6 Steps to Do When You’ve Finished Writing Your Book

Congratulations!

You finished your First Draft. Time to celebrate – seriously. You need to give yourself time to recoup, because now, the hard part begins.

1. Put The Book Away.

   If the book is on your computer, FIRST back it up and then put it away. Use another hard drive, CD disk, thumb drive, or print a hard copy. I am not saying do one of these – do all of them. Make several backups, check to make sure the content is indeed on the disk and then, print it out. Put all forms of you book in a folder, and file it in a safe place.

2. Take a Day Off.

   You’ve earned it. After the time writing you need to take a few days to recoup. So give your brain a rest. What is important is to recognize your accomplishment.

3. Edit, Revise and Polish.

   . After a few days or even weeks, when you mind has cleared. Start the editing process. This may take several more weeks. Got through the entire piece first, either marking the hard copy or editing a “digital copy” of your original. NEVER make edits to your original draft. Simply open the file and click “SAVE AS…” and name it MYBOOKrev1.doc, or something so you can refer to it easily. Always work form the copy so you can put back sections you inadvertently deleted.

   NOW: Revise it again, and again and again. Work the manuscript until it is polished to a high-gloss shine.

4. Reviews

   First reviews are people who read through your final draft and evaluate it for clarity and flow – essentially, did they like it or not? Plus, they may find typos and grammatical errors you can fix before publishing.

The most obvious choices for these reviews are friends and family. While these easy sources, remember to ask them to be brutally honest. And don’t take the criticism to heart. Your goal is to improve and perfect. A fresh look is always helpful.

Once you get the final polished book, then announce you are looking for pre-reviews. Announce on your website or to your discussion group, you are looking for people to review your book. Send them a copy and ask they post their review on the day the book launches. This will help push up your sales rank.

5. Format and Layout.

   When ready, you need to format for publication (traditional, POD or eBook). Each takes time to set up and includes a professional, high-quality cover design. A good book cover designer ranges from $400 to $2000, depending upon the medium used (photo or illustration, for example). Formatting can starts at $150, and depends upon the type of book and layout required. ( non-fiction versus fiction.)

   Formatting

   for e-publication can be done yourself and there are many self-help sources to guide your through the process. Remember there are two main formats you need – mobi and epub.

   Traditional or POD

   require a different format and many online publishers offer templates and help sections to guide you.

6. Marketing.

   This can actually be done during the writing process. As an author you should have a blog or website setup. Start participating in forums, and discussion groups, to get readers familiar with your name.

Resources

The following resources may help you.

• Nail Your Novel.com, by Roz Morris
• PODCAST: Nail Your Novel with Roz Morris: Listen to expert author and critique editor on the steps to polishing your manuscript for publication.
• Super Easy DIY Kindle eBook Formatting, by Derek Canyon
• PODCAST: DIY Kindle Formatting with Derek Canyon
• First Steps: ePublishing Marketing, Promotion and Design Made Simple
• 6 Steps to Completing Your First Draft