On Revision: The Only Writing That Counts

by William P. Germano

A trusted editor turns his attention to the most important part of revision.

So you’ve just finished writing something? Congratulations! Now revise it. Because revision is about getting from good to better, and it’s only finished when you decide to stop. But where to begin? In On Revision , William Germano shows authors how to take on the most critical stage of writing rewriting it.

For more than twenty years, thousands of writers have turned to Germano for his insider’s take on navigating the world of publishing. A professor, author, and veteran of the book industry, Germano knows what editors want and what writers need to Revising is not just correcting typos. Revising is about listening and seeing again. Revising is a rethinking of the principles from the ground up to understand why the writer is doing something, why they’re going somewhere, and why they’re taking the reader along with them.

On Revision steps back to take in the big picture, showing authors how to hear their own writing voice and how to reread their work as if they didn’t write it. On Revision will show you how to know when your writing is actually done—and, until it is, what you need to do to get it there.
 

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Academic, Reference, Language, Teaching, Academia

208 pages, Paperback

Published November 5, 2021

About the author

William Germano is vice president and publishing director at Routledge. He has been editor in chief at Columbia University Press, where he also served as humanities editor.

Reviews

[Rachel]

shoutout thesis. sup toby...

[Marco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful reflections about how to improve a text (and when to stop!). Some of them lend themselves to expression in bullet points, while other require further detail. In both cases, the author does an excellent job of sharing the ideas, their underpinning rationale, and the difficulties we face in practice. A short, helpful read.

[Clover · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5
Meandering and academic.

This one was odd for me. Germano's tone was conversational, more talking about the pleasure of writing and revision than solid steps in how to approach revision. There's still good advice and tips in there, and although his audience is academic, you can still apply it to fiction writing.

It just wasn't what I was expecting. I'll sit with the knowledge and let it sink in. Maybe I'll even give it a second read now that I'm more understanding of what it's going to offer. It's not a hard no for me, but it's definitely a try again later.

Thankful for my local library! Request they purchase this or other books on the topic and put them on hold!

[Martin Cross · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a dreadful piece of pure puff this book is. You know the type of thing. You could probably write it yourself. Writers are wonderful; you are wonderful; what you are doing is wonderful. Some things are terrible. Here is a list. Here is a metaphor. Here are two sides of a point.

This is the kind of thing this book says: "Writing isn't ever easy, but it's just a bit more difficult for scholars, and that's the way scholars like it". Or "Now take a walk around the block or get a good night's sleep. When you're feeling fresh, the coffee is ready, and the desk is cleared, roll up your sleeves. That's the hardest part of writing , and it's the hardest part of revising, too."

But leave aside the awful smug tone of this puff piece and you'll find it is just plain wrong. The thrust of the author might be said to be that non-fiction should always contain an argument, have an architecture and know its readership. Really? I dispute all three of those. When writing I do not know my readership, it is when giving a talk that I know who my talk is for because that is a very limited number of people. All gathered together in one place and if I get it wrong I am in for trouble. But how can I know the readership of my writing? Since anyone can pick my book up at some unknown point in the future, how does writing for them help me? Great if I do know my readership, but honestly, not the most important thing compared with say, whether the text is entertaining, or makes the reader feel good about reading it.

About half way through this airy breeziness I began to really dislike this book. By the time it gets into depth with its first point, the importance of argument, it is entirely satisfied with both having the cake and eating it. For example, most readers will be familiar with the 'straw man' argument - not this author, who glibly sets up multiple straw men to casually knock them down one after another in his certainty that we need to make our writing into an argument. For example: "Readers want to know what your point is. Readers aren't passive recipients." Well, actually, that is exactly what they are! What if the reader knows exactly what your point is, and hates it? What if they know roughly what your point is, already? What if they don't know what your point is, and don't care? "You need to know your argument better than your reader does" we are brightly informed. There seems to be no awareness of the reality of persuasion here; no awareness that we humans have an awful tendency to make up our minds despite the argument, not because of it. This author either does not know that or, I rather suspect, does not care.

So ignore me, because I really do not like this book. I'm prejudiced. Make up your own mind. But just be warned. Because I think you will not like it either.

