Making bread is a waiting game. ~Allrecipes
My mamaw taught me that bread dough requires discipline of its baker. If you rush the process, the loaf will suffer. For example, if you try to cut the rising time by baking it prematurely, the outside will be crusty but the inside will be a gummy mess. If you try to cut baking time by increasing the temperature, it will be equally inedible. The rising and baking process has been developed over millennia and stands the test of time. Stick with the tried-and-true.
Same thing goes with getting a book ready to be published. Once the first draft is finished, it can take five or seven months to put the book through the quality assurance process of redrafts, beta reads, editing, design, and indexing.
When an author works with a professional publisher—one that has put time and money into the book’s production and promotion (and hopefully given the author an advance against royalties)—the publisher is in the driver’s seat and won’t skip any of the steps in the tried-and-true process. If a major publisher’s author blows through contracted deadlines, the publisher will send their book to the back of the queue (or possibly cancel the contract). After all, the publisher’s other authors who met their deadlines deserve a quality product, too.
What happens when an author decides to self publish in hopes of speeding up the process? It usually depends on the quality of the first draft. Sometimes the book can come out sooner than five to seven months, but in most cases, it shouldn’t.
A Case Study in Self-Publishing
Here’s a story about a self-published client, “Pat,” who wrote a technical book in a solid industry niche. The book had all the ingredients for success: a recognized expert with a big platform1 writing about a hot topic.
Pat had written another successful book but felt overwhelmed trying to write the second one. I had already agreed to provide developmental edits for the drafted manuscript, but after promising to deliver the book for two years, Pat called me and said, “I need an accountability partner if I’m ever going to finish this.”
We agreed that I would support Pat’s writing process with bi-weekly accountability meetings and a review of new pages. Pat then asked me to take over managing the production team (copy editor,2 designer, and indexer3).
Finishing the book’s first draft is akin to mixing flour, yeast, salt, oil, sugar, and water in the bowl. It’s not ready for the oven yet. Other steps follow, including kneading the dough and letting it rise, often repeatedly.4
I calculated this timeline for Pat’s book:
August 1: First full draft to me. I will read and make extensive notes and suggest edits.
August 5-15: Clear your calendar to work with me on edits or a possible redraft.
September 15: After we land on a solid draft I will get the book into shape for beta readers. You will work with the cover designer while waiting for beta reader feedback.
October 31: Deadline for three to five beta readers5 to finish the book and answer a quick survey to help us decide which changes to make or topics to add.
November 10: Incorporate changes from the beta readers and get the book into its final form.
November 13: You print the book out and read each page aloud, preferably to someone else. Mark changes and issues to be resolved and send them to me for final review.
November 20: Send the book to the copy editor. (I provided a list of other tasks related to publishing to do while waiting for the book to go through this step).
December 1: Finalize copy edits, then send the book to the book’s interior designer and the indexer.
January 15: Send the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) to a qualified reader6 who has never seen it before. Incorporate changes (which should be minimal) by January 31.
February 5: Send files to the printer.
In my experience, authors will blow at least one of these dates, and I accounted for slips here and there when I calculated the timeline. Most nonfiction writers have day jobs, after all.
A Time to Rise, a Time to Bake
Pat didn't finish their7 first draft, due August 1, until October. “Pat, you’ve got to push the print deadline back at least three months,” I said. “You need to let the draft sit for two weeks before looking at it again. You’ll be amazed what you see when you haven’t looked at it for a while, and believe me, your beta readers will find even more.”
Pat resisted. “I don’t want to backpedal. I’ve been promising this book for two years and I’ve already announced a March release. I’ve got to make the deadline.”
Pat’s eager readers would have waited. That wasn’t the real motivation for holding the original print date. Pat was sick of the process when the writing began. Pat couldn’t stomach marching through another five months of quality assurance steps, even though I insisted they would make the book indistinguishable from one published a Big Five publisher.8
Wearing the two hats of author and publisher, the decision to rush the process was Pat’s to make. After working with me on the redraft, Pat sent the book straight through copy edits, design, and indexing. No beta readers, no major changes to the table of contents.
In bread baking terms, Pat gave the bread one chance to rise, when the recipe called for two, then put it in the oven prematurely. At a high temperature.
