Have You Even (Re-) Read Your Book?

I don’t mean after it’s done, I mean before it’s published.

Before you send it to an editor or to your friends or beta readers, have you read the whole thing—from start to finish?

I’m always surprised by how often the answer is NO.

Look, I get it. You might have been working on this manuscript for quite some time and you can’t tell which way is up anymore. The desire to stop looking at all your words is real. But you would be making a mistake.

I can usually tell right away whether a writer has gone through their book at least once before they send it to me. Yes, it’s that clear. If you think otherwise, you’re fooling yourself—and increasing the cost of any manuscript edit or review.

Ahhh, I have your attention now.

Re-reading your book might seem tiresome

I get it. You are sick of thinking about your book, re-reading chapters and changing sentences. You just want to be done. “Someone take this away from me and make it better!” you might be thinking.

Also, you’ve thought about your book so much over the past [x months/years] of writing, you assume that you know what you’ve written very well.

Unfortunately, you probably don’t know the book as well as you think. You’ve been working on a chapter here, a section there. You might have gone back to tinker with Chapter 2 after you finished writing Chapter 9. Those sections might not be speaking to each other as well as you assume.*

You’re creating (unnecessary) work for everyone else

Sounds harsh, but that’s a statement of fact.

Even a short breeze through your manuscript after you’ve finished writing it can uncover really basic, easily-fixed errors and gaps. If you don’t take care of them, your readers—whether editors, (kind) friends, or beta readers—will have to figure out (or maybe even assume) what you meant. Will they get it right? Not always. Is that going to slow down their reading or their comments to you? Yes.

When you hire a professional editor to do a manuscript edit or review, believe me, they will charge for the extra work (I definitely do). You might even have an editor decide not to work with you (there are other reasons for declining work, though writers sometimes overlook this one). And while you might be able to sweet-talk your cousin into reading your book out of the kindness of his heart once, if it’s a Hot Mess, how likely is it that he’ll want to do you the favor again, after you “make a few changes”?

Editing costs

The more work your editor has to do, the higher your editing fee will be. It’s a simple relationship. If you go through your manuscript even once, from top to bottom, before you send it out, you will do yourself, your book, and your bank account a huge favor.

If you are contracting with an editor for developmental review, it’s assumed they’ll be doing conceptual lifting. However. Even here, there are levels of more or less work. The more you can close up small gaps and clear up basic inconsistencies—even to know where they are, so you can mention to your editor you want help with them—the easier your manuscript will be for your editor to read, and hence, the less sweat equity they need to charge you for.

The bottom line

*The re-read I’m talking about here is most definitely for after you’ve finished your first draft. If you re-read every chapter while you’re writing the next one, you’re setting yourself up for Crazy Town, not to mention writer’s block. This is a revision tool, not a creative one.

Most of what stands out to me in manuscripts that don’t get this author review is the quantity of basic gaps and gaffes that remain. I’m not asking you to do major surgery on your manuscript, but please do check if it needs a few band-aids before you send it out into the world. Finish writing and take a breath, yes. Then sit down to read the whole book through. Everyone will thank you—especially yourself.

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What if you really can’t tell apples from oranges anymore in your manuscript? Might be time for a manuscript evaluation. I’ll be gentle, I promise…while keeping it real.

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