Once the publishing contract is finalized, one of the first questions debut authors ask is what’s next. A very valid question and one I’m afraid I often forget to explain. After all, editing and publishing has been my life for 15 years; it’s sometimes hard to remember what others might not know.
This explanation of the editing process comes from my own experience as an editor at Berkley Publishing and can obviously differ from house to house or even editor to editor. However, these are the basics of what you should expect your book to go through once you turn in that completed manuscript.
Step One, Revisions: Once you’ve turned in your manuscript you should expect to hear back from your editor in about 6 to 8 weeks. I know that seems like a long time and, frankly, it is, but editors are busy and we need to be realistic about how long it can be. Unfortunately, I’ve had some editors take upwards of six months and others never give revisions at all. Again, every editor has her own technique. When you do hear back from your editor it’s going to, hopefully, be with revisions. And these can be all over the place. I’ve had editors ask that the book be completely rewritten, while others simply requested some touch-up work. My hint to you: the longer the revision letter the fewer the changes. Short revision letters tend to include things like “the protagonist is too mean and I don’t like her” or “there’s just not enough suspense here.” While long revisions letters can say things like “on page three the color of her eyes change from blue to brown” or “the dialogue on page 25 feels forced, not like the characters I was reading earlier.” Letters can be one short paragraph (the scary ones) or twenty-some pages. I think my longest was 15 pages.
Revisions are the most critical piece of the editing process. These are the changes that will make your book as strong as you can possibly make it.
Step Two, Line Edits: Once the revisions are complete and the editor is happy with what you’ve done (and by the way, some revisions can go multiple rounds), it’s time for line edits. These are the little inconsistencies the editor wants to make sure aren’t missed. Things like eye color changing, poor word choices, stiff dialogue, or awkward writing, etc. Minor things that can usually be fixed with a word change or two. Often and usually the editor does line edits on the manuscript itself and sends the entire package off to the copy editor without you seeing them. That’s fine, line edits and copy edits really go hand-in-hand.
Step Three, Copy Edits: Copy edits are typically done by hand (although that is beginning to change) on the original manuscript pages. Most copy editing is done by a freelance copy editor outside of the publishing house, although managed by someone in the copy editing department. The copy editor is someone I greatly admire because it’s certainly not a job I could ever do. The copy editor looks for things like typos, grammar errors, punctuation errors. The copy editor makes us all look good. That’s her job.
After copy edits are completed the entire manuscript is sent back to you for review. Here you can stet changes (maintain your original wording rather than the editors’), answer any questions or concerns and make any necessary changes. This is really it. Your last big chance to fix the book and add or subtract anything you might have missed.
Step Four, Page Proofs: Once you have reviewed, fixed or corrected the errors from the copy edits the book typically goes to the typesetter, and again, this is still amazingly done by hand. The typesetter takes the design given to them by the publisher’s design team and makes sample book pages. These are often call page proofs. They are printed on regular 8.5 x 11 paper, but designed to give you an idea of what the book will look like. If the book is a trade paperback you will usually get one book page per printed page. If it’s a mass market paperback you’ll get side-by-side pages on each printout.
These page proofs are then sent to you for one final review. These are not meant for major edits, but primarily to make sure all of the changes from the copy edited manuscript got into the final edition and to correct any new or missed typos. The page proofs are what are referred to in your contract when you are not allowed to make changes that affect more than 10% of the manuscript, otherwise you are charged for the changes. This of course does not refer to any errors that were caused by the typesetter.
Note: the page proof stage is also when copies are sent out for review. The publisher and reviewers know that some mistakes might be found, but the essence of the book is there and ready for review.
And once you send those page proofs back you have officially signed off on the book. The next thing you’ll see is a beautiful finished product with a shiny new cover and your name on top.
