You’ve done the hard part: you’ve written the book.
Whether it’s your first or your fifth, that’s no small feat. You’ve persevered through blank page syndrome, shaped a story that’s true to your voice, and watched a world emerge on the page.
Now comes the moment that separates the hobbyist from the serious writer: turning those raw, early drafts into a refined, compelling novel that can stand shoulder to shoulder with anything on the shelf.
This next stage isn’t about quick fixes. It requires strategy, and while some prefer to go at it along, most writers prefer to have the best guidance possible.
And what better guidance than working with an editor who can hold the whole shape of your book in mind—while also tuning each sentence, scene, and character arc until they sing in harmony.
Why Intensive, One-on-One Editing is the Game Changer
There’s editing—and then there’s transformation. Most writers who reach out to me aren’t looking for surface-level proofreading. They want someone who can step into the book with them and help shape it from the inside out.
They want someone who understands structure, character motivation, line-level rhythm, and market expectations. They want someone who can push them to elevate every page, while honoring the spirit of their story.
I work directly with authors over Zoom in deep, focused sessions. These aren’t generic edits done in a vacuum. They’re dialogues—crafted to challenge, support, and refine your vision in real time.
Getting Agent-Ready: More Than Just a Strong Manuscript
If your goal is traditional publishing, you’ll need more than just a polished draft. You’ll need a query letter that stands out, a synopsis that doesn’t kill the soul of your story, and a strategy for pitching agents who are right for your genre and vision.
That’s where I come in. I’ve worked with numerous authors to refine their submission materials, often through one-on-one Zoom sessions.
Together, we:
Craft query letters that tell the right story in the right voice
Shape synopses that preserve tension, theme, and emotional stakes (“telling the book in miniature”, which is the best description I’ve ever heard to capture the main goal of a synopsis)
Revise your manuscript with an eye toward what agents actually look for
As someone who has sat on the acquisitions side of submissions, for hundreds of manuscripts, what I offer is similar to what you’d get if you had a former gatekeeper in your corner—someone who’s sat on the other side of the table, and knows what makes an agent stop and say, “Yes.”
(But mostly, what makes an agent say “No” and how to eliminate those variables.)
This level of collaboration isn’t for everyone. I work best with authors who are serious about their craft—writers who aren’t afraid of critique, who want to grow, and who understand that investing in professional support is a key part of treating their book like the real, living thing it is.
If you’re self-publishing, this process still matters. Readers are more discerning than ever. A book that’s not ready will fail to launch—or worse, get quietly buried.
A book that is ready? It builds your reputation, opens doors, and sets the standard for everything you write after.
What Working Together Looks Like
Here’s what you can expect when we work together:
Zoom-Based Editing Sessions:
We meet regularly and work through your manuscript together, from structural arcs to line-level finesse.
Query Letter & Synopsis Coaching:
We develop your submission materials from scratch or revise what you already have.
Agent Readiness Feedback:
I help you assess whether your book is truly ready—and if it’s not, what steps to take.
Big Picture and Line-Level Edits:
From global structure to individual sentences, I provide layered, in-depth editorial support.
Let’s Talk About Your Book
If this resonates, and you’re ready to give your book the attention it deserves, let’s talk. I only take on a few premium clients at a time so that I can give each one my full attention.
If you’re looking for a deep partnership that elevates your writing to the next level—and makes the agent or publishing journey feel achievable—this is the work I live for.
You’ve finished your draft. You’ve maybe even revised it once—or five times. Now you’re staring at editing packages online, trying to figure out what you actually *need*.
Developmental editing? Line editing? Content editing? Is proofreading enough? What about ghostwriting?
Let’s break it down.
As a senior editor who’s worked with hundreds of authors, I see confusion around editing terms all the time. And I get it—these labels aren’t always used consistently. So, here’s a clear, writer-focused guide to what each editing service really means (and when you might need it).
1. Developmental Editing
Think of this as architecture for your story. Developmental editing looks at structure: plot, pacing, character arcs, world-building, theme. If your story feels shaky or incomplete—or if you want to strengthen the emotional impact of your book—this is where you start.
You might need this if:
– You’re unsure whether the story “works” – You’re open to big changes – You’ve revised but feel something is still missing
2. Substantive Editing
This overlaps with developmental editing but dives deeper into chapter flow and scene effectiveness. A substantive editor might suggest merging or reordering chapters, or cutting scenes entirely. The focus is still global, but with more attention to how your content is arranged.
You might need this if:
– Your story is mostly there, but pacing or clarity needs help – You’ve already done one or two developmental passes
3. Line Editing
Here we zoom in. Line editing focuses on style, rhythm, and sentence-level clarity. It’s about flow, tone, and making sure your voice shines. A good line edit will help your writing sing—without changing your voice.
You might need this if:
– Your structure is solid, but sentences feel clunky or inconsistent – You want your prose to feel professional and polished
4. Copyediting
Copyediting corrects grammar, punctuation, word usage, and consistency. Think of this as the polish that ensures your manuscript is clean and correct—but not altered in tone or structure.
You might need this if:
– Your draft is done and the content is locked – You’re prepping for self-publishing or submission
5. Proofreading
This is the *last* pass before publication. A proofreader catches final typos, spacing errors, and formatting issues. No changes to content, no feedback on prose—just a quality control sweep.
You might need this if:
– Your book is fully edited, formatted, and ready for print or upload – You want one more set of sharp eyes to catch stragglers
6. Content Editing
Often used interchangeably with developmental or substantive editing, sometimes content editing refers more broadly to making your message stronger—especially in nonfiction. It focuses on logic, clarity, and delivery of ideas.
You might need this if:
– You’re writing nonfiction and want your ideas to land – You’re confused by how your editor defines “content editing” (always ask!)
7. Ghostwriting
This isn’t editing—it’s authorship. A ghostwriter helps you write your book, either from your notes, recordings, or interviews. You still own the book, but they help bring your story to life on the page.
You might need this if:
– You have a story or idea but struggle to write it – You want a professional to craft the manuscript while you focus on the big picture
8. Ghostediting
Admittedly, I invented this term, but it’s great to define a layer of intensive editing that goes *beyond* developmental editing, but isn’t quite ghostwriting. Here, you are the author, but the editor is fully in charge of the writing aspect. You become the authority of your story but the editor helps you refine the story as intensively as required.
This might sound similar to co-authorship, but unlike the co-author dynamic, the ghosteditor is entirely invisible and credited only as an editor, and unlike a co-author, the ghosteditor can only advise on character and plot decisions (you have full veto power).
