What comes after the first draft and all the steps you’ve taken in the ensuing months? And, even more importantly, how long before you can publish your book?
The good news is that before you even receive the physical proof of your book, in fact, even before the copy edit, you can print up uncorrected advance reader copies to send out to reviewers and potential endorsers. (The books would just specify that the manuscript hasn’t been edited yet.) You would also want to create preliminary eBook advance copies.
If you want to try for national rather than just local press coverage and reviews of your book, these advance copies need to go out at least three months before your book release. (Local coverage/reviews only requires you to get the copies out a month ahead of time.) If you opt to send out pre-edit advance reader copies, you probably only need to build in an extra month to the timeline. Otherwise, you will be adding on three months.
Again, let’s look at where we’re at in terms of the timeline:
- Manuscript re-reading: ? weeks
- Completion of revision: ? weeks/months
- Professional line edit: 3-4 weeks
- Dealing with line edit: ? week(s)
- Copy edit: 3-4 weeks
- Proofreading: 2-3 weeks
- Interior page design: 1-2 weeks (assuming the designer doesn’t have other jobs in front of ours)
- Proofs: 3-4 weeks
- Advance reader copies sent out: 1-3 months before publication
Realistically, you’re looking at anywhere from four-and-a-half to seven months, not counting the rewriting you need to do or the time beta readers would need to review the manuscript.
Does Traditional Publishing Make More Sense?
Should you decide that this is more involved and expensive than you’re ready for, you can still try to secure a traditional publisher. You will need to create an agent query letter to try and secure an agent and have a book proposal ready to go should an agent be interested. Finding an agent these days can take months and sometimes not pan out.
Of course, even if you find an agent to represent the book, there’s no guarantee that your manuscript will sell to a publisher. If it does, the publisher will take care of some publishing expenses (like design) and maybe even pay an advance. But you’re probably looking at the book being published a year after its purchase, and months will have already elapsed in the finding an agent and finding a publisher process.
Having It Both Ways
Some publishers do buy self-published books. The assumption used to be that you needed to sell 5,000 copies to attract that kind of interest. Lately, that number seems to have jumped to 10,000.
Marketing
Whether you opt to self-publish or go the traditional route, you’re going to want to market the heck out of this book. Even if you start building your social media platform while you’re cranking out that first draft (a great idea!), that will take plenty of time and effort. If you self-publish, you will want to dive into building up your social media during the period when the advance reader copies are with the potential reviewers and endorsers. So at least that doesn’t impact the timeline.
Reality Check
I know. What you’ve read in the last six posts all represents a lot of time and one heck of a lot of work. Welcome to writing and publishing your manuscript. As always, One Stop Writing Shop and Incubation Press are here if you decide you want any help during the creation, publishing or marketing of your book. Either way, this will be quite a journey. Bon voyage!
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