Bug! Go away, bitch!
Hellooo, everybody! A while back writer and YouTuber Tara East recommended
that I cover a topic that literally every single writer struggles with at some point. “How do I
know if my book is done?” Tara is a genius for recommending this topic to me because
so many people have asked me this question. It's hard to tell if your book is done because writing
is subjective, there's no definitive finish line. But I'm going to try to make this question as easy
for you to answer as possible. I'm listing the ten signs you need to put the keyboard down,
and stop editing, because the book is done! Stop it! Number five is my personal favorite, and
number ten is probably the hardest point to nail down.
But that's the thing about writing a book, it's hard. Deal with it.
(The sound of a pen scratching. LOGO)
Before we get started, a huge thank you to ProWritingAid for sponsoring today's video.
ProWritingAid is an amazing platform that helps writers edit their work,
and understand those edits so they can grow and improve as a writer. It's not just a grammar and
spell checker. It's also a style editor with tons of education including reports, articles,
videos and quizzes that can help you strengthen your writing. If you don't understand one of the
editing suggestions, you can click the little orange ‘i’ in the corner, and it will give you
a detailed explanation, plus some videos to help you understand the why behind each suggestion.
That's what's so great about ProWritingAid, it's not just going to help edit your work,
it helps to teach you about the mistakes you made, and how to avoid them so you can
become a stronger writer. One of the features I love is the summary report, which basically
helps you set up an editing roadmap. It shows you which parts of your writing are looking awesome,
what maybe needs some work, and it gives you the highlights for each of the key reports. So you
know where to focus your time and energy. Now some of you might be thinking this platform doesn't
apply to you because you're going to hire a professional editor, which you totally should do.
However, you should never send a first draft to an editor. you have to do at least several rounds of
edits yourself first. That's where ProWritingAid comes into play. It allows you to self edit with
confidence so you can ship off your manuscript to your editor knowing that you're putting your
best foot forward. You can try ProWritingAid out for free, however, if you're interested in their
premium platform, which is the platform that I use, you can get 20% off right now by clicking
the link in the description below. That's 20% off just for you because ProWritingAid is the best,
so click the link, get on it! Don't forget to subscribe to my channel. I post new videos on
Wednesdays, and if you want to be alerted as SOON as I upload, ring that bell. The Savior's Champion
and The Savior’s Sister are available in ebook, paperback, audiobook, hardback—I almost forgot
about hardback. How can I forget the hardback? They're available all over the place. So if you
like action, if you like fantasy, if you like romance, if you like things to be kind of dark
and sinister, definitely check them out. I got them linked below. Now let's dive into the ten
signs you're done with your book and ready for the publication process. Number One (1): You've
checked off every step of the writing process. If you're like me, you probably have a list or
spreadsheet detailing every single step of the writing process. And if you're not like me,
get on my level. The writing process has roughly a bazillion steps. There's the thought dump,
the outline, a million different drafts, there's critique partners, beta readers, multiple rounds
of self edit, running it through ProWritingAid! Then of course there are sensitivity readers,
and various rounds of professional editing and proofreading. And this doesn't even touch
on marketing and publishing, which is just as intense. The point is the writing process is long
and sometimes tedious, but these steps exist so you can produce the best quality content possible.
If you've cut corners or skipped a few steps, readers are going to notice because your book
ain’t finished. Number Two (2): It's gone through every step of the professional editing process.
The professional edit consists of several steps. First, there's the developmental edit,
which covers plot, characters and pacing. Then we have the line edit, which looks at your story
on a paragraph and sentence level. Then there's the copy edit, which takes a look at the nuts and
bolts of your writing, specifically grammar and punctuation. And lastly, we have the proofread,
which is where you check for any residual errors that fell through the cracks. Now if you're a pro
who's been in the game for a while, you might be able to skip a step or two, but the odds are
that ain't you. Most writers need to cover every single step of the professional edit, but for some
ungodly reason, writers all over the place are shooting themselves in the foot. “I'll just stop
at the developmental edit. No one will notice my complete ineptitude when it comes to commas,
right?” Wrong! It's even worse when writers skip the entire professional edit altogether,
and simply hire a proofreader. The proofread is your last line of defense,
not a starting point. If you haven't done your due diligence and work with a team of editors,
your book isn't done. Period. Anyone who says otherwise is smoking the strong shit.
On a related note, Number Three (3): Your editor says so. Professional editors are exactly that,
professionals. It's their job to assess the quality of your work,
which means they're qualified to tell you where you're at in the publishing process.
Whenever I finish a round of professional edits, I ask my editor point blank, what step they think
I need to take next. Sometimes they say, I think it's time for a copy, edit or a proofread. Other
times they say the manuscript is clean and ready for formatting. That means the editing is done,
step away from the keyboard. Not only will this give you professional insight, it'll also ease the
anxiety associated with finishing a novel. Number Four (4): You've proofread it more than once. This
is especially true if you write long books, or if you're not so great with grammar and punctuation.