You might need this if:
-You have a completed draft that needs work beyond your skill or capability -You prefer to be “creative director” for your novel’s revision, while an editor handles all writing, craft, and story techniques required by the process
This is the type of editing service I excel at and love the most, as it allows me to teach writing craft in the process. Effectively, your book becomes like the textbook in a master course on novel-writing.
Which Type of Editing is Right for You?
There’s no one-size-fits-all. Most manuscripts go through several editing stages—developmental first, line editing next, copyediting later. All manuscripts must be carefully assessed to determine which service, or selection of services, will help them evolve into their ready-to-publish form.
If you’re not sure what you need, a free Zoom consult with me can help clarify.
As always, the right editor won’t just fix your writing—they’ll help you grow as a writer. And that’s what makes the editing journey transformative.
You’ve typed The End. You’ve sat back, exhaled, maybe cried a little, maybe celebrated. Or maybe you stared at the last sentence with a kind of quiet panic.
Now what?
If you’re like most writers, the moment you finish your draft—whether it’s your first or fifth—you’re faced with the same question: Am I ready to hire an editor?
It’s a great question. And an important one.
Hiring an editor too soon can leave you overwhelmed. But waiting too long—or not knowing what “ready” really looks like—can leave you stuck in revision limbo.
After editing hundreds of manuscripts and guiding authors through revision, I’ve noticed consistent markers that tell me: this author is ready.
If you’re wondering whether your novel is there yet, these seven signs will help you find clarity—and maybe a little peace of mind.
1. You’ve Revised At Least Once on Your Own
Your first draft is the foundation. But the magic happens in revision.
If you’ve taken the time to rework your manuscript—fixing plot holes, deepening characters, and adjusting pacing—you’ve done the essential groundwork.
Still in the thick of figuring out your plot or characters? Give yourself time before bringing in an editor.
2. You’ve Shared the Draft With a Reader or Two
A trusted beta reader or critique partner can offer invaluable early feedback.
If you’ve received notes that made you rethink or revise, it means you’re ready to engage critically with your story—and with an editor.
3. You’re Not Making Major Plot Changes Anymore
Are you still reworking the ending every week?
If so, pause.
But if your structure is solid and you’re polishing language, tightening scenes, or working on pacing, you’re ready for professional eyes.
4. You Can’t See Your Story Clearly Anymore
When you’ve read your manuscript so many times you can’t tell if it’s good or broken, you’ve lost perspective.
That’s when an editor can help you see again—what’s working, what needs work, and what’s missing entirely.
5. You’re Not Sure What to Fix Next
If you’ve revised multiple times and find yourself endlessly tinkering—changing words, rearranging sentences—you may have reached your limit alone.
That’s the perfect time to bring in a fresh perspective.
6. You’re Getting Ready to Query or Self-Publish
An editor won’t just make your writing cleaner—they’ll help you avoid narrative blind spots and sharpen your story’s emotional and structural impact.
Don’t let preventable issues stand between your manuscript and its audience.
7. You’re Genuinely Curious About Feedback
The best sign?
You want to know what a professional would say. You’re open to critique. You want to grow.
That kind of readiness makes editing not only productive—but transformative.
BONUS: Signs You’re Not Quite Ready
Your manuscript isn’t finished
You’re still exploring your genre
You haven’t revised at all yet
You’ve never read your work aloud
You wrote it last week and think it’s flawless (we’ve all been there)
If that’s where you are—no shame. Keep going. You’ll get there.
(But if you have some extra budget for editing and want to really level up your game, I do have a draft coaching service designed to help work with authors who are still in progress.)
Ready to Work With an Editor?
If these signs resonated, you might be ready to take the next step. And if you’re still unsure, a sample edit or a short consultation can help you figure it out.
Whether or not you choose to work with me, know this:
A good editor doesn’t rewrite your story. They help you tell it in the strongest, clearest, most resonant version possible.
If you’ve written a book and have decided it’s time to get it published, you have plenty of choices to consider carefully. This post will walk you through the process, from drafting, through to publishing the final book.
Step 1: How to ensure your book is ready for self-publishing
After you’ve poured in hours on end to get your book written, the last thing you want to face yourself with is whether or not your book is really finished.
Maybe you’ve been over it five times, and you’ve had writing friends critique it. Maybe you’ve even paid an editor to help you improve it.
In truth, a book is never finished. It is simply published, and that’s that.
But if you want to be sure you’ve published your book with a sense of closure, there are some steps you can follow:
-Do a thorough self-edit following good self-editing techniques
-Get feedback from at least 3 beta readers
-Hire a skilled editor who can work with you to develop your story on a line-by-line level, alongside a global synopsis plot level
Hiring a skilled editor is the best thing you can do for your book. The advantage of doing it at this stage is, whatever path you take to publication, the edits will simplify the publication steps enormously. (But if you are really determined to edit the book yourself, be sure to read this past post I wrote on self-editing for writers: how to approach revision and drafting effectively.)
Self-publishing is a liberating option. I am a firm believer that every author who has taken the time to develop their story, and invested the money in getting it edited to fruition, has an audience out there.
But the tough reality is, if you self-publish, you will limit your options. What many authors don’t know about self-publishing is that self-published books rarely, if ever, end up in bookstores. Even books published by smaller publishers rarely end up in bookstores if they are not recognized.
Self-publishing means you will have to find ways to be discovered. If you’re hoping that Amazon or Smashwords will help by bringing up your book in search results, this also can be a dead end. With the sheer volume of self-published books entering the stage — on a daily basis! — the reality of the online bookselling platform is that it is saturated. Your book might be what thousands of target readers want to read, but they’ll have no way of knowing it exists.
Traditional publishing is how you get your book in bookstores, and before the eyes of thousands of people who have gone shopping to buy books.
Unfortunately, traditional publishing is very hard to break into. Very, very hard.
To get into traditional publishing, you need an agent. To get an agent, you need to somehow stand out over hundreds of weekly submissions, and a 99.9% rejection rate.
I truly believe a writer should put their book through the traditional agent pitch steps before deciding to self-publish. The reason is, the process of refining your pitch will push the strength of your story to a much higher level.
This is the work I do with private clients (more about that in the posts I wrote on how to prepare your query for an agent or publisher), and it is a real game-changer. Working with an editor just to improve your story is one thing: working with an editor to get it ready for agents is another.
Step 3: An overview of the self-publishing process
If you’ve covered steps 1 and 2 and you’ve now decided to self-publish, it helps to make a publishing production schedule. The schedule should cover the main components of book publishing:
-Editing
–Cover design
-Blurb / jacket copy
-Formatting
-Publishing
-Book launch
These six main components of book publishing serve as the next steps in the self-publishing process, so let’s go over them in order.
