When is my book ready for editing?

Self-publishing is a tricky balance between rushing and procrastinating. It’s all about setting realistic deadlines and understanding how long each part of the publishing process takes, such as how long editing a book takes.

Once you’ve found a book editor you want to work with, you need to work out when your manuscript will be ready for editing.

Submit it too soon, and you’ll end up paying for extra services like more time needed on the first round or paying for additional rounds of editing. Spend too long self-editing and perfecting, and you run the risk of taking out all the best bits and adding in ideas that probably belong in a different book.

As I said, it’s a balancing act.

However, here’s a handy checklist you can use to see when your book is ready for editing. Above all, don’t be afraid to let your editor know you may need to push the start date back – as I said above, if this will save both of you time and save you money, then it’s worth it! (Just let them know as soon as possible so they have time to move their schedule around.)

1.      The book is complete

While writing your first draft, it’s highly likely you will have left out sections or even entire chapters, leaving yourself a note to return to it later either because the words just weren’t flowing or because you needed to do some research.

Do not send your editor a manuscript that is filled with red or highlighted text with notes that say ‘more to add here’.

If you do, you’ll either have parts of the book that haven’t been edited or you’ll need to arrange another time for your editor to edit the missing parts. What’s more, it’s always best for a book to be edited in its entirety so that elements like consistency and flow can be looked after.

2.      It’s not the first draft

Editors don’t want to edit your first draft. Yes, it’s a phenomenal achievement to have got to the end and actually written a first draft. But very rarely is your first draft the best draft.

For many writers, it’s only when they get to the end of the first draft that they understand what the book is actually going to be about. Perhaps there was one chapter that flowed so beautifully, it changed the entire course of the rest of the book, and now you feel the previous chapters need amending to help connect the entire book more cohesively.

Redrafting your book whenever you can. Photo credit: Sian Smith

Or, there may be elements in the book you thought you’d be happy sharing, but now it’s down ‘on paper’ the thought of sharing it beyond your computer screen doesn’t sit comfortably. This is common for memoir or non-fiction where you share your own anecdotes or experiences.

So, as hard as it is, don’t plan to send your manuscript to your editor for at least a month after you intend on finishing it, as that won’t give you enough time for the next point.

3.      You’ve had time to read it – several times

Look, you’re going to have to get used to reading your book more than once. Several times in fact. I know, I know, by the time you complete the first draft the thought of reading the whole thing probably fills you with dread. But you’ve got to do it!

One tip that will help with this is not reading it. (Say what? You just told me to read it!) Yes, I did say read it again, but not straight away. Don’t let yourself set eyes on the manuscript again for a couple of weeks. (That’s why in the above point I said to leave at least a month between finishing the first draft and sending a draft to your editor: two weeks for the manuscript to rest and two weeks to read through it a couple of times.)

In that time, first, celebrate writing your first draft! This is a huge achievement that shouldn’t be underestimated.

Then, let it settle. See which parts of the book you can’t stop thinking about (because that will happen): which aspects you now feel don’t fit in the premise of the book, which parts you can’t wait for people to read, which sections you wonder could do with updating.

Make notes of all of these niggles, but DO NOT EDIT A SINGLE WORD. You hear me?

After a couple of weeks, you can read your manuscript again (go on, I’ll let you) with much fresher eyes.

If you’ve booked a line-by-line edit (called a copyedit or line edit), read as much as you can out loud: this will help you spot common errors such as typos and dropped words.

Now you’re ready for the next step.

4.      You’ve done some self-edits

There are various approaches to self-editing, but I’m going to base mine on how I edit.

Self-edits definitely require a tasty beverage. Photo credit: Sian Smith

1.      Read through the whole thing once, in as close to one sitting as you can

This way, you get a better sense of how the whole book flows and where any significant gaps or weak points are. During this phase, make quick notes, but don’t make any changes. This is when you’re going to spot any sections that still need writing or any missing research.

2.      Focus on finishing the manuscript again

Before you get down to the finer details of the book, make sure the basics are covered, like finishing the book. This is where things could get frustrating as you have to find a way to completing the parts you couldn’t finish the first time. Consider why you’re finding these parts so tricky: are they even relevant to the book? Do you need help from a book coach or mentor?

3.      Don’t worry about finding solutions for every problem

If you know you’ll be working with an editor, use that to your advantage. If there’s a certain section or sentence that you just can’t get to flow better, don’t agonise over it for days. Try the method of just leaving it for a bit (I can’t tell you the number of times the right word or phrase has come to me when I’m out for a run or at the supermarket) or leave a note for your editor to see if they can come up with something for you.

