I just finished a novel. What do I do next? Determine your publication goals (if any).

You’ve just finished a novel. Maybe you wrote it as part of November’s National Novel Writing Month. Either way, you’ve got this first draft happily sitting there and you’re wondering… what happens next?

First, you let it sit. Then you go over it with the proverbial fine tooth comb, cleaning and fine-tuning it. Then you give it to your critique groups  and beta readers and get some outside perspectives. Then you repeat those last two steps again and again until you’re absolutely positive that the book you have is as good as it can possibly be.

Now comes the part that’s really just between you and your book. For some people, this can be the hardest part of the entire process. You need to step back entirely from your book and take an objective look at it to decide its future.

Why did you write this book in the first place? Was it just for fun or for the experience? Did you write it with the aim of getting an agent and a publisher down the road?

You’ve been up close and personal with the book for a while now and you’ve gotten heaps of outside perspectives in it. It’s time to ask yourself whether your original plan is what you still want.

After all this work, have you decided that your book is good enough to try to publish after all? Or have you realized that this isn’t the book to launch your career and that you’d be better off turning your focus to the next one? Has the feedback from your readers made you realize you’ve got something with a limited niche audience that wouldn’t be suited for a big publisher but might be ideal for self-publishing?

Once you ask yourself these questions, you’ll need to help yourself find the answers through research. This means researching agents, publishers and the whole query process. This process is slow and maddening but the rewards can be great.

Self-publishers have just as much work to do if not more. Sure, you can just slap your book up and have it for sale in under a week but that doesn’t mean that’s the way that you should do it. Successful self-publishing experiences come from careful planning and from treating the process of publishing your book with as much care as launching a new business.

I can’t tell you whether traditional publishing or self-publishing is for you. I had a successful self-published book that was picked up in a traditional deal. I’m also only looking into traditional outlets for my latest novel at this time. Do with this info what you will.

But no matter which option you choose, you’ll have to conquer a certainly amount of fear. The fear of rejection, fear of failure, and sometimes even the fear of success can all hold our finger back from submitting our books anywhere. My hope is that after you’ve put all this work into working on your book you’ll have enough faith in it and yourself to make it happen.