When Are You Ready to Be a Self-Published Author?

How do you know when it’s time to stop editing, revising, proofreading, tweaking, and pulling your metaphorical hair out?

I’m one of those authors (if such a niche exists) who wrote numerous novels before entering the self-publishing world. For years now, I’ve been in an editing zone. Soon I’ll be releasing my third book in nine months on Amazon, and once again, instead of pressing that “Kindle Create” button, insecurity has me stalling. Is my protagonist wishy-washy? Should my chapter titles be written out in numerals or words? Should I proofread once more, maybe under water this time?

Here are the strategies I’ve developed to dig myself out of this mental black hole.

One: Let your novel sit between revisions. I know. Ugh. If you’re a mere mortal like me, this advice is unbearable to hear and unforgiveable of me to suggest. But time away will help you plot the perfect murder—as in, killing your darlings. Once you’re not as attached, you’ll be able to cut or add whatever you need to keep the tension up and layer in the character development and voice you shortchanged while you were pantsing.

Two: Budget wisely. If you decide on using a professional editor, wait until you’ve completed one thoughtful revision of your own, because you’ll spot many major issues yourself. Then choose an editor who is familiar with your genre. It’s expensive, but you’ll gain so much from working with an editor—the trick is to study and apply their industry-savvy feedback to all your novels, past and future.

Three: Trick yourself into seeing your work from the corner of your eye. I call this one “Tell the truth but tell it slant” in homage to Emily Dickinson. Get creative here. Read it out loud (yes, the entire thing), meditate before revision, or edit a chapter a day, cold, out of order. You can also imagine that others, both real and imaginary, are critiquing it. I kid you not, Sidney Freedman from M*A*S*H gives me killer advice. Does my character fulfill their quest? Am I hedging on their motivation? Does my theme speak to the human condition?

Four: Have fun. When you feel reasonably sure your macro editing is done, as in, your plot and character arcs are complete, you’ll move on to what I’ve dubbed “meso” editing—an intermediate stage between macro (high level, developmental) editing and micro (detailed, copy or line) editing. Now you can bask in pride over your massive accomplishment—an actual manuscript! Now you’ll enjoy and appreciate the amazing novel you wrote. For this stage, you can use my brief checklist: 

• General tightening of characterization

• Layering in themes and symbols

• Snipping of extraneous plot threads

• Mirroring first chapter to last

• Tightening dialogue, narration, style and prose, and unnecessary action blow by blows

Five: Brush up on your mechanical weak spots. If you can’t afford line editing (who can?) make sure you’ve reviewed grammar and punctuation rules. The errors I see most often in my creative writing students’ pieces and critique group submissions involve incorrect dialogue tags, run-ons, and fused sentences. Purposeful fragments, for the sake of voice, are acceptable. Incoherent syntax and mechanical errors always glare. Make sure you know the difference.

Six: Stay focused during micro editing. This phase is especially important for self-publishing authors who don’t have agents and editors as a safety net. It’s a good time to call on friends for favors. Can you swap proofreading? Or dog-sit for a week? This is a big ask. It can take professionals twenty or more eye-straining hours to do this right for you. Since your friends (likely) are not professionals, ask several. I also recommend reading your work out loud again and printing it, or at least saving it as a pdf or in another view you aren’t used to. You can also use software to read it back to you, but don’t get distracted doing other things as you listen.

Seven: Proofread on your ebook preview screen before hitting publish. You never know how formatting conversion issues might shake out after running your novel through publishing software. Use this as your last check in. You don’t want to lose precious time, or credibility, by having to micro edit during your launch.

Bonus: (Sigh. This one is hard-earned). Do proofread the sales content on your store pages. There will be spacing issues and glitches galore.

Okay! You can do this! Eventually you have to press that button to share your book with the world. It will get easier each time. You will keep writing. This won’t be the only novel you complete. Soon one will be published, another will be mulching, and more will be coming to life on the page. Trust this process, and put that energy into editing, and not into doubting yourself!