A Workout to Get Your Manuscript Publisher Ready

By Rachel Sweasey, Rhiza Press

Last week I supplied a list of steps to follow in order to refine your writing to the stage where it can be submitted to a traditional publisher, if that is your intention. This week, I flesh them out a little.

1. Read widely

Okay, so this really has to happen before you start writing. Read heaps of really great writing by successful authors. Work out what they’ve done that makes you sit up and think. Look at how they structure their stories, how they use POV, build characters, paint scenes. How does their writing make you feel? I’ve just finished editing Patricia Weerakoon’s Snowy Summer and I swear I could smell Sri Lankan spices and feel the chill of mountain air on my face. How did she do that? Ask those questions and then practice writing that way.

2. Work out why you’re writing what you’re writing

American author Harper Lee only ever wrote one book. It is an international bestseller that has sold more than 40 million copies. To Kill a Mockingbird is written with exquisite skill. Yet why did she never write again? “I only had one thing to say and I’ve said it,” she said.

As a Christian writer, you might believe you are called to write and publish one thing in particular. If that is the case then I believe God will bless you with success if you are true to your calling. However, there’s a big difference between that scenario and being a writer of faith who has a talent and a desire to write. What is the thing you have to say? If there’s one theme on your heart that you keep coming back to, then I’d say that might be it. And once you’ve worked out what you want to write and why you want to write it … start the work of writing.

3. Do some writing training, and then practice

Whatever stage of your writing journey you’re at there are probably some new tools you can add to your pencil case (unless you’re Kate Morton or Ian McEwan :))

There are all kinds of online courses, mountains of books full of tips (take a look at the Books for Writers site, and talks given by authors in bookshops and libraries. Every little piece of training can help you improve your writing. Having heard Margie Lawson speak at last year’s Omega conference, I’d recommend her courses.

Some of the training you’ll find will give you some basic tips that you can apply to every piece of writing. Here are my favourites:

1. Beware weak qualifying adverbs
2. Make certain that every word is working hard work.
3. Check for head-hopping
4. Remove unnecessary ‘telling’
5. Write a first page to die for
6. Start in the action
7. Carefully proofread each and every line

4. Apply all your training to your manuscript

Whether or not you do all your training before you start to write your main thing, or you’ve already completed a manuscript and now need to revisit and refine it, now’s the time to apply everything you’ve learned.

5. Befriend a beta-reader (or three)

Find some widely-read friends who will read your (best) work and give you honest feedback. So, probably don’t pick your mum (she’ll gush) or your spouse (you’ll fall out). Ask them to report back on specifics: which characters did they feel connected to? Did they feel engaged with the plot? How hard was it to read/put down?

6. Apply the beta-readers’ feedback to your manuscript

7. Engage a Professional Editor

No, you don’t have to marry one. But you will have to pay for their services. Once you are sure that you have written the one thing you need to write, in the best way you possibly can, and you’ve applied all the new learning you’ve just gained, and you’ve edited, and edited, and re-written, and edited after applying the feedback from your beta-readers, then engage a professional editor. You might only want to pay for a manuscript appraisal at first, and a good editor will give you a detailed appraisal that will help you work out the big things you need to work on: structure, character building, tone, POV etc.

A professional editor will also be able to honestly advise you whether or not you are likely to find a home for your work in a traditional publishing house, or whether you should pursue self-publishing instead. Either way, the expense will be worthwhile.

8. Next? You guessed it. Apply the advice of the professional editor.

9. Re-engage the professional editor to complete a full edit

This is possibly an expense you’ll balk at paying. But remember the process of refining gold. If your aim is to refine your work to be the best it can possibly be, this is an important step. And in the long-run I believe it will be money very well spent if your aim is to get your work published.

