 (A guest column by literary agent (and author) Mike Nappa of Nappaland Literary.) The woman asked a sensible question; she deserved a practical answer. I was sitting on an “Agents & Editors” panel at a writer’s conference when she took the microphone. “I’ve been working on revising my manuscript,” she said to all of us in the crowded ballroom, “and I think it’s getting better. But how do I know when I should stop revising and start sending it out? How do I know when my book is done?” Good question, I thought. And one with an easy answer. Then the experts around me started hemming and hawing and making these kinds of abstract noises in response: “Well, a book is never REALLY finished, so you have to just choose a stopping point and hope for the best…” “It’s like falling in love. When your book is ready, you just know.” “When I wrote my last award-winning book [insert some random story about how great I am that has nothing to do with your piddly little question here]…” Finally, I could take it no longer, so I stole a microphone and said what I thought was obvious, and which is the process I’ve used to author more than 50 books over the last 20 years: You write a book 4 times. When you’ve finished the fourth writing, you’re done—or at least ready to show your manuscript to an agent or editor.  Want to sell more books and market yourself? Check out the guide CREATE YOUR WRITER PLATFORM. The book explains how to build an audience, understand social media basics, sell more books, increase promotion & publicity, get engaged online, and much more. Here, briefly, is how that process works: One: The Close-In Writing First, you write a day’s worth of work (either fiction or nonfiction)—whatever that means for you. Next day, before you write anything new, you revise and edit the previous day’s work. This is the “close-in writing,” and becomes your first draft: The first time your write your book. Two: The Close-In Edit When the entire first draft is complete, you go back through and, beginning with word one to the end, you revise and edit the entire manuscript on your computer. This is the close-in edit, and becomes your second draft: The second time you write your book. Three: The Distance (or “Hand”) Edit Next you print a hard copy of the second draft of your entire manuscript. Beginning with word one to the end, you hand-edit the hard copy of your manuscript, scrawling notes and profanities to yourself all the way through the margins. Then, using your hand-edit notes as a reference, you go back into your computer file and revise the manuscript as needed. This is the “distance edit,” and becomes your third draft: The third time you’ve written your book. Four: The Oral Edit Finally, you print a new hard copy and read your entire manuscript aloud. Read it to the walls, to your spouse, to the patrons at Starbucks, to your dog, to the bowl of soggy Cocoa Puffs leftover from breakfast. Doesn’t matter who’s in the room, only that you can hear yourself reading it. Start with word one and don’t stop until you read the last word. Yes, it may take you several days, but that’s OK. Keep reading every word out loud until you’re done. As you read, note any places where the phrasing causes you to stumble, the wording feels confusing or out of place, or your mind seems to wander from the text in front of you. Those places need to be rewritten, so as you’re reading aloud, pause to make notes as to what to do to improve them. When you’re done, incorporate your notes into the computer file of your manuscript. You’ve now finished the “oral edit”—and written your book four times. At this point, you will be: a) extremely sick of your book, and b) finished.  Learn secrets and proven paths to finding an agent with the book GET A LITERARY AGENT. The guide explains query letter writing, submission dos and don'ts, how to craft engaging opening pages, synopsis FAQs, nonfiction proposal tips, literary agent pet peeves, and much more. Yes, this is a tedious, tiring process. But it works. If you write your book 4 times, chances are very good that when you’re done it will be a finely-crafted work of art…or at least something well on the way toward that goal. And what if you write a book four times and still isn’t a finely-crafted work of art? Well, it’s time to cut your losses and walk away. A book that’s not good enough after four writes isn’t going to be good enough after 10 or 20 more rewrites either. Count it as practice for your next masterpiece, and start on something new. When I explained this Write-Your-Book-4-Times process to the attendees at the writer’s conference, I was surprised to see—literally—jaws dropping around the room. About midway through, people started scrambling for pencils and paper. Other panelists asked me to repeat what I’d just said, and afterward several gushing conferees thanked me profusely for giving them a practical, productive framework for writing and revising a manuscript. I thought writing a book 4 times was just common sense, and that most every writer/editor/agent already knew about it. The reaction at that writer’s conference showed me otherwise. Go figure. The important thing, though, is that now you know how to tell when your book is finished. So, if you’re thinking of pitching your latest masterwork to my agency or somewhere else in the industry, do us all a favor before you send it: Write your book 4 times. Then it should be ready.  MIKE NAPPA is an award-winning theologian, as well as a bestselling and award-winning author. His highlight reel includes VeggieTales comics, the bestselling Coffey and Hill seriesof suspense novels (endorsed by the legendary Lois Duncan!), and the bestselling devotional book, Reflections for the Grieving Soul. He writes “coffee-shop theology” books, children's books, and lots of articles on random topics such as pop culture, grief, data intelligence, biblical studies, the publishing industry, and pretty much anything he finds interesting at the moment. Mike is proud to be a person of color (Arab-American) active in the publishing industry. Plus, he once met Stan Lee for 45 seconds, so you know, he's got that going for him too.  This post was complied by Brandy Vallance, a literary agent with Barbara Bova Literary Agency, an award-winning author, and a Story Consultant for Writing Day Workshops. Brandy is the winner of two national writing awards, one of which included a $20,000 prize. Her novel, THE COVERED DEEP, has been featured in USA Today & Writer’s Digest. WITHIN THE VEIL has been called “passionate and riveting” and Publisher’s Weekly encourages those who like sweeping Scottish sagas to dive in because “the journey is wonderful.” Brandy loves helping writers break the chains of fear and self-doubt. You can find out more at brandyvallance.com.  Pitch Agents at a Writers Conference in 2026:
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