Step 4: Editing for self-publishing
I cannot say enough about editing. That’s my wheelhouse after all. But I am an editor and this is an editor’s blog, so if you stick around you can expect a lot more on the nuances of editing in future posts.
For the sake of this post, it’s important you understand the major steps of editing.
Editing is typically broken into three main stages:
Developmental editing involves making changes to story. This is why it is sometimes called substantive editing — you will delve into the substance of the story, not just the line-by-line grammar and narrative logic. (I’ve written more in-depth about how a developmental edit works in a past post: How to do a developmental edit: understanding how it works before you hire an editor.)
The reason you want to do a developmental edit first is because you may be making changes to plot, character, and structure. It’s even possible you might fine-tune the premise of the story, or even fine-tune the genre, leading to quite a different overall execution. I’ve seen situations where a story is told in the wrong tense or wrong narrative voice, or with the wrong POV characters. All these issues are discerned by a skilled developmental editor, and this is why you want to do it first.
Copyediting and proofreading come after developmental edits are finished. It is best if you hire a separate editor for copyediting and a separate editor for proofreading.
Copyediting involves a line-by-line tour-du-force treatment of the manuscript, with a focus on grammar, punctuation and — biggest of all — narrative logic. A copyeditor isn’t just discerning proper grammar and wording, they are thinking carefully about the effectiveness of paragraphs, sequences, and overall the line-by-line delivery.
Copyediting is sometimes called line editing, because it is a thorough line-by-line procedure. It’s common to see a lot of crossed out lines, rearranged lines, suggested rephrasing, with comments used mainly to analyze the logic behind each suggestion.
A copyedit, however, does not delve into story. This is why it should come after the developmental edit.
Another reason why it should come after the developmental edit is because the developmental edit will involve lots of changes. Whole scenes are deleted, added, changed, on large or small scales, which can leave behind a potential mess.
The copyeditor doesn’t strictly ignore story, except when it comes to logic. If you decided to rework a character’s dialogue style but missed it in a few places, a copyeditor will take note of this. But in this case, the copyeditor is not asking you to work on improving character dialogue; they are taking note of an inconsistency.
Proofreading comes after copyediting. The best time to do a proofread is after you have what is called an Advanced Review Copy (ARC). We will be talking about the ARC later on in this post once we move to the final stage.
A proofread differs from a copyedit in that the proofreader is strictly looking for typos.
Typos can creep into the formatting stages after copyedits. It’s also possible that a copyedit might be quite heavy, leaving typos behind. You can think of a proofread like the safety net under the tight rope.
A proofread can also be thought of as a product quality inspection. Once the book is all formatted and ready to publish, a pre-published full mockup of the book (the ARC) is read by the proofreader as though it were bought off the shelves. Are there any mistakes or outstanding errors? The proofreader identifies these and sends them to the publisher so the book formatting files can be corrected.
A good cover is the main selling point of your book.
It’s helpful to think of a book cover as an arrangement that is meant to appeal to your target reader. To understand what kind of cover to make, the first step is to figure out who your target reader is.
It always helps if you actually know some target readers in real life. When you think of your story and what it promises, how can you represent that visually? If these target readers looked at it, would they know that book is for them?
If you’re skilled with Photoshop and design, then you can try tackling your own cover. It’s best, however, to hire a skilled cover artist.
One thing I find helpful in cover art clients we work with is when I can help them truly narrow down the visual mood their cover is meant to evoke. Authors might come in with a preconceived notion of an arrangement of models that represent their characters, a bit more like a movie poster than a book cover. Instead, it’s helpful to think about layout, arrangement, font choice and font placement, and to try and minimize elements, and maximize effectiveness.
This is what a skilled cover designer is excellent at, but remember, your job is to understand your target reader, so concisely it can be (and ideally is) an actual person who you can test your cover on, so that your cover designer can then do their magic.
If you’re stuck on your cover, it can also help to find books in your sub-genre, and even better, books that are most similar to yours. What effects are evoked on those covers? If your book sat on a bookshelf side-by-side with them, would it fit right in?
The blurb is also a crucial point-of-sale for your book.
Sometimes called a jacket copy, the blurb is the description you see on the back of a book (or on the Amazon sales page) giving a few paragraphs of intriguing summary that should convince a reader to buy the book.
Blurb writing is an art, which is why, like with the cover, I recommend you hire a skilled blurb writer.
I have worked on hundreds of blurbs, and I’ve found one technique that’s most helpful. I call it “the accordion method”.
Most writers struggle to write a blurb and go in circles. What do you feature? What do you leave out? How do you sound suspenseful? How do you keep it all clear?
This is all taken care of if, instead of trying to write a blurb, you try to tell your story in miniature, in the form of a synopsis. Here, you give away the ending, and lay down all the cause-and-effect story logic that shows how the plot builds, and how the characters develop.
Working with a synopsis, it’s much easier for a blurb writer to get to the core of your story, pin down your genre, and identify possible issues with plot or story (for this reason, the blurb writing should ideally happen during developmental edits so that the blurb writer can coordinate with the developmental editor on revisions).
Once this is all done, the blurb writer can then treat that synopsis like a stretched out accordion, and crunch it down to the 3-5 paragraphs of a compelling blurb. More often than not, I find the bulk of the blurb is found somewhere in the opening paragraphs of the synopsis. The hooks and hints of what happens in the remaining 75% of the book can be extracted from generalizing the twists and turns of the plot.
If you aren’t working with a blurb writer, then just remember this idea and try it on yourself. And don’t forget, a good blurb only lays down what happens in the first 25% of the book, makes sure there is a clear connection to the main protagonist and conflict, and shows how the conflict escalates, and what’s at stake. It ends on a hook, often in the form of a question existential to the characters involved, as relevant to the genre.
Formatting involves all the layout steps that convert your book from a Word document manuscript to a fully formatted book that will be set to publish in ebook and print book format.
Aside from converting the text and ensuring unity in format for chapter headers, scene and chapter spacing, and font types, formatting involves a careful check of the document to be sure every single page is ready to go.
Formatting also involves determining the front and back matter of the book. The front matter includes the title page, copyright page, dedication or acknowledgements, and other relevant pre-book material. The back matter includes the author bio, excerpts or ads for other books, and sometimes the acknowledgements or references may be here, or an index if relevant.
Unlike editing, formatting does not factor in a full read-through of the story, so formatting does not substitute for editing.
Formatting should not begin until copyedits are complete. The manuscript, after copyedits, is ready for proofreading, which I said above must wait until the book is an ARC.
The formatting process turns your manuscript into an ARC.
This is why we talked about cover design and blurb above. If you’re going to create an ARC of your book, you’ll want to have the cover and blurb complete as well, so they can be printed on the pre-publication mock-up of your book.
