If you missed my previous post – click here for part 1. Or check out the collection for all parts.
So, you’ve drafted your novel, edited it a few times, and now you’re thinking about self publishing it.
STOP!
Every book you publish builds your reputation. If you decide not to get it professionally edited, you risk loosing future readers. Successful authors always talk about the importance of their back list (previous titles). What you want is to create a fan base that will keep coming back for more.
You NEED to get it professionally edited.
Step 2 – Professional Edit
Here is a handy infographic you can add to Pinterest of the steps covered in this post.
There are many professional editors who specialise in different areas. I’ve tried to simplify the process in this graphic, but each editor is unique. Check what they offer as part of their editing service. I will provide links to more info where I can.
Developmental Edit
You can learn so much about your novel and writing from this edit. The editor will highlight what’s working and what’s not, and make some suggestions on how to improve it.
When you get your manuscript back you will have a lot of work to do but it’s well worth it. I paid a local printer to print my MS, so I could work through the edits physically and digitally.
Line Edit
Sometimes to save money people choose between a line or copy edit as they have similarities. If you can afford both, do it. The more editing the better. For Ocean Heart, I did skip this but my editor did some line editing within her copy edit.
Self Edit
Read through all the changes made (or recommended) by your editor. These will improve your manuscript. You don’t have to make the changes but I doubt you paid for an editor to ignore them.
Copy Edit
I got a copy edit for Ocean Heart as my final edit. My editor still pointed out areas that needed improving – even by this point, it still wasn’t perfect.
Got feedback? Use it to to make your manuscript even better. By this point most authors are sick of editing and lost count of the number of drafts – now its ready to publish.
Publish your novel
The next post in my series is about turning your final manuscript into a book and publishing it…
This a summary of the highs and lows of my writing this month.
New Title
You may have seen in other posts that I have renamed Jewel of the Sea as Ocean Heart. In my pursuit of self publishing I am getting my book professionally edited and I want the new improved version to be easily identifiable.
Not only that but I have also renamed book 2, Diamond in the Sky as Sky Heart. The name for the whole series will be Soul Heart.
Keep your eye out for my upcoming post on ‘Creating a Catchy Novel Title’. Follow to get notified.
My Domain
My first achievement for 2020 was purchasing my domain. That’s right, as of 1 January 2020, you will now see my site is www.allyaldridge.com!
My current theme is no longer supported so I need to look at updating that in the upcoming months.
Ill
I hadn’t factored in getting ill but it has really knocked my schedule back. Luckily, this happened before Ocean Heart was back from the Developmental Editor so there is no urgency there. It has impacted my progress towards finishing Sky Heart.
Then my husband caught the lurgy. I am allowing him to rest and picking up the slack. This has impacted my free time to work on my projects.
Mighty Network
I have been exploring creating a Mighty Network. It is a social site for creatives. I’m currently a member of a Mighty Network by Willow Editing. I have been Beta Testing a self-editing course by Elzevera of Willow Editing.
I am considering the network as a potential way to share extra bits with my readers. I am also exploring it as a space to share writing resources as many of my followers are fellow writers.
Click here for my ambassador link and create a Mighty Creator profile. Then you can join Mighty Networks that interest you and see what I am on about. Let me know what you think.
NB: The link above is an ‘ambassador’ link for sharing the network but I don’t know what ambassadors get for doing it.
Developmental Feedback
I received my manuscript back from my editor on Mon 13th Jan. At first, I was scared to open it but what Avery McDougall had written was really encouraging and constructive.
I wanted to print it so I can write on my MS where to edit and what to do. Highlight things I want to improve, like telling when I should be showing.
Printing the 18 page report was easy but I had to work out how to print the Google Doc with comments. Then I had to find a local printer to print it for me as it was around 360 pages long.
The guy at Felix Press Limited was really helpful and it was ready to collect in just a few hours!
Fear
Since printing my Manuscript to edit I have been procrastinating. At first, I made excuses but after a few days I was cross with myself for not making progress and asked myself “why?”
Yes, I was tired from lack of sleep, the kids and work. But the crux was that seeing my printed MS felt very real. Editing was another step towards publishing and what if it still isn’t good enough. What if my novel is never going to be good enough?
I think a lot of writers have this fear. Self publishing you are alone with your fears and you don’t have the seal of approval from an agent or publisher encouraging you along.
I gave myself a little prep talk. If I am going to do this, I need to be strong and remember why I am doing this. I made this choice because I would rather do it than forever wonder “what if?”
Read Through
My first task in the editing process is to read my manuscript and I’ve finally beaten the fear and started this.
