How, exactly, does a book get accepted? And what happens after that? These two questions are vitally important to understand if you want to make a living as a novelist.
When I first started out the entire process was a bit of a mystery to me and it is something that comes up time and time again whenever I teach a workshop or make a convention appearance.
So, as part of the launch of Rock Your Writing Career, I thought I'd give a short primer on the steps from proposal to publication.
Step One: Submission You've polished the novel proposal as best you're able.
If you're a first time author you already have a completed manuscript ready to go the moment an editor or agent requests it.
If you've been previously published (and no, self-publishing doesn't count unless you've sold several thousand copies) you've only written the proposal and a few sample chapters to accompany it, but that's enough.
Now it's time to do your research, pick the best targets, and send out those submissions.
Step Two: Editor Review Your proposal package has landed on your targeted editor's desk and they've read enough to know they want to read more.
It is at this point that the first time author receives a request for the complete manuscript.
If you've got a proven track record, the decision on whether or not to publish your manuscript depends on the contents of your proposal and whatever information the editor can dig up regarding your past sales.
At some point the editor does one of two things - either reject your submission or let you know that they are ready to take it to the next step.
Step Three: Editorial Meeting Gone are the days when a single editor at a major publishing house was allowed to decide whether or not a book got published.
Now, it all comes down to committee.
The editor who has decided to champion your manuscript/proposal brings it to the next editorial meeting (schedules vary, but they usually take place on a regular basis, say every two weeks or once a month.
)At the meeting are the publisher, other editors (all carrying the manuscripts/proposals that they intend to champion), representatives from sales and marketing, and sometimes someone from the art department.
Each editor is given the chance to pitch their respective titles to the group.
Discussion (and some would say hilarity) ensue and decisions are made.
Good books get turned down all the time for a variety of reasons - the group doesn't like the book as much as the individual editor goes, sales says they can't sell it, marketing says they can't market it, the company just published something similar, they only have X number of slots and they choose another title over yours - the reasons are endless.
If you've made it this far, your manuscript/proposal is obviously up to snuff, so a reject at this point simply means that your work wasn't right for that house at that time.
Step Four: Contract Negotiation and Acceptance It's your lucky day and the editorial board votes unanimously to publish your book.
Your champion is about to become your editor; there's just one more step before that becomes official.
A contract.
You or your agent (if you have one) will get a contract that includes the standard publishing terms for that house - things like a suggested advance based on your previous sales or what the Sales department thinks your book will earn, a nice sizable rights grab, and all the other fun stuff stuffed into those twenty some off legal size pages full of nearly incomprehensible terminology.
Did I mention your agent? This is where they earn their keep.
If they are any good, they get you the best possible terms for the most amount of money.
Book deals still fall apart at this stage, so don't go bragging about that sale until the contract is signed (preferably in triplicate.
) Step Five (a): Write that Book Your agent manages to get through all the legal hurdles, you've signed the contract, and you now have an editor.
If you sold the book on the basis of just a proposal, now you get the joy of actually writing that book, my favorite part of the process (short of cashing the checks, that is!) Once you are done, you move onto Step Five b.
Step Five (b)Editorial Letter/Review If you sold the book based on a completed manuscript, it's now time for your editor to go through it with a fine tooth comb.
Of course, that editor is also responsible for quite a few other authors, so they only have so much time for you and your book, but the good ones will read through your manuscript with a critical eye, making notes and suggestions about how it can be improved prior to publication.
You'll receive all this in either a separate letter or part of a redlined manuscript and it's your job to work with your editor to decide what you are going to change, what you are going to tweek, and what you are going to ignore.
Step Six: Revisions This is where you do the hard work of dealing with all those things you've agreed to change, be they straight rewrites or simple additions/subtractions from the manuscript.
Once you are done you send the revised manuscript back to your editor and wait for either another round of revision requests or word that it's been accepted as is.
For the purposes of our little timeline we'll assume that things went well, your editor is happy with your hard work and it is time to move forward.
Step Seven: Copy Edits Your editor will turn your manuscript over to either an in-house or freelance copy editor and it is their job to thoroughly vet the manuscript for in-house preferences with regard to spelling and grammar, consistency of details, and all the other thousand little things you might have missed in that final pass.
I once had a scene were three characters went up to the second floor of a house and came down from the third and that error managed to get by myself, my first readers, my agent, my editor and was only caught once it reached the copy editor.
When the copy editor is done they will send you back a hardcopy covered in notes and it is your responsibility to either make the changes as suggested or send them back with a "stet" notation to leave them alone.
Step Eight: Galley Review Several months before the actual publication date, publishers will send out bound copies of the finished manuscript (called galleys or advanced reading copies) to reviewers to pump up excitement about the pending release.
Before that can happen, the author has to review the galley to be certain all of the changes indicated in the copy-editing process have been put in place.
This is your last chance to correct things like misspellings, grammatical errors, and the like.
(No chance to rewrite here - you're way past that point now.
) Once you sign off on that galley, the book is all but finished.
All that needs to be done now is the physical printing, binding, and shipping.
Step Nine: Publication