Questions authors ask
Answers on which kind of edit a book needs, how to choose an editor, what editing costs, and what happens to a manuscript along the way. Each page below gathers the questions a person would ask in the same sitting, and each answer says what is known, what is disputed, and what nobody can tell you in advance. Where a claim can be checked, the source is cited and linked.
Writing the book
- Is this a book, and who is it for Whether the material is a book, one book or two, which shelf it belongs on, and who reads that shelf.
- Length and word count What word count is normal in a genre, whether length or pacing is the real problem, and how even chapters need to be.
- Structure and shape Outlining, parts and chapters, timelines a reader can follow, and the difference between a middle and a gap.
- Point of view, tense, and voice First person or third, past or present, whose story it is, and whether the book sounds like its author.
- Dialogue and description Dialogue that does work, description that repeats itself, dialect on the page, and italics for other languages.
- Accuracy, real people, and permissions Naming real people, changing identifying details, quoted lyrics and images, and fact-checking a memoir.
- Knowing when a draft is finished How many drafts is normal, when to stop revising, and the difference between a draft and a manuscript.
Before you pay anyone
- What to fix yourself first Consistency, placeholder text, scene breaks, and the housekeeping that is cheaper to do than to buy.
- Front matter, back matter, and apparatus Bibliographies, indexes, glossaries, maps and family trees: which a book needs, who writes them, and who pays.
Getting it edited
- Which kind of edit a book needs Developmental, line, copyediting and proofreading: what each pass covers, the order they come in, and why the names differ between associations.
- Choosing an editor Credentials, sample edits, references, and the promises that should make an author uneasy.
- What editing costs Per word, per hour, per project: published survey ranges, what an unusually low price implies, deposits, and schedules.
- What an edit gives you back Tracked changes, style sheets, editorial letters, file formats, and who has the final say on a disputed change.
- Confidentiality, rights, and risk Who owns the edited text, whether a nondisclosure agreement means anything, and what happens to a manuscript that is sent to an editor.
- Spelling, style, and house rules American or British conventions, which style manual applies, series bibles, measurements, numbers, and serial commas.
Working with your editor
- What an editor asks before quoting The questions that decide a quote: word count, draft number, intended reader, publishing plan, and deadline.
- Questions an editor asks while editing Queries about meaning, intent, and consistency, and why an editor asks rather than simply changing the text.
- Reading an editorial letter Sorting what must be done from what is optional, what a stet means, and how to answer a marked-up file.
- Practical arrangements File formats, tracked changes, who approves, how much intervention to ask for, and what to keep off limits.
Publishing it
- Choosing a publishing route What each route costs in money and in rights, how long each takes, and where small and university presses fit.
- Agents, queries, and submissions Whether an agent is needed, how agents are paid, what goes in a query, and how many rejections is normal.
- Contracts, rights, and royalties What a publishing contract takes, what an advance is, how royalties are paid, and how rights come back.
- Copyright, ISBNs, and your name Registering copyright, how many ISBNs a book needs, who owns an edited text, and what a pen name does and does not do.
- Cover, typesetting, and formats Who designs the cover, who typesets the interior, who writes the jacket copy, and how print, ebook and audio differ.
- After publication Fixing an error in a printed book, when a correction becomes a second edition, reviews, and writing a series.