12-Step Process from “Writer” to “Author”

I have been asked: what is the best timeline/ order of operations for new writers with a freshly-finished manuscript they want to publish?

I’ve worked in publishing since 2001, so here is my educated opinion on best practice if you truly are serious about publishing your work. Seeking an editor shows motivation to follow through vs. endlessly writing and being a “writer” just for the coffee shop vibe. You know the type.

Twelve steps to go from “writer” to “author”:

1. Declare the manuscript finished, as far as the drafting stage.

2. Let it rest.

Do something else for a while but not too long—years can pass before you trudge through self-edits/revisions of the first draft if you let them. The “right” amount of time for this stage varies with the writer and experience. What you are looking for is emotional distance from the work to be able to view it objectively.

3. Revise/ self-edit.

If you have a “rolling revision” habit (I do) where you make revisions as you go while drafting, that’s helpful for the detailed, sentence-level work. But now that the manuscript is complete, consider the big picture, size, structure, theme, tying the end to the beginning—do the heavy-lifting changes before spending more time on the “fiddly bits” of details, sentence structure, chapter length, etc.

4. “Stick a fork in it.”

At some point, decide you’ve cranked the manuscript as tight as you can make it on your own.

5. Send it out to others for review.

This could be a critique group, beta readers (wherever you want to draw this pool from—family and friends are usually not going to give the most constructive feedback because they are too close to you and most of the time they know little about writing/editing/publishing/marketing etc.) or a professional developmental editor like me. Do this as soon as you feel confident about showing the work to another human being due to fear/anticipation of what they may say about it. This time is different for everyone. Typically the more experience you have sharing your work and reviewing feedback, the shorter this time gets.

Think of a crit group like the kiddie pool, beta readers like the shallow end of the pool, and a professional as the deep end. Are you the sort to just climb the high dive and go for it, or do you prefer to enter the water slowly and carefully?

6. When you get the reviewers’ notes: scan through the feedback.

Do not make any changes yet.

You will need to take a breather after receiving commentary of any sort; feedback from beta readers as well as professional advice from an editor will all trigger emotional responses in you that you need to be prepared for. You will nod along, you will laugh at some comments, but mostly be aware some commentary will make you angry and feel threatened unless and until you can cut the apron strings to the work you spent so much energy creating. It’s worse than letting children go out into the world; writing comes from within us from a more intimate place than our real babies do. The anger reaction is perfectly normal (“What were you reading?!”). Expect it when you first go through the comments.

Set the work and critique aside for a few days, maybe a week—however long it takes to calm down. Then go back over the commentary with an eye on the big picture of the work, and realize everyone who shares an opinion wants only to make your story stronger, not hurt you. Some “fix” ideas will not work for you, and that’s okay—you are the author, and you decide; others will strike you as brilliant—that’s the miracle of collaboration in the editing and revision phase. Reviewers show you the work through a different lens.

7. Revise based on commentary that makes sense to you toward making a stronger story.

Time to do this depends upon your revision speed and what all needs to happen to the ms.

8. Get a professional edit at this stage.

By now the story should be ready for line edits/ copy edits, but a professional eye toward big picture items is also a good idea, what we call a developmental edit or substantive edit, unless you had a professional do this at step 5.

If self-publishing, you should at this point know what platforms you want to use, hire a cover artist, work up a “blurb” (the 150-word description on the back of a paperback), and do marketing research. If you want to traditionally-publish, research agents and publishers for your genre; make a list of who you will send this manuscript to.

9. Revise to the editor’s advice.

Editors understand style guide requirements, publishing requirements, genre requirements, perhaps even which way the wind is blowing in current publishing sales—if you strongly disagree with anything the editor suggests, have a discussion with your editor to understand why they made that suggestion. Trust that they know more about publishing than you do, but just like with your kid, you know your story best. Make educated decisions. Time to do this step: try to take no more than 30 days.

10. Proofread.

Professional is best, of course. You want your manuscript to be as clean and error-free as possible to give it a fair chance on the market and good reviews.

11. Submit for traditional publishing with either an agent or publisher (some will work without agents in the middle).

Or, if self-publishing, now is the time to gather all the pieces needed and post to your self-publishing platform.

[Here there be dragons]

12. It’s published–hooray!

But you’re not done yet! Marketing, marketing, marketing. Platform-building. Be a good literary citizen by supporting other authors. And keep writing new material.