[Jennifer Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the author has thought deeply about the process of revision, I felt the book could have been more concise (which seems ironic for a book on revising). I most appreciated the author's discussion of revision as a multi-directional process. Revise up to fill in gaps, revise down to boil away everything that doesn't contribute to the work, revise across to address internal coherence, and revise out to shift focus to the reader.

[Steven Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated this book for Germano's "argument, architecture, and audience" framework, and for thinking about revision as a crucial step in the writing process as opposed to a rushed integration of a reviewer's feedback that takes place after the writing process. I rarely finish writing before a deadline to really take the time to revise, but whenever I do, It feels like the biggest gift I could give to myself and my writing. Additionally, this book had me thinking that for all the talk we do in rhetoric and composition studies (and perhaps even the humanities more broadly) about revising, we rarely understand what it looks and feels like. After all, writing is revising, but real revising requires us to step away from our writing for days (weeks if we are lucky), mark it up on a physical piece of paper, have a friend read it aloud to us, etc. I for one, do not do enough of that, and look forward to trying soon.

[Ivana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A meditating guide through the meandring process of revision. Not a cookbook.
The title is a bold statement and if you agree with it you will enjoy this book and experiment with your own revising from a different angle. Even if you agree with the title, you know that revising is not only about the techniques (transitions, climactic points, paragraphing) but also about the intangible, undescribable, relational. This book works well in addressing both.

[Floris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice writing companion book that offers some useful tips and sage advice when it comes to revising pieces of writing, from blog posts to book-length manuscripts. It’s a quick read, but probably better to return to over time when you’ve got your own revisions to do. In that respect Chapter 4, on looking for your argument(s), is especially strong, as it offers useful tips for bringing out what is perhaps the most important part of any piece of nonfiction writing.

[Brigitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally! A book focused on ways to revise scholarly writing. The final chapter wasn’t as useful as the others, but the other chapters are filled with ideas and strategies for how to revise that the final chapter is forgiven. I’m starting a fourth draft of a journal article this weekend and I can’t wait to try out some of these ideas!

[Olle Qvarnström · Rating 1 out of 5]

Vilken jävla smörja. Hela boken skulle behöva revideras. Han pratar om att skönhet i text är när allt onödigt är borttaget, ändå är 90% av boken fullständig ordbajs. Någon form av låtsaspoesi. Poängerna kanske är bra men de drunknar fullständigt i allt dravel.

Gör dig själv en tjänst och håll dig borta från den här boken.

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was exactly what I need as I attempt to make sense of my conceptually challenging second monograph! Looking forward to applying Germano's advice as I revise.

[Gabrielle Jarrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

On Revision is concise with many examples, references, and readability. While academic writing is Germano's first focus, it provided me with very many helpful viewpoints and suggestions as a fiction writer in my revision stage. "What is my point?" "Be a good host to my reader, being sure they are comfortable and fed." "Revise, not merely correct." And many many more. He ends with E.M.Forester's "Only Connect" in Howard's End. I, as writer and reviser, must connect my story, it's points and characters, with my reader.

[Kars · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange book. Meandering writing that makes its arguments in a very inefficient manner. The conversational style does make for easy reading. And I took away a few useful bits of advice that I could immediately apply in my own practice: Writing is rewriting; read out your texts out loud; follow a W-rhythm of revision (beginning, end, middle, end, and beginning)… That sort of thing.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Offers very useful and practical advice and insights on writing (or rather, revising).

1. Clarity is impt at the beginning of sentences and sections, emphasis at the conclusion of sentences and sections
2. An article abstract is a report of what you did do, not what u hope to do
3. Prose = words in their best order; poetry = best words in their best order
4. Writing is less a delivery system than an ecosystem
5. A good argument is a piece of an ecology of thought. It is sustainable and productive.
6. 3As - argument, architecture, audience
7. The W - beginning, middle, end, beginning
8. On academic writing - the first 5 pages of your own writing is more impt than the vast archive. You are here only for a while and your ideas are your own and only your own
9. Map - consider prose as an occupied space. Your writing travels. Some parts are flat, easily crossed stretches. Some parts can feel mountainous, broken by impassable canyons.
10. What are the borders of your writing? The dangers? “Here be dragons” (HC SVNT DRACONES) by cartographers indicating areas unknown on the Hunt-Lenox globe dated 1504.