Jessica
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By: BookEnds, LLC,
on 8/7/2008
Blog: BookEnds, LLC - A Literary Agency (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: editing, revisions, publishing process, proofreading, Add a tag
By: The Class of 2k8,
on 7/31/2008
Blog: 2k8: Class Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Jennifer Laughran, how a story, publishing process, Add a tag
at least I hope and pray that I will...
Are there certain kinds of books you absolutely won't carry?
And once they're in the store, how long do you keep them around? If you really love a book, will you keep it on the shelves forever?
Do you order many books you don't like, but that you know will sell? Do you ever direct someone away from a book you don't like?
Are there any secrets to handselling? What are you pushing right now?
Is there any way an author can effectively suck up to you so that you'll handsell their book?
Besides writing a great book?
Do blurbs matter a lot?
What's been your best event so far?
And what's on your nightstand?
Last question-- you juggle a lot, as an agent, buyer, event planner. What's the hardest part of your job?
Finding time to read
By: The Class of 2k8,
on 7/30/2008
Blog: 2k8: Class Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: publishing process, debbie reed fischer, Andrew Karre, how a story, Add a tag
...It's a long, long waitWhile I'm sitting in committee...
Our story is making amazing progress! Very few ideas make it to manuscript form, fewer still get the agent's nod, but now that it has reached the editor's desk--we'll know if it has any shot of all of ever getting on the shelves! Today we have Andrew Karre, acquisitions editor for Llewellyn Worldwide and FLUX to discuss his role in taking a story and turning into a book:
In the case of Debbie’s book, there was a rather severe detour followed by an abrupt and very fortunate for me U-turn. I just looked, and my memory is correct. I have an unsent, unfinished rejection letter in my files for Debbie’s book. I don’t remember exactly why I waffled so much on the book, but almost two years ago I wrote to her agent: “Thanks for sending Swimming with the Sharks. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect with this one”. I didn’t even finish the sentence.
What does this mean? I think it’s a good illustration of how capricious and gut-level publishing decisions can be. My concern was probably whether I had an adequate vision for the book, from content to packaging, and whether we were well suited to publishing and selling the book. It was never a question of whether the book was “good enough,” rather it was a question of whether the combination of Flux and Debbie and Debbie’s novel was good enough. At some point in the course of writing that rejection, something must have occurred to me that made me change me conception of how we could do the book.
Almost exactly two years later, I’m very glad we did. Debbie’s revisions were thoughtful and made a good book better. I think the package is eye-catching and intriguing. And Debbie herself is easily one of our most popular authors with publicity. It’s a good match. I’m glad I didn’t screw it up.--Andrew Karre
By: The Class of 2k8,
on 7/29/2008
Blog: 2k8: Class Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: erin murphy, how a story, Flux, publishing process, Andrew Karre, Add a tag
to New York City....
For me, a manuscript starts becoming a book when I read a query letter and writing sample and immediately get excited about sending it to editors--a list of possibilities blooms in my mind, and I start thinking about how it would turn into a different book with different editors and publishing houses, and weighing which directions seem best.
But of course I need to read a full manuscript first! If the writer is already a client, that's a much quicker process, obviously, than if it's a writer I'm considering representing, whom I need to get to know a little and determine if we're a personality match. It doesn't matter how much I like the writing if the writer and I don't seem like we'll mesh, and it doesn't matter how much I like the writer if I'm not fired up about the manuscripts.
I work with my clients to revise and strengthen manuscripts before sending them to editors, so how quickly things go depends on how quickly the author works and how jammed my schedule is at the moment. We're not trying to make a manuscript perfect, and I don't have an expectation that an editor will sign it and publish it with few changes beyond copy editing and proofreading--I just want to eliminate any problem areas that might give any editor (or the rest of her acquisitions committee) an excuse to say no.
