Whoa! People are already asking about our next adventure? Didnt The Sound and the Furry come out fairly recently? Anyway, heres Spence explaining why things seem to take so long between books: Why so much time goes by between when the writer finishes and the book comes out? First, the editor has to read it. Suppose hes on vacation in Phuket? Or what if the editor reads it and says, I like it, but its narrated by a dog? Okay, not too likely on Book #7. But the editor could say, I didnt understand X, Y, Z. You, the writer, read the relevant parts and suddenly dont understand X, Y, Z, either, although you remember writing them, sort of. So you fix them, and then do a little touching up on V and W. Back to the editor. Much better, says the editor, but did you do something to V? Back to you. Eventually the manuscript is ready for copyediting. Here every time you typed than instead of that is fixed. Also annoying little questions crop up, such as In chapter three its Wednesday. That makes it a Sunday in chapter 18, where you have a school scene, but its Sunday. Back to you. The clock is ticking. Now were going to printer proofs, so design steps in. And the art director gets to work on the cover. Meetings are happening - marketing, publicity, sales, foreign sales, special sales. Someone doesnt show up. Meeting postponed. The head of publicity asks whether this is a writer who can be sent on the road, or will that kill the book, on account of the writers tedious/annoying/aggressive/bizarre personality. A publicist who has met the writer is summoned, reports that the writer is a mumbler and incapable of looking anyone in the eye. The artist hired to do the cover cuts off his ear and a new artist must be found. B&N hates the cover. Back to square one. First and second pass galleys go back and forth, all in need of niggling correction. The race - yes, were racing by now - is on to get bound galleys out to reviewers and bookstore people in time for pre-pub publicity to do some good. A hedge fund buyout happens and your imprint is shut down, and you are assigned a new editor, fresh-faced and working on her GED. The book comes out! Corks pop! You wouldnt trade this for anything, but you wish thered been more time. - Spence
Posted on: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 15:43:31 +0000
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