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The first thing you should know is that agents want you to have an absolutely technically flawless manuscript before you start submitting. This means there cannot be any punctuation, spelling, grammar or sentence structure errors, and ideally, you’ve got one hell of a plot and some amazing characters too. This means that submitting your manuscript to agents and publishers prior to having it finished and perfect is highly frowned upon. You are risking looking like an amateur at best and a crap author or not a serious author at worst. If you are even considering this, you better clear your schedule, and you better bring your writing “A” game.
Why You Maybe Want to Start Submitting Anyway
If you are still contemplating this treacherous time-saver, here’s some reasons and the drawbacks to those reasons.
1. The Submission Process Can Take Months and Sometimes Years
Humans, unfortunately, do not have an unlimited lifespan. This means there may not be years to wait if you want to be a successful and published author and enjoy the fruits of your labor, and this can be especially true if your an older author who already had a career is and is now doing the author thing that you’ve always wanted to do. If you want to cut weeks and months off your agent or publisher search, you start submitting the minute you can guess a word count, and you have a solid first 30 pages or three chapters.
When you send out your initial submission packet via email, agents typically want a query letter, short or long synopsis and the first three chapters or 30 pages. If you have this much, and it looks damned good, you can start.
The Potential Problems
The caveat is that once you submit those pages, you cannot touch them again. You better damned well leave them alone and not change anything unless you find a typo or missing word.
Your second problem is that whatever word count you listed in your query is the word count you have to meet or stick to. This means that if you told the agent you have an 80k manuscript, you better have a word count that rounds to 80k by the time any agent or publisher requests your full manuscript. To have a significantly different word count than your query alerts the agent that you were still working on it when you began the submission process.
2. You’re Losing Steam and Not Making Progress
How long have you been working on your manuscript? Has it been months or years, and it’s still not done? Starting the submission process can light that fire under your tail because once you start submitting, you could have as little as 2 to 3 weeks before someone requests your full manuscript, and you better have that manuscript finished and formatted.
The Potential Problem
Once you get a manuscript request, you have 24 to 48 hours to get that material sent to the agent, and the faster the better before they forget you exist. This means that if your book is not done, you better be prepared to pull an all-nighter to get it done, or you better be prepared to send in a less than perfect novel.
3. You’re Only Waiting on Beta Readers or a Final Edit
If you’re within two weeks of finishing your manuscript via one final edit or waiting on your beta readers, there’s no reason to not start the submission process. At this point, you’re so close to being done that nothing significant should change within the book and especially not in the first three chapters or 30 pages between now and the time you finish the book.
The Potential Problem
The caveat is that your beta readers and/or editor may find errors in the plot or subplots that require a significant reworking. If you get devastating news on your novel, you need to be prepared to rework it fast and remain within your queried word count.
Reasons Not to Start the Submission Process Early
If you are considering it, remember that there are very real reasons not to submit your manuscript before it’s completely finished, proofread and formatted.
1. You’re Not Even Close to Done
If you just started your novel and haven’t even completed the first draft, you’re going to need more than two weeks to finish it. Even the fastest writers need at least a month to write a book, and most writers need two or three months to write a book, even if they’re writing for several hours every night with no days skipped.
2. You Don’t Have Time to Speed-Write Your Novel
If you have obligations that tend to suck up all your free time, you don’t want to start the submission process early. Those obligations could slow you down so much that by the time you get a full manuscript request, you’re still not ready. I don’t know about you, but I can’t write and edit 80k words in 2 days. It’s not possible.
3. You Found Major Errors in Your First Draft
It goes without saying that you better have a completed first draft that’s in good condition before you start submitting and that means reading it after you finish it. If you find major errors or gaps in your manuscript, you need to hold off on submitting. Major errors and gaps can significantly impact your word count and make it impossible for you to estimate a final word count. It can also take more than two weeks to fix major errors and put the final edits on your book.
Before you begin submitting to agents, ask yourself how close you are to being finished. If you can’t finish your book within two to three weeks, it’s best to wait.
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Writing a great fiction book isn’t just about having a vivid imagination—it’s about knowing how to shape that imagination into something meaningful and engaging for readers. Whether you're a new writer dreaming of your first novel or a storyteller trying to polish your craft, understanding the core elements that make a book unforgettable can make all the difference. A compelling story isn’t just about what happens—it’s about how it makes us feel, what it helps us see about the world or ourselves, and who we remember long after we’ve turned the last page.
