Five Editing Tips for the First Draft of Your Novel that Will Save You Time and Money

POV: You’ve just put the finishing touches on the first draft of your novel. Your hands are shaking as you look at those two little words: the end. It almost feels surreal. The part of you who obsessed over this book day and night, sacrificing early mornings and precious hours of sleep to write another chapter, secretly wondered if this day would ever come.

CONGRATULATIONS! Writing a book is an immense accomplishment, and you should be proud.

So, you’ve got a finished first draft of your manuscript just itching to be published, and you’re wondering if you should just skip ahead and book an editor right now. You already know who you want your cover designer to be. You’ve got so many marketing graphics ready to post. You’ve read your manuscript over a few times (dozens if you count the many times you snuck in edits and rewrites while you were drafting) and you don’t think it could get any better. Onto beta readers, right?

HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON.

Before you do anything else, let’s go over some tips on conducting a first-round edit of your novel that will save you time and money.

But first, as an author who plans to hire an editor anyway, why should you bother with conducting a thorough edit of your novel yourself? Isn’t that what the professional is for?

Three Words: Saving You Money

It’s no secret:

Regardless of whether you plan to send out query letters or self-publish, your book needs to go through a professional edit before you even consider the next step. A well-edited book is sometimes the difference between landing an agent or not; receiving excellent reviews post-pub-day or not.

If you are serious about publishing a successful novel, you are going to have to book an editor. It’s an investment in the business of writing. An investment in yourself. There isn’t really a way around hiring a good editor. But the more issues that arise in your novel, the pricier an edit is going to be.

Hot Take: Not every novel is going to need a full developmental edit. There are ways to self-publish a novel on a budget. Keep reading to find out how.

You do want the draft you eventually send to your line editor to be as flawless as possible. Taking the time to self-edit the final draft of your novel is going to save you time, money, and headaches.

Here are five tips for prepping your novel for a professional edit.

TIP 1: Read Your Book Through from Beginning to End

Copy your manuscript to a new document. Enlarge the text and double space each line. Set the document up to allow you to track changes and make comments. This visual shift alone will help you see your novel differently.

Make yourself a fresh cup of something hot to drink and grab some snacks. You’re going to read your manuscript through from beginning to end.

TIP 2: Make Notes on Big Picture Changes

This is where the Track Changes feature comes in handy. (We recommend Microsoft Word or Google Docs for this feature, but you can also print out your draft and make notes the old-fashioned way.)

Have a notebook close by as well to make a list of questions/notes for yourself.

And then read. Use this fresh document to make notes on both small and large changes you need to make. Highlight sections that need cleaning up. Utilize different highlight colors to mark plot holes, questions that need to be answered, and continuity errors. Add comments for yourself so that you have a baseline to approach edits from later. (You can also pass these questions onto your editor so that she/he can be on the lookout for these issues.)

TIP 3: Focus on Plot, Theme, and Characters

Some writers are really detailed readers and won’t be able to help making small line edits and copy edits along the way. We don’t recommend that you worry about those. Leave those for your line editors (Pro Book Edits offers a wide array of editing services when you’re ready to book).

Have the mindset during this read-through that you are crafting a manuscript critique for someone else. Put yourself in the reader’s shoes and try to think through their perspective. Ask yourself questions like these and take lots of notes:

• What questions does the storyline leave in your mind?

• Is the ending satisfying? Are the characters enjoyable to read?

• Did you miss or leave out any key elements of the story that could end up being a plot hole down the road?

• Does the arc of the story flow in a logical fashion?

• Is there enough action, as well as enough slower scenes to set a good pace?

• Are you spotting continuity errors like in one scene a character is described as having brown eyes, but a few chapters later, they are green?

• By the time your final chapter wraps up, did the story carry you through a theme and bring that theme home to a relevant and applicable conclusion?

TIP 4: Don’t Worry About Detailed Edits

Punctuation, grammar, spelling, and line edits can wait until character development, flow, and tension in your novel are as rock-solid as you can make them. Focusing on the details when you’re conducting a first draft comprehensive edit can really bog down your progress. This is a macro look at your novel. Save the details for later.

If you can put the blinders on and just focus on the big picture and the questions the book still needs to answer, trust us! Your edits will flow much more smoothly.

TIP 5: Get Excited! You Have a Finished Novel!

Editing is often one of the hardest parts of the writing process for an author. It’s technical and detailed, and it’s really easy to miss things. To switch from the role of writer to editor, you have to put yourself into a reader’s mindset. They don’t have all the behind-the-scenes secrets you have, and the structure of your novel and the details that you share should reflect that. It’s a lot of work to self-edit a novel, but you can do it! Plus, you literally wrote a novel, and that is worthy of celebrating!

Your novel is also worth the investment into a team who will help you successfully launch your book. There are ways to make the process more cost and time efficient, though. Conducting a thorough first-round edit utilizing the steps we outlined above is one of the best ways to save you time and money on a professional editor.

Do you have any questions about the tips we shared today? Drop us a comment below or send us an email. We’d love to chat with you!

What people are saying about Pro Book Edits:

“If you want to publish a book that you’re proud of, pick this company.”

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Whether you’ve published before or this is your debut novel, we’re here to partner with YOU to make 2023 the year you launch your book successfully.

If you’ve been searching for an editor or a book coach, please feel free to reach out via DMs, email, or our website to discuss whether we are the right team for your project.

We look forward to working with you in 2023!

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