How to Develop Your Manuscript

Developing Your Manuscript

As a self-publisher, hopefully you’ve examined your motives for self-publishing, assessed your personal and business skills, and considered how publishing your book may impact your lifestyle. Next you’ll begin to undertake a careful and critical examination of your manuscript. It may be surprising to know how many would-be authors gloss over this important step in their rush to see their book in print. 

By writing a book and sharing it publicly, you are entering into a contract with your readers to do your best work. And by studying book models and work in your genre, you’ll be better able to contribute to the public dialogue. What makes words so powerful is their ability to enrich lives by expanding the range of individual experience. With books we can journey and imagine. Books allow the sharing of experiences that we would otherwise not have access to—and they can take our lives to a higher level of engagement. 

Book Models

Readingand studying books in the same genre as yours as you develop your manuscript is strongly recommended. Find writers you admire. Re-read books that influenced you, then try to find one that stands out among all the others as one you’d like to emulate. While you won’t be copying anyone else’s style or content, it’s amazing how a well-written book can inform our own work. 

What do you admire about the work? How does the writer hold and build the reader’s interest? Read the writing out loud. Check out the length and rhythm of the sentences, paragraphs, and chapters to figure out how they serve the story. Study how the chapters are divided and how well they serve the book’s structure. Appropriate and mimic these excellent qualities when you find they might work for your story.

To be clear, you should never plagiarize another writer’s work. But simply look for inspiration, and then by picking and choosing various elements, make them your own.

Think of your book model as a template to follow, if only loosely. It will give you something to shoot for and your editor will let you know if you’ve hit the mark.

Researching Competitive Titles

There are several ways to research other books on the market that will soon compete with yours. All of them are free. Spending time in bookstores and noting book categories and numbers of titles shelved in those sections may give you some clues to popular genres. You won’t always be able to tell how well individual titles are selling, though, unless there are multiple copies of a given title. Talk to booksellers. Booksellers tend to be a passionate lot, and most independent owners are hyper-aware of what’s selling, what the popular trends are, and what readers are special ordering. 

Check out your local library, too, and browse their online catalog to see which new titles have the most “holds.” Talk to your librarians. Using the internet is the fastest way to research books that will compete with your own. If you do not yet have high-speed internet, get it now. High-speed access is important for research as you write your manuscript, and for researching competitive titles, but it will become even more critical once you’re ready to publish and market your book. 

Amazon.com is the largest online retailer for books. You will find most books that will compete with yours on this site. So start here to identify the top titles. You can browse by subject, new releases, and bestsellers. You can also do an advanced search by format

(ie: printed book, kindle™, audio book, pdf, etc) if that is relevant in evaluating your competition. Once you’ve homed in on the subject categories, you can use a pull-down menu to see listings for the bestselling titles in that genre. Click on these titles and read up on them. Check out reader reviews to see what they’re saying. 

Familiarize yourself with the lead titles in your category and identify how yours is different or better. What does your book add to the genre? Will you be able to compete head-to-head with a popular title and win? Or will you create content that complements a bestseller, and piggyback on its success? Is your book on trend with any themes in popular culture? These are strategies to consider beforeyour book hits the marketplace so you’re not surprised later on. 

Of course, don’t forget to use Google and Yahoo! searches on the internet at large. You will turn up all sorts of information on your book topic including videos, blogs, and discussion groups. You may well find whole communities devoted to your book’s subject matter. It won’t take long to gather more information than you could possibly use. Try to stay focused on your mission: to identify and understand where your book fits in the marketplace, and how to position it for maximum sales by tweaking your content.   

Who Are Your Readers?

In your quest to research competitive titles, you will most likely turn up loads of information on your book’s topic. Hopefully you’ll discover blogs, discussion groups, and online communities that hum with potential readers. Start making lists of your discoveries, and keep track of these websites and blogs. By bookmarking these addresses as you research, you’ll be saving yourself lots of time later when it comes to selling your book. 

Creative brainstorming on markets that may be tangential, but related to your book’s subject could provide additional bookselling opportunities. For example, a book on digital photography may be a natural partner for outdoor adventure groups or birdwatchers. Try to think like a merchandiser who cross-merchandises complementary products side by side: cookbooks with cookware, craft books with art supplies, DIY home repair with tools or hardware. The more closely you understand and target your readers, the easier it will be to sell your book. 

As you research and find caches of readers and potential sales channels, bookmark them in a special folder so you can go back later and incorporate them into your sales and marketing plan.

Developing and Polishing Your Manuscript

It’s never too early to show an outline or rough draft of your manuscript to a trusted writing partner, a mentor, or a developmental editor. If you are still working out your concept or prefer to show a completed draft to your first readers, then follow your instincts. No new author should risk criticism—even constructive criticism—until she is ready to receive and respond to feedback. Better to keep one’s own counsel until then.

Most self-publishers reading this book have probably already begun a manuscript, or perhaps have already completed one and saved it on their hard drive. But unless you’ve been working with an editor or you are a seasoned, published author, it’s best to consider your current manuscript a working draft. Your manuscript may seem polished and complete after your many rewrites and corrections, but until it stands up to scrutiny by book professionals and a stable of readers, you’ve only just begun. 

At some point, every writer writes poorly—but editors can usually save us! Don’t fall in love with your prose. There are always ways to improve it. And a good developmental editor can help correct fundamental errors early on that may determine the success or failure of your book. The structure, order, voice, and many other considerations that go into writing a long-form narrative are critical to how well it will read and flow, and whether it will connect with readers. 

Finding and Working with Editors

How does one find a developmental editor? Network, network, network. Ask other writers in your writing group, and read acknowledgments of books you admire. Ask at your bookstore for names of local, published writers who can give you a referral. Do research online. For example, there are several national organizations and associations of editorial and book professionals with regional chapters that are good resources. Try the Independent Book Publishers Association which has local chapters nationwide that sponsor monthly meetings, education, and conferences. There are online listings such as The Bay Area Editor’s Forum (San Francisco area) where writers can find leads to editors. ManuscriptEditing.com is a good resource to find editors and has lots of helpful links and information for writers who want to self-publish or want to find a publisher. Writer’s Digest Magazine lists editorial services in its classified ads.

Interview and investigate a prospective editor’s credentials to be sure your manuscript is a good match. You’ll want to hire an editor familiar with your genre. Find out what other books s/he has edited and check them out. Be clear on what services you will receive and how they will be delivered. On average, a thorough, written critique by an experienced developmental editor, along with a consult runs a little over a thousand dollars. It’s worth every penny if you want to make your book a commercial success. 

Once you’ve structured your manuscript, the next step is to finalize your work for publication. A thorough copyedit will bring your work to a high shine by correcting any remaining errors in capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and grammar, including word choices and basic language usage. Hire a professional copyeditor with experience for this critical function, and stay clear of well-meaning amateurs. It can make all the difference between a professional finished product and a clunker. 

The stigma of self-publishing is dying, but slowly. As it now stands, traditional publishers are much more scrupulous in creating polished work through their long decades of experience. Manuscripts chosen by these houses are developed, rewritten, and copyedited until they shine. Be sure to bring your writing and editing standards up to the highest-level possible to give your work the best chance of success in a very competitive marketplace.

If you’re not sure if your book is a good idea, or you don’t have a clear plan, download my FREE GUIDE. 

If you want guidance and help creating a plan, schedule a FREE DISCOVERY CALL with me to see how I can help.

 Plan for Success!

 Lindsay