Let’s break down the essential ingredients of a truly great fiction book—elements that work together to grip readers and create a lasting emotional impact.
🎯 Theme: The Heartbeat of Your Story
The theme of a book is its emotional or philosophical core. It’s the deeper message or life truth that emerges naturally from the events of the story. Themes often explore universal ideas such as love, loss, identity, freedom, betrayal, forgiveness, or resilience.
While not every story starts with a theme in mind, the best ones allow a theme to unfold through the characters’ choices and challenges. This subtle approach lets readers discover meaning on their own, which is far more impactful than being told what to think. For example, a novel about two sisters in conflict may, beneath the surface, be a story about forgiveness and the bonds of family.
Tip for writers: Ask yourself—what truth do you want the reader to feel by the end of the story?
🌀 Plot: The Engine That Drives the Narrative
The plot is the sequence of events that builds tension and resolution. It’s where the action happens—and more importantly, where your characters are tested.
In great fiction, plot is more than just a series of things that happen. It’s built around conflict—whether external (a rival, a disaster, society) or internal (fear, guilt, a difficult decision). As the plot unfolds, your main character should evolve, ideally moving toward a significant transformation.
A well-crafted plot keeps readers turning pages, not just to find out what happens next, but to see how the characters will handle it—and what that reveals about them.
Tip for writers: Ensure your plot challenges your character in a way that forces growth. Stakes matter—emotional as well as situational.
🧭 Structure: The Framework of Your Storytelling
The structure of a novel shapes how the story is experienced. It includes choices like:
- Point of view: First-person offers intimacy with one character’s inner world, while third-person allows more distance or multiple perspectives.
- Tense: Present tense gives immediacy; past tense can offer a more reflective or traditional feel.
- Story arc: Most successful stories follow a basic pattern—introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution—but this can be creatively adapted.
Good structure helps your story feel coherent and intentional. It sets the pace, controls suspense, and helps emphasize the most important moments.
Tip for writers: Choose a structure that fits both your characters and your genre. And don’t be afraid to break the rules once you’ve learned them.
🧠 Characters: The Soul of Your Story
The characters in your book, especially your protagonist, are the key to emotional engagement. Readers may start a book for the plot, but they stay for the characters.
A memorable character feels real—flawed, complicated, driven by desires and shaped by fears. The best characters aren’t perfect. They have weaknesses, contradictions, and vulnerabilities. These imperfections make them human and relatable.
Supporting characters matter too. Allies, antagonists, mentors, rivals—all of them serve to challenge or reflect aspects of your main character. These relationships are where much of the emotional richness of fiction lies.
Tip for writers: Let your characters surprise you. Put them in situations that test their beliefs, then observe how they respond.
🔚 Final Thoughts: Writing Beyond the Page
A great fiction book doesn’t just entertain—it resonates. It leaves readers thinking about what they’ve read, how it made them feel, and maybe even how it changed their perspective. That resonance starts with your choices: a meaningful theme, a tightly woven plot, a structure that amplifies emotion, and characters that feel alive.
As a writer, your job is to connect the dots in a way that feels inevitable in hindsight but completely captivating in the moment. Craft each element with intention and curiosity. Ask deep questions. Take creative risks. And most importantly—write stories that matter to you.
Because the books that stay with us are the ones that mean something.
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Writing a book does not have to be a long, complicated process. There are people every year who write and publish multiple books. The key factor is to set goals and accomplish those goals on a daily or nightly basis. Here are some author tips to get you started.
Dedicate time every day to write.
You need to set aside time every day to write. Pick a time when it is quiet, and you will have no interruptions. A good time might be in the morning, or before you go to bed at night. Do not start writing when you are going through a big change such as a new child, a new job, or have just got married. These changes take up time that will distract from the writing process.
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Let’s just be honest. Writers and authors are the masters of making excuses as to why they aren’t writing. After all, if you never finish your book and publish it, you can’t be a failure. You also can’t succeed, and you’ll never know your true potential. Not to mention, you won’t inspire your readers, and you won’t be able to share your worlds with your potential audience.
Read more: Are You Making Excuses Instead of Getting Your Next Book Done and Published?
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Are you ready to format your book for publication but aren’t sure how, and think you may need to hire a professional ebook and print book formatter in order to perform this final step? If this sounds like you, you are not alone. Many authors focus on the writing and drafting of their books and less on how to get it ready to publish, and while book formatting is one of the least expensive services you can purchase, you can save yourself between $100 and $200 and perform this step yourself.