As with cover and blurb, I recommend you hire a book formatter as well, to give your book a professional edge.
Step 8: Publishing your book successfully as a self-publisher
Once the proofread of the ARC is complete, you’re ready to publish.
Self-publishing is quite easy to do once you have taken care of steps 1-7. You can do this yourself, or you can hire the services of someone who is proficient in it. Every year, we help a number of authors with all 8 steps, including this second last one, because though it is all straightforward, it can be quite technical.
You’ll want to consider where you’re publishing your book. Many authors just publish on Amazon. If you want your book to have wider availability, then publish on Smashwords as well. Smashwords partners with the main vendors like Kobo, Nook, and Barnes & Noble, so that your book can be available in formats beyond Amazon’s Kindle and print options.
Amazon will provide you a print book option, but Amazon doesn’t ask for exclusive rights to your print book. If you anticipate handselling more than 100 copies locally, you can approach a local printer and ask for their bulk printing deals. We have done this with some of our local authors and find it forms a good hybrid between online print options and lower cost-per-unit print books for local distribution — mainly because a local printer removes the cost of shipping.
Once your book is published, you can update your account and update your book files (sometimes with penalties, depending on what you’re doing; this is where it helps to get assistance from someone who knows the ins and outs). You’ll receive royalty payments based on the agreed percentage of profit, as outlined by Amazon and Smashwords.
Preparing for publication is called the “launch” stage.
I won’t go as in-depth on this topic here because this touches on another vast topic — that of book marketing. But, there are some important things you should know about it as it relates more directly to the publishing process.
I mentioned the ARCs above. These are called “advanced review copies” for a reason: they are meant to serve as early pre-published copies of your book that can be sent to reviewers.
Ideally, you should have an ARC ready about 3 months before the actual publishing date you set. This gives reviewers plenty of time to review the book.
Reviewers can write you a “blurb” (not to be confused with the back-of-book description mentioned above). A blurb, in this context, is also sometimes called an endorsement. These are the short reviews you see listed on the opening page of a book, or sometimes, if one is particularly good, worked onto the front cover. (If Stephen King gives you an endorsement after reading an ARC, you’d probably want to put somewhere on your front cover: “Brilliant!” — Stephen King.)
Getting endorsements before publication gives you a chance to update the ebook and print book files with these endorsements. You can work with your book formatter to iron this out. As well, your Amazon author dashboard allows you to put in “editorial reviews” which is the same thing as the endorsements. When you are browsing a book on Amazon, these editorial reviews show up below the book description, before the customer reviews.
The other two items you should factor into your schedule are:
-Release date planning
-Cover and title reveal
You want to try and build some buzz for your book well before it is published. As soon as you have a good sense of the deadlines for your edits, including some extra time for the ARC stage to get endorsements, you should announce a publication date — and stick to it.
Ideally, be sure you’re set up on social media and creating posts or stories for your followers as you draw closer to the publication date.
The cover and title reveal are two particular posts and stories you can share. As soon as your cover is done, you can plan a title reveal, leading up to a cover reveal.
The title reveal is optional. If you’ve managed to build suspense for your book without giving an actual title, then this gives you an added way to engage your audience before you have the cover to show. It also builds anticipation for the cover reveal.
Once you share your cover (i.e. the cover reveal), then you can build anticipation for the actual launch day.
Release date planning can include events like a reading at a local bookstore. Though it is difficult to get bookstores to stock your book if you are self-published, most local bookstores are willing to plan a launch event with you provided you introduce yourself as a local author. The event can bring people into their store, and your presence there at a table with copies to sign boosts the likelihood that your books will sell during the event.
There’s so much more to marketing your book, of course, but that is a whole other topic!
For now, you have everything you need to know to pursue self-publishing. And, of course, if you need to know more, stick around this blog (and feel free to ask in the comments), or just send me an email through the contact form.
I oversee five publishing imprints as senior editor and acquisitions editor. I have seen so many queries I have lost track of the quantity, though it may be in the thousands. This experience, paired with some training I received back when I was a coach with Author Accelerator, has equipped me to be a real pro on the submission process.
Starting with this post, I am going to start a series aimed to help authors understand the ins and outs of this process. This first post, I’ll try to give you an overview of the process.
Where to start
When you are ready to submit your book to an agent or publisher, you need to prepare a query package. A query package is a collection of materials that will be used for all your submissions. These material are:
-A query letter
-A 2-4 page synopsis
-The first 30 pages of your manuscript, or first 3 chapters (whichever is shorter)
These main components can be broken down further, in quite a bit of detail, so I will write a post on each one. For the sake of this post, though, I’ll say a bit about them.
Query letter
The query letter itself has 3 main parts.
The first part is called the hook paragraph. In this paragraph, you must introduce your genre, word count, basic premise, and any comps (books, movies, or author styles your book invokes). At most it is 2-3 sentences. This paragraph should be concise and effective, and you should avoid any gimmicks. If your story truly is strong, the premise alone, when simplified to its elements, should speak for itself.
The second part is the blurb. The blurb is what you’d find on your book’s back cover if someone picked up a print copy in the store. It should be so compelling that your target reader would consider buying it. A lot of effort goes into making a great blurb.
It’s worth noting that “blurb” can also be used in the industry to talk about endorsements (i.e. George R.R. Martin reviewed your book and said “Brilliant”; this is a “blurb” and would go on the front cover somewhere, or in the opening pages of the front matter). Some people (mostly industry insiders) use “jacket copy” to describe this back-of-book description, to avoid confusion, but so many authors use blurb to describe the back-of-book description that prefer to default to this.
The last part of the query letter is the bio paragraph. While the blurb can be a few paragraphs, the bio paragraph is like the hook paragraph in that it needs to be short. Unless you have a long list of bestseller achievements and awards, there’s no need for it to be more than 2-3 sentences.
One mistake many writers make here is to write their bio paragraph like an author bio. That’s not the purpose of a bio paragraph. The bio paragraph is meant to list any credentials that qualify you to be an author worth considering. If you have an MFA in creative writing, or have a degree or career relevant to your book (i.e. you wrote a psychological thriller and in your day job, you work as a forensic psychologist), there’s no need to say too much. Less is more for the bio paragraph.
That’s the query letter, and I will write a whole follow-up post on it in more detail later.
Synopsis
The synopsis is a full summary of your book. A good way to think of a synopsis is as your book told in miniature.
A synopsis should give everythingaway. Imagine you are at a camp-side fire and only have a few minutes to tell someone a summary of your book. What are the main beats that move the plot or define the character arcs? What is the big climax it leads toward? What are the twists that will make readers marvel? How does it all end?
You have to address all this in the synopsis.