When a manuscript is getting close to presentable shape, I'll start mentioning it to editors and gaging early interest, honing my pitch and sharing with the client which aspects seem to spark the most oohs and aahs. I compile a list of interested editors and those I haven't mentioned it to yet, but whom I'd like to include when I send it out. I make a second-tier list, as well, which is mostly made up of long shots (more a match for the editor's personal interests than her publishing house's particular slant, for example) and editors who have sister imprints on the first-tier list, because I want to avoid any in-house conflicts. I also determine how widely I want to send it out, which is a decision made individually for each client and each manuscript. If we're uncertain which direction to go with revisions, we might test the waters with just one to three editors to start with, so we can try a different version if needed. If the client already has a relationship with an editor, we'll start with just that person, or that person and just one or two others. But if a manuscript feels like the kind of thing that lots of different editors might be interested in, and I feel really strongly about it selling quickly, I'll send it to a larger group.
When it's time to start sending it out, I email a pitch to editors I haven't mentioned it to before (or pitch it by phone), and send a little reminder to others who have expressed interest, to let them know it will be coming, and then I follow it up by sending the manuscript with an email that includes the pitch, an author bio, and any other pertinent information. If it's an especially wide submission that seems to have a lot of early interest, I'll make sure to point this out to editors so they will move more quickly with reading it.
From here it's a matter of waiting, nudging, juggling interest from multiple people (ideally), taking offers, negotiating a deal--and then it's in the editor's hands. The overall process is roughly the same for every manuscript, but the time line varies greatly depending on the manuscript, the client, the situation, the time of year, the editor, the publishing house....If an editor is especially eager, this process of signing a book can go very quickly--a matter of a week or two. If editors are busier than usual or we don't get any early nibbles that I can use to nudge along the others who are considering the project, it can be weeks before we have a sense of whether an editor is interested enough to pursue it or not. And the same variation goes once an editor wants to take it to the next stage (editorial meeting, then acquisitions meeting)--many houses have these meetings weekly, but some only monthly, and during a busy convention month, meetings are often canceled. An editor may hold a manuscript back from going to a meeting until the schedule clears a little, so she can spend more time on it with others on the committee to give it the best shot, or she may push it through quickly because the urgency will seem more persuasive.
Obviously, everything does not go the same way every time, but this is roughly how I handle it, with variations to allow for the individual needs of each project and each client--because in the end, that's my goal: Making each writer I work with happy and reaching toward each writer's idea of success by building one publication on another. --Erin
By: The Class of 2k8,
on 7/28/2008
Blog: 2k8: Class Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: erin murphy, how a story, publishing process, debbie reed fischer, jody feldman, jenny meyerhoff, Add a tag
Do you remember that cute Schoolhouse Rock song all about how the little Bill fights his way through all the red tape and goes through all the committees in order to become a Law? Well, it is the same long and complicated trek a story idea takes to becoming a book on a shelf. This week we're going to follow the path a story takes from idea all the way toward its goal of becoming a book on a shelf--from author to agent to editor to book store buyer! Today we're going to talk about how story ideas form and what authors go through to get them down on the proverbial paper!
"The reason I started writing The Gollywhopper Games is well-documented in my acknowledgements (and in some resulting reviews). But wanting to write a book that might appeal to a lover of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory provided a huge set of challenges. Dahl had already claimed candy. Dahl had already claimed a spot as a top master. So how could I craft a book one particular 5th grader would love without being derivative of a master work? I'd give you a replay of my process, but my methods of brainstorming are near-impossible to document. They do, however, involve doodling, massive amounts of pacing and utter disregard for household chores." Jody Feldman author of The Gollywhopper Games
"I was a model booker for years, which gave me lots of material for the book. I worked at two busy agencies, but I was always scribbling down story ideas onto notepads instead of working. Sometimes I’d be interviewing a model, looking at her portfolio, and a detail about her photos would strike me as interesting or funny, so I’d say, 'Excuse me just a sec,' then I’d whip out my notepad and start jotting away while the poor girl had to wait. I also took notes when models made comments I liked, usually something like, 'I’m an excellent actress, as long as there’s no dialogue.' Years later, I referred to all those notepads when I sat down to write BRALESS IN WONDERLAND. I guess I only pretended to be a model booker. I spent most of my time scribbling. I should probably give my ex-boss her money back. " Debbie Reed Fischer author of BRALESS IN WONDERLAND and SWIMMING WITH THE SHARKS
"I paid for my writing time. Seriously. After my third child was born, I hired a babysitter to come for three hours a day, three days per week. I would need a sitter to go to any other job, I rationalized, so why not for being a writer? It is amazing how much you can get done in three hours, especially when those hours are costing you money. However, it’s not the cheapest way to write. Until I sold a book, my job actually cost me more money than I earned. But it was so worth it! I never would have finished my novels without it." Jenny Meyerhoff author of THIRD GRADE BABY and THE IMPOSSIBLE SECRETS OF ESSIE GREEN
Tomorrow our story must head to agent Erin Murphy at the Erin Murphy Literary Agency!
