How to Self Publish Part 2: Revision

Part 1, Part 2

Revision is a crucial step in self publishing. Do not assume that your work is perfect. It isn't.

I revised the crap out my novel, but I didn't do as much as I should have.

I recommend AT LEAST EIGHT revision passes, probably more would be better. Each time you will look for errors, typos, and mistakes, cut out things that aren't working, add in better descriptions, remove passive voice and overuse of adverbs, and slash any cliches you find.

You need to revise until you don't want to read another word, until you are sick of your novel, hate it, want it dead. Your eyes will bleed with hours of staring at the computer screen or pages you printed out to mark up.

Are you done at this point? NO!!

Then you need to give it to someone you trust, someone who will be somewhat brutal with you and have them go through it a couple times. This also gives you a break from the manuscript so you can come back to it a few weeks later and go through it several more times.

You will reach a point where you want to take your book out back and set it on fire and then dance on the ashes, screaming at the gray sky in despair and agony. That is when you are close to done.

You should set it aside and wait a few more weeks before doing one final revision to the entire book.

Your next step? Make sure you have a thick skin because people are still going to find typos and mistakes. They will seize these typos like some hard won prize and then shove them in your face.

Why do people do this? I don't know.

Maybe people's expectations are skewed when it comes to books. They expect perfection, demand it, more than it seems any other industry.

I had a podcast review after I had fixed many typos that readers had found and I thought the book was close to perfect. The reviewers talked about how they loved the rich world I'd created, complete with mythology and back histories. They loved that every character felt unique and different as I hopped in and out of a dozen character's heads. They loved the story. Then they had to mention that it had an "unusually high amount of homophone mistakes." They went on to list them, totalling two. TWO!!

My jaw fell open as I listened. Seriously? Two?

All around it was a great review, but I wish they would have emailed me about the two typos they found rather than dump them on the public as some black stain I can never get rid of.

In any other industry with that kind of mistake average, I'd be freaking Employee of the Month!

So, the point of all this ranting is REVISIONS ARE IMPORTANT. Do them, do them until you bleed! You will thank me.

My Novel Is Done!

The Crystal Bridge, a sci-fi fantasy mix about wormholes, dimensions, nano-technology, genetics, dragons, elves, and magic, is done and will be online within a week or two. I'm super excited and freaked out. I wrote a novel, crazy stuff, people. The end result is 125,000 words and will be around 365 pages in print. Here's a teaser of the cover.

And here is the description on the back cover:

Kaden is a typical teenage boy, except he can open wormholes to far away worlds.

His first trip almost killed him. He’s been afraid to try another.

Aren is far from a typical teenage girl. She has the ultimate gift of empathy, seeing into the memories and souls of others.

Her gift makes her different and lonely despite how close it brings her to those she knows.

When these two meet, the existence of two worlds will be endangered as their abilities plunge them into a planet at war. Their adventure may tear apart multiple universes…or they may just save us all.

Some of you expressed interest in helping me market the thing on your blogs. If you are still interested, here are your options:

1- You send me a list of interview style questions. I'll send you the list back complete with answers. I'll also send the links to the novel.

2- You send me an email saying you can't come up with questions. I send you a list of interview questions made up by me with answers also made up by me. And links.

3- You send me an email saying you're sick of interviews. I will send you a bit about the book and characters with some touchy feely stuff on writing. And links.

4- You come up with an even better idea.

Thank you so much. I can never really thank you enough.

Charlie