Title Selection Season

Hi Bluestone,
Yes, there are two seasons in book publishing: spring and fall. Usually spring is April to September, and Fall is October to March (some houses vary by a month on either side, but this is generally the breakdown). I would imagine the reason the editor is having angst about delaying decisions on Fall 09 titles is that it only gives her 11 months from negotiating contracts to having final products out the door (fall books are usually pushed for late September/early October releases so they are in bookstores for the Christmas rush. A November book release is too late for Christmas, for example, and very few books are released in December because the selling season pretty much over. And remember that even a "rushed" book usually still takes months to produce). If the book is four-color, it is usually sent overseas for printing, which takes an average of 3 months. So I don't blame the editor for feeling stressed; pushing back acquisitions decisions by even a month pushes all the deadlines that much tighter. If the publisher rejects your book, it's unlikely that you'll be on anyone else's 2009 fall list, but you never know.