Writing Craft: When to Publish Your Book
Is Your Manuscript Ready for Publication? Here’s How to Tell.
Knowing when your story is finished is easy. There’s a sense of resolution, a feeling of satisfaction. The completion is almost magical. It is, at times, even spiritual. Knowing when it’s time to publish your book, however, is often an entirely different matter.
Preparing a manuscript for publication overwhelms most writers. They don’t know what steps to take, or what errors to look for and correct. With that thought in mind, we’ve put together a short list of signs that, taken together, usually mean your story is ready to be shared with the world.
Signs Your Manuscript is Publication Ready
Several different people (preferably not related to you), or a professional editor, have read your story and provided honest feedback on the actual content (i.e. storyline).
You have reviewed and revised your story with your readers’ or editor’s content comments in mind, and resubmitted the manuscript to your readers (or editor) for a final review.
Many different people (or a professional editor) have proofread your revised manuscript.
You have reread your printed manuscript at least 10 times and corrected all errors.
Your manuscript is formatted according to your publisher’s (or your self-publishing software’s) specifications.
Your manuscript’s word count falls within guidelines.
You believe your manuscript is the best it can possibly be.
This information provided by Absolute Love Publishing and its imprint, Spirited Press, an assisted-publishing platform. If you are interested in self-publishing or assisted publishing, please learn about the full service and a la carte editing, publishing, and marketing services at Spirited Press.
