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so ive been handing out a LOT of R+R offers (revise and resubmit) these past months and i figured it would probably help to make a thread about expectations and common pitfalls/reasons why you may not get an offer post R+R:
First off: getting an R+R is definitely a surefire indicator that the person you sent to cares about your ms. Its a step up from "rejection with feedback" and you can be proud!
Nobody will send an R+R out if they didnt think it will be an offer if you do it right.
Nobody will send an R+R out if they didnt think it will be an offer if you do it right.
Now onto common mistakes:
1) problem i encounter with R+Rs is that the author gets super excited and rushes themself into finishing, this delivering a supbar ms. You cant complete an R+R in a week. Sure, there are miracle revisers but youre probably not the exception.
1) problem i encounter with R+Rs is that the author gets super excited and rushes themself into finishing, this delivering a supbar ms. You cant complete an R+R in a week. Sure, there are miracle revisers but youre probably not the exception.
Take your time and let it sit. A faster turnaround does not mean a higher likelihood of it working out. Quite the opposite in my experience. You will not be forgotten about if you need 6 months to hand the revision in. Im still thinking about books ive R+Red 3 years ago!
2) the other most common R+R pitfall i see is writers adding whats missing instead of completely revising whats already there.
You have to start anew. That doesnt mean you need to delete and start over (you can & itll likely work better imo) but you need to go over everything.
You have to start anew. That doesnt mean you need to delete and start over (you can & itll likely work better imo) but you need to go over everything.
Revising causes ripple effects. If you ignore them, youll likely get the dreaded "cant connect" because the characters + plot will seem disconnected & inconsistent and in the worst case, the ms is worse than before.
Thats why you gotta take your time. Ideally get beta readers.
Thats why you gotta take your time. Ideally get beta readers.
3) the third most common r&r pitfall is not doing what youre told to. An r+r will only ever address a fraction of the issues.
Writers would be overwhelmed if we listed everything we would edit at once. Nobody does that. So if u dont do the minimum asked for, it will be a no.
Writers would be overwhelmed if we listed everything we would edit at once. Nobody does that. So if u dont do the minimum asked for, it will be a no.
4) and the last most common r&r pitfall is overwriting or underwriting suddenly.
Im talking about things like me R+Ring an 80k ms and it comes back at 40k or 160k. Word count guidelines still apply for R+Rs and its important to at least vaguely adhere to the standards.
Im talking about things like me R+Ring an 80k ms and it comes back at 40k or 160k. Word count guidelines still apply for R+Rs and its important to at least vaguely adhere to the standards.
Anyway, hope this helps! And if you recently got an R+R from me, I'm rooting for you! 
Most R+Rs will leave you with a stronger manuscript, so it's certainly worth it to send the new version out again to someone else. It only takes one yes
Most R+Rs will leave you with a stronger manuscript, so it's certainly worth it to send the new version out again to someone else. It only takes one yes