I am making notes as I go and already have ideas on how to improve. It is very tempting to edit as I go but I want to get a feel of how it reads first. Then, I will use my editors feedback and my new ideas to take my novel forward.
I can’t believe my luck. I’m a huge fan of Pagan Malcolm. Her advice is always sound and backed up by her recent personal experience. I try my best to attend her lives, or watch the catch ups in her Facebook group.
During the last weekend in January she did a giveaway for someone to win a place on her course and I won. The course is perfect for me.
I won a place on Storyseller Academy. This is a course packed with content on launching your novel. I can’t wait to start it & tell you more about it.
Coronavirus
I probably shouldn’t admit this but towards the end of the month I have become increasingly distracted and distressed by events in Wuhan. Some clips I have seen have made me cry. Maybe it is my overactive imagination but I can’t help but feel the situation is far worse than we are being lead to believe.
Sadly, I don’t feel the virus is under control. I am thankful for the NHS in the UK but I worry for the countries that are not as fortunate. I worry for the vulnerable and hope I am overreacting . I must stop checking for updates but I fear by Valentines Day there will be a global pandemic.
I hope you enjoyed this update on how my January went and what I have been doing towards my writing goals. My plan is to post an update each month. I have no idea if this is useful to anyone or if you can relate to my struggles. Please let me know in the comments how your January went and keep writing.
For February, I hope to update my website as the current theme is no longer supported. I want to finish my editing so I can get to the next step in my publishing plan and I will stop checking #WuFlu updates as it is not productive. What would be more productive would be to read the information on the self-study course I won, Storyteller Academy.
You’ve finished your manuscript and spent even more time editing. Finally, it is at a standard you are now confident to present. Now you are preparing to query.
When it comes to querying literary agents they general request the same things:
A sample of your manuscript
A covering letter
A synopsis
Many will ask you to keep the synopsis to one page (or 500-800 words). That is the challenge: summarize 80k words into one page.
Create a standard version
Most agents will want similar things in a synopsis. So it is worth having a standard version that you can use as a template and adapt to meet their requirements.
What to include?
Title: Novel title
Plot: outline the story arc from start to finish. Only give the meaningful events and you must include the ending. A synopsis should be written in third person.
Main character names: type these in capitals when they are first introduced.
Genre: Target market (in header/footer)
Novel length: word count of full novel (rounded to the nearest whole thousandth number in header/footer)
Contact details: Your contact details (in header/footer)
How to lay it out?
Length: 500 to 800 words
Font: Times New Roman or Arial (it must be easy to read)
Text size: ideally 12 pt (no smaller than 10pt)
Text colour: black
Background: plain white
Document Format: Check but generally .doc or docx (you may need to copy and paste it into a body of an email or convert to pdf)
Paragraphs: Indent the first line of your paragraphs and use single line spacing
How to approach this?
Try to break your novel into sections:
Beginning:
introduce the main characters/setting/era, etc
inciting event – the catalyst that kicks the story off
Middle:
Middle (the plan) – how your character(s) will solve their predicament
Middle (twist) – something that goes wrong with the plan
Middle (new plan) – how your character(s) will solve their predicament
End
Conclusion – the epic battle, the tie up of loose ends, the big reveal (murder mystery), they get the guy (or not)
If you can break your novel up into section for the main events, you can try to keep those sections to one paragraph. This will help keep the word count of your synopsis down.
Edit
Keep saving your synopsis and then return to see what you can edit out. Some fixes will be simple – remove filler words like ‘that’. You will also need to be critical about what details are necessary to keep and may see you can delete out some minor subplots. Keep doing this until you have reduced the size to at least one page or 500 to 800 words.
What not to do?
Teasers: The document should clearly tell them what happens and not leave any mystery or cliff hangers.
Chapters: Don’t describe what happens in each chapter.
Details: It isn’t necessary to describe settings and characters or explain every actions the MC makes. Leave out minor characters and minor subplots.
Mention other stories: keep the synopsis focused on the story it is about.
Shrink the font: This may be tempting to make it fit on the page but if it is not easy to read then… it won’t get read.
Fancy font: Again, if it isn’t easy to read, then they’ll move on to another query that is.
Wrong format: If they ask for the synopsis in a certain format then it is for a reason.
Finally – Tweak to meet the requirements
Guidelines: Check agents requirements.
Whoever you are submitting to will likely make certain requests on how they want the Synopsis presented and you will need to tweak your standard version to meet their needs. For example, they may ask for a certain font size or style or they may request a word count or number of pages. Some will want you to include a tag line or to submit it in the body of the email (not as an attachment).
