There are several things to consider when you decide to publish your book. How do you know when your book is ready to publish? Is it ready right after you are done writing it? Or does it need more touch ups before it is submitted for publication? This blog will tell you when exactly your book is ready for publication.
It is very difficult to be 100% satisfied with your work, there’s always something that needs correction or improvement. Every time you read it, a sentence will sound off or a word will seem inappropriate. This is very common in inexperienced writers, they have a hard time approving their book and realizing whether it is ready or if there are changes that need to be made. To help writers decide whether their book is ready to publish or not, we have gathered a list of things you can do.
1) Review whether your book flows in a chronological order or not. It is a very common error. Many books lose focus and mix up the events. This can be hazardous as it will be a source of great confusion for the readers and very tedious to correct for the writer. The best way to do this is to make an outline of the events before writing and following that format when you write your book. This will completely eliminate the idea of making such a grave mistake. You can even take help from an online tool such as Office timeline that will help you plot all the happenings with their dates so you can easily track the story line.
2) Make sure that you have made no mistakes with the names of characters. If you written the book on software like Microsoft word then you can easily use the find and replace feature to make sure that there are no mistakes made in the naming of different characters. You can also use it to correct other mistakes such as using inappropriate words. If you have used a word that you later realized is inappropriate then correcting it by reading the entire thing will take you a very long time. The best way to find such words is by using the “find” feature on the software and you will easily be able to find all the places where you have used the word. This will make your editing process very easy.
3) Get a second or maybe even a third opinion on your book. After you have completed the book and proofread it, give it to the people you trust blindly. Hand it over to these people so that they can read it and point out all the things that according to them need changes. Getting opinion from different people can help you decide what works best and you can make the changes accordingly. But make sure these people are trustworthy and will not use the content from your book for something else. The best people you can choose are your parents or your siblings and even your spouse. Ask them to give you the most unbiased feedback and do not sugar coat the critique. If you want a professional and more a highly experienced opinion you can hire a professional editor. This person will read the entire book very closely, identify all mistakes and even suggest changes. They will not only focus on grammatical mistakes, typing errors or misplaced punctuation but they will also look at the organization of the book and if there are any missing paragraphs or any loop holes.
4) Make your book readable to the readers. Use a very clear font that makes everything easy on the eyes and readers do not have to squint their eyes to read. Have proper page breaks between different chapters so that readers are easily able to differentiate between them. This will make your book easy on the eyes and readers who shuffle through the pages will want to read it because of its font and easy to read font size. Typesetting can make valuable changes and make your book ready to be published.
5) When you are writing your book make sure you keep the audience of your book in your mind. You need to make sure that the book you write is appropriate for your audience. If you are writing a young adult book then you need to keep the content of book to match the caliber of young adults. This thing should under complete attention when you write, edit and publish your book. The title of the book should appeal to young adult readers and the cover must be attention grabbing so they are compelled to read it. You can even hire a group of your target audience and ask them to read your book. They will be able to give you the best feedback that will help you improve things and make it even more appealing to the audience. This will ensure the success of the book in your target audience.
6) Do not trust what everyone has to say. People all over the world have conflicting opinions and different likes and dislikes. Not everyone will praise your book or like it. For example three out of five of your hired readers will enjoy and the rest will not. This is not much to worry about. People have a variety of likes and dislikes it is nearly impossible for people to agree on one thing completely. Just make sure that the majority understands it and likes it. If the majority of people give you a good feedback and some constructive criticism then you’re good to go. It’s needless to worry about the minority.
7) Understand what you aim to achieve by polishing your book? What is the aim of your book? Is it monetary value that you seek or you want people to benefit from it? It is essential to discuss these questions and find out the answer. This will help you indentify your goal. Once you have indentified your goal it will be very easy to work towards it and choose the publishing path that will be the best for you. Self publishing can be the best option for you if you wish to make a living out of it or a writing career. Or if you just want to release your book to the world without much regard for a writing career then you should get a publishing house to publish your book.
8) What genre your book fits into? What group of readers will enjoy your book? Are the readers of XYZ book going to like your book or the readers of ABC will like your book? It is a trend in the world of publishing to associate your book to other bestselling books. This helps the publishers plan; how and who to market your book. They will know just what marketing antics will work for you. Additionally, it will be a great help to the readers too as they will know that this book holds some similarity to the book they read and enjoyed. It improves the chances of your book being successful. Look up different best sellers, read about them or read the books if you have time and see which book relates to yours the most closely and refer it to your publisher.
9) It is possible that your family members or siblings whom you have given the book to read are not able to give you an unbiased opinion. Don’t let this hinder the success of your book, instead go and try to get a complete stranger to read your book. Try to sell you book to a stranger and see what reaction he has, practice what you can say about the book so that the stranger agrees to read it. This will help you find the most important and selling factors of your book and you can use it to market your book to a big audience. You may fail and it’s okay to fail. Work hard next time and come back with a better pitch and try to find a stranger that fits your target audience criteria.
10) Do not shy away from hard work at all costs. You may have to edit your book numerous times. Make some tweaks here and there, work on getting it published, finding the right audience and what not. You must be very hopeful and steadfast on the idea of getting your Book Editing published. Your dedication as a writer will truly show when you try to get your work to be published that too in its best form. Give your 100% in the editing of the book don’t be lazy and let things slide, remember that once the book is published you will get no chance to make any sorts of amendments. Choose the best publishing company and do not settle with just any. If you remain dedicated throughout then you will surely be able to get your work published and it will be successful.
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