After reading and digesting the first 5 steps last week are you ready for the next 5 that will take you even closer to your end goal? Well here in the second part you will be travelling that much travelled and worn path of other authors and writers like yourself. At the end you will be closer to achieving your dreams.
6. Now when you get the emails back there are less comments and suggestions than you had before, that’s great news and means you are heading in the right direction. No you are not done yet, and it can take more than one or two rounds to get to this point, but finally you got here. You can wipe the sweat off your brow and start making decisions about what you are going to do next.
7. Decide if you want to try and publish the work through a traditional route or if you want to self publish it and get it out there without weeks/months/years of heartache. There will be heartache, rejections will come in, and not everyone will love your work the same way you do, but don’t lose heart, you still have options to make your dreams come true.
8. You have decided to try your hand at self-publishing, everyone else is doing it. It’s got to be easy right? No this is just the next phase, now you need to think about setting up social media, etc. (This topic is for another blog post.) Now what is important for your work is finding an editor, never an easy task and there are many pitfalls to be had when looking. Make sure you get referrals from your friends and fellow authors on who they used for their works. Look at and read books that an editor has edited. Contact editors and see what their charges are. (These vary depending on where you go.)
9. So you have decided upon an editor and you are ready to send off your work. Normally they will ask for a small portion of the book to look through and see if it’s something they can work on and/or give you a quote on what they see is written. Some editors will just charge by the word or by the page, no matter go with your gut and talk to your editor. In the end if you are not happy, do not trust them, or don’t feel like you connect with them, this is not the editor for you. Move on and find someone more suitable that is a fit for you and your work.
10. Finally you have your editor and have sent of your manuscript to be edited, you have discussed what sort and depth of editing you need and can finally sit back and let them do their work. Yes relax; the editing process is not a quick and easy one either. In fact, you are now thinking is all this stress and heartache worth it? Yes it is, just keep your head up and you will get there, you still have many challenges coming your way.
Now you have followed all of these steps and reached the editing stage of your manuscript, congratulations on being one step closer. In my next post I will be going through the various types of editing, what your editor will do and why they are important.