By: Fiona Bayrock,
on 6/5/2008
Blog: Fiona Bayrock: Books and 'Rocks (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Publishing process, Publishing biz, Add a tag
_
Welcome to Day Four of celebrating the "Woohoo!" jump-for-joy moments recently experienced by the writer folks I know.
Today, I celebrate the Joy of Anticipation.
Anticipation is the flipside of waiting. The way I see it, the difference between the two is that you can wait for something that you hope for but may never happen, but when you anticipate something, it's a sure thing. You may or may not know exactly when it will happen---sometimes yes, sometimes no---but it will happen. In other words one waits for a pregnancy to happen, but if you're pregnant, you anticipate the birth. Kind of an apt description given how close birthing a book can be to birthing a human baby, don't you think?
Authors always seem to be waiting for something---rejections and acceptances of queries and manuscripts; to hear from editors, agents, experts, and critiquers; and then, once a manuscript is accepted, even more waiting -- for contracts, revisions, artwork, layouts, publication, author copies, and reviews. So when the waiting turns into anticipation, it's a joyous thing.
---Oodles of drafts-check.
---Critiques-check.
---More drafts-check.
---Submission-check.
---Contract signed-check.
---Editing-check.
---Doodles-check (yeah, Cyndi did her own doodles in Toni's diary. How cool is that!?).
---Copy-editing-check.
Cyndi, I celebrate your Joy of Anticipation.
By: Fiona Bayrock,
on 6/4/2008
Blog: Fiona Bayrock: Books and 'Rocks (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Publishing process, Publishing biz, Add a tag
_
Welcome to Day Three of celebrating the "Woohoo! jump-for-joy moments recently experienced by the writer folks I know.
Today, I celebrate the Joy of Getting a Skookum Illustrator.
Illustrations can make or break a picture book. It doesn't matter how good the tex is, if the illustrations aren't up to par or are a poor style match, an otherwise terrific book will wither on the vine---a picture book author's worst nightmare. Therefore, most picture book authors (PBAs) are understandably a little anxious as they wait to hear who will illustrate thier picture book babies.
Some publishers (like mine!) have a knack for choosing skookum illustrators, but most PBAs daydream about a publisher asking, "Who would you like to illustrate your book?" and then when the PBA answers "[big name illustrato whose work I adore]", the publisher says, "Sure!" and it is so. This rarely happens. And I do mean rarely. But sometimes it does. . .
My friend Chérie Stihler has had amazing luck with the illustrators her publisher chose for her 
first books. (Take a gander at the beautiful art in these puppies to see what I mean) But when it came time to suggest illustrators for the next book, The Sourdough Man (the gingerbread man story but with a decidedly Alaskan twist), Chérie instantly thought of Barbara Lavallee. Yup, the big name illustrator of Mama, Do You Love Me? fame. Chérie knew the odds were against it happening, 
but with nothing to lose, she suggested the possibility to her editor, and lo, whaddayaknow, Barbara Lavallee will illustrate Chérie's picture book due out from Sasquatch Press in 2010.
