Rushing to the Finish Line: The Pitfalls of Hasty Publishing
Be the tortoise, not the hare.
A lifetime ago, I ran my first half-marathon. I trained for five grueling months, and toward the end, I longed for it to be over. But on race day, I was pumped! The first mile was a breeze. So were the second and third.
Yes, things were rolling along smoothly for the first half, but those last couple of miles? They were brutal.
My left ankle ached. Every time my heel struck pavement, a sharp pain in my groin reminded me of all the poor decisions I’ve made in my life. And I don’t know what was going on with my hips, but they were definitely out of alignment.
After months of running, the end was finally near, but I was completely spent.
Until I saw the finish line.
When I saw the marker two blocks ahead of me, boom, a surge of energy shot through me. I was a kid again. I told myself I’d catch the runner in front of me, and just like that, I’m sprinting to victory.
Running a long race has a lot in common with writing a novel or producing a comic, but the race to cross the finish line should not be one of them.
Not long ago, a young novelist contacted me asking for a query review. He said he’d been sending pitch packages to agents, but so far, he’d had only rejections.
When we discussed his book, he mentioned he spent a year writing and polishing his fantasy novel. When I asked about the queries themselves, he said he wrote the synopsis one weekend and started querying agents almost at random.
At about that same time, another first-time novelist I had worked with emailed to tell me he’d worked through my story edits and published his novella on Amazon’s KDP. He was excited to share the news, but was also a little embarrassed to admit that a reader found several typos. Luckily, the early reader happened to be a close friend.
In both cases, the authors spent months crafting a story they felt worthy of the world’s attention, only to hurry through the final steps in the process and suffer the consequences of doing so.
Comic writers, I see you hiding your heads in the back. Don’t think this only happens to novelists. Unfortunately, I’ve performed developmental edits on several comics that I later discovered went to print without a final proofread. And you guessed it, they had clunky dialogue and typos that could’ve been easily corrected if given a little more attention.
I completely understand the urge to rush. You spent months, if not years, developing your book. You’re exhausted. You're over it. The next idea is shouting for your attention, and so is a little downtime.
Yet when the finish line comes into view, your excitement spikes again. You crave that feeling of accomplishment. You want to feel the adrenaline rush of sharing your baby with the world.
But the reason you’re so excited to hurry is the same reason you should slow down: you spent months, if not years, developing your book.
Will future you pat you on the back, thanking you for rushing that final, critical step?
Take the time to perform one final edit.
Take the time to research agents and publishers so you’re pitching only those who might actively be interested in what you’re selling.
Take the time to refine your pitch or your book’s Amazon description and keywords.
No, I’m not saying it has to be perfect. I’m not suggesting you spend months agonizing over every. Little. Thing.
But your book deserves the best chance to shine. And your readers deserve your attention to these final details. By investing a little more time and care now, you'll ensure your book is presented in the way it truly deserves.