10. Enter a competition

This is one tip that may be new to you. Many published authors first found success with their work in writing competitions. Believe it or not, these competitions aren’t just out there for a little fun and to give out prizes. There are talent spotters involved in the reading and judging process. Entering competitions achieves several goals. You’ll discover if your work is as good as you think it is. You’ll hopefully get some feedback (though you may have to pay extra fees for this). You have to write and edit to a deadline (always good practice). And you may even be talent-spotted 

11. Find a Publishing House

Another fact that may not be as widely understood as it should for emerging writers: Not all publishing houses are the same. In order to find the best home for your manuscript you need to research publishers in much the same way you’d try to find adoptive parents for an orphan. Do they publish stories like yours? Have they already published any similar? Which of their published books is your MS similar to (but not TOO similar – if your story has already been done before, then you have some serious re-thinking to do). Have you read their submission criteria? Does your writing fit? Have you included anything that they state they don’t want?

Once you’ve found a home where your baby might settle and thrive, and after all of steps 1-10 have been followed, I think you might be ready to press ‘submit’ :)

About Rachel Sweasey

Rachel Sweasey is an editor at Rhiza Connect, the newly branded imprint of Rhiza Press dedicated to inspirational adult fiction for the faith-based market. She also edits the inspirational texts for Book Whispers, a consultancy that offers appraisal, editing, typesetting, printing, design, and marketing services. Rhiza Press also has a Young Adult imprint, Rhiza Edge. Rachel graduated from Griffith University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and Composition. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and 3 children, has known Christ as her saviour since the age of 14, and serves in worship ministry in Wynnum Baptist Church.

Why You Might Want to Re-think Your Publishing Plans

Those of you who attended the 2017 Omega Writers Conference will remember Rachel Sweasey, fiction editor at Rhiza Press. We got chatting at the conference, and she offered to write a couple of posts for Australasian Christian Writers to share some tips on self-editing before you submit to a publisher. (I say offered. It's possible I twisted her arm. But only a little!) 

I've heard people say they don't need to edit their books before they submit them to a publisher, because the publisher will edit them anyway. That's only partly true. If a publisher offers you a contract to publish your book, they will edit it. But you improve your chances of getting that contract offer if you've done the groundwork first.

Today Rachel is going to briefly share her top tips for getting your manuscript ready for submission to a publisher ... and address an even more important question about our writing.

Welcome, Rachel!

By Rachel Sweasey

I have a somewhat bipolar relationship with my role at Rhiza Press. I’m so chuffed and proud to tell people I’m an editor in a publishing house. But then, too often, I wish I’d been a bit more vague when answering that ‘What do you do?’ question.

The trouble is that everyone seems to know someone who’s written something they want to get published, and for the most part, the writing is not publishable at all. 

The question I want to ask is “Why do to they want to be published?” Is it because that’s the only way they can imagine sharing their story? Or do they really believe they are the world’s next J.K.Rowling? I hate to sound negative, but they’re not. There is only one of each of us and J.K. is taken.

Unless you’re already an international bestselling author, then before submitting to a publisher your manuscript has to be refined to within a hairsbreadth of perfection. Take a look at the refining process for gold. There are at least 10 steps in the process from mining, through grinding, leaching, and filtering before even the fiery furnace stage, and on to the final product. Imagine going to a Jeweller and being shown a grubby lump of rock. “That there’s solid gold missus.” Yeah, right. We want to see the shiny blingy things.

Our writing must be refined to the same extent if we’re going to produce gold-star quality writing—and that’s what every publisher is looking for. Even if you intend to self-publish, the refining process is still important if you mean to sell your books, rather than use boxes of them as expensive patio furniture.

So what are some of the steps in refining your work?

A. Read widely
B. Work out why you’re writing what you’re writing
C. Do some writing training, and then practice
D. Apply all your training to your Manuscript
E. Befriend a Beta-Reader (or three)
F. Apply the Beta-Readers’ feedback
G. Engage a Professional Editor to complete a Manuscript Appraisal
H. Apply the advice of the Editor
I. Re-engage the Editor to complete a full edit
J. Enter a Competition
K. Find a Publishing House

… And then, hopefully, you’ll hear back from one... In time.

But taking all that advice aside, the biggest question I really want to ask writers at this stage in their journey is ‘Why do you write?’ Because maybe, just maybe publishing doesn’t have to be the end goal.

