From Finished to Published: Novels

I have been asked several times how long the publishing process takes and what's involved. Now, my experience is probably different than that of the full-time bestseller authors, and it is naturally different from journalism, nonfiction, and poetry. I have had a few short stories/biographical essays published in my life but I will cover that another day. Still, my hope is that others may find enlightenment in my recounting of the nitty-gritty that happens after you literally or metaphorically write "The End".

1. Trying to find a publisher. The first time I did this it took just under three years, and I got tricked by two scams (more on that in a future entry) on the way, though fortunately I didn't lose anything substantial.

Starting at age fifteen, this involved looking up possible publishers, agents, and manuscript (ms) contests by myself, getting chapters or even the whole ms printed - formatted according to guidelines - and stuffed into envelopes that themselves had a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) each so I'd get replies and returned mss, writing cover letters tailored for each publisher, and then waiting.

As mentioned in the dedication of Halloween Romance, my parents were good enough to pay for postage. Very few publishers accept electronic submissions. Eternal Press does.

Now that I am an Eternal Press author I must wait three months after my previous book has been published in order for me to submit a new one. The acquisitions editor hangs onto either the whole ms or the first three chapters, depending on length, for about a month as she goes through her immense stack of submissions (hundreds competing for just over a half-dozen spots a release day) and ponders not only whether she thinks my novel will sell, but whether I am an easy-to-work-with author full of promotional fizz and can-do spirit.


2. Yes, after all that, this is merely Step 2, unless you go the Zeno's Arrow route and subdivide the steps until you have a score of them. This is the signing of a contract, yippee! And a tax form! YAY! I don't object except as a token joke, though, because among other things taxes pay my father's salary and makes college affordable for me.

Since most EP family members never physically meet, I print two copies of each form out and sign them all. I mail them to EP headquarters where all four get signed, then two get mailed back to me.

I also fill out a form and e-mail it to a senior editor concerning vague ideas of what the cover should look like - Amanda Kelsey does a splendid job on mine; I'd love to meet her someday - what should be on the back, what should be the sample passage, to whom I dedicate this book, and other things of that ilk.


3. Editing, Round 1. My first three novels were fortunate enough to be edited by my fairy godmother, Austrialian novelist/editor/ms assessor/children's book author/poet/otherwise writing-related entrepreneur Sally Odgers. I consider her my fairy godmother because she took me under her guidance at Fanstory.com and provided tons of free help and advice simply because she liked my work. She is also the godmother to the Laconia series I've birthed, with a devotion to them that I am perpetually amazed by from someone so experienced in beginner's books.

This takes two or three weeks.


4. Editing Round 2: Electric Boogaloo. I go through it and find things she missed. I send to back to her.


5. Proofreading: The Return of the Editing. A third woman goes over it and finds things both of us missed. This takes another two or three weeks.


6. The Errata: The Editing's Revenge. I go through the whole ms with a fine-toothed comb and copy and past each typo-ed sentence onto a document, writing the corrected sentence underneath. I exhaustively labor through this for about a week, sometimes two if my classes are giving me a lot of work at the moment. Around this time I find out what the cover looks like.


7. PDF Mark I: Editing Strikes Back. I get sent the first PDF version of the book and go through the whole thing looking for formatting errors. It's too late to fix any other kind. I invariably find one or two mistakes I can no longer correct.


8. Final PDF: Countdown to Launch Day. I have a PDF I can give out up to 10 times as prizes or for reviews. Now it's time to go into heavy-duty promotion, an entirely different container of annelids.


9. Notice that there are still errors. Become unable to read my own book for what Sally says will probably be ten years. Sigh. Wait for reviews.


The funny thing is, I love every minute of the aggravation. I imagine happy parents feel the same way.