The synopsis is an incredibly difficult work to put together. When I work with clients, we always start here. The truth is, the synopsis is a good starting point for many reasons.
One, it’s a powerful diagnostic tool. Often it helps me see where a book’s plot doesn’t quite come together. I’ve helped authors come up with the missing twist at the end just from the synopsis, then, once we make the story amazing at synopsis level, it’s not hard to go to the book and rewrite chapters (or add in missing scenes) to match the amazing synopsis. Two, it helps you write an excellent blurb. Often, when the synopsis is done correctly, it can then be miniaturized to a blurb, where you only give away the first 20% or so of the book, and tactfully file away the rest to suggestive hook phrases.
If you’re working on your synopsis and you’re struggling, that’s a good thing, because it means you’re trying to do it correctly. Many writers give up on this because of how hard it is, or settle for a half-measure, but what they don’t realize is that the synopsis is probably the most important part of the query package.
We like to assume the agents or editors viewing our submissions are kicking back with a coffee, reading our book through beginning to end, pulling out their literary analysis skills from university, following every turn of our sentences.
In reality, most likely your prospective agent or editor is reading just the first few pages of your book before stopping to assess how they all fit together. The opening pages tell them how you approach your craft. The synopsis tells them how you manage the art of storytelling. Do you understand the tropes of your genre? Do you understand the expectations of your target readers? Do you know how to plot in a way that’s interesting and unpredictable? Do you know how to create satisfying character arcs?
If you convince them that yes is the answer to most of those questions, they may return to your manuscript and read on. While I’m sure most agents and editors aspire to the noble path of reading absolutely every query, the fact is, they can only read manuscripts they are ready to take a leap on, and to convince them they should take this leap, they need a solid, amazing synopsis to convince them it’s worth the endeavor.
The first 30 pages (or 3 chapters) of your manuscript
Agents or editors have variable submission requirements. Some just want the first 5 pages. Some want 10. Some will ask for 20, or 30. Very rarely is it more than that. You might see them request by chapter instead of pages. Rarely will you see more than the first 3 chapters.
When I help clients prepare for submission, I ensure we can hit all the above requirements, so we shoot for the first 30 pages.
While the synopsis needs to convince your prospective agent or editor that the book as a whole comes together, the first 30 pages need to convince them that you can execute the idea you sold them on in your query letter.
Even when a query letter isn’t as strong, I will still look at the manuscript. Some writers can write amazingly, but they can’t write a query or a synopsis. Any agent or editor worth their chops can recognize good writing when they see it. So your first 30 pages should be as powerful as you can possibly make it.
It’s worth mentioning again how important the synopsis is as your starting point. You might find yourself dead-ended, if you just jump in trying to polish the first 30 pages to perfection, without a solid synopsis or a solid query letter. It might be that your book starts in the wrong place altogether, but you won’t realize that until you persevere through the synopsis and query letter process.
This is why I always start with the synopsis, then the natural result of building the query letter, before finally turning last to the first 30 pages. The query letter comes together quite easily after you persevere on the synopsis (ideally with a pro editor who can hammer every single sentence to perfection with you), then once you see your book boiled down to its potent essence, you can head into those opening 30 pages. The whole time, as you embark on this last step, you can ask, “How do these pages resonate with everything I set up in the synopsis and query letter?”
There’s more to say on improving the first 30 pages, but as with the above two items, I’ll save that for a future post.
Finding the right agent or publisher
There’s a last step in the process that’s not part of the query package, but is also worth talking about. Again, I’ll do a separate post for this, but for the sake of overview, I’ll touch on it now.
It’s not hard to find agents or publishers to submit to, but how do you know you’re submitting to the right ones?
Here’s a scenario you might not want to be in:
You query your book to an agent who loves it and asks for the full manuscript immediately. Two months go by and you hear nothing. You find them hard to reach, so more months pass. Soon, it’s a whole year, and you find out they’ve transferred to another agency, and now your book is in the hands of a new agent who seems to care about you even less.
Sadly, this happens to many writers. There hundreds of agents with lots of clout, and thousands of agents who practices legitimately as agents but don’t have much clout. In your own genre, you’ll easily find a good 200-300 agents who are relevant and seem worth submitting to.
The same can be said about publishers, but for the bigger publishers, you can’t submit to them without an agent, so if you’re submitting to publishers, you’re submitting to smaller publishers who accept non-agented (“unsolicited”) queries.
Be it agent, or publisher, how do you know which ones are your top picks?
The answer to this question: you have to strategize carefully.
I developed a spreadsheet and a step-by-step process to help clients with this, and it is invaluable. After we have put together the query package, we do this together and it removes that uncertainty over whether you’re querying the right agents, in the right order.
While it’s true that even if you query all agents in the right order, you might still find yourself stuck in that bad scenario above, you’ll only find yourself there after having tried every single top agent you thought was most relevant to you, and then after doing that, you might have more courage to cancel contract and pull your book back, because you know there are better options.
Takeaway
There is an emotional dimension to querying that’s just an important to talk about.
Sending your book out to agents or publishers can be painful. Each and every rejection can hurt a lot. I spend a good part of my time with authors also coaching them on this emotional aspect, because it can be quickly misleading if you lose sight of just how much power you hold over this process.
When I was a kid, I asked a seasoned author how to become an author. She told me simply:
“You have to work on your alligator skin.”
This wisdom applies to querying your book. Rejection can seem cold and impersonal, but it should never be taken personally. My goal when I work with clients is to develop an objective, detached mindset to querying. I foster a sort of Zen balance between optimism and excitement over just how amazing your book sounds once we get the query package working, and an apathy for each submission where it is sent with a nonchalant expectation of rejection.
Balance is the keyword here. One, or the other, would be toxic. With balance, I find writers get empowered to submit again and again, without stopping. Each submission is seen as exactly what it is: a business transaction. If you were a salesperson approaching potential customers, you would pitch your product with passion, knowing you have good reason to offer it, and if they’re not interested, you move on to the next potential customer.
The same is true when querying your book. If you’ve done the hard work of preparing an excellent query package, then you know what you’re offering is great. If you develop a good pitching strategy, then you know you’re querying every relevant agent and publisher to your book. If every one of them says no, then this just means you know that no one in the industry, right now, is looking for the book you’ve written.
But if you’ve done the work to prepare and excellent query package, and you know your book is great, then you know you have options. Are you still burning to get your book to readers? What about self-publishing? Are you finding, instead, that the process of submitting the book (and feedback received in rejections) has gotten you eager to work on another book and try it next? Why not write that book and use everything you’ve learned to shoot that much higher?
In writing the blurb for the query letter, and the synopsis, you’re anticipating something much more important than publishers or agents:
The reader.
