A fellow writer recently posed this question to me: Is my mss ready to submit?
THE AGONY OF DECIDING
The short answer is, you don’t know. You can only send it out and see what response you get. That’s agony. You want to be accepted and published, but no one can guarantee that. The simple fact is that manuscripts that sit on a hard drive somewhere will not sell. Even if I said your book is “perfect,” it may not sell. You must test the market and learn from every submission.
Here are things to consider as you decide on submission:
Have you done the best job that you know how to do right now? The best you can do at any give time is the best you can do. Don’t send out your weakest effort. But if you’ve worked hard on the story and it’s the best you know to do, then send it. Hope for a sale, but rejoice if you get any feedback at all. That’s what you want: useful feedback. Sometimes a casual comment will trigger a huge change in a story.
Trust your instincts. Too often writers spend years in revision. One attitude the indie revolution has built is that you should trust your instincts, write fast (because time IS money), and get books out. It’s something that traditionally published writers can learn from. You’re a storyteller: trust your instincts.
Do a couple trial submissions. Nothing says that you must send the story first to a hundred agents or editors. Even agents do trial submissions. They’ll often send to a limited number of editors and see what feedback they get. Granted, they GET feedback and you may not. Based on editorial response, the agent may ask a client to revise, or they may do a wider or a different submission strategy.
Consider individual preferences. In other words, your audience in submitting is an individual editor, one by one. One editor said it’s like this. If he likes pullover sweaters–a personal preference–and you sent him the most luxurious button-up sweater ever made, he still wouldn’t buy it because he only likes pullovers. The key, then, is to find the right agent/editor. The only way to do that is to follow likely candidates on Twitter, FB, etc. and see how the conversations go. Then–heck, just submit! You can always revise and resubmit a year later to the same editor, if needed. Go to conferences and get feedback from critiques there.
In the end, I write for an audience. I want to put my book in the hands of the RIGHT readers, whether that’s a kid from Wisconsin, or an editor or agent in New York City. In the end, at some point, you must submit. Or face the fact that you’ll never be published. It’s a painful truth, a painful process. But it’s part of the game. Submit! Today!
DearEditor.com is hosting a “Revision Week” in which she interviews various authors about their revision process.
Today, Robin LaFevers answers the question, “When it is sent to the printer. Seriously. I could fiddle and tweak forever. In fact, I have been known to tweak and edit on a printed copy of the book before doing a reading. But there is a point where you aren’t necessarily making it better—just making it different. Or so I try to tell myself.”
It’s true.
We could tweak, edit, fiddle until the earth ended and still not be satisfied. We are perfectionists.
But there are some definite points at which you should stop for a while, or stop for good.
- Stop and Let it Rest. After a first draft and after each major revision, if you
have the luxury, let the manuscript sit for a month or longer. It’s at this point that there are two manuscripts: the one you dreamed of writing and the one you actually wrote. You need some perspective, some time to SEE that there are two. Otherwise, you only see the one you intended to write, not the words you actually put on paper. Take a break. Come back with a fresh eye toward making the two manuscripts match up better.
- When you Don’t Know What Else to Do. There are times, when I finish a draft that I think, “I’ve done everything I know to do.” That’s when I need feedback from a critique group or an editor. I can only do the best I can do at any particular point in time. Feedback can shove me off my comfort zone, can make me uncomfortable with some aspect of the story, can get me back revising. But sometimes, I can do nothing more until I get feedback.
- Move from Critique Group Input to Editorial Input. There’s definitely a time to thank your critique group and depend on editorial input. The critique group will get you into an editor’s hands; then, you must please only two people, you and the editor. Doesn’t matter at that point if the critique group doesn’t agree: they aren’t backing up their opinion with cash. At this point, I don’t get feedback from the group. When the editor says it’s done, it’s done.
- Deadline. Sometimes, there’s an external impetus to stop. Of course, you must stop when it goes to press. Not always the best stopping point, but the realities of writing sometime dictate this. Work fast and furious as long as you can. Then let it go.
- Please Myself. As the author, though, I am the first and only audience in some ways. I want to please myself and make sure this story is the absolute best I can make it. I quit only when I am sure I can do no better. Period. No feedback budges me. No cooling-off period budges me. Nope. When I can do no more, it’s time to quit. Stop second-guessing, stop whining that it’s not perfect but I don’t know why it’s not perfect. Let it go. Stop. Do not revise again.
