Wednesday, August 5, 2009

A Manuscript Goes Through All of THAT?

Ever wondered what a manuscript goes through before it ends up in the bookstores? Each publisher has its own process. Here's a glimpse (given to me by an editor of a major publishing house) of the GENERAL process from receiving a manuscript to publication:

TIME LINE - 3 MONTHS: Your Manuscript in the Hands of an Editor
  • An Editor reads your manuscript. If it has promise, it's passed to other editors.
  • The question is asked: Does the proposal meet our needs?
Goes to Publishing Board:
  • An Editor assembles the proposal, sample, and author bio.
  • Talks to marketing
  • Prepares sales info
  • Presents the product to board

TIME LINE - 1 to 2 MONTHS: Contract with the Author
  • Set up tentative schedule for production
  • Get costs from production. Stateside or overseas?
  • Get marketing projections
  • Approve the budget
  • Send contract to author

TIME LINE - 7 MONTHS:
Launch the Product
  • Discuss with design the kind of illustrations, format and style
  • Discuss with marketing the best approach for marketing with other books in the line.
  • THE WORK---Complete the following:
1. Approvals for art/title/cover
2. Edits (work with author)
3. Proofreading
4. Corrections
5. Register Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
6. Put in sales catalog
7. Final budget approval
8. Transmit to production


TIME LINE - 5 to 6 months:

Production:
  • Scan the art and put on disc
  • Send all to printer
  • Check color proofs
  • Print and bind book---preview copy is sent to publisher
  • Release book
Promotion:
  • Put final marketing plans in place
  • Print out material for sales representatives
  • Sales conference: Promote next season's products to sales force
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A
verage time line = 18 months. It can take as long as 2 years depending on the publisher. WHEW! What a process. So, if YOUR book has been published, all I can say is
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

1 comment:

Lori Christian said...

Amen to that! Thank you for sharing this info--so many people are in the dark about the entire process and this is sure to let everyone know what to expect!