How many drafts and revisions should a book go through before you start looking for an agent/publisher?

Question

I am a writer, and I make an average of three or four complete revisions before I'm satisfied, but I'm not sure if I'm overdoing the editing or not doing enough.

Answer 1

Picky is the Path to Perfection.

Your agent/publisher does not have the time or resources to edit your book like the old days. If you want the book to be perfect, then keep editing and make it perfect.

Your query letter also should be perfect in every way. An agent and publisher simply can't deal with an author that does not show the highly polished writing skill.

Answer 2

Well there are revisions and there is editting. There is no set on revisions. You could write a book, love it completely, and be done. You could write a book then change the book 15 times. Editting, you should probably do atleast twice or three times, than have a third party edit for you (thats why companies have editors, and college students have english majors as good friends.)

If you aren't happy with the book until three or four revisions, that's normal.

Answer 3

It's not so much the amount of times you've read it over, but the amount of times others have read it over. By reading it yourself, you have the tendency to skip over parts that should be changed. But by letting someone else read it, you could get more input on your work and you could have those points picked out so you can change them.

If there's no one there to read it, try pretending that you've never seen your manuscript before. Read it. And I stress YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS PIECE BEFORE.

How'd that turn out? It should work. I say you should have it read at least five times, but put at least three or four hours of activities between each revision.

Answer 4

You should edit it before you feel it's perfect. If you have a best friend who's kind of "in" the stuff you're doing, knows what you write about - give the draft to read. A good critic would always be appreciated and a friend would never make you cut something interesting. That's how I do myself.