4.      Keep every version of what you write on file

We’ve all been there. Wanting to Select All and then pressing the Delete key. When you feel that impulse building, save a new version of the file! You wouldn’t believe the number of times I’ve suggested an author adds more to a certain chapter and they tell me they already have something to add that they had previously deleted.

Remember my file-naming tip here too: rename your file with that day’s date, in the format year/month/day (e.g. 250905). That way you’ll have copies of every stage of your book, without ending up with convoluted (though hilarious) file names like ‘draft4-final’, ‘draft4-final-final’, ‘draft4-final-USE-THIS-ONE’.

5. You’ve let someone else read it

This is a big one. Up until this point, you’re probably the only person who’s read a single word of the book, certainly the whole thing from start to end.

But if you’re going to publish your book, other people will read it. Yup. So it’s a good idea to get used to the idea of other people reading it as early on in the process as you can. And now you’ve read through it and edited it a few times it’s already going to be in pretty decent shape to share with few other people.

Get used to family and friends reading your book. Photo credit: Sian Smith

These readers are your beta readers (or ‘alpha readers’ if you’re sending a very early version of your book) – you may have heard of this curious phrase before. There are beta readers out there who beta read for free or a small fee, but if you’re wary of sending it to people you don’t know then I’d recommend including the following readers:

• People you know (they’re going to read it at some point!)

• People you work with or who are interested in the subject matter (clients, etc.)

• People you don’t know (friends of friends, friends of clients, etc.)

If your book contains particularly personal content, you may want to skip the close friends and family option until you’ve had feedback from those less invested in your personal history or relationship.

Stephen King’s first reader is always his wife because he can count on her to give honest feedback. I imagine it’s fairly easy to get a copy of the book to her, too. If you send it to family and friends, try to send it to people you know will actually read it.

My top tip for making use of beta readers’ feedback is to focus on any patterns. You won’t be able to please everyone with every section or chapter of your book, but if a certain chapter or point keeps cropping up, and multiple readers keep saying it, that’s something that would be worthwhile looking at closely or discussing with your book editor.

Once you’ve made your way through these 4 steps, you should notice what better shape your book is in and (hopefully!) feel nervous and excited in equal measure when you press ‘Send’ to your editor.

When to book your start date with an editor

Bear all this in mind when you’re arranging your start date with your editor. Putting it aside, working on it again, giving other people time to read it: all of that will take a good couple of months. That means adding those 2 months to your timeline between finishing your first draft and sending it to your editor.

Setting a start date is the only way many writers ever finish their book. Without a deadline, procrastination, excuses, and self-doubt kick in. However, you also want to avoid rushing. While you might be able to knock out the final 3 chapters at triple the speed it took to write the first half of the book, you can’t speed up other people’s reading pace, and you should never underestimate the time it takes for more creative problem-solving to materialize.

When to contact an editor

Contacting an editor for the first time, however, should happen as early on in the writing process as possible. That way, you can understand their availability, so you can work out when they can even look at your book (many book editors get booked 3 to 6 months in advance), and you can consider more carefully the different services they provide, rather than rushing into something because you finished your first draft last week and you’re desperate to get it edited tomorrow.

It also pays off to find out your options, their availability, and their fee as early as possible so you can add this to the fees for any other self-publishing services you might need to pay for (such as book layout, book cover design, marketing help, etc.). This has a dual advantage: first, you can find out the total cost to self-publish your book, which leads to the second point being that you can have more time to save for it. If you contact an editor 6 months before you will start working with them, that’s an extra 6 months to save for it!

Of course, self-publishing means you can pick and choose any elements involved with publishing a book – both free and paid for. So while this list of 4 things to do with your draft before you send it to an editor would give you a gold star, you don’t have to do all of them if time is tight. If that’s the case, please just make sure you’ve read through it a couple of times (all the way through) before sending it to your editor.

If you’re still writing your non-fiction book, take a look at what else you can do with your manuscript before sending it to your editor in my post ‘7 things to do with your manuscript before you send it to a book editor’.

If you’re ready to take that first step towards editing and publishing your non-fiction book, make sure you contact me as early in the process as you can. Oh, and don’t worry if you’ve already finished your first draft and you’re just starting your editor search, I won’t tell you off!

I promise I'm friendly! Photo credit: Sian Smith