How to Know When to Stop Editing Your Book

Last winter, as I was still busy preparing my debut book for release, I happened to stumble upon a conversation with a local indie-author who owned his own small publishing company and claimed to be an authority in the field.

“How many times did you rewrite your book?” he asked me.

“Do you mean how many times I edited it?” I replied, explaining that there were multiple rounds of beta-reader feedback, changes, tweaks, and lots of grammar checks with Grammarly.

But our guy wasn’t convinced. “If you haven’t rewritten the book at least 6 times—it’s not ready,” he said with the air of finality, and kept preaching as I started smiling, nodding, and slowly backing away.

But lacking social skills and pushy though the guy was, he raised a question many beginner writers struggle with—how many times should you edit your book before it’s ready?

Editing is the process of revising, changing, updating, rearranging, and at times, rewriting or even deleting entire sections of your manuscript.

Every manuscript requires editing before it can become a book, no matter how good. And there could (and should) be multiple rounds and types of editing before the manuscript can be considered ready for publication. But is there, like our very professional and highly trusted friend had said, a set number of editing rounds? And how do you know when you are done?

Best is the Enemy of Good Enough

Back in the days when I was the bassist and vocalist of a death-metal band (yeah, I know, random), I worked with a few producers. Working with a producer when recording an album is very similar to working with an editor when publishing a book—they tell you unpleasant things you don’t want to hear, help identify what works and what doesn’t, and suggest improvements.

The problem is that there will always be something that could be improved, and in order not to end up in an endless loop of editing, you need to define when editing is done. To that point, the producer my band worked with had a wonderful little phrase he liked to use when we’d come up with new ideas on things we’d like to tweak: “Best is the enemy of Good Enough.”

And that’s the philosophy you might need to adopt if you find yourself in an endless loop of editing.

Getting the Right Kind of Feedback

you need feedback to improve your book, but what kind of feedback should it be?

A good practice to ensure you get the right kind of feedback and focus on the right things when editing is giving your beta-readers some direction.

I always ask my beta readers the same questions:

1. Was the flow good? Did any scene feel too fast or too slow?

2. Do the character’s motivation and actions make sense?

3. Is the plot clear and easy to follow?

4. Did the dialog feel organic?

5. Were descriptions engaging and not tiring?

General feedback is good, but these types of questions lead readers to  provide feedback that answers the big-picture question—does the book work?

But an even more important question is: “Did you enjoy the book?”

There is a checklist you need to refer to when editing your book, one that includes well defined motivations, high stakes, satisfying ending, clear descriptions, interesting plot, and good characters and dialog. But ultimately, your goal is to produce a book that people will enjoy reading.

What Feedback to Consider

It’s hard to know what feedback to use and what to ignore when editing your manuscript.

Stephen King’s advice on this matter is that if you hear the same remark from two people or more—for instance, the scene was slow and a little bit boring—it’s probably true. When it’s one person, it might be personal taste or an anomaly.

But since we’re not on Stephen King’s level, my advice for beginner writers would be that any comments on clarity, pace, or anything that doesn’t make sense, bore, or confuse the reader should act as red flags.

It’s best to get feedback from a professional editor, but while you don’t have access to one, or are still tasting the water with a small group of willing friends and family, take remarks of this nature seriously.

But some feedback could be more personal taste-inspired—more fight scenes, more romance, what if the main character has a long-lost brother who is also half-lizard—all those ideas could be great in their way, but they don’t necessarily align with the goals you’ve set for your book. And taking each piece of advice to heart might result in a Frankenstein of a book, built out of unrelated parts and pieces, and attempting to appeal to all.

When it’s Time to Stop Editing Your Book

While there isn’t one right answer or a magic number of editing rounds to undergo, there are things that could help you decide whether your book is ready to be published:

1. Your beta readers understand the story clearly.

2. Feedback starts repeating instead of revealing new problems.

3. Changes become small stylistic tweaks.

4. Readers say they enjoyed the book.

There might be some stops along the way before your book can see light—like designing the cover, copy-editing and typesetting—but from a structural point of view, your manuscript is probably good enough.

Final Thoughts

Editing is the process of improving and refining your manuscript with the goal of making it better. But since it could always be better, maybe aiming for “good enough” is enough.

You want to get feedback on your book and make it better, but be careful when deciding what kind of feedback to incorporate and what to ignore.

A good practice when receiving feedback is:

• Asking your beta readers’ about clarity, pace, and internal logic.

• Prioritizing issues flagged by more than one reader.

• Deciding the number of editing rounds or beta readers, so you know when to stop.

Finally, if your beta readers like reading your book, it’s probably good enough.

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