If you’re looking for an agent, you’re probably already confident in your story. However, you may find yourself editing – trying to make it better and better until someone officially accepts your manuscript.

It’s natural to want to present your best work and it shows a commitment to being open to constructive criticism when you continue to improve your book.

Despite this, many of us know that we can get in our heads and end up changing too much. This is what you want to avoid, especially when you’re sending your book out to people who expect a manuscript that resembles what you queried.

To avoid over-editing, here are some big things should be editing when querying:

This isn’t an exhaustive list but includes some huge points that will help you sell your book.

Read to the end to get our editing checklist and tracker for free.

Pacing

A lot of initial feedback on a book has to do with pacing because it can easily throw off the readability of a story.

If the pacing is too erratic the reader may not stay interested in the story. Either they become bored and want to put the book down or feel the plot is moving all over the place, making it difficult to follow.

As the writer, you might want to ask for an outside perspective on this from an early reader to figure out when the pacing started to bother them.

If you’re having pacing issues and you don’t already have an outline of your book, it can be beneficial to create one to help you see the flow of your book without having to read the entire thing over and over again.

Underdeveloped Characters

Characters should develop as the story progresses, especially your main characters. They don’t always have to develop positively but they shouldn’t remain stagnant.

Many first drafts of books suffer from at least one underdeveloped character. Your main characters should have goals, unique traits, and even flaws that set them apart from others. They are what will move your plot forward so don’t make them one-dimensional or else the reader probably won’t stay interested in your book for very long.

POV Consistency

When you choose a point of view, stick to it.

You have plenty of POVs to choose from (first-person, third-person omniscient, third-person limited) but when you are writing you should stick to just one.

Yes, there are books that have more than one perspective but you should try to stick with one as you write, only using a secondary if it’s absolutely necessary.

If you find that you’ve been fluctuating POVs throughout your story you need to figure out which one you’ve primarily used and track the areas where you’ve used other perspectives before you start editing. This way you know exactly what you need to fix and the POV it needs to be changed to.

Plot Holes

Every writer’s goal is to create a book without plot holes. However, most books will have at least one in their first draft.

If you notice it or someone mentions a plot hole, don’t hesitate to fix it. It’s unlikely that correcting it will change your story entirely.

On the off chance that your story is changed dramatically by a plot hole, it will be something that will need to be addressed when an agent contacts you for your full manuscript. If you track your edits, that will be a valuable thing so they can see what you changed and why you changed it.

Fact-Checking

Readers have no hesitation in fact-checking authors so it’s best you do the leg work before you start getting pushback from readers.

It can be annoying to have to research things while creating a fictional story but if you are writing about a specific place or era readers can be very critical. By researching and making it as accurate as possible, you can avoid some hard reviews from early readers and aggravating edits.

Stereotypes

When you are creating characters (outside of parody writing) try to not to base them solely on a stereotype.

While some readers might not catch it, the people who feel the most connected to that character will and probably won’t find it very humorous.

Writers should be able to create a diverse set of characters in a way that best fits their story but stereotypes can still be harmful and shouldn’t be there just because that’s what you’ve heard a particular type of person is like.

Worldbuilding

If you are writing a book that involves worldbuilding, be prepared to receive feedback on the world itself.

The world your characters are in is real to them and they should fit into it. The rules you create within it should carry through the entire story, especially if they affect the decisions your characters make.

When you get initial feedback it might be on the depth of your world and how real it feels. Describing your world to bring it to life for the reader is something that is very important and something to pay attention to when querying since how your world comes across will be a big part of an agent’s decision. 

Documenting things such as magic systems, made-up words, and other world-specific elements can help you and your editors later on. 

Chapter Structure

You want to structure your chapters in a way that keeps the reader wanting to continue.

When you’re evaluating your chapters, you want to note whether the scenes within them are important enough that they advance the story rather than being just another thing the reader has to get through.

Also, make sure that it ends in a logical place. Ending at a spot where the reader feels is boring and has no reason to continue is a bad practice and can lead to more DNFs.

Tense Consistency

Stick to your tense.

That’s very important.

Stick. To. Your. Tense.

Whether it’s past or present, don’t switch between them as you write (excluding flashbacks).

Filler

Your book should not have a lot of filler. Especially not to simply to meet your desired word count.

Progressing the plot of your book shouldn’t rely on filler. If you’re continually forcing characters into circumstances or droning on about situations that don’t progress the plot, then you might need to rethink the structure of your book. There may be a better way to get from point A to point B.

Clichés

While clichés might seem like an easy way to connect with the reader or even make your character seem more real, they can often be more harmful to your book than helpful.

There are probably many other ways to say what you were trying to convey with the cliché. You just have to sit down and work out an alternative.

Spelling and Grammar

This is obvious but making sure your spelling and grammar are correct is extremely important.

Ideally, this should be done before you start querying but we all miss things. As you edit, make sure you are checking your work for simple mistakes. You might even want to ask someone else to proofread it for you because they may see something you missed.

It’s difficult to spot little errors when you’ve been over it so many times and you know the story inside and out. A fresh perspective is useful.

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With many books, there are things that are intentional on the part of the author that the proofreading and editing team might not realize. A great way to avoid misunderstandings and make the editing process easier is to develop a style sheet while you’re writing to track these elements (such as specific capitalizations, words created for your book, etc.). That way, when you hand off your book for editing everyone is on the same page.

You can still work to improve your book while querying. As long as you aren’t completely changing the story, you should be making it into the best version possible. That way, when an agent requests the full manuscript, you are presenting the best you have to offer.

A great way to set yourself apart from other authors is to have a showcase of who you are and your work. StudioLink gives you the ability to create modules that line up your portfolio in a way that sells your book to agents and publishers.

If you have finished your manuscript and want to work with a publisher who gives you the benefits of traditional publishing without having to be represented by an agent, submit your book to our team at Third Wheel Publishing.

Too many good books are missed by the current process. That’s why we want to hear from authors directly.