Writer's Grove

When finished isn’t finished

Last night I finished revisions on SHATTERED. YAY!!! However, that doesn’t mean the book is finished and will be released in a couple months. Far from it!

I never understood the process behind getting a book to the shelf before I went through it myself, and there are still parts of the process I don’t understand because they don’t involve me at all, but maybe I can crack open the blinds a wee bit and shed some metaphorical light on the subject…

SHATTERED has been delivered at this point but not accepted. That means I’m whipping the book into better shape with the guidance of my editors. This could go on for a while and it’s a good thing. You want a well-edited book, believe me. I usually do two to five revisions before a book is accepted and I’ve just finished my first one. So yeah, “finishing” revisions really just means I’ve taken a step forward and we’re not even close to publishing. It takes some time for me to write the revisions, of course, and time for my editors to read ’em and get back to me…you get the idea.

A note on my process as a writer: I always add words in revisions because one of my peculiarities is that I forget to describe people; for me, character is revealed more in actions and words than in what they’re wearing or how their hair looks. I’ve tried to get better at that, but I always forget something and my editors have to go, Kev, is this character MALE or FEMALE and DO THEY HAVE EYES and all that. So there’s always a certain amount of that physical stuff I need to add. But sometimes I have to add entire chapters, chop others, and expand plot elements, etc. This was a pretty significant revision for me. I delivered the book at 91,500 words. The revision I just turned in was 104,898 words. Oh, and I cut about 5,000 at the outset. So I wrote a net 18,400 words for this bad boy. If I don’t cut a whole bunch on the next revision, then this will be my longest book so far (and may get longer depending on the notes I get back on the revision).

So can we publish soon after it gets accepted? Heck no! Next we have copy edits, and that takes a couple of months. Then it goes to typesetting, which is another 3-5 weeks, and then we need time for me to approve galleys and spend sleepless nights worrying about commas. After the galleys are approved and fixed, then it goes to a proofreader or two, and then we’re finished with the text. But that still doesn’t mean we’re ready to publish right away!

The non-writing part of the process is a bit more hazy for me because it’s not really my bag of chips, but I can give you broad outlines. In a way, this part of the business determines the release date of a book more than the date the author completes writing it. Weird, huh? It’s because everybody has budgets and they need to plan how to spend them. I’m not talking just about publishers—I’m talking about bookstores and libraries. The publisher has to allocate resources surrounding the marketing of the book and allow time for reviewers to grab early copies and get some buzz going. They also have a sales team that goes out and tries to get your book on shelves around the country. There’s limited shelf space, after all, and whether your book gets there and how many copies get there is determined by this sales team. And they do this by seasons. They’ll go to a bookstore and say, “Okay, Spiffy Booksellers, here’s what we have coming out in the summer of next year. Please buy a gazillion copies of them all.” The bookstores pick what they want on their shelves in accordance with their budget for next summer, and it’s always less than a gazillion. And the same goes for libraries. They have very tight budgets and can’t buy copies of every book that comes out. But they still need to make plans based on seasonal releases, and once they make those plans, it’s tough for them to shift gears quickly for a sudden release. If my publisher said now, “Hey Spiffy Booksellers, we can have Kevin’s book ready by October,” the bookstores and libraries would be like, WHUT. Sorry, we’ve already allocated our funds for October. We won’t be buying any copies. And then I would be doomed. So that’s why the publishers pick release dates so far out from actual completion of the writing—it’s all about giving everybody enough time to get their financial ducks in a row and give the books their best chance for success. Publicity! Reviews! All the things!

Can the publishers move faster if they really, really have to? Yes. It can be done. It just usually isn’t. The example I’m thinking of is Jim Butcher’s last book, Cold Days. He delivered in September and they got it published in November. That’s super fast. But they already had cover art ready, already had a lot of things prepared, and were able to chug through the editorial process quickly because Jim’s awesome and so is his editor. And it’s not insignificant that Jim’s a sure-fire bestseller, so bookstores were willing to make an exception on the normal lead time for ordering. It’s definitely a rare case. Most of the time you pick the release date even before the book is finished, stick to it so everyone’s accountants are happy, and then count on the book getting done in time.

So: SHATTERED is slated for release next summer. The book will be finished before then, but not ready, if that makes sense. There’s a ton of work to be done to make sure that when the release date arrives and you walk into the bookstore or library to pick up a copy, there will actually be a copy there for you to pick up. :) While I’m sorry you have to wait, keep in mind that we’ve been doing this consistently; I finished HUNTED at this time last year and it just came out in June of this year. Most books operate on that schedule—there are 10 to 12 months in between delivery and appearance on the shelf. While you will occasionally run across books that are rushed to the shelf, the vast majority adhere to this kind of scheduling. Hope that helps you understand why there’s a wait between an author saying “I’m finished with these edit thingies!” to being able to buy it.

Happy reading in the meantime, and thanks very much for the kind words regarding HUNTED. Glad you guys liked it!