_
Chérie, I celebrate your Joy of Getting a Skookum Editor.
_
By: Fiona Bayrock,
on 6/3/2008
Blog: Fiona Bayrock: Books and 'Rocks (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Publishing process, Publishing biz, Add a tag
_
As I explained yesterday, I'm devoting this week to celebrating the "Woohoo!" jump-for-joy moments recently experienced by the writing folks in my life.
Today, I celebrate the Joy of Being Finished.
After weeks and months of writing and rewriting draft after draft, one of the sweetest moments in every writing project is when you know---really know with every fibre of your being---that
IT. __IS. __FINISHED.
My friend, historical fiction author Karen Autio, has just finished and turned in the manuscript of her second "Saara" novel. In Karen's first novel, Second Watch (Sono Nis Press, 2005), Saara's dreams of traveling by ship to Finland don't play out quite as planned when she and her family book passage on what turns out to be the ill-fated 1914 voyage of the Empress of Ireland---Canada's worst maritime disaster during peacetime. With rich characters experiencing such tension and adventure, Karen certainly set the bar high with this one---a hard act to follow! I can't wait to read Saara's Passage due out from Sono Nis, Fall 2008.
It's well known in the biz that one's second book is the hardest to write, so getting to the finish on this one deserves special celebration.
Karen, I celebrate your Joy of Being Finished.
_
By: Fiona Bayrock,
on 6/2/2008
Blog: Fiona Bayrock: Books and 'Rocks (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Publishing process, Publishing biz, Add a tag
_
One of the great things about working in the children's writing biz is that I get to know and be friends with some really neat writer and illustrator folks. Sharing their joy and celebrating their successes is such a privilege. . . and such fun.
Aside from the golden ring of publication, every writing journey is filled with milestone moments, each of which deserve celebration. In the last little while, several writers in my life have gone through "Woohoo!" jump-for-joy times in their writing journeys, so I want to spend some time acknowledging these important events. Every day this week, I'm going to "celebrate the joy" of some aspect of the writing journey.
Today, I celebrate the Joy of Writing.
My friend, Loree Griffin Burns, is in the middle of writing The Hive Detectives, her next Scientists in the Field book for Houghton Mifflin. Check out her blog for the last month. The joy she expresses about her writing process is almost palpable. It is my wish that every writer eperience the degree of pleasure and glee that Loree feels as she gets up to her elbows (sometimes literally!) in research and writing. Sure, writing is hard work, but when it's fueled by passion, and it's fun, and the words pour onto the page. . . well. . . it's a beautiful thing to be celebrated.
Loree, I celebrate your Joy of Writing.
_
By: Laurie Halse Anderson,
on 4/25/2008
Blog: Mad Woman in the Forest (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: awards, dog, authors, publishing process, twisted, independent dames, Add a tag
Don't know about where you live, but this morning is one of the most beautiful we've had in a while. When the Creature With Fangs and I stepped outside, she looked around and said "Dang! Why can't it be like this all the time?"
So, basking in natural goodness, I make Five Friday Announcements:
1. TWISTED has been chosen as a YALSA Teens' Top Ten nominee. The list of nominees is stellar; be sure to go through it. Teens who read titles on the list get to vote for their favorites during Teen Read Week, October 12-18, 2008.
2. In related news, the paperback version of TWISTED goes on sale in 20 days! I'll be celebrating it at the river's end bookstore in Oswego, NY on May 15th, 6pm. TWISTED has also apparently been released in England. I found the cover on the Amazon.UK website. You'd think they'd let the author know about these things, wouldn't you?
3. Speaking of new releases, we're about five weeks away from the release of INDEPENDENT DAMES: What You Never Knew About the Women and Girls of the American Revolution. It's illustrated by Matt Faulkner, who did the great art for THANK YOU, SARAH, and I am so excited about it I keep skipping, which amuses the dog.
