A Quick Overview

A number of people have asked about the process of getting a book published. The short answer is that there is no one particular way in which a book gets published (that’s good news). For example, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon was originally self-published and latter picked up by a major publisher.

However, there are some pretty common steps:

Create an outline:

The outline is usually a quick sketch of the flow of the novel, often written in present tense and often written without reference to chapters. The purpose of an outline is to show a potential publisher (and/or agent) that you have full, complete, (hopefully) marketable idea.

Write sample chapters:

Usually these are the first three chapters of the novel, occasionally, they’re not. The purpose of the sample chapters is to show that you actually can write the novel as outlined.

Obtain an agent:

Nowadays a new writer is rarely read by a publisher unless referred by an agent.

Often the agent will ask for an outline and three chapters. If they like what they see, they’ll ask for the complete work. (If they’re ecstatic, they may just want to shop the outline and sample chapters, but that’s less likely with a new than with an established author).

Find a publisher:

Sometimes you do this on your own (usually with a completed manuscript and outline).

Understand, you don’t really find a publisher, you find an editor at the publishing house who sticks their neck out for your work. And, even with an enthusiastic editor, it doesn’t always happen that an enthusiastic editor manages to convince the publisher to publish the work. (Hint: Keep your editor happy and enthusiastic with you and your work.)

Finish your work (if necessary.)

Your agent will probably have comments and suggestions, take them. You may also want to get early readers to read and make comments on the work. To be successful, your book will need to be readable by lots of people, having lots of people reading it and liking it is a good sign for future sales.

The editor will edit the work and ask for revisions.

Trust me, no matter how much you think you’ve got the book perfect, you haven’t. Listen to your editor. If your a new writer, remember always that your editor has read more books and seen more books published than you have. Unless there’s an incredibly good reason not to act on an editor’s comment, follow every suggestion and query until the editor is satisified. Don’t forget that, once having become enthusiastic about your book, your editor has become another champion for your book’s success.

You revise your work and return it.

Your editor will examine your revisions and accept or reject them.

If your editor doesn’t feel that your revisions solve the issues raised, be sure to work with your editor until the issues are resolved. (Remember, your editor is your champion at the publishing house.)

Your editor will send the revised manuscript to the production department.

The production department is a separate entity from the editorial department. Their job is to get books printed, distributed, and sold.

The production department will send your manuscript to be copy-edited.

Copy-editing is rarely done in-house nowadays. A copy-editor will look for inconsistencies, typographical errors, and to ensure that the book follows house rules (for example, at Random House/Del Rey, the house rule is to always spell “towards” “toward”). House rules change over time as tastes and styles change. The copy-editor may, if you’re very lucky, make suggestions, usually no more than a suggested word change or comment.

The copy-edited manuscript will be sent to you for your revisions/ammendments.

You may decide to reject any suggestions. I’d advise against it. You will probably want to make changes based on what the copy-editor finds (for example: on page 3 you have your hero described as a redhead, yet on page 343 you describe your hero as a brunette, change?)

You return your copy-edited manuscript to the production department.

The production department sends the manuscript out to be typeset. Nowadays a page proof is struck, which is an exact copy of the work to be published.

The production department finds a cover for your work.

The marketing people will have input on what covers sell. Hope they’re right because if they aren’t, no one will blame the bad sales on the cover, they’ll blame it on what’s inside (remember: You can’t judge a book by its cover.)

The production department sends a number of page proofs (or ARCs) to cold readers.

Cold readers are people who have never read this sort of book before. The cold readers may ask questions that no one thought of — you, the editor, the senior editor, the publisher, the copy-editor, or anyone in the production department. These cold readers can be a godsend, so treat any of their queries as priceless.

Copies of the page proofs or ARCs (ARC: Advanced Reading Copy) are sent to book buyers. As they deal with thousands of books, they may not read them directly (I don’t know.) They may have trusted readers who work for them — ones who like mysteries, ones who like horror, ones who like science fiction, ones who like fantasy — and take their advice on a book. At this point orders are made and the publisher gets an idea of how many books to print.

ARCs are also sent to reviewers. Their reviews will have an impact on the book buyers.

Final changes are typeset.

Anything you, your editor, your cold readers, any advanced readers spotted could be corrected at this point.

The final book is published.

The published book is warehoused (if necessary) until the publication date and then shipped to the major book buyers who then distribute them to the book stores and finally, the books get on the shelves.

Where, hopefully, everyone snaps them up and you become the next big name in publishing!