Why Your Story SUCKS | Writer's rants & discussions

Editing books after completion

I know that I talked about editing before but another one of my pet peeves with editing is when authors publish a book, get readers, finish the book, then decide now's the time to revise it. Many, many authors do this and I've been told I should do it myself, and I never understood the point.

This will probably get the same treatment as my Chapter One, Part 1 rant. People will try to find some weird way to justify it that requires 4D chess even if I literally explain how there's no way to argue there's no legitimate reason for it that can't be worked around and done normally.

It's like a show deciding to redo an entire season after it's already aired. You've already watched it, do you want to watch the whole thing again to see the improved version?

Do you not realize how annoying it is from a reader's perspective to read a whole ass book, only for the author to make changes after you've finished? Would you yourself want to read a book twice?

BuT iTs eAsiEr!1! No, y'know what's easier? Either edit your shit early on/in the beginning of your book, unpublish it early on for editing, or write your book, edit it, then publish it like how actual books are done.

I'm no stranger to publishing a book then deciding I need to revise it. Still, instead of continuing to write it and give people a low-quality version, I'd much rather just unpublish it and wait until it's polished and finished to republish.

bUt I dOn'T wAnT tO wAit! Not wanting to wait until you finish writing a book to rework it is understandable, books can take a while, and frankly, they should. But in all honesty, if you don't have a deadline for a contest or something, what's the rush? Oh right, nothing.

Yes, we all want to get those sweet, sweet comments, stars, reading list adds, and opinions on our work. But that's what beta readers and friends are for, to give you feedback and support on your book behind the scenes.

Hell, there are people on Wattpad you can ask to give you feedback for your unpublished books, especially if you join communities and meet some other writers.

Or simply publish an unrevised sample of your book, let it get opinions, then publish the actual book when you've finished editing it, if you're that desperate for your book to sit in dead, stagnant water on wattpad gaining nothing because you're not updating it.

Anyway,

Not only do these alternative methods save your readers from wasting their time on your unedited, impatient mess of a book, but you're not rushing to get the next sloppy chapter of an update out because the book's already complete, meaning you can have a solid posting schedule, and solid schedules fairs better in the algorithm.

You're also not making the story up as you go and sending it off to readers. I know a lot of you throw shit into your book on a whim and worry about it later, I see your plot holes from a mile away.

Like I said in my other rant about editing, you should be putting your best work forward. In my opinion, it's unfair to get people to read your shitty work and then decide to fix it after they suffer through your errors because you're too impatient.