Being called to write, and being called to get that writing published are two very distinctive calls. For me? I’m called to sing. I’ve had a passion to sing all my life and I’ve been blessed with some gifting and lots of opportunity to minister. But has God called me to become a professional singer, cut DVD’s, and sell my voice on Spotify? Absolutely not, no way, at all, ever. But I’m called to sing, and I will sing will all my heart until my lungs collapse.

And it’s no different with writing. 

 If you have a talent or even a God-given gift to write then you absolutely must do that writing. You should dedicate your spare time (or all your time if God’s blessed you that much) to perfecting your writing, to listening for leading about what you should write, or who you should write to. There might be a platform by which others can be reached and blessed by your writing but that does not necessarily mean having a book published.

And if writing is your gift, you can and should still apply many of the same snippets of advice I’d give to writers who are intent on being published. Start with the basics of working on style, structure and grammar and share your work widely to gain feedback and make refinements.

And if you are doing what God has called you to do, the work your heart longs for and your hands ache to do, you will be blessed. But possibly not published ;)

Thank you, Rachel! That's great advice. Rachel will be back next Monday to expand on her list. Meanwhile, what do you think? Are we all called to be published? 

What other ways could we fulfill our calling to write and be published?

About Rachel Sweasey

Rachel Sweasey is an editor at Rhiza Connect, the newly branded imprint of Rhiza Press dedicated to inspirational adult fiction for the faith-based market. She also edits the inspirational texts for Book Whispers, a consultancy that offers appraisal, editing, typesetting, printing, design, and marketing services. Rhiza Press also has a Young Adult imprint, Rhiza Edge. Rachel graduated from Griffith University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and Composition. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and 3 children, has known Christ as her saviour since the age of 14, and serves in worship ministry in Wynnum Baptist Church.

Reflections from my ‘semi-sabbatical’

I wonder how 2015 has unfolded for you, either as a writer or in general. Has everything turned out as you expected? Has it been a fulfilling year or has it contained some disappointments? Has the writing project you have been putting your heart and soul into taken shape well? Or do you feel you have barely done anything and here it is, almost Christmas again?

I gave myself a ‘semi-sabbatical’ this year because I knew that was what I had to do. I have taken on fewer speaking engagements and book events than normal. And, having completed my second non-fiction book in January, I decided to hold off on any serious work on my planned seventh novel for a while. I have kept up my own weekly blog and have also helped several other authors by editing or reviewing or endorsing their books. But it has been a vastly different year for me during which God taught me many valuable lessons.

I have seen again, for example, that I need to approach my writing and speaking—or anything else I do—with a thankful heart, remembering that any gifts and abilities I have are from God. My role is to receive them with an open heart, develop them as best I can and use them to bless others as God leads and empowers. It is a privilege to be able to enjoy doing this and I need to guard against becoming too proud of anything I achieve or too self-reliant in it all. Yes, I must work hard in my writing and at speaking and promotion. But I need to steer clear of any sense of entitlement—it is all gift.

I have also become even more convinced I need to write what God has gifted and equipped and inspired me to write, irrespective of what others might produce. Yes, I need to do my marketing homework, as does any potential publisher of my work. But in the end, if I cannot believe with all my heart in what I have written and if I have not sensed the hand of God in it all, then it may count for very little in the long run. Likewise with my speaking. If I cannot speak with integrity and conviction on a topic, whether overtly Christian or more general, then I think I need to close my mouth.

This year too, God has impressed on me how important it is to help and encourage others, not only with their writing projects, but in life in general. Yes, this takes time, but what a privilege to see God at work in and through someone else’s life and to be part of enabling them to achieve their God-given dreams! Others have done this for me and I need to pass that on, as I am able.

It might not be the right time for you in your writing journey or in general for a sabbatical in any shape or form. But I hope you can find those quiet moments at least somewhere in your busy life to be refreshed in your spirit and to reflect with God on your future direction. Perhaps some of you would like to share how you manage to do this, so all of us can benefit.

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and four grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com.