While it’s true that a man­u­script can be edited to death, as so elo­quently detailed in Gail Car­son Levine’s arti­cle there are many writ­ers with the oppo­site prob­lem. This is espe­cially true of new authors who choose not to pur­sue a tra­di­tional pub­lish­ing strategy.

When I first jumped into the amaz­ing world of ebooks and per­fect bound print, I assumed that edi­tors were plen­ti­ful and that I would find one that would fit my needs. We’d get along like peas in a pod, become best friends, or at the very least we would send each other birth­day and Christ­mas cards. If only it were that simple. Rather, my eyes were opened so abruptly that some­times, I think I’m still see­ing dou­ble. My dis­il­lu­sioned world did not last long, and when it came to an end I sud­denly real­ized that the con­tent of my book had been erro­neously mis­rep­re­sented because I thought I could pay some­one to find my typos. Out of my con­fu­sion came a whole new approach to print. I had to take charge. I couldn’t let any­one fig­ure out when my man­u­script was ready for pub­li­ca­tion except for me. I had to do it myself. And that’s when things started to get a whole lot better.

You may notice some rep­e­ti­tion in the out­line below. Don’t adjust your screen or start send­ing me emails about how I’m off my rocker. The rep­e­ti­tion is there for a rea­son. Most new authors jump into this piranha pool the same way I did, think­ing that they will find an edi­tor to fix every­thing. If that’s what you’re think­ing, think again, because unless you already have a book deal and are work­ing under a big pub­lish­ing house, you’re going to be in for a shock.

Here is what I sug­gest and cur­rently use as my model for prepar­ing a man­u­script with­out the help of a spendy editor:

1. Read and cor­rect your man­u­script until it you think it can’t pos­si­bly get any better.

2. Find a book club(s) where the mem­bers do not know you, and ask them to do a con­tent edit of your man­u­script. I pre­fer to use peo­ple out of state so that my read­ers will feel com­fort­able crit­i­cis­ing the con­tent (storyline) comfortably. You may want to pre­pare a ques­tionare to accom­pany the man­u­script. I have found it use­ful to have read­ers fill these out in pri­vate so that they don’t taint one another’s opin­ions. Be sure to keep the ques­tions open ended so that peo­ple can give max­i­mum feed­back. I also usu­ally throw in a few very spe­cific ques­tions based upon con­cerns that I have. Make sure to use peo­ple that are not prej­u­dice in your favor. The whole point is to find out if your story is any good. If you use your friends and fam­ily, what are they sup­posed to do if they hate your book? It’s just too awk­ward to be hon­est under those cir­cum­stances, and that’s what you need: hon­est feed­back, whether it is good or bad.

3. Take the con­tent edit com­ments seri­ously, but take them with a grain of salt. Some of the com­ments will be very good, mean­ing the point is valid, and some won’t. If you hear the same thing over and over, you know you need to address the issue. This is where you have to be objec­tive and put the story above your­self. Pride is not your friend in this phase. If you are not sure, use another group. Use as many con­tent read­ers as you need.

4. Review the man­u­script again. Rewrite and correct.

5. After you have fin­ished the con­tent edit­ing phase, and after you have cor­rected again, ask fam­ily and friends to proof­read your work. Make sure to use peo­ple that aren’t inter­est­ing in rewrit­ing the entire book. Use peo­ple that you can trust. Use as many peo­ple as you can! In my expe­ri­ence, you can’t get enough peo­ple to look at the man­u­script. The more eyes search­ing for errors, the better.

6. After this, proof­read the man­u­script again your­self. Rewrite. Cor­rect, cor­rect, cor­rect. Proof­read­ers will not catch every­thing. Most peo­pled lose their edit­ing skills once they get into a story, so don’t be sur­prised when your Great Aunt Helda, who holds a Mas­ters Degree in Eng­lish, misses some­thing. That’s why you want mul­ti­ple proof­read­ers, espe­cially those who are will­ing to read it twice.

7. Some new writ­ers think that all of this rewrit­ing and reread­ing is not their job. It is. It is 100% their job. Even those who are going the tra­di­tional route have to do this. There is no other way. So, step num­ber seven is, read it again, ten mil­lion times. Read it again, and again, and again.

8. Now that your man­u­script is as good as you can get it, it’s time to pub­lish in ebook for­mat. But, don’t put your com­puter away quite yet. Look for cor­rec­tions that may come from your read­ers. Take advan­tage of the ease of updat­ing your man­u­script through kindle/nook before purs­ing a paper copy of your book.

9. Finally, your man­u­script is pris­tine and beau­ti­ful, so per­fect that you are prac­ti­cally glow­ing. The time has finally come to pub­lish into print. Hooray! When that first book comes hot off the press deliv­ered to your door, remem­ber to smile! Con­grat­u­la­tions! If you haven’t started mar­ket­ing yet, it’s time to get cracking.