Essential knowledge about scholarly book publishing that every author should have. Get weekly tips on writing and publishing your scholarly book from developmental editor and publishing consultant Laura Portwood-Stacer, PhD.
After you "finish" your book
Published about 1 month ago • 6 min read
The Manuscript Works Newsletter
Essential knowledge on scholarly book publishing that every author should have
Hello Manuscript Workers!
In this month's author interview, I was reminded that the period between submitting your final manuscript to your publisher and the actual publication date of your book can be a bit of a black box for writers, especially first-time authors. Since my own book, Make Your Manuscript Work, is releasing next week, I thought I'd take some time today to fill you in on the work I've done on this book over the past nine months or so, even after I had a "finished" draft in hand. Every book and author has a different experience, but I'll share mine in case it helps you get a loose sense of what might be waiting for you on the other side of that "final" manuscript file.
Author copies hanging out in my office, ready to be sent as thank-you gifts to my beta readers
November 14-16, 2024: I gave my "finished" manuscript one last read-through—out loud—to make final line edits. Time spent: 15 hours.
November 18-22, 2024: Once the text was finalized, I had to clean up my files and get them in shape for submission according to my publisher's guidelines. This included filling out the copyright information form required by my publisher. I had no need to seek permissions for anything in my book, so this part went quickly. It could take a lot longer depending on what you're writing about and how much copyrighted material you hope to include in your manuscript. Time spent: 5 hours.
November 23, 2024: Submitted my files to my publisher.
December 3, 2024: I was given an author questionnaire by my publisher's marketing and sales department and asked to complete it by January 9th. The questionnaire asked for:
all my contact info
CV-type info like my educational and professional history, including previous publications
keywords and chapter summaries for my book (updated from the proposal stage);
summaries of comparable books (also updated from the proposal stage)
a description of my intended audiences
contact info for individuals and organizations that might be interested in purchasing or reviewing the book
conferences, publications, podcasts, and other venues where the book might be promoted
bookstores located near me and the locations of any professional travel I'm planning
a list of potential endorsers
prizes to submit the book for
Every publisher has their own version of this questionnaire so you might not have to provide identical information, but do anticipate that it will take time to gather all of it. I was given over a month to complete my questionnaire because my press was closed at the end of December, but a typical turnaround time could be more like three weeks. Time spent: 5 hours.
January 7, 2025: I received the redrawn diagrams that my publisher had generated based on the mock-ups I'd submitted with my manuscript and was asked to supply any comments or changes within two weeks. I did redo some of the images with higher quality source material. Time spent: 2 hours.
January 10, 2025: I received the copyedited text of my manuscript and was asked to respond to the production editor within about three weeks. I looked at the copyeditor's notes on each chapter file and made the needed corrections. I then had my computer read the files to me to catch any lingering issues, such as word transpositions or the same word repeated within the text too closely to the previous instance. I also finalized my acknowledgments before sending the files back to the production editor. I was not in direct contact with my copyeditor this time (though I was with my previous book). Time spent: 18 hours.
January 13, 2025: I received the copy intended for the back cover of the book and the publisher's catalog and was asked to respond within a week. I had no changes to suggest so I was able to review and approve this copy immediately.
January 27, 2025: My editor informed me that he had officially "launched" my book at the press, meaning that he had shared it with his colleagues as a forthcoming title for the Fall 2025 season. This set the wheels in motion for marketing, promotion, publicity, and sales. My editor and I briefly discussed a change in the book's title to invite a broader readership, including nonacademic nonfiction writers, but we decided to keep the focus on the scholarly readership (hence the subtitle "A Guide to Developmental Editing for Scholarly Writers").
January 31, 2025: The book's webpage went live on the publisher's site.
February 6, 2025: I received a sample of typeset proofs of the most image- and table-heavy chapter of the book with a request for feedback to the production editor. I reviewed the file and sent notes back. Time spent: 1 hour.
February 24, 2025: I received typeset proofs of the full manuscript and was asked to respond within three weeks. I proofread the file, marked my corrections, and wrote up comments about my requested changes. Typically, significant changes should not be made at this point in the process, but I had some concerns about the placement of the tables in one of the chapters. I had a little bit of back and forth with the production editor and we ended up with a workable solution, which involved me converting some of the tables to bullet point lists that were easier to place in the run of the text. Our solution meant that the proofs wouldn't need to be repaginated, which would have been a problem at that late stage. Time spent: 5 hours.
March 17, 2025: I received the index from the production editor (my publisher arranged for indexing, though often authors have to do this themselves) and was asked to respond with comments within two days. I returned my corrections and suggestions the next day, and was furnished with an updated version a day after that. Time spent: 2 hours.
March 24, 2025: I received the final typeset proofs with index and all corrections integrated and was asked to do a final check. Time spent: 1 hour.
As you can see, there was a lot to do with the manuscript even after it was ostensibly "done" in early November. The total time I spent was about 54 hours spread across four months. However, the work was not spread out evenly across those months; generally I was given a specific task and a turnaround time of anywhere between a few days and a few weeks.
I didn't mention all the additional time I've spent since March discussing promotion plans with the publisher, writing extra essays to pitch to relevant publications, or arranging podcast interviews and other publicity. In a future newsletter I'll summarize all the promotion work if people are interested in reading about it!
Again, I wouldn't fixate too much on the specifics of my timeline, but I hope it helps to give you a general idea of the type of work you will be asked to do and how long it could take. If you are working with a book publisher already and preparing to submit your final manuscript soon, it's very reasonable to ask your editor if they can share a typical production timeline with you so you'll have some sense of when you'll need to be available for these remaining tasks.
Thanks for reading! Keep scrolling for more resources of scholarly authors...
This newsletter is coming to you from Laura Portwood-Stacer, PhD, professional developmental editor and publishing consultant. I help scholarly writers navigate the book publishing process with more ease and agency.
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Essential knowledge about scholarly book publishing that every author should have. Get weekly tips on writing and publishing your scholarly book from developmental editor and publishing consultant Laura Portwood-Stacer, PhD.