8 Essential Steps Before Submitting Your Manuscript

The writing process can be long and arduous. You start with an idea and turn it into an outline. You then take your outline and watch it blossom into sentences, paragraphs and chapters. This process can take months and even years. The love of writing, the love of your story, and the hope of publication keep you dedicated.

Finally, your manuscript is finished. You think it's time. You start planning submissions. This is when you should pause a moment and take all the necessary steps to ensure your manuscript is actually ready to be submitted to a publisher or agent.

Here are eight steps that every writer, especially those new to the business of writing, should keep in mind before submitting a manuscript:

1. Revise, rewrite and self-edit your story until it's the best you can get it.
2. Submit it to your critique group. If you are serious about writing, you should be a member of a critique group in your genre.
3. Revise your story again taking into account the critiques you received. Here you want to use common sense in regard to which critiques you listen to. If all your critique group members tell you a particular section of your children's story is age inappropriate, listen. If one member tells you he/she doesn't like the protagonist's name, use your own discretion.
4. Resubmit the manuscript to the critique group again. See if you've revised or removed all the problem areas.
5. Proof and self-edit the manuscript until you think it's perfect.
6. Print the manuscript and check it again. You'll be surprised at the different types of errors that will be found in this format. You should use a colored pen or pencil for these corrections so they'll be easy to spot later on.
7. Do the final corrections. Is it perfect now?
8. Submit your manuscript for professional editing.

You may be wondering why having your manuscript professionally edited is necessary after you've gone to the trouble of having it critiqued and worked on it yourself meticulously and endlessly. Well, an author and a critique group are not a match for the expert eyes of a professional editor.

Are you sure you and your critique group caught all the punctuation errors? How about knowing when or if it is acceptable to use quotation marks outside of dialogue? Have you used the Find function on your word program to check for over used words, such as was? What about dangling participles or gerunds? All this is just the tip of the iceberg. So, it's easy to see why it is important to take that extra step, and yes, expense, to have your manuscript edited. To find a qualified and affordable editor ask others you know in the writing field.

Publishers, agents, editors and reviewers all know the difference between a professionally edited manuscript and one that is not. If you were building a house you'd want a solid foundation, right? Getting your manuscript professional edited is the same thing - it will provide a solid foundation. There are thousands and thousands of writers and very limited publishers; an edited manuscript will help provide the advantage you'll need in today's oversaturated writing arena.

Karen Cioffi is an author and freelance writer. She is on the team of DKV Writing 4 U (writing services); the creator and manager of VBT - Writers on the Move (group of authors using cross-promotion to increase visibility); a reviewer for BookPleasures.com; and a co-moderator of a children's writing critique group. She is a member of SCBWI, Linkedin, AWAI, JacketFlap, Author's Den and a number of other groups and forums.