Who is your reader, and why are you writing for them? What experience do you want to give them?
While the querying process isn’t guaranteed to get you that dream debut career, it does get you thinking seriously about the answer to these two questions. And if you really get to the heart of them, whatever path you take to get your book to your target readers, you’ll get more in touch with why you’ve written your book in the first place, and just what kinds of stories you want to tell, and how to tell them with great skill, clarity, and passion.
Stay tuned for more in this series, and let me know in the comments if you have questions, or requests for other posts on this topic.
Recently, I had the opportunity to work with a local client who does not own or use a computer. As much as that might seem bizarre in this day and age, I am always open to helping anyone who needs the help of an editor, regardless of their preferences.
Little did I realize, I was about to make a big discovery.
For the last 10 years, for the hundreds of editing projects I have either worked on directly, or overseen, I have yet to work on a book “in real life” with an author.
As is standard across the industry, edits are done in a Word doc, delivered in track changes with in-line changes and comment bubbles. They are sent by email to the author, then the author does their revisions, also with track changes. Revisions are sent by email to the editor and a 2nd review begins. This 2nd round of edits is sent to the author and a 2nd round of revision begins. This goes on to a 3rd round of exchanges, then a 4th. I have seen some projects go on 11 rounds, but usually they don’t go too much further past round 4.
What I find unfolds over these back-and-forth exchanges is a conversation of sorts, mostly existing in the comment bubbles. For me as an editor, the comments an author makes to me when I review their first revisions are true gold: they give me a deeper sense of their intention with the story. This information helps me inform further edits if there are still outstanding issues. I always encourage authors to leave me lots of comments, because the more I hear from them, the more I feel I am sitting with them and understanding their motivations.
Now, imagine instead of doing this by email, you get to do it in person.
This was what I discovered with my no-computer client.
Prior to working with me, he had typed up his book using a typewriter, so my task was essentially to type up his book in a Word doc. Now, if you ask an editor to type up your book, you’re guaranteed to get an edit in the process. But the real value came from the dialogue we could have as we hammered out issue after issue.
Here is your editor, live with you in person, and since my rate is $60 US/hour, when I’m live I don’t waste even a minute. I am dialed in, and never mind a minute: I try not to even waste a second.
Here you are, the writer, able to jump in and discuss and collaborate around each editorial solution. At times I felt like we were Hollywood scriptwriters at the brainstorming table as we tackled each issue and, brick by brick, laid down a solid manuscript.
I recently just crossed the 40,000 word mark with my client, and what is unfolding is something like a 7th or 8th draft one might arrive at in the traditional process of sending Word documents back and forth by email. Being live in person with your editor, there’s no guesswork as you try to figure out what’s meant by a given comment or edit. Everything is arrived at together.
This unique client arrangement has convinced me that live sessions are the way to go for writers who want to put their book through the ringer. I have had the chance to work with another client — one who owns a computer this time — and this model works perfectly in 90-minute Zoom sessions, where we can use Google Docs for the collaborative editing feature.
Whether it be overhauling an entire first draft, or just getting to the heart of what your book is about so you can have better chances submitting to an agent, there’s a true synergy that emerges in this type of author-editor arrangement. Rather than struggling through revisions on your own, to often great frustration as you try to guess what your editor means, you get to work alongside them coming up with solutions.
I would love to help more writers in this arrangement, so if you’ve got a book ready and need help getting it set for agent submission, or if you’ve got a draft that needs work and you don’t know where to begin, use the contact form on our website and put “1-on-1 with John” in the subject line.
I will be writing a lot more about our different editing services, revision strategies, and other subjects related to the book publishing process. If you have requests for topics, let me know in the comments.
There is a teaching video by Brandon Sanderson which has shaped a popular myth for writers, based on this video:
The whole video is great, but see 7:55-8:45 for this post’s feature:
There was a time when I took this advice to heart. I loved Brandon’s example of the pianist who has worked hard for 20 years at the piano. It gave me hope that, if I’m a bad writer, I just need practice and I’ll get better.
In 2020, I decided to take up the piano again after being away several years. I applied Brandon’s philosophy, convinced that I would get better with lots of practice. After over 2 years of practice, built on 11 years of study when I was younger, I thought I must sound good.
All this hope was shot down when I played for a seasoned musician who said I was dreadful and there is no hope. He suggested I make the piano a hobby.
This was, in piano terms, my equivalent of what happens when a writer works years on a book, or several books, convinced of the “grind hard” myth, only to get cold rejection from an editor.
Here’s where I want to bust Brandon’s myth entirely.
He uses the example of an amateur practicing for 1 year, compared to a seasoned concert pianist who’s been practicing 20 years.
But in actual fact, someone with exceptional talent can, in 1 year, sound better than someone with reasonable talent who’s been practicing for 20 years. This is true of musicians, and it’s true of writers as well: you have it, or you don’t.
Put differently, if you work very hard at something you’re very bad it, then you’re going to make something very bad that you worked very hard at.
Now, this post isn’t meant to be defeatist at all, as you’ll see shortly.
Instead of giving up on the piano after that harsh American-Idol-crushed-dreams experience, instead I accepted the reality that I had to shift my perspective on what I can hope to accomplish at the piano. To this day, I still practice daily, sometimes for 2-3 hours, and the piano sings and my soul sings and I am in utter joy.
When I do this, I don’t care about what I sound like. Sometimes I might sound good. Sometimes I might sound really bad to someone listening. But to me, as I’m at the piano, that’s the moment my soul grows larger, and it carries through to my creative life.
I started to think differently about where I might go with the piano. Maybe I’ll teach intermediate students some day. I should continue lessons. Instead of trying to be a “pianist” why not just “piano student” and take the pressure off? I’ve gotten into composing, which I’ve found I enjoy a lot because it draws on my writing skills. That’s a new door that opened last fall and I still don’t know where it will lead, but the point is:
Cold rejection of hard work does not need to mean, “Quit, it’s over.”
Instead, it means, redirect, assess, replan, find your home base and plant your seeds where they grow best.
I had a similar experience with writing. I published my debut novel, an epic fantasy called A Thousand Roads. I have never worked so hard on anything. I expect it was about 800 or so hours of work all in all, over 8 revisions, taking over 5 years. I went through every editing round, left no sentence unripe; really, I worked my ass off.
In hindsight, the book has been such a failure to me I sometimes want to unpublish it. However, every time I feel this toxic attack of self-doubt, I remind myself that no, I want to keep that book available because to me, it’s a reminder of how hard I worked, and it truly showcases a lot of skill — not just my own, but that of my editing team. It showed me, at the time, I can take on a very big project and see it to the end.
