Some time ago, I had a very brief conversation with Travis Baldree. For those who are unfamiliar with him, he’s a prominent narrator, author, and video game designer.

He said, in no uncertain terms, that the number of books he receives that are unedited or include awkward writing is outstanding. Although this was some time ago, I thought I’d write up my editing process for converting my web serial into a novel. It’s not perfect, and may be a little overboard, but I find it’s what works best for me.

TL;DR near the bottom.

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• Step One: One-Day-Pass

In the first step, you’re fixing the rough draft. Generally, and I know I don’t speak for everyone, but my rough drafts are genuinely awful. Hemingway said the first draft of anything is shit, and he wasn’t lying. So, what I like to do is write it up, spit everything out onto the page, then wait a day. After the day has passed, I review it and address all the minor issues I didn’t notice when I originally wrote it. That one-day pass is very useful.

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• Step Two: Beta Readers

A good beta reader is essential for several reasons. Selecting someone to be one of your beta readers would be a whole other article, but for the most part, you can assume that they’re here to help and they genuinely enjoy your story. Have them review your chapters, analyze them, and then make corrections based on their findings. You can disagree (I have, a lot), and the authors decision is final, but don’t be douchey. They’re doing a service for you; treat them with the respect they deserve. That’s the second edit.

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• Step Three: Patreon and Your Website

It’s not often, but sometimes patrons of my story will tell me if they find something wrong. If they do, ALWAYS say thank you. They’re paying to read ahead, and if they’re helping you see mistakes as well? Can’t beat that. That’s edit pass #3 btw.

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• Step Four: Web Serial

Whether it’s Royal Road, Wattpad, Scribblehub, or Novelizing, your story is in front of the eyes of the world. It wouldn’t kill you to see what people say, then take it in. I’ve found that, with my limited time, I don’t respond as much as I should. The more time I spend replying to comments, the less time I have overall for writing. But still, it’s always appreciated.

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• Step Five: A Fresh Look

I prefer not to go back and edit chapters unless several months have passed since the initial four passes. The reason is simple: I need fresh eyes. If enough time passes, it begins to make me forget that I wrote it in the first place. I can become more objective and fair with the writing. So, when I finish book two of a series, I’ll edit book one. Finish book three, edit book 2, and so on.

This is when the most drastic cuts and changes occur, and you start to have a much more complete story. Remember, web serials are not written the same way as novels. There are numerous extraneous moments in a web serial that wouldn’t fit well into the narrative of a published book. This also takes me the longest period of time to fix.

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• Step Six: That One Beta Reader

Most of us have that one Beta Reader. You know, the one who can find the smallest hanging chad. The preposition left over. After step five, you throw it all at your guy or girl, then you start to hate the chapters you’ve written. It always happens. Every-single-time. There’s still a few steps after this.

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• Step Seven: Narration

Because I don’t want to torture my narrator, I narrate the whole thing myself. I’ll take a day or two out of my time window, print the bastard out, then yammer on and on until it’s done. This is the single best way to find any narrative issues and awkward moments. By now, I genuinely hate my story.

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• Step Eight: The Copyeditor

And just when you think you’re done, BAM, the Copyeditor comes in. In my first novel, The Alpha Protocol, I thought I was tough stuff. A real smooth writer with the chops to be a professional editor. I mean, I got a 4.0 at a major university in English of all things. I’d written several novels…WRONG. Thirteen thousand god damn errors. My copyeditor is fantastic, but HOLY SHIT. So, yeah, they’ll still find issues. It’ll never be perfect; perfection is an illusion. Just be happy they’re on the side of the light and not a commentator on your website.

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• Step Nine: Typesetter

And then, even AFTER the Copyeditor rips you up, a publisher brings in a professional Typesetter who finds even MORE problems. It’s frankly ridiculous. If the Alpha Protocol (releasing July 29th, by the way) isn’t perfectly written, I don’t know where I’ve gone wrong in life.

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TL;DR Below

And that’s it. I left off the Typesetter for those who want to hold on to the image, as not everybody will go through that extra step. Keep in mind that this is the clean and to-the-point version; there’s a much longer process that includes dozens of steps, but everyone has their own process.

Hope you’re all doing well, and thanks for reading.