but you need to keep your priorities in mind. Everyone will have a different opinion, and you’ll go crazy trying to take all their input into account. If something they say truly strikes you as a light bulb moment, then yes, change it. But on the whole, your goal with advance reader fixes is to change as little as possible.

Important Note

When you’re done with the changes from your proofreader and advance readers, your current draft of the novel should be the one you’re happy with for the long run.

You shouldn’t make drastic changes to the plot after you publish a book. Would you want an alternate ending to Harry Potter? If you aren’t sure you like the plot or want to make massive changes, you need to resolve that before you publish. Once it’s out there, it pretty much shouldn’t change.

Obviously, there are exceptions. Our first books are the guinea pigs. We release them only to discover we made a huge mistake somewhere. If your sales are near-zero and you don’t have many reviews, then you can get away with a major change. But once you start building a readership and get a lot of reviews, your chance for changing things is pretty much gone.

 

Advanced Review Copies

Oh my God, you’re almost done! Before your release, send your newly-polished book to your list of ARC readers, which you assembled already from my post on creating your marketing plan before you start writing your book.

The ARCs are a crucial marketing tool because they create buzz and get you reviews out the gate, but they also serve as kind of a safety net for your proofreading. Many reviewers will be lenient with editing in ARCs, and some will even let you know if they find errors.

If you’re polite and ask nicely when you send them the book, a few will even be on the lookout for errors and let you know in an email later. These changes rarely actually come in, but it’s nice if they catch something. I typically don’t bother asking, but I’m always listening if someone sees a typo.

This is also known as a “soft release.” Basically, you publish your book so that your ARC readers can post reviews, but you don’t market it yet. That comes next, once you’ve built up a small arsenal of reviews.

 

Release

This is where you format your eBook and upload your book for sale! You can also copy the same text into a print edition if you’re so inclined. It’s more professional to also have a print edition, so I recommend doing it.

Make sure you celebrate with chocolate and alcohol of some kind (if that’s legal for you, of course) before you dive into your next book. Take at least a week off before you get into your next work in progress (WIP). I took two months off after Lichgates (Grimoire Trilogy #1). You just went through the ringer, but it was worth it, right?

There’s nothing quite like knowing you did your absolute best. Sure, you’ll find things later when you look back on it, but that’s GOOD. It means you’re improving, learning, and becoming a better writer. Congratulations!

 

Okay, guys! That’s how I roll. What do you all do when you write? If it’s too long to post in the comments, write your own post and link to your site so we can read about it.

 
Table of Contents

Writing Draft One
Editing and Revisions
Preparing for the Release