Even if I’m very bad at it.
Similar to with the piano, I didn’t quit writing when I realized I’d failed with A Thousand Roads. Instead, the process of publishing got me thinking about what else I can publish, and where I’m better. It’s led me now to writing non-fiction educational material on Highbrow, which I’ve posted about. Though I’d never dreamed I’d be anything other than an epic fantasy writer, here I’ve discovered I am much more suited to writing about the real world and explaining how it works for those who want to take some time each day to learn a little something new.
As with composing at the piano, this nonfiction realization might lead to many things I can only guess at now. But what’s important is, as with putting away the label “pianist”, likewise I’ve put away the label “epic fantasy writer” and I feel a whole lot less stress.
And sometimes you have to let go of something that eclipses your foreground to see the things hiding in front of your nose. I discovered, when I let go of the stressful “epic fantasy writer” label that I also love editing. I’m the senior editor of an editing company, and over the last two years, I’ve taken on more private clients, and I’ve found so much reward in converting my own passion for writing my own stories to instead bringing all that writing skill to other writers and working alongside them. It brings out a collaborative energy, closer to a co-authorship, except in this case, all stress of having to decide on the right story choices are removed from me. I can just focus on the co-piloting the writing from the comfort of the editing cockpit.
So, back to Brandon’s myth.
Brandon isn’t wrong in his point: editors can tell the difference between “concert pianist” and “amateur”. But, as goes with musicians, and writers as well, working harder, for longer, won’t help you, if you’re working on the wrong thing.
Use that rejection as a prompt to head in another direction. Or, if you choose to self-publish, don’t obsess over why your book isn’t selling. Instead, do your diligence, and keep trying to figure out where your true skills lie.
Maybe they lie in writing and it’s just a matter of figuring out what else you’re good at writing. Maybe they lie elsewhere and this “aha” moment will lead you to realize writing is complementary to that. Though I’ve not given up hope that I might do something economical with the piano, taking off that “pianist” label helped me to see that in actual fact, I do better creative work with less time available (2-3 hours of practice could be spent grinding hard on writing projects, burning out, and stagnating), and in fact, working on a book (or editing project) happens in many forms away from the keyboard. There is a synergy to it, and if you’re a creative person, creativity has many facets, and being great at one of them can be enriched if you nourish all of them.
Much like a happy garden.
As my piano teacher remind me many times: “Don’t work harder. Work smarter.”
When I started out 7 years ago as an editor, I had hoped that at some point I would realize my dream to be an author.
Fast-forward 7 years and the picture looks quite different than what I expected. While I tried my hand at being an author, that didn’t quite work out. However, because my freelance editing gig evolved quickly into a business and my role evolved as I went from editor to senior editor, I was able to creatively define just what it means to do this job.
While it’s true that there is always something editing-related on my plate (though mostly it’s editorial direction and decision-making for our publishing imprints), what’s also true is there is always something writing-related on my plate.
This is my roundabout way of announcing I’ve released my latest Highbrow courses! It is called Mastering Your Conversations, and if you want to sign up for it, you can do so here:
This course was not my idea. I was asked to write this course by the Highbrow team, as a dream course they wanted to see on their platform. The opportunity arose because, I followed a rabbit-hole forward — from the first 2 courses I wrote on self-publishing and author promotion, purely to promote our editing company, to the follow-up requests which led me to write 16 more courses. I’ve quickly earned a reputation as someone who is great at taking a new topic and, like a journalist, doing my research then making it informative and engaging.
All that said, to this day, though I now have 19 courses on Highbrow (including the audio versions for 14 of them on Listenable — click here to get that), I still consider this part of my “senior editor duties” as the “write content for company revenue” part of my job description.
And I have no plan to stop with Highbrow, though it’s worth saying that I plan to shift gears and take on something radically new:
I will be writing longer courses now that focus on notably dynasties — one 900 word lesson for each person, following a bit of a Game of Thrones format where each day we will see who will hold the throne next. I am starting with the British monarchy, and, provided there is interest, will tackle other of my favorite dynasties, like the French, the Popes, the US Presidents, the Roman Emperors, and so on. If you are familiar with podcasts like Rex Factor, Totalus Rankium, and Pontifacts, the concept is similar, except, because my goal is to deliver a lesson in a 10-minute daily reading (or listening) session, I will be briefer and it means you can get through an entire monarchy, from start to finish, in a matter of weeks, rather than a few years.
I have blogged before about my love for reading in this fashion, where I will work my way through a line of succession from start to finish, so it is exciting to finally have a place to put all my notes into action.
And of course, I have no intention to quit my job as an editor. Every year I work on a few meaningful books and find I enjoy how the editing process is two-way — I often learn as much from working with an author on a book as that author might learn from me.
I also believe that some of the best editors are also skilled writers. Some of the best writing feedback a writer can receive from an editor is the kind that is very tangible and easy to follow as a working example. Whereas, when an editor waves their hands and gives very general comments which makes you think they sped-read your book (an approach I am pretty harsh in calling “phoning it in” since I sadly see this a lot from other experiences shared with me by other authors), this is unhelpful because a writer is left staring at a wall of criticism without much sense of a path forward.
In order to understand what you are asking a writer to do when you give them an edit, it’s critical that you understand what you are actually asking them to do, not just conceptually, but from experience. It’s true that some editors have read thousands of books, and from this have a wealth of snippets sewn together in their mind, like a complex tapestry of the literary landscape, and can lay down a particular square inch of that cloth for a writer to consult. Even that can still leave a writer having to guess, or worse, imitate unintentionally.
I still prefer a hand-on style, which means if you’re going to dole out medicine, you ought to have taken it yourself. This means writing a lot, so that when I’m working with words that aren’t my own, I still have an understanding how to work with words that are missing something, and figuring out what that is by way of in-line examples, lots of comments (anyone who has worked with me will be familiar with how, on most pages, my explanatory/instructional comment bubbles are so dense they sometimes have more text than the page itself), and most importantly, a solid work ethic of knowing in order to understand what it means to tell this writer what they have to do, I have to walk in their shoes with their story, really know on a deep level what it is I’m suggesting to them.
In fact, it’s this very thing that makes me love editing and has given me consolation in choosing this career over my naïve first hope of being an author instead. Working on someone else’s story, where I get to think like a revising writer, with an editor’s toolkit, is often more rewarding than working on my prose — particularly because I don’t have to sweat over coming up with the story, characters, and plot. The writer has rescued me from all my weak spots where usually I falter on my own in my attempts as an author. Instead, I can come in with my strongest skill: my work with words.
