Publisher seems to be taking too long

cinders23 · Nov 10, 2006

A small press publisher accepted a juvenile story of mine about 14 months ago and still has not published it. This story was not a story that I'm seriously attached to. I consider it one of my lesser works and I usually don't even write junvenile stories, so I'm not that attached to the work.

Anyway....I signed a contract for 3 years, but is the publisher just allowed to keep it for 3 years and do nothing with it? This was the first contract I ever signed so I was inexperienced at the time.

My main question is...how long does it take a book to be published once it has been accepted? She told me a couple weeks ago the art work is done, but I'm not inclined to believe it because she has made it sound like it would be done soon before. The editor has gone over the story once and that's basically all that has been done. Other than this nothing else has been done.

Thanks,

Cindy

johnzakour · Nov 10, 2006

Hi Cindy,

Time varies between publishers, but three years is a long time. Normally I hand a book in on March or April and it's on book shelves by December.

Have you seen galleys yet? This is always a good sign that the book is near final delivery.

Thing is, if your contract said three years then they do have three years. I would hope that would be a worst case scenario though.

You might want to consider letting an agent handle your contracts in the future. Agents live for stuff like this.

John Z

BTW: I don't think I could ever sell a story that I'm not "seriously attached to." Once I put a story out for the public to see, for better or for worse I can't help but to become very attached to it.

Nickie · Nov 10, 2006

I own a small publishing company, but I stipulate in my contracts that a book shall be published within 10 months. That is a reasonable time-schedule, I think. At first I only needed 6 months, but due to the increasing amount of submssions, I need to make it longer. But even so, I would certainly never extend it beyond one year!

Nickie

PeeDee · Nov 10, 2006

johnzakour said:
BTW: I don't think I could ever sell a story that I'm not "seriously attached to." Once I put a story out for the public to see, for better or for worse I can't help but to become very attached to it.

Weirdly enough, I'm kind of the other way around. By the time a story 'o mine gets out into the public eye, I've gotten kind of detached from it. If I were higher-handed than I am, I would say that it "belongs to the people," but I suppose the reality is, I'm just on to the next project.

Which is awkward when my wife or family gets giddy over its publication and while I'm just pleased, I'm not that excited anymore. I'm already somewhere else.

johnzakour · Nov 10, 2006

I wish I could be more deattached from my stories! I guess I'm just an overprotective parent.

PeeDee · Nov 10, 2006

Being detached certainly makes it easier when you go into the bookstore, flip open something of yours, and Find The Mistake that you missed every other time you stared at the text......

cinders23 · Nov 10, 2006

Thanks everyone,

I think the reason I'm not so attached to the story anymore is that I've written 1 and 1/2 novels since and I've had some distance from it. Plus it's shorter (being for 12 to 16 year olds). Anyway if someone is going to publish it I would like to see it get to that point.

I learned a very good lesson. In any future contracts I'm going to make sure there is something in there about when the book will be published. I'm thinking a year is reasonable, but if anyone else has any thoughts let me know.

Thanks everyone,

Cindy

Publisher seems to be taking too long

cinders23

johnzakour

Dangerous with a Keyboard

Nickie

Not too old to learn

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?