[Jeremy Garber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled on this book in my public library’s new nonfiction section. (Shout-out to public libraries!) As soon as I finished this book, I immediately ordered it for my graduate-level academic writing center. There is no higher praise – except that to read Germano’s work is not only to learn, it is to enjoy. Germano’s prose is lovingly readable, an eminently suitable compliment for a book on writing instruction. His novel contribution to the field is to insist that writing isn’t to spew out a first draft, with revising as an entirely new step. Instead, Germano sees revision as part of the writing process all along – and it doesn’t only happen one time. (He quotes Toni Morrison on her eleventh draft, and reminds us all that we have no cause to complain about only revising four times!) The book is filled with useful exercises like taking out all your important writing to reduce it to the bare bones, and see the beauty in what you’ve taken out. He also introduces the “writing W” – write your intro, write your conclusion, write the middle, revise your conclusion, revise your intro. Perhaps the best thing about Germano’s book (for my purposes, anyway) is that it is intentionally geared toward academic writing, but mandates the need for clarity and creativity in constructing and supporting your argument. I intend to make this book mandatory in my introductory and thesis-level writing courses. And I intend to use it for all of my personal writing projects as well.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Expect Rambling:

“A narrative is a kind of thread, but not every thread is a narrative. When people talk about writing, they talk a lot about threads running through a text and connecting its ideas. Has the word thread ever been more visible than it is now, in the age of social media, not even discounting the heyday of weaving mills? We’re invited to link email chains or to see the spidery filament of responses to a particularly arch tweet, so that we’ve normalized “thread” as a term for and of connection. The thread is the name for the mechanical linkages connecting post to post.”

“[Give readers] Something to chew on. Crudely put, a reader wants an idea. All by itself, an idea probably isn’t a book, or even an essay, but an essay or book without an idea is going to be frustrating.”

???

Possibly there’s good tips and tricks in there. I just don’t want to have to dig for it, especially since this is a book on writing.

[MindOverMatter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an enjoyable book. It helped me rethink my practice of revising scientific articles & books. At times, it felt too "performative" (and while I appreciate the author encouraging us writers to consider writing as a performance, I don't think it should feel like a performance for the reader). However, it often also felt like a mousse of chocolate slowly melting in the mouth, i.e., exactly how writing should be and extremely satisfying.

I appreciate Germano's thoughts on the topic. I will certainly reread it.

[Nicolas Perrault · Rating 2 out of 5]

50 pages in I have yet to see any actual actionable advice. The author is well-intentioned, but this book is in my opinion not worth the time it takes to read. A better book on revision is "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser — even if, like me, you are a scholar and Zinsser is a journalist.

[Lien · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent revision resource that sounds pleasant and almost made revision sound pleasant.

[Robert Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must have resource for writers of all kinds - novice or professional, fiction or non-fiction.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very useful book not only on the work of revision, but also secondarily on how to think about the purpose and the nature of academic writing in general.

["Cyril' (David · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, but I didn't get from the title that it was mostly concerned with academic writing.

[szymborskalyte · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the finest guides to writing I’ve come across, and I’ve read plenty.

[Davene Le · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful reference book that guides a writer through the steps from first draft to final revision.

[Gijs Limonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid and actionable advice on writing and revising.

[Rolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books on writing are a tricky thing to get right--the best ones not only provide solid advice and insight into the writing process, but get you excited about writing. This is one of those books.

[Arnold Huijgen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of this book is not about revision, but about the writing process. It is unconvincing because the author does not connect his thoughts and does not take the reader into account.

[Tom Courtright · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about writing by a lover of letters. Supremely well-written (and reviewed!). Perhaps missing only a rundown list of the key tips he imparts.

[Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful and well-written. A bit longer than it probably needs to be.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the first two chapters of this book a delight, as Germano offers graceful encouragement to rethink what you've written without losing a sense of voice, spontaneity, and intuition. But then the rest of the book turns into, well, just more advice on writing—nicely written itself, but with a familiar feel to it. Shorter would have been better.