Lena Book : Chapter 9 - Part Two (Patreon)

More words!

It's been really fun to work on something on the side like this--especially since I've been working on Curses, the book currently with my editor, for like four years. It's been a rough road. My editor liked my newest draft though, so now we're moving into editing! This is good, though of course I'm impatient and want to push ahead as quickly as possible. I want this book out in the world and four years is a long time for me to work on something. 

For those that don't know the standard publishing timeline, it usually goes something like this:

Rough Draft

Revisions (I generally do one with my agent, then more with my editor. So several rounds.)

Edits (This is for content--so fixing plot, characters, etc.)

Line edits (where we get fiddly with sentences and make sure it reads smoothly)

Copy edit (Where we bring in copy editors to go over the book a few times to fix typos, mistakes, commas, etc.)

Formatting (It's pretty and looks like a book now!)

More Copy edits

The Author turns it in, curls into a fetal position, and decides to never write a book again.

Process Repeats

Now, at any time, any of these steps might be repeated. A LOT. Curses has gone through four drafts. That means I open up a new document and start over. I might be able to use a few scenes from the old, but not much. This is...not normal for me. The process looks different for everyone, but usually I do a rough draft, loads of revisions, and then we move on. For whatever reason, Curses hasn't come easy. But we're finally to edits, which is good. If the next book isn't smooth sailing, I'm going to burn something.

The other fun side--the way authors get paid. I get part of my advance (a number that varies wildly) when I sign the contract. I get the next part when my book is accepted into the copy editing phase. If my editor rejects my draft several times, it means a long time between pay days. So basically, I haven't been paid in a year. The upside is my first book finally earned past its advance, which means this year I got a royalty check! (Those come twice a year.) But they aren't big checks by any means. Smaller than my old bookstore paycheck, where I made minimum wage. I'm not complaining for sure, but I tell you all these things to give you some perspective on publishing. 

So thank you for letting me have a totally different thing to work on so I don't go completely mad, and for helping me with a bill or two!

Lish