In the same way, writing educational non-fiction is a perfect marriage for my tendency to get labyrinthine and ludicrous with plot and character when I attempt fiction. There’s always a solid form and, like a skilled author who has delivered through their story genius, that form also gives me something to work with where I can do my part and focus on how to use words effectively.
Back into the forge I go. It won’t be long before I emerge with my first dynasty course, which I’m already excited about, even though I haven’t formally started writing it yet!
Please, if you have any requests for dynasties, let me know in the comments. Meanwhile, enjoy the latest Mastering Your Conversations course, or any of my other courses. There are enough of them that, if you took them all, your inbox would be full for half a year!
In 2020, I wrote 4 Highbrow courses, and finished the year with my latest, a study on longevity. To kick off 2021, I’ve decided each time I have a publication, I’ll share a bit with you on what I’ve been up to.
To start, a bit on Highbrow:
For those not familiar with it, Highbrow is an email-based learning platform. There are over 300 courses, from 100+ experts. More than 500,000 people subscribe to this platform, where they can sign up for a course anytime. It’s a great way to learn. I myself have taken over 100 of their courses, over the last 4 years, and to this day, I continue to keep my inbox full of knowledge.
These courses aren’t hard to learn. You receive an email each day that can be read in about 5 minutes. Everything you need for your lesson is there in that email. No need to set time aside to watch video lectures. That is the brilliance of Highbrow. You can learn in bite-size chunks, a little each day. Instructors work hard to hone their topics down so it can be delivered in this form. With 18 courses now under my belt, I can tell you, it sure is hard achieving this.
Highbrow also has a separate audio platform, with a different selection of courses, called Listenable. I have adapted most of my courses for this platform. If you prefer receiving lessons in audio form, as part of your daily listening feed, it’s a great alternative to reading lessons in your inbox.
If you’ve followed this blog for a while, then you’ll be familiar with my fantasy epic. Indeed, a blog called “Epic Fantasy Writer” is one where you’d expect to find stuff relating to fantasy writing.
Over 2020, if I had one writing lesson I would say stands out over the others, it’s this question of what it means to figure out your gig when it’s not quite what you set out with at the beginning, but what you see coming together is far more interesting.
We all struggle with this at some point as writers. It’s a dream like winning the lottery to imagine writing your one book you’re passionate about, then having that launch your career, then writing sequels, and nothing else. From vision to success, the path is laid by hard work.
I’m sure that happens to some. In fact, I’d say it happens for many. I, however, am not one of those people.
I began with a fantasy book. I’m still, somewhere deep inside, a fantasy writer. But in the process of maturing these richer, longer-term works, I’ve come to see there are rich byproducts, and in fact, I have discovered there is a short non-fiction writer in me.
One hobby that has helped me realize this is gardening. In particular, the art of creating rich soil.
Each year, I grow several things in my yard. I have my potatoes, squash, beets, onions, spinach, kale, corn, and a few other things that I can fit in the 200 or so square feet of yard available to me. The harvest is in the hundreds. Last year, I had over 120 potatoes, and, with winter nearly done, am still halfway through eating the stockpile.
Half the success of this is down to something else I started doing a few years ago. I began composting. I have a recipe I follow which lets me turn food into dirt in a few weeks (provided temperatures are warm). As a result, I now have 5 different households giving me their organic waste, and in the spring I’ll have 3 compost bins to start cooking down everything from the winter.
Composting builds up layers of nutrient-rich soil over several years. It is, in a sense, like the annular rings of trees that thicken and harden every year. Every year a gardener invests in the garden, keeping on top of this vital flow of waste into the soup that makes new life, and in turn is later the food you eat, discard, and break down in future years of compost — this adds up to a garden that is happy, rich, and vibrant.
And so I have learned my fantasy epic continues to thrive and evolve each year, at its slower pace, while the more relevant harvests are the Highbrow courses, my short non-fiction works, which themselves are byproducts of the reading and research I do to try and write better fantasy, and all around, to just bringing better thinking and feeling to the page in all I do.
Whatever it is your writing career evolves into, I think the main lesson is, keep showing up. In my garden, I laid down a simple rule: I show up every day, no matter what. Quickly, from doing this, the yard revealed little hints to me — weeds that could be pulled, soil that could be turned, a patch by the fence with good shade where grass could be torn out and beets might grow happily alongside the walkway. Adventures, waiting to be discovered, but only to the one who is willing to come there and discover them.
I can’t say what I’ll be writing by the end of 2022, or beyond that, but I can say, as now, I will still be showing up every day, eager for a new spring, and as in my garden, will be ever looking forward to the surprises that await, and the results that accumulate over year of commitment.
What is it that keeps you coming back to the keyboard every day? I’d love to know!
I came across a great quote on the importance of reading, through James Clear’s weekly newsletter.
It is from inventor and writer Lin Yutang:
“Compare the difference between the life of a man who does no reading and that of a man who does. The man who has not the habit of reading is imprisoned in his immediate world, in respect to time and space. His life falls into a set routine; he is limited to contact and conversation with a few friends and acquaintances, and he sees only what happens in his immediate neighborhood. From this prison there is no escape.
But the moment he takes up a book, he immediately enters a different world, and if it is a good book, he is immediately put in touch with one of the best talkers of the world. This talker leads him on and carries him into a different country or a different age, or unburdens to him some of his personal regrets, or discusses with him some special line or aspect of life that the reader knows nothing about. An ancient author puts him in communion with a dead spirit of long ago, and as he reads along, he begins to imagine what that ancient author looked like and what type of person he was…
Now to be able to live two hours out of twelve in a different world and take one’s thoughts off the claims of the immediate present is, of course, a privilege to be envied by people shut up in their bodily prison.”
I certain can relate to this! It’s seemed counterintuitive, spending about 1-2 hours every day on reading, and in fact, putting it on a priority higher than daily writing. I schedule reading time for immediately. It is my “first done” activity, and I do absolutely nothing else in a day until reading time is done.
At first it was an experiment. But as I’ve invested in this daily, now for about a year and a half, I only grow more and more convinced it’s the bread and butter of what gives me the strength and spontaneity I need at the keyboard later on in the day.
I especially relate to this quote because it emphasizes the importance of reading in how it breaks us out of a prison of ignorance. I’ve found that reading is not about quantity. For example, one National Geographic History article forever changed my world and forced me to confront ignorance I’d held onto since childhood and never had a medium with which to confront it and know it was wrong. I find, again and again, every time I read, I am casting off these prison bars and becoming aware of how much I know nothing, and because of this, becoming more curious, humbler, and then, realizing the extent of ignorance, I get excited because I realize just how much there is to learn, and I have a lifetime of that ahead. One day at a time.
What are you thoughts on this? Have you found if you don’t read, your writing suffers? What is your strategy to keep up on reading?
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