Deborah Cooke: Author

Yesterday, I talked about the production cycle for a print book. Because we’re reviewing how to schedule your time, today we’ll talk about some implications from that production cycle – and its demands upon writers.

Bear in mind that the chance to review the manuscript at each phase is a good, good thing. You just need to ensure that you have the time to do it. When you sell work on proposal, you must provide delivery dates to the publishing house for the books. You need to make those dates, which means your obligations to the house – and the time you will require to fulfil them – have to be factored into your calculation. The time required to do some of those steps are reasonably easy to anticipate; others less so. Either way, there’s a squish factor to add into your schedule.

Let’s break it down and see if we can quantify our squish factor, or at least narrow it down.

1/ Revisions

The biggest variable is with revisions. As an author, you can’t entirely plan for them. They might be huge, or they might not be. They might be minor, or they might be insidious and time consuming. It might not be clear to you what the editor means, or what exactly you need to do to address her concerns, which means you have another variable of Think Time and problem-solving. You might not agree with her, which means more discussion and Think Time.

Generally speaking, it is easier to anticipate revisions after you have an established relationship with a given editor. You will have a sense of what kinds of things are issues for her, and you will have developed a working relationship. You will have improved your communications with her, and you will both have a better understanding of what is intended and whether or not the book fulfils that expectation.

So, I would allocate a more generous window for revisions on a new book in a new series with a new editor. And I would decrease that window with each subsequent book, say by 25%. How exactly would that play out?

Example – you have a new deal with a new editor on a new series, and the book(s) sold on proposal. The first book is due January 1. On your calendar, in which you are plotting out the writing and delivery of book two, make a line on February 15. This is likely when you will hear back from the editor on the Delivery & Acceptance of the manuscript. If there are revisions, you will get them at this point in time. Allocate the time until March 15 for revisions. This gives you a window to make those changes. You might not need that time, as there might not be revisions, but then you can deliver book #2 early and be a hero. Even if there are revisions and you’ve blocked off this time, you’ll deliver book #2 on time, and still be a hero. If the revisions come a couple of weeks earlier or later, you’ll still have the time allocated and be able to gracefully manage them.

Continuing with the plan, if the second book is due September 1, again, block off a period beginning October 15 for revisions. It stands to reason that you’ll nail whatever big issues shook out on book #1 and that changes on book #2 will be smaller. Block off until November 7 for revisions. Again, you can deliver early if there are none.

If you sold a multiple book deal based on the first manuscript being complete, then use this projection for the subsequent books on the deal, which will have been sold on proposal. Chances are good that you’ll need to do the revisions on the first book to make the sale in the first place, so that will give you a better sense of how much time you’ll want to allocate.

When/if you come back to the table for a new deal, you will have a much better idea of how involved the revision process is with this series and this editor, and can adjust your scheduled deliveries as a result. Although authors do set their own deadlines, the main thing is that you need to meet them.

It is always always always better to deliver early than late.

2/ Copy Edit and Line Edit

Reviewing the line and copy edit is a case of reading through the manuscript with care. It’s a good idea to read the line edit a couple of times, to make sure you don’t miss anything. I also like to use post-it notes (yes, any excuse for office supplies) on a physical manuscript that has been copyedited. This flags areas that need more review, or items I need to look up.

It takes me a maximum of two days to review a physical line edit. Even if it seems clean after the first day of working on it, I leave it overnight in case I think of something else, or a better way to clarify something. I’ve been known to do them on the weekend to avoid breaking my work schedule on a current project.

Working with a digital copy edit is a little different. You can make digital notes or comments on the manuscript as you go, but I find it easy to overlook them. (And yes, I’m sure there are virtual post-it note applications, too.) I generally keep notes on a pad of paper, with page numbers, so I can look things up. For me, a digital copy edit takes longer – I need to step away from the computer screen after a couple of hours to give my eyeballs a break. I allow three days for a digital copy edit, or the weekend plus one weekday if I’m on deadline.

3/ Page Proofs

Page proofs should be comparatively quick. If you think about it, by this point in time, the potential errors in the text should be getting smaller in scope. You should be down to typos and minor issues. The continuity issues are always the evasive ones, and I’m convinced that there are gremlins busily creating new typos until the book is actually printed (there’s always one that makes it through the process!) but I typically read page proofs in one or two days.

It helps that they’re still physical pages. The eyeballs appreciate that!

There are some writers who like to have someone else look at either the copy edit or the page proofs. I know one author, for example, who is married to an English teacher. He reads her page proofs for her, because he’s better at spotting typos than she is. I’m enough of a control freak that even if I did that, I’d read them myself too. If a strategy like that is your choice, you’ll need to allocate time effectively.

4/ Summary

So, that’s an idea of how to deal with the obligations of the production cycle.

Bear in mind, as well, that we’re not addressing the thousands of other things authors do – besides writing. You will need to read your contract. You may need to ask questions about its clauses, to ensure that you understand it. You will need to write synopses for books sold on proposal – it’s typical that you only write the synopsis for the first one and a mere sketch for the subsequent ones. At some point in time, you’ll have to flesh out the sketch. You will be asked for input on cover art. You may be asked to weigh in on cover copy. You may seek out review quotes from other authors. You will have your own promotion to decide upon, arrange and do. Be sure to leave some buffer time for those issues and concerns.

But, maybe you have a better idea of how to calculate your projected delivery dates, as a result of this breakdown. The thing is, though, that there’s a big assumption buried in my overview – I’m assuming that you know how to revise effectively. That’s the only way you’ll be able to do whatever needs doing – even if it means rewriting the entire book manuscript – in the four weeks allotted to that task.

And many, many authors have trouble revising, or at least revising effectively. Let’s talk next week about strategies for making revisions. I have some other posts queued up, so we’ll have this discussion on Wednesday.