What does "ready for submission" look like?

StoryMonkey · Apr 1, 2008

Ok, I have written a novel.

I have put the novel in manuscript format.

I have done some fairly extensive editing.

I have had 3 friends read and comment (ouch, that hurt), and have made revisions to match.

My question is, what does "ready to submit" look like? Of course I strive for 0 errors... but what if I send out a document that has an error in spelling or typing?

I plan to continue making the book better, and in some cases I believe it's working. But in other cases I feel that I may be making changes just to change things. Rewording sentences so they say exactly the same thing, etc.

Can anyone give me a basic litmus test for knowing when a novel is ready for the query/submission phase?

Thanks!

Birol · Apr 1, 2008

It's ready when you say it is ready. It's ready when you've made it the best you can. The only way to really know is to send it out and get requests for partials.

Mr Flibble · Apr 1, 2008

What he said.

However I would advise getting someone objective to read it ( try the beta readers forum). Your friends are...well your friends, they might be wary of upsetting you, or see it in a better light because they know you or, well you see my point.

Good Luck

ReneC · Apr 1, 2008

What they said. It's really that simple, no tricks or secrets. When you feel you've done the best you can, done all you can, it's ready.

Phaeal · Apr 1, 2008

Post the first chapter in the Share Your Work forum here. Ask people what they think about its submission readiness.

If unbiased readers find the writing smooth and interesting, so far, so good. You still won't know if the whole novel is ready, but you'll have gotten past the first hurdle. If people find significant problems, it could be better to seek a full beta reading before submitting.

Metis · Apr 1, 2008

StoryMonkey,
I'm in the same boat. My feeling is this: My book is ready when I can't make it any better without making it worse. Then, when I feel it's perfect, set it aside for a week or two and then go back and make it better. When my hair starts falling out in clumps, then, and only then, will I consider sending my work out into the professional fray.
Cheers!

StoryMonkey · Apr 1, 2008

OK, thanks all!

I'll give that a go.

Feathers · Apr 1, 2008

What Metis said: stop when your making things worse instead of better. For me, that period often comes at the point where I can't even read the thing anymore, my eyes just glide over. That's when I call it quits.

Yay for a finished novel!

-Feathers

Diane · Apr 1, 2008

(Diane stops herself from posting her first response to this question just in time.)

(It's the same thing that cracks her up every time she goes to an agency website and sees the link "How to Submit To Us.")

(She's kinda juvenile.)

Matera the Mad · Apr 1, 2008

My personal wise-ass answer is, "When I can read it and not wince."

Mumut · Apr 1, 2008

Matera the Mad said:
My personal wise-ass answer is, "When I can read it and not wince."

Yes, definitely. And make sure you read it out loud. OK, the dog will think you've finally cracked but it is worth doing. If there is anywhere you stumble or if it doesn't flow well, and you wrote it yourself, what will it be like for any other reader.

Oh, and good luck with getting it published.

sportacus · Apr 1, 2008

It will be ready (as others here have said) when you feel it is ready. If you feel proud with your work (and not necessarily the completion thereof) and can honestly say that it is ready, then it is ready.

Exir · Apr 1, 2008

It is ready when you no longer make meaningful changes - that is, the only changes you make are trivial, like putting in commas.

kzmiller · Apr 2, 2008

One of the ways I quantify whether or not I think something is ready is when I imagine I'm going to be reading it aloud to a group of a hundred people. Am I embarrassed? Do I want to make last minute changes? Or do I just go for it?

If your answer is go for it, it's ready. Feeling worried and nervous is okay and normal and shouldn't stop you. But if specific things boing into your mind that you'd want to change, I'd go back to beta readers and see if the ms is working.

Torgo · Apr 2, 2008

StoryMonkey said:
Of course I strive for 0 errors... but what if I send out a document that has an error in spelling or typing?

Don't sweat it. You've done your best; if authors were perfect editors, we wouldn't need editors. Nobody will strike your novel down for a typo or two.

Erin · Apr 3, 2008

I'm done when the only thing I'm changing are synonyms and the last typo has been caught.

Of course, I never catch the last typo. I just did a revise and resubmit at an editor's request and found 6 typos in an 83K MS, much to my dismay! But editors aren't looking for those few pesky typos. Just revise until you're satisfied, but you have to stop at some point. Otherwise, you'll end up revising forever.

Birol · Apr 3, 2008

Matera the Mad said:
My personal wise-ass answer is, "When I can read it and not wince."

Then there's the other, somewhat factual response: When you're sick of it and can't stand to read it through one more time.

Matera the Mad · Apr 4, 2008

When you're sick of it, it's probably because there is something wrong with it yet, and it's not a few typos.

Adding (or subtracting) commas can be very non-trivial.

waylander · Apr 5, 2008

StoryMonkey said:
Ok, I have written a novel.

I have put the novel in manuscript format.

I have done some fairly extensive editing.

I have had 3 friends read and comment (ouch, that hurt), and have made revisions to match.

My question is, what does "ready to submit" look like? Of course I strive for 0 errors... but what if I send out a document that has an error in spelling or typing?

I plan to continue making the book better, and in some cases I believe it's working. But in other cases I feel that I may be making changes just to change things. Rewording sentences so they say exactly the same thing, etc.

Can anyone give me a basic litmus test for knowing when a novel is ready for the query/submission phase?

Thanks!

Reading it out aloud really helps. You'd be surprised about the little flaws that you catch by doing it.

Birol · Apr 5, 2008

Matera the Mad said:
When you're sick of it, it's probably because there is something wrong with it yet, and it's not a few typos.

No. Not really. It just gets to a point where you've done everything to it to the best of your ability. You've read it through countless times. You've rewritten and edited. You're sick of it. It's time to send it out and work on something else.

David I · Apr 5, 2008

Birol said:
No. Not really. It just gets to a point where you've done everything to it to the best of your ability. You've read it through countless times. You've rewritten and edited. You're sick of it. It's time to send it out and work on something else.

A lot of writers agree. If I recall, Stephen King remarks that by the time it is set in print he has reached the point where he wnts nothing to do with "the smelly old thing."

job · Apr 5, 2008

Before you were a writer, you were a reader. You know your genre. Is this manuscript as good as the average book on the shelf?

If you think it's competitive, send it out to a few agents and pick up some feedback.

But don't keep picking at it. Send it out and start the next one.

GJB · Apr 5, 2008

Take your manuscript's worst chapter or scene or cluster of scenes. You know them. They are the ones where you felt forced to let the reader in on some deeper background or insights, where the action stops, or the diaglogue runs on for more than a couple pages, or the pages are crowded with too many people or points of view, or where a sub-plot starts that takes the reader out of the good plot. Read those pages out loud to someone else and to yourself. If those sections, as weak as they are compared to the good stuff, still sing, still make you and the other listener say, "Wow, that's good. I want more," then you are ready to send it off. Anything short of that will cause the agent/editor to press the reject button when she/he arrives at the same pages. g.

maestrowork · Apr 5, 2008

To me, when you're just tweaking a sentence here and there, or changing the word "run" with "dash" and back again, or trying to find another way to say "He jumped" -- you're done. You're micromanaging your manuscript at this point and it's clearly ready.

Do copy edit it the best way you can (or pay someone else to do it, if you want). There are going to be errors -- if you strive for perfect then you will be sorely disappointed. "Perfect" doesn't exist. It's ready when the story is solid, the plot sound, the characters riveting, and the prose clean. Time to let the baby go.

What does "ready for submission" look like?

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