Publication Process Timeframe

usually little over a year.

No. There's quite a range of possibilities, and 15 months is not at all abnormal from what I've seen.

E.G. Gammon said:

In the plot, it's about 15 months (a year and three months). Does that sound TOO long?

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Most of my friends who sold first novels in the past couple years report 18 to 24 months from offer to publication. That's the average. Some take longer.

That sounds more like it than a year. Unless you're talking about some big timely rush project or a small press.

And this is one of publishing's problems. WHY is it taking so long to get these things on shelves?

LOL

Came back to mention that. One of the big draws of small presses and self-publishing...getting to see your work in print while you're still young enough to exploit it.

Thing is, the CAN get a book out a month after Tonya Harding kneecaps Nancy Kerrigan or the ATF shoots up Waco or whatever...so, like you say, why don't they?

15 months is realistic. Definitely not too long.
When my novel comes out, it will be just short of two years since the publisher bought it.

Delhomeboy said:

And this is one of publishing's problems. WHY is it taking so long to get these things on shelves?

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Acquisition.
Editing (possibly several rounds w/ author)
Copyediting
Back to author
Typesetting
Proofreading
Galleys to author
Original artwork
Publicity (including review copies well in advance of publication)
Marketing (preorders from major chains)
Printing
Distribution

James D. Macdonald said:

Acquisition.
Editing (possibly several rounds w/ author)
Copyediting
Back to author
Typesetting
Proofreading
Galleys to author
Original artwork
Publicity (including review copies well in advance of publication)
Marketing (preorders from major chains)
Printing
Distribution

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Couldn't some of these things be consolidated?

Gotta love the Kafkaesque bureaucracy of modern business.

Delhomeboy said:

Couldn't some of these things be consolidated?

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Which ones were you seeing that could be consolidated? They all look pretty separate to me.

blueobsidian said:

Which ones were you seeing that could be consolidated? They all look pretty separate to me.

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I think the post meant some could run concurrently, instead of needing to be done consecutively. There seems little reason why some of the aspects couldn't run at the same time as others.

i.e. Artwork and early publicity/marketing don't need final copyediting or typesetting/proofreading to have finished before they can start?

gdm

E.G. Gammon said:

If it makes a difference, the novel is fiction.

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As opposed to...?

GD Marks said:

I think the post meant some could run concurrently, instead of needing to be done consecutively. There seems little reason why some of the aspects couldn't run at the same time as others.

i.e. Artwork and early publicity/marketing don't need final copyediting or typesetting/proofreading to have finished before they can start?

gdm

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Exactly. Publishing is way too set in their ways. Someone needs to think outside the box a little, and figure out a way to shorten the time span it takes to get books on shelves.

I totally agree! 2 years to get a book out is ridiculous. As someone mentioned, if there is a reason, they can rush out books in a matter of weeks. I think even a year is too long. A few months would be more reasonable.

Delhomeboy said:

Exactly. Publishing is way too set in their ways. Someone needs to think outside the box a little, and figure out a way to shorten the time span it takes to get books on shelves.

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Yes, let's put a substandard product on the shelves.

It takes as long as it takes because an editor has any number of books to edit. They're not sitting around with bated breath waiting on your(a general "you," not you specifically) masterpiece. Same with the copyeditor. Same with the typesetters. Same with marketing. Everyone has a job to do, and they have multiple projects with which they must deal. This is, after all, a business.

If you want something faster, there's always self-publishing.

Empress_Isis said:

I totally agree! 2 years to get a book out is ridiculous. As someone mentioned, if there is a reason, they can rush out books in a matter of weeks. I think even a year is too long. A few months would be more reasonable.

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Call me when you actually get a publishing contract. There will be times when you wish you had MORE time. Between writing that next book and dealing with edits etc., time gets thin on the ground.

Unless a book has massive money-making potential, there is no incentive to rush it to the shelves.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but this IS a business. And I'll hop off my soapbox now.

aadams73 said:

Yes, let's put a substandard product on the shelves.

It takes as long as it takes because an editor has any number of books to edit. They're not sitting around with bated breath waiting on your(a general "you," not you specifically) masterpiece. Same with the copyeditor. Same with the typesetters. Same with marketing. Everyone has a job to do, and they have multiple projects with which they must deal. This is, after all, a business.

If you want something faster, there's always self-publishing.

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Hi aadams,

It seems like you know some stuff (I'm assuming), so do you know if these things are in-house? Are typesetters, copyeditors, marketers all in the same conglomerate? If they are not, then it's tough to see how to speed them up.

But if they are, some people are wondering why isn't this streamlined a little more to allow quicker turnarounds. At a management-efficient level, not on a 'lazy copyeditor' or 'lazy, disinterested editor' should-pull-their-finger-out level. I don't think anybody's knocking individual people here, but only the collective management and structural aspects.

The list UJ posted earlier seemed to have a flow-chart feel to it that one process needed to be done before the next began (I know it's not stated that way, but it looks that way). A long to-do list can be arranged more, or less, efficiently, and that's what some people are questioning.

It may be that 'as it is' is the best that can be done. Especially if some of the stuff listed are outside of house-control.

I'm sure you (or someone) will know how much is in-house. I'd like to know, out of mere curiousity. It wouldn't bother me a single bit if it took 2 years to publish me. Plenty of time to write the next ones.
gdm.

