Publication in 2010?

newshirt

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I went to a publisher's web site and saw they were looking for books to publish in 2010. That's three years from now!

Can anyone list the blow-by-blow events that publishers follow, and explain the three-year process?

--ray
 

Jamesaritchie

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Publishers

I went to a publisher's web site and saw they were looking for books to publish in 2010. That's three years from now!

Can anyone list the blow-by-blow events that publishers follow, and explain the three-year process?

--ray

Well, 2010 is really only a bit more than two years from now, and this schedule is about average, which is eighteen to twenty-four months from the time the book is bought, excepting already selling writers who may have a book or more coming out each year. Add the length of time it takes a book to go through the submission, rewrite, etc. process, and you're lucky if any book you write is published sooner than three years from the time you first submit it, even if the first publisher who sees it, buys it. I don't think there really is a blow-by-blow list of events. It's just having books on hand to publish, exactly as magazines have a stockpile of from six months to a year always on hand. Publishing is often a slow process.

And things change. A timely book can still be bought and published within a couple of months, if the need is strong enough. New, exciting books can also be found and moved ahead in the queue, etc.

But things change is what you need to remember. Just because a publisher is looking for books they can publish two years and three months from now really does not mean all that much. In one real sense, it makes it much harder to sell this publisher a book. With a two plus year stockpile, you can be very picky about new books you take on, and there's still time to change your mind about some you've already asked for.
 

maestrowork

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It takes a few months for the submission process, then there's contract, then there's editorial, then there's production, and then review, etc. etc. 3 years might seem like a long time, but for many big publishers with a lot of books on contract, it sounds right.
 

Will Lavender

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Heard an editor tell me last September that she had worked on some books that took 10 years to publish.

Mine will have taken one year, almost to the day.
 
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Torgo

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Can anyone list the blow-by-blow events that publishers follow, and explain the three-year process?

Obviously all that varies from publisher to publisher and from book to book. One big chunk of time is lead time for the sales and marketing department. Where I worked most recently, the S&M people wanted the book to be ready at least six months before publishing, which is when book buyers in stores would be looking to make their decisions. At that point, the book will have to be all typeset, edited, copyedited, proofread, and cover-designed; if there are illustrations, they need time; rewrites will eat up a month or more; production dummies may need to be ordered (i.e. blank books to give you an idea what the finished product will look like in terms of paper etc.); there's a lot to do.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Obviously all that varies from publisher to publisher and from book to book. One big chunk of time is lead time for the sales and marketing department. Where I worked most recently, the S&M people wanted the book to be ready at least six months before publishing, which is when book buyers in stores would be looking to make their decisions. At that point, the book will have to be all typeset, edited, copyedited, proofread, and cover-designed; if there are illustrations, they need time; rewrites will eat up a month or more; production dummies may need to be ordered (i.e. blank books to give you an idea what the finished product will look like in terms of paper etc.); there's a lot to do.

Yes, and pre-publication orders now play a large part in where, and if, a book debuts on the bestseller list, so a book needs time to sell well in the pre-pub stage.
 

Irysangel

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Stuff is scheduled WAY in advance. My book was initially bought in May for 'Fall 2008'. It might even be bumped until 'Spring 2009' depending on scheduling. It happens. It's not ideal for us impatient writers, but it happens. :)
 

talkwrite

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The publisher I work for as a series editor has been consistent about having our books out in 9 months. This includes advance ordered copies which go out before I am sent my sample copies. The minute a completely edited ms. goes into production both the production ( design, formatting, book production) and the marketing departments go to work so that orders are lined up ready to fill. This is the professional and scholarly genre but we also sell to bookstores and Amazon and the like.
 

Torgo

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Wow, talkwrite, that's speedy stuff, if you're saying 9mo from first draft? Or do you mean 9mo from fully edited ms?
 

talkwrite

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Wow, talkwrite, that's speedy stuff, if you're saying 9mo from first draft? Or do you mean 9mo from fully edited ms?

9 months from the fully edited ms. And I have one AW writer that is about to submit a proposal so, that will make this site a source of authors for us.