Spring is here, the traditional time for a good clear out and clean; with any luck, it will also herald a change in weather and a changeover between winter and summer wardrobes. This has inspired my take on the various steps involved in getting your manuscript ready to publish. Here goes …
Your manuscript
You have, probably over a long time, developed your wardrobe and have established your own style. This is like your manuscript. Now, perhaps, you have a new job that means wearing all of it in public (i.e. publishing the manuscript as a book). Do you take the plunge straight away? You might do, but – and however much we might not want this to be the case – the impression you make will count. You want people to engage with you, to make a larger group of contacts and be successful (i.e. publish your manuscript, buy your book, read it to the end, recommend it to others and anxiously wait for the next one). It is likely that you have become sentimentally attached to some items or have lived with them for so long that you’ve stopped noticing some of the marks or the funny smell. Maybe the moths have got in and left holes in places you haven’t noticed. It is said that you should dress for the job you want, so you decide to get some help.
Beta readers
Your first – and probably free – step may be to get some friends and family around to have a look through your wardrobe (in terms of your manuscript, this would mean asking them to read it). You would, I’m sure, try to choose those who would be honest enough with you to point out some items that need repairing or washing, or things that weren’t working for you. But, nevertheless, they may be too polite to tell you what they really think, or they may simply not be familiar with what would be appropriate for your new job or know what could be done to improve the wardrobe. At this point, you may decide to seek professional input.
Manuscript critique
A good first step may be to seek the professional input of someone with experience in the type of job you’re starting (i.e. the same genre and target audience for your manuscript). They won’t make any changes to what’s in your wardrobe (your manuscript) but can give you a clear idea of what is and isn’t working for you and can point you in the right direction for making the necessary changes (to get it ready to publish).
Substantive editor
If there are major changes needed to get your wardrobe working for you and to meet the expectations of your new job, then you may decide to seek out someone who can help you to go through what you have, rearrange it, get rid of what doesn’t fit and perhaps help you to find the odd additional piece to pull the whole thing together. In book terms, this person will work with you to make more substantial, big picture changes, such as to plot, characterisation and narrative structure. They won’t, however, write the book for you: it remains your work.
Copyeditor
Once you have all the necessary items in your wardrobe, you will need to make sure everything is clean and ironed, to give the best impression; you don’t want to have spent all that time and money only to put people off because the clothes look scruffy, or smell. You can, if course, do some of this yourself, but there are likely to be items that need expert attention (in terms of your book, this would mean attending to sentence-level detail – making sure that these say what you intended and that every word counts – and checking for inconsistencies). The professional you engage at this stage won’t substantially change what’s in your wardrobe, but they may draw your attention to some holes that still need repairing, possibly fixing those for you. If they see an item that’s crept in and doesn’t fit, or if they can see that something seems to be missing, then you can expect them to at least let you know, even if they are not able to suggest an immediate solution. You’ll then be ready to start planning your outfits for the first day, and this same professional will likely make notes for which items go together and record any office rules that have been applied to make sure that these are followed (a style sheet).
Designer/Typesetter
It’s one thing to have a great wardrobe, but to look the best you can for the job, you’ll need to get dressed. Using the style sheet, the outfits can be prepared ready to go (in terms of your book, ready to be printed).
Proofreader
Before you step out of the door, it’s always a good idea to check that everything matches, is what you had planned, conforms to any office rules (which is why it is important to have those noted in a style sheet) and that no threads have been snagged along the way (i.e. no errors introduced in the process). There may well be some last-minute brushing away of loose hairs or dandruff, too, to make sure that the best possible impression is given before you head out of the door. You can, of course, do this yourself to a certain extent, but it’s unlikely that you will see whether you have a label sticking out at the back, and there could be something that needs removing from that awkward place on your back that you can’t reach (it’s called the acnestis). Having someone do this for you would be a sensible step.
There may well still be the odd bit of fluff, and some may not like what you’re wearing or may have worn it differently, but you can be confident that you have presented yourself at your best.
Do you need to do all of this before you can publish your manuscript?
Hopefully, this analogy will not only help to explain the various stages and what each can do get your manuscript ready to publish but also the order in which those steps should be taken. You may not need to take all of the steps, but it would make sense, particularly when you’re on a tight budget, to tackle the bigger picture elements before attending to the fine detail – after all, you wouldn’t want to pay someone to iron something that hadn’t been cleaned, or while your friends and any paid professionals are still going through your wardrobe and might get you to change some things because they don’t fit.
How I can help
I specialise in copyediting fiction, so I like the nitty-gritty of the sentence-level detail, and checking for consistency and that there aren’t any holes in the plot. If you would like to discuss how I could help get your manuscript ready to publish, or if you still aren’t sure how best to proceed, I would be happy to discuss that with you. I am a member of the CIEP and abide by their Code of Practice. Please get in contact with some initial details here.
P.S. I realise that, in real life, few people pay professionals to advise on clothes (I certainly don’t), and that, however much we may long to have someone do the washing and ironing for us, that’s also a bit of a dream … Did I mention that I specialise in fiction?