Order of Operations: Writing and Publishing

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After the book is written, now what?

Transcript

Okay, friends, we are continuing on our quest to answer self publishing questions that you all sent me. I’m author Allison Spooner, author of the Lost Girl and two collections of flash fiction with another book coming out in September, all self published. So I’ve done this a few times, and I want to help you all out. So you gave me some of your questions, and I’ve been answering them, and I decided to take advantage of this lovely evening and do this one outside. So we’re gonna dive in because this might be a long one.

We’re talking order of operations. The book is written. Now what? First, congratulations, because did you know that like, 97% of people that write a book don’t finish it? That attempt to write a book do not finish it?

I don’t know what this source is, but I have seen this number in multiple places, and it’s crazy. 97%. So congratulations. You are already way ahead of the curve if you have a finished book. So I’m gonna give you four things that you can do now, and we’re gonna have to do a part two because there’s more than four.

So once you finish the book, number one, you’re going to want to send it to alpha readers. Yes, you heard that right. Alpha readers first readers, early readers, whatever you want to call them, these are the people you trust with your earliest, earliest draft because you already want to start getting feedback. These people will offer big feedback, and they may be the reason the ending changes or entire scenes move around or a character gets added or removed. We’re talking big stuff, so you want to make sure you trust them.

These people from a writing group or people you’ve been writing with for a long time. Two, make some changes. Once you get changes or suggestions back from your earliest readers, start implementing those changes. This is where you’re going to start having a ton of different drafts. You might go between steps one and two for a while, getting feedback from readers implementing that feedback, maybe taking it back to a writing group implementing more feedback.

So step one and two can kind of go back and forth for a while, because once when the book is written, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s fun. Sorry, I should not have sat outside. And now I’m having an allergy attack. So step two. Step one, give it to your earliest readers.

Step two, implement feedback given to you by your earliest readers. Step three. Step three is going to be implementing the feedback, kind of a mixture of step one and two, making a ton of different drafts, making changes. But when you’re done making those changes, give it to beta readers now beta readers are kind of your next set of readers after your first readers, but they’re not your editor, they’re not your arc readers. Yet you’re asking them probably at this point for very specific feedback.

You might have a feeling of what you’re struggling with or maybe something that your early readers gave you and you’re not quite sure of. You don’t know if you actually want to make those changes, so you want more feedback. So you’re going to give it to your beta readers. But your beta readers are going to be looking for very specific things, most likely, and this is as close to a final draft as you can be without like final edits. So beta readers are pretty close to your final readers.

This is kind of your last stop for feedback before you send it off to an editor. You’ve implemented feedback from early readers, you’re feeling good. And now step three is to send it to beta reader. Beta readers these maybe aren’t people who are as close to you as those first readers. They can be a little bit more removed, but probably still people you trust, other writers in your network.

I turned to some very awesome people here on TikTok who I felt I trusted based on like videos and reading preferences and things like that and got some great feedback. Or this can be happening during all this, but this is where you’re going to want to start looking for an editor. You might want to do this a little sooner, but it’s going to help you decide on a publication date because you’re going to want to decide one what types of editors you’ll need. There are multiple line editors, developmental editors, and I have a video about the different types of editors on my page. You can go check out or you can just google it, but based on feedback from past readers, this is where you’ll kind of decide what types of editors you might need.

I decided I probably don’t need a developmental editor. So my editor mostly does line editing and like spelling and grammar and things like that just to make sure everything is clean. But based on feedback I got from my early readers, I didn’t think I needed developmental editor because they didn’t notice any big plot issues that might need to be really looked at by a developmental editor because that’s what they do. But this is where you want to start looking for someone who’s going to be able to edit for you when you’re ready. Because many editors book up in advance while your book is with your readers and you’re working on implementing feedback.

Start looking for editors and kind of have a timeline in mind of when you might be able to get this to them and they’ll be able to tell you when they’ll be able to get it back to you and then you can start thinking about your date, your publication date based on that. Okay, we talked a lot and we’re only the first four stops. That’s just when the book is done. This is all before you have a final vinyl draft. So there are four things you can do when you have the book written and the draft done.

Make sure to congratulate yourself. Give it to Alpha readers. Make changes based on that feedback. Give it to beta readers. Start looking for an editor and we’re going to do a part two because we need a part two.

Let me know if you have any more questions. You can put them in the pinned video in my profile or put them here and I’ll be back soon.

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