“I’d love to finish my novel to publishable, but how?”

I just finished meeting with one of the writers over in the Writing Gym. While we were working together on her manuscript, she said something that struck me:

“Knowing what I need to do is one of my main sticking points.”

This resonated with me, because I’ve heard the opposite from so many writers: “I don’t know what it means to have a publishable novel,” “I don’t know when it’s finished,” “ I don’t know when it’s ready to send out,” “I don’t know what it would look like if I were done,”  “I don’t know if this scene should go like this or it should go like that,” I don’t know if I need to add scenes or take away scenes,” and more. 

 There’s a lot of confusion for writers about what they need to do to write a traditionally publishable novel.

When my client said, “Knowing what I need to do is one of my main sticking points,” it was in response to the feedback I gave her.

She had some specific areas she needed to revisit and augment some of what she was working on. As she goes back to the revision table, she’s got specific tasks to take care of: rewrite this scene, make sure this characterization is stronger. When she’s done, she will have the confidence to know this manuscript is written to publish.

Imagine that for yourself– you’re no longer thinking “Oh my gosh, what does it mean to be publishable?” “How do I even start with the revisions?” “What does it even look like?” “What would it look like if I had a publishable book?” “What are editors looking for?” “Why won’t agents accept my manuscript?” 

What would it feel like to have specific tasks to take care of so you could have confidence that your manuscript was up to publishing industry standards?

If that’s the kind of confidence you’re interested in, if you want to traditionally publish your novel and you’re serious about doing the work it takes to get your manuscript into publishable shape, click this link.

I look forward to talking to those of you who are ready to stop the hubbub and get into the specifics of what it takes to be publishable.