How many passes should an author make of their manuscript before they reveal it to their beta readers? Every author Q&A seems to have a different answer, and what that tells me is that there is no right answer. It totally depends on the author, and more importantly, how they write.
Why am I obsessing over this? Because I’m on my 7th pass through my book. I’m sure some of you just shuddered, and I get that. This has certainly been a labor, but I think that there were some growing pains involved, as this is the first thing I’m really trying to get together for publishing. The first draft was little more than a sketch. The second added all of the meat to the bones. The third trimmed up the prose. The fourth focused on showing instead of telling. And so on and so on. Subsequent books should be quicker, I think, because I’ll be able to focus on several of these things in a single pass.
I got through another 50 or so pages today. I’m getting close to the climactic scenes, and then all that will be left is the wrap-up. I’ve got my alpha reader keeping pace — he devours everything I print out for him. It keeps me motivated, keeps me moving forward through the drudgery of editing. I figure maybe putting something on the Internet to track my progress will show me what not to do next time.
What do you all think? Am I thinking about this too much? How do you know when it’s time to cut the cord and send this thing out?
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