How do You Know When Your Book is Ready to be Published?

I work primarily with indie authors. Many of them are first-time writers and are uncertain about what lies ahead. One of the most frequent questions I get asked is, “How will I know when my book is ready to be published?”

This usually comes after I have gone through their work and returned it with all the corrections and suggestions I have made. They are often surprised—in spite of having been told what to expect—to see how much work their book still needs. I want to tell them that they will just know.

But it’s not always that simple.

Writing a book is hard work. Just starting takes courage, but actually finishing one is a relatively rare feat. When that first draft is done, authors will often breathe a sigh of relief. They’ve laboured for weeks, months, or years, and finally they are done. But they aren’t! They have birthed an infant, which now needs to be nurtured as it grows and matures until it is ready to be sent out into the world. There is much more work to be done.

So begins the editing process. This is when that pesky editor raises questions that you aren’t expecting. Why is John starting his car when he hasn’t even gotten out of bed yet? Daphne called Jane, but she’s talking to Sophie. Paul’s plane landed in Montreal, but he woke up in a hotel in Toronto. Why is Winston barking at the intruder? Is he a dog or a person?

When you were writing it, this all made perfect sense. You knew that John had a shower and went out to his car. You knew that Daphne called Sophie, not Jane. You knew that Paul actually flew to Toronto. You knew that Winston was a person and that it was his dog, Apollo, who barked at the intruder. Somehow, though, those little details got mixed up with other little details and failed to find their way onto the page. Spelling, grammar and punctuation aside, this is why editing is important. The editor ferrets out all these odd little anomalies and draws you back to the keyboard to correct their behavior in the story.

Thus begins the second draft. Your book has advanced from an infant to a toddler. You go through the edits and accept or reject them as you deem fit. You answer the editor’s questions and fix the anomalies. Then you send it back to the editor, half expecting her to give it her stamp of approval, but in the process of accepting, rejecting and re-writing, more mistakes get introduced and more anomalies appear. You wonder if the book will ever grow up!

Round three. It’s getting better. You think you see a light at the end of the tunnel. Then you, or your editor, comes up with a brilliant idea that solves a problem identified in the first round of editing, but wasn’t satisfactorily resolved and, in your eagerness to insert this wonderful new plot twist into the story, you forget to update a later passage that worked pre-brilliant idea, but now makes no sense at all. The book is now an adolescent! Surly and moody, with a penchant for rebellious behavior. (There are more empty wine bottles on the counter than usual.)

It turns out to be a relatively easy fix. Thank goodness! And your editor tells you that your book is ready for college. But you have doubts. You think that John needs to drive a Honda instead of Toyota, or that Daphne needs to call Jane instead of Sophie. Maybe Paul should fly to Montreal. And isn’t Winston a better name for a dog? What if that brilliant idea wasn’t so brilliant after all? The second-guessing torments you.

There is a point, however, when you need to stop and take a breath. You can tweak the story to death, or you can take a leap of faith. You’ve raised a good story. You’ve given it all the love and guidance at your disposal and now it’s time to see what it can do on its own.

Yes, there will be some pitfalls. Not everyone who reads your book will love it. And that’s okay. Instead of beating yourself up over a couple of unfavourable reviews, give yourself a pat on the back. You did a good job!

You may never feel completely satisfied with a story. There are so many possibilities and some of them will find their way into your head after the fact. But there are also many more stories to write. Some of those possibilities will work marvelously the next time. Give yourself permission to play with those ideas later in new stories.

There will, of course, be times when you do just know, when there are no reservations. Everything will feel right. And you will just go with it!

Every story is like a child. Each comes into the world with its own strengths and weaknesses, its own personality. You could write a hundred stories and each one will have its own little quirks. Some will fill you with pride while others will keep you up at night wondering what you could have done differently. That’s the way it is with writing. And that’s okay too.