In my last Ghosts diary entry, I went through the Edit Letter I’d received from my editor. Since then, there’s been a fair amount of progress but in bits of not-quite-news not-quite worth sharing. But we’re approaching the next big milestone now, so I figured I’d share a wee update and talk about all these mini-things that happen in between developmental edits and production.
So a timeline of things:
End of Nov - I did the developmental and line edit I talked about in the last Diary, in one blessedly light edit pass. Sent that back to my editor and she quickly confirmed that it all looked great and was off to copyeditors. Always a relief to know!
Early Jan - I was asked to send in a list of any authors I would like to blurb Ghosts, which I did with slightly too much enthusiasm!
Blurbs, or endorsements, are wee positive quotes from well-known and similar-genre authors which are used to help promote your book. They are often printed on the book itself, but also used extensively in promo and on catalogue sites (either industry ones for booksellers to see, or places like Amazon). Kate McKean over on Agents and Books recently wrote a really good post about these, which served as a timely reminder for me that everyone hates asking for them, so we shouldn’t let that hinder us. And also that their primary value is to booksellers not readers - I find it’s really healthy to define the end goals for unpredictable things like this so you don’t build them up in your mind to be all-consumingly important.
So back to my list - it ranged from good friends who I’m almost kinda certain I could persuade to read it, to stratospherically huge writers, for whom the chances of getting agreement is so infinitesimally small as to be laughable. But if you don’t ask, you don’t get, right?
Mid Jan - I saw an early cover design, and asked for a few tweaks (and discussed the cover design process in some detail in this open post here). I don’t know if I’m getting the one very last small edit I requested, but I’m thinking maybe the clock has run down on that. It’s fine - the cover is stunning & I cannot wait to share it with you all.
Early Feb - Copyedits came through. Again they were really light, the copyeditor had been super considerate of my ‘voice’ and edited in line with that, which is always so appreciated. In fact they only took about an hour to get through, so I grabbed the chance for a whole-book kindle read, which caught a few more small things (mainly the ‘that’s which have bred since I last checked the manuscript).
Mid Feb - Copyedits have been approved by my editor & sent to be ‘flowed in’ for formatting and all the magic that turns a Word doc into something that looks like a book. This is the point where I once again had to frantically write a Dedication and Acknowledgements, and now live in fear of having forgotten someone essential. I’ve started keeping a document of anyone who helps with ongoing projects to minimise this last minute fear, but it’s not infallible. Books take a long time, a lot of people pass shining through their atmospheres and away again, so risk having their contributions overlooked years later. Which is something no author wants to be guilty of.
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