There Is A Time To Print And A Time To Conserve Paper

When you're doing your final edit on your manuscript, there's no point in thinking green.

You genuinely need to print out the words on pieces of paper, sit down with an old-fashioned pen or pencil (red, in either case), and actually look at what you've written.

It's nice to read on the computer screen if you're technologically minded, but when it comes time to determine if your manuscript parts are equally divided, you can't very well lay out piles of printed sheets without printing them, can you? How else can you determine if you've followed the formula to write a break-out novel?

Sure there is a boom in e-reader sales, but the majority of readers continue to use the old-school printed book. As an author, you have to emulate the experience as you prepare your final draft or you're likely to miss something.

Only with real paper can you lay out each chapter individually and look at the last few paragraphs of each, comparing the level of tension. Does the tension mount as you approach the conclusion? Easy enough to see it when it's laid out before you. Not so easy to see if you have to scroll through an entire manuscript.

Here at Newcastlewest Books, we've reached that level with our upcoming release, slated for Christmas gifting season. The manuscript has been edited and re-written and cut until it looks perfectly polished. The time has come to print it, and then read it like a reader.

We'll be giving ten copies away in the future, taking advantage of all that Goodreads has to offer both authors and those who love books. Keep watching the skies.