4. Harold Underdown (author of the very important and useful COMPLETE IDIOT"S GUIDE TO PUBLISHING CHILDREN'S BOOKS) has posted an extremely good page about getting an agent or artist's representative. If you are thinking that it's time, go to this part of his website before you do anything else.
5. Susane Colasanti ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
windowlight has great photos from Viking's 75th birthday party. ETA - Publisher's Weekly noted the party, too! Note to Uncle Viking: I have my calendar out: what's the date for the 100th?
This weekend I'm researching and running and working in the garden. What are you going to do?
By: Fiona Bayrock,
on 4/8/2008
Blog: Fiona Bayrock: Books and 'Rocks (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Publishing process, Bubble Homes and Fish Farts, Add a tag
_
Okay, so yesterday I finally succumbed and signed up for Google Alerts for my name and book title. It had always seemed like just one more internet email thing to keep track of, so I'd been dragging my feet.
Well, today the first alerts arrived. No surprises in the alerts for my name, but lo, something other than my website came up for Bubble Homes and Fish Farts (Charlesbridge 2009).
AMAZON.COM!!!
Bubble Homes and Fish Farts is on Amazon! Just the title and author name...no cover pic or details yet, but it's THERE!!!
Oh! Oh! Oh! It's coming! It's coming! It really is.
Can you see me chair dancing?
_
By: Fiona Bayrock,
on 2/4/2008
Blog: Fiona Bayrock: Books and 'Rocks (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Publishing process, Nonfiction Monday, Nonfiction, Writing process, Publishing process, Nonfiction Monday, Add a tag
_
Happy Nonfiction Monday!
Interested in online resources about writing nonfiction for kids? Then this post is for you!
When I first started writing with a view to publication, I crawled the internet looking for online resources -- interviews, how-to articles, authors and editors talking about their processes, etc. It was time consuming, but I found some real gems, so it was worth it.
Surprisingly, no one had created a central list o'links for children's nonfiction writers, so once I had amassed a nice little URL collection, I organized it into categories and created one. "On Writing Nonfiction for Kids" was born. Since posting it on my website several years ago, the feedback I've received has been amazing. I continue to add URLs several times a year.
This weekend, I gave the list its annual checkup. As of yesterday, all links are live, dead links have been updated, and I've added ten, count 'em, TEN new links to articles on writing biographies and science, research, breaking in, and how-do-they-do-it peeks into the work of children's nonfiction writers such as Catherine Thimmesh, Tanya Lee Stone, Seymour Simon, Steve Jenkins, Peter Sis, and Gail Gibbons, as well as editors from Scholastic magazines and books. All of the new pieces are dated and marked with a NEW! to make them easy to find.
You can find the links here: On Writing Nonfiction for Kids
And if you know of any online resources you think I should add to the list, please let me know.
Do check out the Nonfiction Monday posts on other blogs. Anastasia Suen has the roundup of links on her blog.
_
By: Kelly Herold,
on 3/15/2007
Blog: Crossover (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Jaqueline Wilson, U.K., Add a tag
Jacqueline Wilson is interviewed again, this time by Hannah Pool for the Guardian.
I think one of the reasons Wilson really reaches her audience is her honesty. Take a look at this exchange:
Q: Divorce plays a big part in your books. Does the high divorce rate make you angry?
A: I think it's sad, but then I'm divorced myself.
Love it!
She also has a unique take on the recent UN report that concluded that kids in the U.K. and the US are worse off than children in any other industrialized country:
Q: There have been reports recently that British children are the least happy in Europe. Do we fail our children?
A: I think most parents do take parenthood seriously and try very hard to please their children. I think all of us just want to muddle through the best we can. I wouldn't know where people are going wrong; maybe our teenagers are just a bit more articulate in moaning about their lot in life.
(Okay, I agree with Wilson that maybe parents are not at fault, but I hardly think we can chalk this up to articulate children!)
