These days, manuscripts exist almost exclusively in electronic form. That’s certainly how it works in my case. The first, and I think only, time it is printed out before it becomes a book is when the publisher orders advanced reading copies. Gone are the days when I would print out my drafts and then store them in my refrigerator to keep them safe.

Here are a couple of screen shots of what the copy edited pages look like including my revisions in response. It’s quite easy to make global changes which is important when an author (like myself) spells names six different ways. Copy editors earn their money.

I’m happy to report that I’ve turned in the revised and copy edited manuscript of Of Bone And Thunder. The book weighs in at a hefty 170,000 words, my biggest to date. That said, I could have easily written another 100,000 words, but I think my editor would have put a contract out on my fingers. I love this world. I could definitely write more novels in it, but as planned, Of Bone And Thunder was written as a stand alone book.

Next up will be galley pages later this month. That’s when the manuscript pages are formatted in book form for the first time. It’s also likely when advanced reading copies will be created and the subrights department kick into gear. You really don’t want to send a book out before it’s at least been revised, copy edited, revised and given another light copy edit. Revisions and corrections should be light at this point, but if I do spot anything this is really the last time to do it. Not that you can’t make changes further along in the process, but to do so requires reflowing of pages and becomes increasingly more expensive and cuts into the time line.

In mid July I’ll see the final pass of the galley pages and have a last chance to look the manuscript over, but at that point any change should and will be exceedingly minor. The galley pages will then be converted to printer files and sent to the printer in early August with the book off the presses (meaning it’s been printed, bound, dust jacket applied and put in boxes ready to ship) in early September. The book then will be released from the warehouse in late September and shipped to stores and wholesalers. They in turn will place the book on sale on Tuesday, October 14th.

While all that’s been going on, the cover goes through a similar process although as this one is already fantastic the revisions will be slight. Really, the one major item to deal with will be any potential blurbs that will get added to the cover. The cover prints in early September more or less simultaneously with the book. That then leaves the maps for the interior. They should be done as of now, but um, I’m still working on that 🙂

I’ll talk more about this process in the coming weeks, especially editorial revisions and copy editing. These are two major steps in the publication of a book and ones that aren’t always done in self published titles. I think they’re critical and I appreciate the role “traditional publishing” plays in crafting a book.