Two weeks ago, A BOLT FROM THE BLUE released into the wild. This was a super quick labor – only about thirteen months from conception to birth. Since I am traditionally published (meaning I sell my work to a publishing house, and their team then takes over the editorial timeline and production), this can be a relatively long process.
It’s always fun to see non-writers reactions when I talk a little about the behind the scenes. It’s shocking to discover how many people think you just write a book and put it out there. With the advent of self-publishing, that is certainly possible, but if you’ve read one book that has been released without benefit of an external editor you’ll most likely agree that it isn’t preferable.
With BOLT, I was dealing with a publisher and editing team I have worked with on 5 previous publications, so it was easy for us to press the accelerator.
Here’s pretty much how the timeline played out:
I sent a synopsis to my editor on March 6, 2016, and she submitted it to the team at Lyrical Press.
On April 26, 2016, my editor said, “Yes!” Contract talks began, and I hunkered down at my keyboard to magically transform the synopsis to an actual 60k+ word manuscript.
Typing, typing, typing, typing….
May 9th – I was informed that expected delivery date on BOLT was July 1, 2017 for an April 2017 release.
Typing, typing, typing, typing….
May 23rd – sent the first chapter to the fabulous Julie Evelyn Joyce for critiquing.
Typing, typing, typing, typing….
Also on May 23rd – Publisher requests completion of Cover Art and Publication Information forms. Because I have sold the rights to this book, these forms are my last and only chance to give input on the look of the book and the message conveyed in the cover copy. Most people are surprised to find out I do not have the final say in any of that kind of stuff.
Typing, typing, typing, typing….
On June 13, I received the official contract and signed it. Wooot!
Typing, typing, typing, typing….
Sent the full manuscript for to Julie Evelyn Joyce for wizardry June 15th – she sent it back June 26.
Spent days eradicating excess instances of ‘just’, ‘that’, ‘it,’ and other favorite words from what was a 67k word manuscript.
Delete, delete, delete, delete….
July 1, 2016 – Sent 66k word manuscript to marvelous Marci, my editor at Lyrical Press.
July 5, 2016 A WILL AND A WAY releases – promo ensues.
Received the first round of edits August 7, 2016. She requested an added scene toward the end of the story.
Typing, typing, typing, typing….Send to Julie…Back from Julie…delete, delete, delete, delete….send back to Marci August 14th.
Second round of edits arrived on the 16th. Back to her the 18th.
Another round of edits from the line editor on September 2, 2016. I returned them on the 4th with some notes and questions. Marci shot them right back, and I went at it again.
Manuscript sent to my esteemed editor again on September 7th. She repaid me by sending the whole enchilada back in galley form (proofing for minor corrections only) on the 8th. I passed the hot potato on the 9th, and we put the book to bed.
Then, I ran away to the beach.
September 15th, the cover art fairy visited with this:
I squealed, then got down to writing the first book in the Play Dates series.
Typing, typing, typing, typing….
Typing, typing, typing, typing….
NaNoWriMo starts – more typing, typing, typing, typing….
November 22, 2016 – LOVE & ROCKETS releases. Promo madness ensues.
Typing, typing, typing, typing….
December 1, 2016 – Final formatted digital copies of BOLT landed in my inbox. I cooed over them, checked for any hiccups in the front/back matter. And then, the wait for April 4, 2017 began.
In the weeks around release, authors step out of their caves long enough to do some social media schmoozing and guest blogging (Read & Watch 2017, Just Contemporary Romance, and later this week, Fiction University).
The publishing industry is about as unlike what you see on TV. There’s no publicist, or even publicity budget. We arrange and pay for most of our advertising ourselves. We are not making big money. In fact, most of us make less than a dollar on each book sold.
That’s why we annoy our Facebook friends with incessant reminders that, yes, the book is available now, and yes, we desperately need reviews. That’s the biggest thing readers don’t really know.
We NEED reviews.
Not for ego-gratification, or self-flagellation, but because they allow us to leverage better marketing for our books. Seriously. There are many, many places where we cannot BUY advertising with our own cash money unless we have a certain number of reviews on Amazon or GoodReads. Most of my books do not have even the minimum, so I am BEGGING you. Please consider leaving a review in a public forum.
They don’t have to be essays or even a paragraph. I am not asking you to sing my praises. I just need an honest review on the book itself that says, “I liked/didn’t like this, because XXX”
And that’s one book’s journey to publication in an extremely long and picture-laden nutshell. I think I’ll go have a nap now…
Kidding! Kidding!
I can’t nap…I have 5 more books coming at you in the next year.
Brace yourselves!