I didn’t agree with Pat’s decision, but I understand it. Writing is an arduous process, especially for those who only publish one or two books in their careers, and publishing is a slog no matter how many times you’ve been through it. It’s twice the slog, maybe three times, for a self-publisher.
Six months after publication, Pat identified some issues they couldn’t live with and put the book out for a re-edit. The undercooked book had to be re-designed and re-indexed as well.
A quality publisher won’t risk their reputation on a crappy product, so they exercise discipline on authors and timelines. Self-publishers need to exercise self-discipline.
Make Time for a Proper Launch
Another reason books need a long path to published is to prepare a proper launch. Pat didn’t need an elaborate one because the book was in high demand with 20k email subscribers and a several thousand more who caught Pat’s regular media appearances. “It’s gonna sell like hotcakes,” Pat predicted.
While Pat was right about hotcake sales, they were a double-edged sword because Amazon didn’t stock enough books to meet demand. Author-publishers need to generate pre-orders with Amazon, just as Penguin Random House or Simon & Schuster must. Why? Because Amazon is the world’s largest bookseller. It stocks its warehouses according to demand. If Pat’s book generated 1000 pre-orders, Amazon would probably have stocked 1200 or more on Day One.
But Pat skipped this step, too. Amazon had no way of knowing about this hot seller in time to stock up for it. It only ordered one box of books (roughly a gross) per week for the first six weeks. Pat’s blood pressure skyrocketed trying to deal with Amazon on one hand and frustrated buyers on the other.
Assuming the dual role of author-publisher is huge. Most indie authors focus on the writing, then skimp on the rest. Pat skimped on everything except money. In full disclosure, the book sold well and earned mostly 4-star reviews, but the Pat was dissatisfied with the hassles and the extra expenses of the re-edit, re-design, and re-index.
There are situations in which money can’t buy time. Publishing is one of them.
Reach out if you’re a subscriber and would like a free thirty-minute consultation on your project. I’m happy to help.
Case Studies from Client Books
Last year I helped develop nonfiction books with authors publishing traditionally and independently. Maybe you can find yourself in one of these case studies.
Two Old Broads
Two Old Broads: What You Need to Know that You Didn’t Know You Needed to Know is a self-help book about aging as an essay collection by Dr. Mary Ellen Hecht and Whoopi Goldberg. This hybrid form is not conventional, but admit it, you’d be disappointed if Whoopi bowed to convention.
Writing a book with a collaborator or co-author can relieve the pressure of writing a book alone, but it is not without challenges. Sometimes, an editor like me can help the writers think of creative solutions to areas where they have different visions for the project. That was the case here.
Publisher Harper Horizons hired me to assist the authors in shaping the second and third (final) drafts of the book. We combined some essays, deleted others, and wrote new chapters to round out the book’s six parts: Broad Mentality, Broad Life, Broad Bones, Broad Well-Being, Broad Shoulders, and Broad Insights.
Maximum Trading Gains With Anchored VWAP
Maximum Trading Gains With Anchored VWAP: The Perfect Combination of Price, Time & Volume is a how-to book for traders and investors. Author Brian Shannon, CMT, had written little since his first book in 2008 and wanted me to hold him accountable to his deadlines. This involved several weekly co-working sessions where I functioned as both mentor/coach and editor.
I also managed Brian’s publishing project team of designers, a copy editor, and an indexer. I just checked his Amazon listing and see that 95% of his reviews are FIVE STARS.
Ask Me Anything!
You can ask me here, where everyone else will benefit from our conversation or you can book a no-obligation consultation.
I wrote about author platforms here.
Here’s what you should know about copy editing, again, from Jane Friedman’s blog.
Typically, a beta reader reviews a draft of the manuscript when the author is pleased with its topics and their organization while still being open to significant revisions for cause. In Pat’s case I suggested choosing beta readers who had read Pat’s first book, since they would at least be familiar with the subject (and would get a thrill from being part of the process).
A qualified proofreader should work in the author’s industry. This enables the reader to catch the kind of subject gaps and errors that snarky reviewers would surely call out. The proofreader might note errors missed by the copy editor, but that is not their primary job. Writers of memoir and essay collections need different types of proofreaders.
Gender-neutral pronoun used throughout,