GD Marks said:

some people are wondering why isn't this streamlined a little more to allow quicker turnarounds. At a management-efficient level, not on a 'lazy copyeditor' or 'lazy, disinterested editor' should-pull-their-finger-out level. I don't think anybody's knocking individual people here, but only the collective management and structural aspects.

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It's easy to wonder about and perceive inefficiencies if you're looking at a single book. But no one is looking at, or dealing with, a single book. A given editor might have... hell, a dozen books, in various stages, all on her plate at the same time. She's not sitting around, she's not inefficient, she's totally overwhelmed. As an example, I was supposed to submit a chunk of the new book earlier this year. We talked about it in January, and at that point, my editor had a six day window in April when she had space in her schedule to look at it. Not because she's lazy, because there are other books out there.

Now extend that to multiple editors in a house. And then compress that stream down to the two people who do cover art, which they're doing concurrently, but there's still a crunch.

Then add pre-pub publicity time -- sending out ARCs, getting reps to sell the books, starting buzz... Anything less than about a year strikes me as too short a time, given what I know of how publishing works (and I know it pretty well, on any number of levels).

aadams73 said:

Yes, let's put a substandard product on the shelves.

It takes as long as it takes because an editor has any number of books to edit. They're not sitting around with bated breath waiting on your(a general "you," not you specifically) masterpiece. Same with the copyeditor. Same with the typesetters. Same with marketing. Everyone has a job to do, and they have multiple projects with which they must deal. This is, after all, a business.

If you want something faster, there's always self-publishing.

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I'm sorry, I'm not buying it. I mean, just looking at the list Uncle Jim gave me:

Acquisition.
Editing (possibly several rounds w/ author)
Copyediting
Back to author
Typesetting
Proofreading
Galleys to author
Original artwork
Publicity (including review copies well in advance of publication)
Marketing (preorders from major chains)
Printing
Distribution

The "acquisition" part can't take that long, and if it does, it shouldn't. Editing, obviously, is going to take a good deal of time. A person, as a favor, read over my MS and it took two months. HOWEVER, if said person did this as a profession, eight hours a day five days a week, surely they could get through it, while doing a good job, in a month or so.

Then we have ANOTHER round of editing (the copyediting) part. But, of course, we don't want to put a substandard product out there, so maybe this is necessary. But then there's this "Back to Author" step. Surely, that's not even a step? I mean, it should take 2 seconds to send an MS back to an author. Just stick it to an e-mail and shoot it to me.

Typesetting, obviously, is necessary, but, then, we have ANOTHER round of editing (proofreading), which I don't know if necessary or not. It seems to me, why don't we do all the proofreading, editing, etc. in one multi-month, fell swoop. It will take the longest time but once it's done, we know the book is perfect, and we don't have to keep going back and reading it over again.

Then you have the galleys, but then, and only then, you have the artwork? Why, in God's name, is the artwork not being started when the copyediting is? The book's not going to change THAT much is it? And if it does, shouldn't the author get all up in arms?

Then we have the publicity and marketing, two things that publishing is stuck in the dark ages on to begin with (but that's another thread), but why have they not started the publicity and marketing WAY before this? At least when the the book is typeset.

Of course, there's nothing much you can do about the last two.

Look, I understand it's a business. But it publishing wants to survive the wave of E-book stuff that's swirling around, especially when electronic publishing can skip half these steps, then it has got to speed up and change and evolve or SOMETHING, that gets these books out faster. I'm sure if we can find a way to fit 5000 songs in a device the size of a cracker, I'm certain we can find a way to get a book out in faster than a two year period.

Just to reiterate what others have already said:

I signed in March, my book is due out next July. So, a year and four months. Your time frame is very realistic.

I'm grateful for all that's being done for my book, and all those things take time.

It will be a little more than two years between my contract and my book on the shelf, and it feels just right.

Let's say some steps could be overlapped, to increase efficiency. (I'm not certain something wouldn't be lost by doing so on a massive scale, but maybe it would work just fine.) So what if it could? Do those extra months really frustrate you? Why?

For me, all this cushion of time since signing the contract has been a fantastic luxury. I get to polish my book, assisted by a clever, caring editor. Then, when the book is all pretty, it gets shared with talented people who make it a cover and lay out its text. (Yes, I'm happier that my edits were finished *before* everyone else at the house was offered it to read.) THEN, my whole package, with cover etc., is given to marketing and sales, all my ducks in a row to get them excited. THEN, they can go forth and get bookstores excited.

Why would you want to hurry any of that? I can imagine individual scenarios where timing would be an issue, like an author who is dying or has a loved one who is dying. Or a really timely subject that could lose momentum (in which case it probably will be rushed out, to take advantage of that). But under ordinary circumstances, why would anyone want to undercut any one of those steps?

Gotta love the Kafkaesque bureaucracy of modern business.

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Really? You look at that list of Uncle Jim's and think pointless bureaucracy? I think "thank you, thank you, thank you, publisher, for doing all that hard work to support my book."

They still "typeset" books? Isn't this done electronically now as "book formatting" instead of typesetting? Frankly, in this day and age, that should take half a day. I often wonder why the publishing industry continues its archaic ways while the rest of the world moves technologically forward.