A question about book publishing

[Shinova]

I use a word processor. Would that mean that if I wanted to write a book I'd have to type in page numbers on each and every page?

[ArmorPierce]

I'd imagine the publishers would do that.

[Enlightenment]

I use a word processor. Would that mean that if I wanted to write a book I'd have to type in page numbers on each and every page?

Have you been living in a cave for the past fifteen years? Most all word processors these days have automatic page numbering functions.

Final typesetting would be done by the publisher anyway.

[kojikun]

Yes. Publishers do all the book work. Unless you want to print-publish it yourself too.

[Master of Ossus]

I use a word processor. Would that mean that if I wanted to write a book I'd have to type in page numbers on each and every page?

No, of course not. First of all, ordinary word processors have a function to add a page number to each and ever page. Usually, your publisher will want you to use that when you send in a sample of your work, because normally they want you to say "Pages 1-21 are representative of the work." Or they would say, "Pick out ten pages you want us to read first." Now, once they decide that your work is worth looking at, they'll go ahead and take the information that they need from it. I assume that most modern publishing houses have a scanner to actually take a hard-copy of a book, scan it, then publish it. I just send them a few pages in hard copy, so they'll read those, and then the entire book in soft-copy so they'll look at it once they're done. Once they send you a letter of acceptance and you agree with them on the terms of publication, your part in the book is just about done for the time being. The publisher then looks at the book and decides what format they want to publish it in (hard cover, soft cover, size, etc.). They then take your soft-copy of the manuscript, set in everything like font and page numbers, and publish the book. Usually they'll even get someone to do the cover-art for them, and to write in the "About the Author" and the inside jacket or back cover in the case of paperbacks.

[Shinova]

Thanks. This question came up because I watched a movie called "Wonder Boys" and the main character is writing a book and he's typing in the page numbers (typewriter).



Also I've heard that publishers who accept software manuscripts are usually fakes, and that genuine publishers only accept printed manuscripts. Comments on this?

[Enlightenment]

Also I've heard that publishers who accept software manuscripts are usually fakes, and that genuine publishers only accept printed manuscripts. Comments on this?

In two words, that's bullshit. The only fake publishers are the ones who want you to give them money.

[Master of Ossus]

Thanks. This question came up because I watched a movie called "Wonder Boys" and the main character is writing a book and he's typing in the page numbers (typewriter).



Also I've heard that publishers who accept software manuscripts are usually fakes, and that genuine publishers only accept printed manuscripts. Comments on this?

You usually send both. First, you send a printed manuscript that has everything on it. They'll almost always ask you to pick out a chapter or a small section that you feel is representative of the book as a whole. Their editor is going to take a look at it, and then he has several options (they call it "Triage" sometimes, but there's more than three). The first, and obviously harshest, is that he can outright reject it on the spot. That's not good, but it's not as bad as most people think. It may mean any number of things, including that that publishing company is just booked for a while and is not accepting manuscripts at the time. There are lots of really good authors who have done funny things with their "rejection letters" over the years. A friend of mine wallpapered his study with all of the "No." letters he's had.

In any case, the second and most common option (for talented writers) is to send it back to the author and ask that he make some changes to the manuscript. These usually consist of "I think the tone is too dark," "The vocabularly is too basic. Make it more specific and more powerful," or "Change this about your style. It needs to improve." This is essentially a neutral response. The publisher is showing some interest in your work, but not a lot. He may be looking for something else, he may think that your work sucks, or he may think that your work is pretty good but would be even better if you tweaked it around a bit.

The third response is for him to go through and read the completed manuscript. This represents a serious investment in time for editors that are expected to look at more than one hundred manuscripts a week, and this says that he likes what he sees. If you get a letter back that's talking about chapters you didn't select for him to skim through, you're doing something right. Now, if he likes the way the book goes, he'll send you to make sure you're not offering the manuscript to any other publishers. He'll then start hammering out terms. Usually, however, he'll take the manuscript and say, "I like this part, I like this part, I like this part, but the ending needs to be less sentimental," "You're beating people over the head with this message. Tone it down and resubmit it," or my personal favorite, "I like the book, you just need to develop the story and the characters more." An author, at this point, knows that this publishing company is seriously looking at his work. The publishing company will sometimes hire someone to edit the book for you, and will request a soft-copy of the book. I haven't heard of "phony" publishing companies that accept soft-copy only manuscripts, but such things would not surprise me. You kind of have to be careful about what you submit and don't submit.

Once the company has made its decision, you can either revise your manuscript to be more to their liking, which is somewhat easier than the alternative, or you can reject what they say and look for yet another publisher. This is usually much more difficult to do, and requires a greater investment of time.

[Cal Wright]

Here's a good question for you Ossus. What if I already have the cover art done?

[Master of Ossus]

Here's a good question for you Ossus. What if I already have the cover art done?

I don't know. I guess you might as well send it in with your manuscript, but I wouldn't expect the publisher to be too happy with you. They almost always want books published their way, and so I usually let them take care of all of that for me.

[Enlightenment-alternate]

In the SF/fantasy market, author-provided cover art would be ignored at best and might count against the book at worst. Nonfiction is a bit different as I've come across a few books where the author provided the cover art. These were generally textbooks and the like.

[ArmorPierce]

Awww... a sock puppet?

[Enlightenment]

Awww... a sock puppet?

You mean enlightenment-alternate? Yes, as the sig says it's my sockpuppet that I use when posting from other computers. There's nothing underhanded going on here; it's just more convinent for me as using E-A won't disrupt SD's record of what threads I've read and more secure for the board because this account has mod privilages and the other one is just a regular user.