===========================
Also in the Guardian--another Minister (British) wants boys to read more.
This is very interesting and informative, Jessica. I think the thing that surprises me is that a book would be accepted by an editor when so much revision is required. Does this happen often? Can you go into a little more detail regarding why an editor would provide a deal/accept a manuscript that needs such major overhaul? I assume the deal is contingent upon these changes?
Thanks.
Thank you Jessica,
I've never seen it all laid out like that before. It was helpful and informative.
Jessica,
Do you suggest any edits to the author before it goes to the editor? Do you ever disagree with some of the editors changes or do you let the author and editor work those issues out.
Can I just skip to the part at the end? "A beautiful finished project with a shiny new cover and your name on top"? Sigh....
Would an agent let an editor acquire a book without a clear idea first of how much further work was going to be wanted? I'm surprised that a short letter asking for major changes could come as a nasty surprise - wouldn't one insist on knowing what the editor had in mind before signing the contract?
Since I'd been published with epubs, I thought I knew more about the publishing world than I did, but months went by after I sold my first book to NY w/o a revision letter and I began to panic, wondering how much I'd need to change and how much time I'd have to do it in--then one day, copy edits showed up with only a few minor corrections. I still feel there were things I would love to have fixed in that first book, but since I missed the revision stage altogether, I wasn't able to, and I was too uninformed to realize I actually could have during the copy edit phase. However, once you get page proofs, you're essentially stuck--it was at that point in Wolf Tales where I discovered a character's name had been changed in a succeeding book I'd already written--with a title based on the new name! I was allowed to change the name in the first story to match the later book.
One note--"stet" is your friend. It means to return the correction made by the copy editor to what you originally wrote. I keep saying I'm going to get a stamp made up with that word on it, as copy editors will go through and change stuff that makes absolutely no sense and totally changes the intent of your work. I've had CEs change my slang in dialogue to perfect grammar, and even change body positions during some scenes to things that are anatomically impossible. Sometimes I think the copy edits are like a test to make sure we're paying attention, though I will admit, they've also caught me in some stupid mistakes. The main thing to remember is that it's your name going on the cover, not the copy editors, and it's important to read carefully and make changes clearly.
One thing a NY author informed me about that I didn't know is that edits from NY publishers need a key which explains all the squiggles.
This is invaluable information.
This was such a great blog. I've often wondered what the process is and how each step works, so thank you.
I echo Jennifer about the key to copyediting squiggles. The first time I saw a copyedited manuscript, I almost panicked--I had no idea what all those symbols were! Chicago Manual of Style to the rescue...
I loved my copyeditors...the way I see it, they've kept me from making an idiot of myself in public.
"The next thing you’ll see is a beautiful finished product with a shiny new cover and your name on top."
And a typo on page one that everybody missed.
If you want an example, read the first page of the hardcover of John Sandford's "Winter Prey." It involves 360 degrees, and apparently he kept trying to get it fixed and the copyeditors kept getting it wrong, right through various printings.
It happens, unfortunately.
"and others never give revisions at all."
Boy you said a mouthful there. Based on a lot of the fiction I see these editors are in the majority. Of course, in their defense, many of the books I see are by multi-published authors. I imagine them having "STET" made into a rubber stamp. When they get the revisions, they simply pound the stamp down on the title page, and return it.
Having worked for a newspaper for twenty years, I remember those squiggles well. I haven't seen it in e-publishing, possibly because a lot of editing goes back and forth electronically.
I've had copy editors take out all my italics and I had to manually put them back in, since the electronic version would be the final version. No typesetters in e-pubs, as far as I know.
I have a summer job (sort of an informal paid internship) at a small press, so this is all familiar. I just have one question:
Are page proofs and galleys the same thing? Where I work we only ever call them page proofs, but I've seen other bloggers say "galleys" in what seems to be the same context.
When I was still working (before retirement), I had to handle all of the printing materials that the agency wanted printed. I was the only one allowed to talk to the printer. So my position was that of a clerk shepherding galleys and films back and forth.