You've hired a copy editor and you've hired a proofreader, fantastic! But these people are still
human beings, and human beings are inherently flawed, they might have missed something,
and usually they do. It behooves you to proofread your novel one last time, or to ask some of your
writer friends to have a look. If you wanna be extra thorough, do both. You could also run
your manuscript through ProWritingAid one last time. Consider this the last line of defense
to help ease your worry come publication. Which brings us to Number Five (5): You're sick of it.
Readers love to ask authors if they read their own books solely for pride or leisure. No, by the time
your book is published, we have read the story so many times and we're fucking sick of it. Sure you
can recognize its quality and of course it's a story you're passionate about, a story you love,
but you've read it so many times that you have entire passages memorized and that is annoying.
If you've read your book so many times that the idea of reading it one more time makes you want
to throw up, or cry, or both, congratulations you're probably done. Number Six (6): More than
ten people have read it. “Oh my god, you had 20 beta readers? Pffft. I could never.
I only had four!” I know. I could tell. I know it can be harder to find critique partners or beta
readers. That's precisely why I created a Patreon writing group specifically so other writers can
find critique partners and beta readers, but I digress. You need eyes on your work, people who
are impartial and willing to tell you the truth. And if only a couple of people have read your
book, that's not a large enough sample size to tell whether or not your book is at the level it
needs to be. You need fellow readers and writers to look at your manuscript and give you the hard,
sometimes painful truth. It's not a fun process, but it's 100% necessary, and you'll be so thankful
you've done it once you see just how significantly impartial feedback can improve your writing.
Number Seven (7): The feedback is overwhelmingly positive. Obviously, when we recruit critique
partners and beta readers, they're not here to jerk you off. They're here to help improve your
writing. However, by the time you're approaching publication, any critiques you receive should be
at an all time low. Your book is about to go out into the world, so that means when people read it,
particularly ARC readers, the feedback should be overwhelmingly positive, because at this point
the errors should be gone. Your work should be as clean as possible. Now please keep in mind,
not everyone is going to love your book. Your writing will never at any point in your career
receive 100% glowing praise, but I would aim for at least 80% of the feedback to be positive
right before publication. If more than half of your ARC readers are expressing concern,
giving negative criticism, or ghosting entirely, you've got a problem. Number Eight (8): You've
been making excuses. “My book clearly isn't finished because I just thought of a fourth
character arc that I absolutely have to include. Who cares if it'll make the book twice as long.
Readers love a 1,000 page book, right? There's no way I finished this book. I've only hired four
editors. Everyone knows you need at least seven!” This may sound ridiculous to anyone
at the beginning of their writing journey, but if you've neared the finish line,
you know how terrifying it can be. And this kind of fear causes a lot of writers to make excuses
not to finish their book. Sometimes it means proofreading the manuscript twenty times all
by yourself, but other times it means rewriting the whole thing completely. If you're doing this,
dial it back ten notches, the book is done. You're making excuses because you're scared to publish,
which is completely valid. Publication is scary, but it's gotta happen eventually,
and all these excuses are just going to turn your masterpiece into an overworked turd. Number
Nine (9): Gut instinct. This isn't gonna resonate with all writers, but sometimes you just know,
the book is done, you can feel it in your bones. This gut instinct usually comes from a variety
of points I've already mentioned. For example, you know you've covered all of the steps of the
writing process, you know, you've hired the right team of editors, and you've read your manuscript
so many times you're sick of it. Once you hit all these points, you might just know instinctively
that it's time to put the writing aside. The book is done, get her published. And last but
not least, Number Ten (10): You decide it's done. Like I said, a lot of writers are not going to
have a gut instinct regarding publication, usually due to anxiety. Writers are an anxious bunch. And
when you're super nervous, sometimes it's hard to determine which instinct is fueled by intuition,
and which ones fueled by panic. In this case, you're ultimately gonna have to make
the decision to put the keyboard away. The book is done because you've decided it's done. Again,
I would encourage you to make this decision after you've covered all of the affirmation steps. But
the key here is to ignore the voice in the back of your head that's making you second guess yourself.
“But what if I need to proofread it one more time!” Even though it's already been proofread ten
times. “But what if I need another round of beta readers?” Even though thirty people have already
read the book? You're nervous and that's normal. You want your book baby to be the best it can be,
but you've done your due diligence, it's time to make the call. The book is finished because you
say so. So that's all I got for you today. Thanks again to ProWritingAid. If you need help during
the self editing process, and let's be real, we all do ProWritingAid has got you covered!
Not only are they a grammar, spelling and style editor, but they help you learn and grow so you
can improve your craft. And right now you can get 20% off their premium membership by clicking the
link below. This platform is absolutely fantastic, so definitely click. Don't forget to subscribe to
my channel. I post new videos on Wednesdays, and if you want to be alerted as SOON as I upload,
ring that bell. The Savior's Champion and The Savior's Sister are available in ebook, paperback,
hardback and audiobook, all over the place. So if you'd like dark fantasy, and you like romance,
you like stabby stab, and kissy kiss—these are the books for you. I got them linked below.
And be sure to follow me on social media. I'm on Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, BookBub.
And of course you can Tweet me @JennaMoreci! Bye!
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