The editorial and publication process

by Arlene Prunkl, freelance editor

"If you're a writer, a real writer, you're a descendent of those medieval storytellers who used to go into the square of a town and spread a little mat on the ground and sit on it and beat on a bowl and say, 'If you give me a copper coin I will tell you a golden tale.'"
—Robertson Davies, The Paris Review, Spring 1989

Getting your story to market through the traditional route—not by beating on a bowl, that is, but with the support of a known publishing house—can take years. Most writers are agonizingly aware of the miserable odds of getting their work accepted by a publisher; even the biggest publishing houses may only accept several dozen manuscripts a year for publication. And that's out of hundreds, if not thousands, of submissions.

If you've read this far, then you're clearly familiar with those frustrating odds. And even if your manuscript is accepted, a traditional publisher's schedule for a straightforward, well-written MS with no tables or artwork ranges from six to nine months or more. What you may not know is how much simpler and faster it is, through self-publishing, for you to control your book's publication schedule.

If you decide to self-publish, you will avoid the lengthy submission, review and acquisition processes required by mainstream publishers, whose artistic, economic and even political considerations can affect the acceptance or rejection of your manuscript. Once you've selected your own editor and designer, your book could be ready for press within six weeks! But perhaps most rewarding will be your complete artistic control over your work.

Following are the basic editorial and production steps in the self-publication process. Some or all of these steps may apply to you, depending on the nature of your work:

• Your manuscript is completed to your satisfaction, and you've chosen an editor and designer.
• You work with your editor to determine the type of editing required: structural, stylistic, copy, or perhaps simply a proofread. Copyediting is most often requested.
• Manuscript editing is completed by the editor. This will usually take two to four weeks, depending on complexity. Additional time will be needed for mailed in (non-electronic) submissions.
• At the same time, you work with a designer to create your interior page design, and determine other aesthetic elements, such as a publishing logo.
• Working with your ideas, your designer can also help you create an appealing cover design.
• The edited manuscript is returned to you; changes are approved and incorporated.
• The interior pages are typeset by the designer, and page proofs are prepared.
• Your editor proofreads the proofs, and checks for any remaining errors, inconsistencies and layout problems.
• The proofread proofs are reviewed and approved by you.
• Your designer inputs the changes to the proofs, then sends you a mock-up of your book for your final approval.
• Your clearly written and professionally designed publication is ready to go to print!