Revision Workshop: I've Revised My Novel. Now What?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Congratulations to all who completed the Revision Workshop!

Where your manuscript goes from here will depend on what stage you’re at in your process. You might be sending yours to an agent, editor, or critique partner, shifting to submission research, planning to take the indie-pub route, or taking a break before your next revision pass.

Here are some suggestions on what to do next based on what stage you’re at:

1. Ready for Publication

If this revision session was the final stage to getting your manuscript ready for publication, congratulations! Send it off to your agent or editor, or begin your pre-publication work if you’re self publishing. Here are some articles to get your started:

• Creating a Business Plan 
• Marketing Strategy: The Next Book
• Indie Publishing Articles
• Pros and Cons of Indie Publishing
• Things to Consider When Considering Self Publishing
• Are You Good Enough? Evaluating Whether You're Really Ready to Self-Publish 
• The Actual Timeline of a Book and Why It Matters 
•  Set the Right Publishing Expectations
•  Finding Your Path to Publishing
•  Three Questions to Ask Yourself Before Writing an Author Business Plan

2. Ready for Submission

Now that the novel is done, you're shifting gears to work on your query letter and synopsis. Take your time with this step, and make sure your submission materials are just as good as the novel itself. And don't forget--do your research for any agent, editor, or publisher you submit to. Here are some articles to get your started:

• You've Written a Novel. Now What?
• Are We Done Yet? How Do You Know if You're Finished?
• Not My Type: Formatting Your Manuscript
• Writing a Selling Query or Pitch in Four Easy Steps
• Query Me This: How to Write a Query
• Getting Personal: Personalizing Your Query
• Query, Ho! The Anatomy of a Query
• The Sum of the Parts: Writing a Synopsis
• The Hunt is On! How to Find an Agent

3. Ready for Beta Readers

Send your manuscript off for feedback and relax. If you know you're close to the submission stage, now is a good time to begin researching who you plan to submit to, or studying the self-publishing process if that's the path you plan to take. Make the most of the waiting time while your manuscript is being read. Here are some articles to get your started:

• So What Do You Think? Asking for Feedback
• You Know What Your Problem Is? How to Critique
• Listen to Me: Putting Feedback to Good Use
• Is it me? Getting the Most Out of a Critique
• Even Alpha Writers Need Beta Readers
• On Critiquette and Beta Reader Etiquette
• Finding the Right Critique Partners
• You've Got to Have Friends: Crit Groups Beta Readers 
• Beta Readers Need Love, Too 
• Questions for Your Beta Readers – and To Focus Your Own Revisions
  

4. Ready for the Next Revision Pass

If you want to do another pass, go back to day one and start the process over again. Feel free to combine daily tasks or skip days to maximize your revision time. After going through it all once you should have a much better sense of what you need and how best to work with these steps.

5. Ready for the Next Book

For those who like to dive in and get started on a new novel right away (whether your manuscript is out to betas or on submission), might I suggest giving Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure a try? My step-by-step guide to planning a novel follows a similar process to the revision workshop, offering guidance and motivation to help turn your idea into a workable novel plan.

Finishing a revision can be bittersweet--joyous that it's finally over, but sad to see the story we've lived with for so long go. But that's what sequels are for right?

Which stage are you on? What are your plans now that your revisions are done?

New to the At-Home Workshop? Find the current list of revision steps and earlier prep work on the introductory page.

Looking for tips on planning, writing, or revising your novel? Check out one of my books on writing:  Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a self-guided workshop for planning or revising a novel, the companion Planning Your Novel Workbook, Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft, your step-by-step guide to revising a novel, and the first book in my bestselling Skill Builders Series, Understanding Show Don't Tell (And Really Getting It).

A long-time fantasy reader, Janice Hardy always wondered about the darker side of healing. For her fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, she tapped into her own dark side to create a world where healing was dangerous, and those with the best intentions often made the worst choices. Her novels include The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter, was chosen for the 2014 list of "Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read" from the Georgia Center for the Book. It was also shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, and The Truman Award in 2011.

Janice is also the founder of Fiction University, a site dedicated to helping writers improve their craft. Her popular Foundations of Fiction series includes Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a self-guided workshop for planning or revising a novel, the companion Planning Your Novel Workbook, Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft, your step-by-step guide to revising a novel, and the first book in her Skill Builders Series, Understanding Show Don't Tell (And Really Getting It).  

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