This week JJ and Kelly go on for WAY too long about the publishing process. What happens after you turn in your manuscript? How does your novel go from your brain to a physical product you put on bookshelves? There is an entire part of publishing called PRODUCTION that doesn’t often get discussed, and we try and de-mystify that process for you.
Show Notes
No real show notes this week, but we have a few posts on PubCrawl on the between-book-and-bookstore part of publishing.
All About Pass Pages by Julie Eshbaugh
After the Editorial Letter: A Peek at Pass Pages & Beyond by Erin Bowman
Behind The Scenes: How Copy Edits Work by Amie Kaufman
The TL;DL version:
Structural/developmental edits are not the same thing as copyedits.
The start of the production part of publication is called transmittal.
Copyeditors note grammatical errors, suggest changes for clarity, point out internal inconsistencies, etc. You do not have to accept all copyedit changes; you mark STET by the suggested change to keep your original text.
The copyedited text gets designed and produces first pass pages. ARCs or galleys are generated from first pass pages.
During the production process, covers get designed.
Around the same time the manuscript gets transmitted, the editor presents the title to the sales and marketing teams during launch. Publishers schedule books for a season (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall), and each season has a separate launch.
Spring/Summer books tend to have a "beachy" or "vacation" read feel to them, and are generally very commercial in plot and pacing.
Fall is usually when publishers schedule their "big" books or lead titles.
Winter can be a great time to be published because you're not competing against all the other books. Winter books also don't have a time element attached to them.
Creative Endeavors
JJ is (not very faithfully) working her way through Inktober in addition to drafting her middle grade.
Books Discussed
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Off-Menu Recommendations
That’s it for this week! Next week, we will be discussing PUBLICATION & BEYOND. As always, if you have any questions or comments, sound off in the comments, or ask us on Tumblr!
4. Publishing 101: From Brain To Bookstore