Yay Beth'y! You're amazing.
I've written several novels but haven't gotten them published, partly because they need major editing work. (You probably know about the feeling...
)
1) First... what is the genre? It needs to appeal to people.
2) What self-publishing company are you using?
3) These are some quotes from the ywpnanonovel site-
You made it! November is over and you're probably ready to plunge into edits to make your book shine. Instead, do the opposite—put it away for a few weeks and let it rest. You'll come back with a fresh pair of eyes and your NaNo-novel will appreciate it.
– Jessica Burkhart
Congratulations! You are awesome! Next up, editing, which can be as fun, and as challenging, as writing. What I do? Set that first draft aside. Work on another—read—hang out with friends—let it sit. When you come back to it after a rest, you have a better chance of seeing the way a READER will, rather than how the WRITER does.
– Sherwood Smith
"Good writing is rewriting." That is to say, nothing you ever write will be perfect right out of the barrel—and you will save yourself a lot of grief by learning to take constructive criticism in the spirit in which it was intended. The best thing you can do with a just-finished piece of writing is to put it away for a while until you've forgotten about the details and can read it with a fresh pair of eyes—and then, if you need to, ask questions. And listen to the answers.
– Alma Alexander
After finishing the first draft, look in the mirror and congratulate yourself. Then leave your novel alone for a few weeks. Really. Go eat ice cream, jump rope, build a fort, forget that you're a novelist for a while. When you return, approach your manuscript as though someone else wrote it. Sit in your favorite chair and start reading, highlighting those parts that make you laugh, cry, squeal in delight and surprise. Make notes in the margins on places (characters, setting, dialog) where you wish you could feel, hear, see MORE. Or just star these areas for when you're ready to get back in there and really rearrange on the page. Yes, good writing means rewriting.
– Karen Benke
I give myself permission to write badly. Extremely badly. Horrifically, in fact. Whatever is inside me just comes out, and it's not pretty. Kind of like throwing up, to be crass. But it’s a first draft—it’s supposed to be bad! And all my first drafts are ugly, shriveled, embarrassing little things. A first draft is slapping down words on a page that I’ll be able to look at later and start to see where the story might emerge. It’s putting in my hands the clay that I'll later mold into a story worth calling a book.
– Shannon Hale
I cut 15,000 words between the first and final drafts of my upcoming novel, BUMPED. When revisions were finished, I didn't regret any of those edits. Not a page, not a paragraph, not a word. The lesson? Bigger isn't always better.
– Megan McCafferty
Go through your manuscript and look at different areas to correct. Here are some areas to focus on—one at a time:
• Are your characters consistent? Do they always look the same, talk the same way, and act within character?
• Are there good transitions from one scene to another?
• Do you leave each chapter with a cliff-hanger?
• Have you used active verbs?
• Have you over-used adverbs?
• Do you start a new paragraph each time a new character speaks?
– Carol Baldwin
There is a lot of work that goes into a book, even after the first draft is written. It's amazing to see how much better the story gets with each step, and the reason for that is the writer is able to look at it with the same eyes as a reader would. So... get to revising! Good luck!
– D.J. MacHale
Beware Publishing Scams and Sneaky People (Adapted from Amber the Librarian's page on the YWP site)
NaNoWriMo is all about encouraging people do things they would have thought were impossible. People have sold their NaNo-novels (after letting their inner editor out to check spelling and clean up consistency errors). Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable that people would want to sell their NaNo-novels.
But be careful. The world of publishing is, for the most part, made up of honest editors who want to give writers money for being brilliant (because then the editor gets to make money off the brilliant books), and agents, who want to earn their fifteen percent by convincing the editors that their clients’ books are indeed brilliant.
However (and it’s a big 'however'), some people want to cut out the whole selling books part and make money off the writer. They can do this in various unethical ways, and like most forms of fraud, these literary hucksters are getting more sophisticated all the time. Always look over any contract you’re thinking of signing and if you don't have a lawyer, give it to a friend to look at as well. It's up to you to protect yourself, too, by learning all you can.
Be especially leery of:
* Anyone who wants to charge you money up front, especially a reading fee.
* Anyone who requires you to pay them, or someone they specify, to edit your manuscript before they will publish your book.
* Anyone who wants you to buy something before they will publish your book.
* Anyone who offers you a "co-publishing" contract.
* Anyone who contacts you first, offering to publish your work.
Resources:
The most important site to look at is Writer Beware, a free service provided by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
Preditors and Editors is a fairly extensive list of reputable people to send your work to, and of scams.
Most (though not necessarily all) reputable agents will be listed with the Association of Author’s Representatives .
You can find lots of reputable copy-editors through the Editorial Freelancers Association , the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (UK), and the Editors Association of Canada.
Just in case you’re also a poet, check here for info on some common poetry publishing scams.
These things do happen. Read three stories at Writing World and of course get more links there.
--from a moderator on ywpnano
And the cellphone I have is an emergencies only phone. Sorry.