All Authors should understand the best times to make changes.
Once the agent sends your manuscript to the editor, you will have limited access to it. And you will have limited opportunities to change it.
Proof Pages and Galleys (as they are sometimes called) are not the time for major changes. By that time, you should only be reading for those pesky little mistakes that creep into the process -- the forgotten line edit, the bad word, the missed punctuation.
One of the reasons for that is that the Proof Pages or Galleys are the work product of a graphic illustrator or typesetter. (All of my publications had graphics and required illustrators rather than straight text typesetters.) Those people are expensive and charge by the hour, or fractional hour. They are worth the money for what they do. You do not want to use their time with changes unless it is necessary. They typeset your pages one by one and they do it by hand.
Most of what they do to make the pages look professional requires them to read your entire novel as black letters on a white page. They balance paragraphs on facing pages, they make sure that paragraphs don't end with a single word, they "break" paragraphs across pages. They align text with pictures. The make TOC and footnotes work. All sorts of things like that.
If you change the pagination, they have to start all over and repeat the original work. That's expensive.
Take the time and effort to do your edits with the agent, the editor and pay attention to copy and line edits. But once you get proofs or galleys, fix the errors and be done with it.
I'm exhausted!
Thanks for the run down!
When do dedications and acknowledgements go in?
julcree asked about acknowledgments and dedications--I generally try to include mine with the original manuscript, but if not, definitely with the returned copy edits. It's really too late by the time you get page proofs--the one time I did that, my dedication got squeezed into a space where it looked squeezed in. Not good!
Dave F.-- great rundown on typesetters! I've had to make some corrections in my page proofs and always felt really guilty about it. Now I'll REALLY feel guilty!
Very nice description. And thank you for that. You are by far and away the best blogger I've read when it comes to giving insight into the agent/publishing business.
Kate you should never feel guilt about fixing a mistake.
I once got a panic call that a 50 page, very expensive report had a MINOR PROBLEM. THE MINOR PROBLEM was that the company it was written about never approved the text and the text had FACTUAL ERRORS.
I caught the printer less than an hour before they pushed the button to print the report. That was close. We paid a small fortune for that mistake.
You couldn't possibly reach that level of "minor" (roll both eyes two or three times, please) mistake.
By what magic, or how much alcohol, does an agent use to sell an editor a manuscript that requires a page one rewrite?
What did the editor like... the Title?
Haste yee back ;-)
By what magic, or how much alcohol, does an agent use to sell an editor a manuscript that requires a page one rewrite?
What did the editor like... the Title?
Haste yee back ;-)
dave, the guilt comes from not finding it during the copy edit phase or before, when those mistakes should be caught. I do my own read through and then send the ms. to my beta readers, up to six different sets of eyes, who look for mistakes. Then I make corrections from their read and send it to my editor. Then the CE gets it after my editor reads it, and I get it back to go over edits. Months later, the page proofs show up--and in my most recent ms. I realized I had a character in a scene when he wasn't even in the same state. ALL of us, at least eight sets of eyes in this case, had missed it. Stuff like that scares the crap out of me, wondering what I DIDN'T catch!
Good information to know!!
Wow! What an incredibly good post. The information in this post and comments by published authors are priceless!
I used to think all those steps happened BEFORE you sold. The more I learn about this business, the more I realize I'm not so much a writer as a revisionist.
Strangely, this only serves to encourage me in my writing. Thanks for the insights.
Great post. I can't wait for the day that I can obsess over this. LOL.
My eyes are bulging (as I'm in the process of two separate revision letters) at the idea that some manuscripts go out without any edits at all. My editors have helped my manuscripts tremendously, and the majority of the work goes in AFTER the contract is signed.
Thanks for another great post!
A great write-up there which was very informative. A really helpful post for future and current authors who are a little confused about what their editor will be doing for them.