You finally finished writing that novel or memoir. You spent months, maybe years on it: writing, second-guessing, researching, pulling out your hair, writing some more. Those close to you probably felt like you were taking crazy pills. And then . . . you started editing. Whether it’s on your own or with a professional editor (hopefully both!), many authors find editing even more difficult than writing. By the time you’re done, hell hath no fury like your glare to the next person who talks about “killing your darlings.”
But then you start shopping your manuscript around, and a publisher signs you to their roster. You can already envision your book in your hands a mere . . . 12 months from now.
The publishing process can be difficult to understand. There are dozens of steps and people involved in the process of making your book a reality, and it takes time, money, and lots of patience. And at SparkPress, we think it’s important that you understand the reasoning behind the most important parts of that process. While we can’t say that every publishing imprint’s process is the same as ours—SparkPress combines the most professional processes from traditional publishing with the creative control of self-publishing—this list still includes the main steps your manuscript will go through from start to finish.
Ready for a publishing secret? Your book’s data accounts for probably around 40% of its success. One of the first things you will do after setting your pub date is assist in creating a Tip Sheet, which is a compilation of information about your book, including description, author bio, sales hook, publicity updates, keywords, BISAC codes, competitive titles, marketing bullet points, and more. Ingram uses this information to create the data for your book, so it shows up on places like Amazon and Barnes and Noble months and months before your book is out. It’s also used to kick-start your book’s publicity. At SparkPress, we provide a template that has all the information we need from you early on in your publishing journey.
Ingram usually requires these to be submitted in August for books pubbing in the spring, and in January for books pubbing in the fall—so you can see how far in advance the process begins.
While many authors have their manuscript professionally edited one or more times before submitting to a publisher, sometimes a manuscript needs another round. A book copyeditor will adhere to The Chicago Manual of Style and be informed with commentary on the author’s tone and style and specific areas of the narrative we’d like the copyeditor to pay special attention to. They will also edit for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and logic. After you review the copyedit, your manuscript goes to the proofreader. (If your manuscript did not need a copyedit, it will go straight to the proofreader.) The proofreading process is a word-for-word read.
The process of editing applies not just to your manuscript, but also to your cover. At SparkPress you fill out a Cover Design Memo, which asks thorough questions about the tone, characters, genre, and setting of your manuscript in order to help the cover designer pinpoint an array of potential cover designs. Once we have settled on a cover concept, you will see what are called “cover comps” for your book. When you receive your comps, you provide feedback that will help us with our next step, which is refining and polishing.
Endorsements, or blurbs, are the quotes you’ll generally find on the back cover of a book. The purpose of these blurbs is to make your book more attractive to potential readers by quoting individuals with authority, popular authors, or celebrities who have read your manuscript and would highly recommend it.
As an author, you should reach out to potential blurbers (authors who have written books in your fiction genre, professionals who specialize in a non-fiction topic, etc.) the moment your manuscript is complete in Word format. Your publisher and publicist can also assist you with their connections, but ultimately this is one of the first tests for yourself to market and talk about your book to people.
Once your proofread is complete, your book goes to interior design—and we’re not talking about the new curtain or color scheme kind. Basically, “going to design” means that you book will be formatted into PDF pages, with particular attention to the font, chapter titles, graphics or photo inserts, paragraph breaks, etc. The interior design depends widely on your genre (for example, YA fantasy books will be more whimsical and fun than a Marine’s memoir).
Once you receive these designed pages, you have a chance to provide feedback on the design, and do another few rounds of edits on the manuscript. It’s critical that you print out these pages and spend some time with them. At this stage, you are looking for any errors that might have been missed during copyediting or proofreading.
Once you approve your final designed pages, ARCs (advance reading copies) are created for your book. These are also known as “galleys”, and the goal is to get them around three months prior to your publication date to have within your pre-publicity window. These can be sent out to reviewers, trade publications, and other author friends by you or your publicist in order to get more blurbs and generate buzz.
While you have your ARCS, there are some details that need to be finalized. Your back cover copy (BCC) is important; it not only paints a picture for a potential reader, but should have your most pertinent blurbs, author bio, etc. You should also review the ARC from cover to cover to ensure there are no mistakes and that everything looks exactly as you want it to, and then submit your post ARC corrections to your publisher. You should also take this time to understand any return policies about your book, create a relationship with your local bookstore, and plan your book launch party.
You keep reading words like “PR” and “publicist” in this article for good reason. While a traditional distribution relationship with Ingram gets your book into the marketplace effectively, marketing and publicity are the two forces that will back those efforts and actually drive “sell-through.” Sell-through is different than preorders, in that selling through means that your book is actually being sold through the register, whereas preorders can always be returned, especially through the major accounts.
Many of our SparkPress authors hire BookSparks as their publicist, but there are also others that hire outside publicists. What matters most is that you’re taking your publicity and marketing efforts seriously—it’s the only way to ensure all the effort you put into creating your book is front and center.
It’s time for March Madness and while most of the country is filling out brackets and placing bets, we’re taking a look at the MADNESS of publishing. We’re giving you a play-by-play of all the industry highlights you need to know to stay competitive. Swish!
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