You may be a writer with a completed first draft and you may have been encouraged by peers, family members and friends to try self publishing. But the first thing you want to do before you go down the self publishing path or submit to traditional book publishers, is this – write a second draft.

No matter how you get your work published, you certainly want it to be the best possible version of your story, whether fiction or non-fiction, possible. With this in mind, you might want a few pointers for attacking the revision of your manuscript. So sit back and read, then prepare to write and re-write.

The first thing you need to do after you finish your first draft is to know that it is not the final draft. If a writer tells you that their first draft is their final draft, they are either lying or genius on the level of William Shakespeare (and he probably revised too). Don’t think that your job is done when you’ve finished the last chapter – the work is only beginning – only now you have a distinct advantage. Now you know your characters, you know your plot inside and out, and you know where changes need to be made.

But before you make those changes, many writers suggest taking a break – some for a month, some for a week – but whatever you do, when you are taking this break, don’t stop writing. Even if you jot down notes for a new novel, or journal, or whatever, don’t put down your pen. After you’ve taken this necessary time off, print out your novel on crisp white paper, find a cozy spot, and here is where the revision truly begins.

Read through your manuscript once without making any edits. This may drive you crazy, so keep your red pen handy for obvious faux pas, mark them and move on. During this first read-through, try to be just a reader. Once you’ve finished, read through again with your red pen and mark the text up mercilessly. Here you become editor. In our next post, we’ll discuss more tips for successful revisions that will help make your self publishing efforts a success.

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