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If you do a lot of novel writing in LibreOffice and use your LibreOffice files (after properly formatting them for your 6 by 9 book) as your publication file, you’ve probably created more than one Table of Contents for your ebook and print books. When you perform this task manually, it can take hours. Thankfully, LibreOffice has a function that will automatically create and format your Table of Contents for you.
1. Make Sure Your Settings Are Correct
It’s important to understand that LibreOffice is freeware, and it’s developed and maintained by volunteers. For that reason, certain functions may not be set up correctly, even if they exist. This is very true for the Table and Contents Index Function, which is located under the Insert menu. Most how-to instruction lists tell you to click on Insert→Table Contents and Index→Table of Contents, Index or Bibliography and click OK. This will get you a heading that says – Table of Contents – and nothing else. That’s not very useful. In fact, it leads to a lot of unnecessary frustration.
Read more: How to Create an Automatic Table of Contents in LibreOffice
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Are you looking for an affordable way to edit your fiction manuscript? If you are, the first thing that may come to your mind is hiring an editor. While hiring an editor offers benefits, like taking the editing off your hands and allowing you to get started on your next book while your editor works on your current book, it can be rather pricey.
Going Rates for Book Editorial Services
If you’ve taken a gander at my editing services, which I call Extreme Editing, you know that I charge $40 per 1,000 words, and you’re probably thinking, Holy Shit! That’s $3,200 for an 80k book! To be fair, that’s not proofreading. My extreme editing is a combination of line editing plus developmental editing. This means I fix what I can by adding description and clarifying passages, and I leave comments for things that need changed but have to be changed by you. Now, you’re wondering if that’s a fair price. Well, take a look at some of the other going rates. Fair Warning – I’ve never used any of these guys, so I cannot vouch for their services.
Read more: How Much Should You Pay for that Book Editing Service?
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If you’re submitting to agents in order to attain representation for a traditional publishing contract, you may be wondering what to do after you’ve completely exhausted your list. This article will explain what to do next. Hint: Wait for a response isn't an option.
Read more: What to Do When You've Exhausted Your List of Literary Agents
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If you're a writer, you already know that writing a book is a deeply personal journey. Your characters, plotlines, and prose are stitched together with your imagination, emotions, and often, pieces of your life. So when someone critiques your manuscript—especially a harsh or deeply analytical critique—it can feel less like constructive feedback and more like a personal attack.
But here's the truth: critiques are essential for growth. They can be the difference between a good book and a great one, and if you're serious about being published (traditionally or independently), learning to handle critiques is a professional skill worth mastering.
Let’s bust some myths, face some facts, and walk through the top 5 sanity-saving tips for surviving a detailed book critique—and using it to make your story stronger.
🔍 Myth #1: A Critique Is a Personal Attack
Fact: A book critique is about the manuscript, not you.
Tip 1: Emotionally Detach from the Work
Yes, your manuscript is your baby—but to revise effectively, you need to see it like an editor or a reader would. Pretend you didn’t write it. Step back and examine the feedback objectively. When you learn to separate yourself from your writing, critiques become less painful and infinitely more useful.
🔍 Myth #2: All Critiques Are Created Equal
Fact: Not every critique is helpful—or even valid.
Tip 2: Assess the Quality of the Critique
Good feedback is detailed. If your critiquer uses vague comments like “I didn’t like this character” or “the plot was boring” without explanation, disregard them. A strong critique should include specific examples, highlight problem areas, and explain why something isn’t working. Feedback without context is just an opinion, not a critique.
🔍 Myth #3: You Must Agree With Everything
Fact: You don’t have to take every piece of advice.
Tip 3: Decide What Feedback to Accept
Read the notes, then revisit the sections in question. Ask yourself:
- Do I agree with this feedback?
- Does it help clarify or improve the story?
- Will making this change bring me closer to my book’s vision?
If you disagree, that’s okay—but be honest with yourself about why. If you see the same feedback from multiple readers, that’s a red flag that something may need attention.
🔍 Myth #4: You Have to Change Everything
Fact: You are the author. You choose what stays and what goes.
Tip 4: Revise Intentionally
Use the feedback to make meaningful changes. Fix what improves pacing, strengthens characters, or tightens your plot. Leave what doesn’t resonate with your goals or style. You are the final decision-maker. Even if you’re not under contract, aim to make your book more marketable and impactful for your audience.
🔍 Myth #5: Critiques Are Only About Fixing Problems
Fact: A critique can show you what’s already working—and help you build on it.
Tip 5: Look for Positive Patterns
Don’t overlook the good stuff! If readers consistently praise your dialogue or world-building, that’s gold. Reinforce those strengths and use them as touchpoints to guide other areas of your book. Feedback isn’t just about what’s broken—it’s also about what shines.
💡 Conclusion: Critique is a Tool, Not a Sentence
Receiving in-depth criticism can be tough, but it's part of the professional writing process. Learning to handle feedback—without spiraling into self-doubt—is key to leveling up your craft. The strongest writers are those who can revise with clarity, purpose, and confidence.
So, next time you receive feedback, remember:
🧠 Detach emotionally.
🔍 Assess carefully.
✂️ Revise what matters.
🎯 Strengthen what already works.
Critique isn't the enemy of creativity—it’s the polishing cloth that helps your story shine.
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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.