How a book is made: a short story

Mysteries abound about how books become books. Unlike the Schoolhouse rock episode about how bills in the Senate become bills, there is no well produced, simply-comprehensible by 10 year olds, explanation. It seems easy (you hit Cntrl-P and books come out somewhere, right?) but it’s an intellectual and tedium marathon.

Here, in short author-centric form, is how it goes:

  1. Author writes a proposal for a book.
  2. He picks a publisher and sends it in. (If no favorable response, repeat, or self publish and skip to #3).
  3. Author writes (Imaging calendar pages flying by, bar tabs growing astronomically).
  4. Author sends manuscript to publisher.
  5. Publisher gives feedback (go to #3) or greenlights production.

And then all the work begins – the detail work of production. Much like software its the last 1/3rd has all the crunchy, tricky bits.

Every publisher works differently but for many, production includes:

  • Copyediting the text in the book
  • Obtaining rights for any photos or excerpts
  • Checking references
  • Designing the cover & interiors
  • Planning PR and marketing
  • Promotion

These activities seem like publisher business, not author business, but that’s a rookie mistake. My name goes on the book, not any editor or executive: the complaints get aimed my way. And of course it’s my only book published this year, while any publisher, for all their authorial compassion, publishes dozens. What comprises a minor oversight to publishers has made many an authors suicide note[1].

Copyediting means one thing: review. Endless review. As tortured as the copyeditor must feel, the writer has no one else to blame: its their words! They have to re-read every sentence again, and again, and again, as suggested changes, for all their grammatical correctness, can shift the meaning of sentences or kill any hard fought humor so delicately constructed in earlier revisions. How involved authors are in this process varies, but see previous paragraph.

By the time my first book actually existed as a book, I was so sick of what was in it I couldn’t look inside for long: and every author I’ve asked had similar experiences. It took awhile, if ever, that they liked what was in their book again (Many legendary writers from Hemingway to Henry Miller complained at how they loved writing, but hated what they wrote).

This isn’t meant as a play for sympathy: I mean come on. Every writer in history could have found an easier way to make a living, or if it was really so horrible, quit for sake of sanity. However after my experience, the first time I saw my book in Borders I nearly had a heart attack: after some brief ego-stroking glee, I imagined all of the work it took to make all of the other 50,000 books in that store, and my head exploded. And then I thought of how few are allowed to stay on those shelves for long. It’s a high risk thing to make a book for profit: most don’t sell enough to break even for the writer or the publisher.

If nothing else maybe this little note with give you a new perspective the next time you pick up a book (or consider the “glories” of writing one).

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[1] The one story I’m thinking of is Mellvile’s Moby Dick. Apparently the first edition ommitted the last chapter, and the book was panned by critics. Later, re-publication included the chapter and the book became a classic after the author’s death (not by suicide however).

9 Responses to “How a book is made: a short story”

  1. Allen Eskelin

    I agree completely. I had the same experience with my first book. I’ve been thinking about writing book #2 for quite awhile but knowing now from experience that I will have to spend about 2 years deep in the topic (as you described), it had better be something I’m really excited about. So I’m being careful about finding a topic that will be personally rewarding to “write” as well as to have published.

    I’m looking forward to your new book.

    Reply
  2. Scott (admin)

    Good to hear its not just me. On the other hand, are there really any perfect topics for books? I want to write many of these bastards, so I figure I get a set amount of time to decide and then I just have to cross my fingers and go for it.

    Reply
  3. Allen Eskelin

    You’re right about that, there aren’t any perfect topics. I’ll try your approach and give myself a deadline for picking the topic for book #2. End of February it is. Just need to apply the project management skills to the writing process ;-)

    Reply
  4. mpg

    “I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork.” -Peter DeVries (I think)

    Reply
  5. Jim

    Great advice, Scott. Thanks so much for this post. I’m a rookie author right in the middle of a book project for none other than O’Reilly.

    As we are coming down the home stretch of the writing and editing phases, I’ve so far not been involved in any of the copyediting of the book. I’ll have a chance to review the proofs, but I have been told that only minor corrections could made at that point. We’ve gone through many editing reviews already, but there are some loose ends that I’ve just been assuming will be cleaned up during copyediting. Was this the case in your situation? What should I look out for?

    Otherwise, I’ve been assuming that O’Reilly is looking after *my* best interests in all other respects. Are you suggesting I shouldn’t necessarily assume this? Maybe I’m reading more between the lines than you intended.

    Reply
  6. Scott (admin)

    Hi Jim:

    O’Reilly is an excellent publisher. My point, and the folks at O’Reilly will support this, is that a writer has to be their own advocate. If you are concerned about something, say so. Have a question? Ask it. They go out of their way to prep writers on the process, and that’s more effort than most publishers take. But the message is: you are the writer.
    I’ve had a good experience writing books for O’Reilly, and most O’Reilly authors I know have few complaints: rare for the industry. Didn’t mean to imply otherwise. You’ll hear amazing horror stories from authors about their publishers, but I’ve heard almost none from authors published by O’Reilly.
    My point in this post is that even when there’s a great relationship, the writer is still at a disadvantage: their book will always be more important to them than the publisher. And this isn’t the publishers fault, it’s the nature of the business (same for other creative businesses like music, flim, etc.). I can write maybe one book a year, while they, and especially my editor, are working on dozens: I will always have more at stake in a book that my publisher does.

    Its entirely normal for copyediting to be restrictive: editors wait until the manuscript is very stable before doing it: why check from grammar in a paragraph that’s going to be entirely rewritten? So that’s normal. If by “loose ends” you mean fixing typos, cleaning up footnotes, that’s probably fine, but ask your editor: don’t assume what you think of as a loose end is the same as what they think it is.

    O’Reilly, or any publisher, will naturally look out for your best interests at least as much as it overlaps with theirs. But more specifically: know your editor. They’re all different people and have different strengths, attitudes, opinions and experience. Even within one publishing house, two different editors can have wildly different approaches or talents. The better you know what to expect from your editor, the more you’ll know what to take care of on your own.

    Let me know if you have more q’s: but mind you I’m still new at this. I’m only on book #2. There are plenty of folks, including O’Reilly authors, with way more credits to their name.

    Reply
  7. Jim

    Scott – Actually, I’m having a great experience with O’Reilly so far. I was just wondering if maybe I was missing something critical. My editor and exec editor are quite good to me. No problems from my side, and if there would be issues, I’d let them know. Thanks for the perspective and for the adivce.

    Reply
  8. Lee Williams, Jr

    I have a lot of ideas, but I still have not arrived at which idea to tackle. Could you give me some advice on this pivotal point?

    Reply

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