Chapter 4
The Departments that Work on Your Book
Legal & Contracts
The Contracts department is part of the Legal department. The Contracts team works with both your editor and your agent (or directly with you if you don’t have an agent) to produce a formal agreement to publish your book, signed by both you and the imprint’s publisher. There’s a longer section on Contracts later.
You might find that your book also crosses the desk of someone else in the Legal department, either during the editing process or even prior to the imprint acquiring your book. Your editor might notice something in your manuscript that needs to be cleared by the legal department before the imprint is happy to publish it. This might be a reference to a real person (living or dead) or a quotation from another book, or song, or the use of a trademarked term in a specific context. Most books never cross the desk of anyone in Legal except as part of contract negotiations, but if an editor thinks that Legal needs to weigh in, it’s important to get their approval or recommendations.
Editorial
Your editor will edit your book. We all agree that’s a good idea. But your editor does so much more for you than simply offer opinions, suggestions, and validation. It’s a common misunderstanding of the role that an editor “gets paid to read.” I mean, that’s part of the job but, honestly, a very small part. An editor typically spends less than 10% of their working day editing. The rest of the time, they work as a project manager, ensuring that everyone who needs to work on your book does so at the right time, nudging departments for updates, coordinating cooperation between departments, and approving press releases and advertisements. They’ll also write the copy that sits on your cover and in online stores, draft cover memos used by the Art department to create your book’s cover, and approach other authors to ask them to read and endorse your book. Your editor is the one person in-house who should know exactly where your book is in the process, every step of the way, and they are your book’s biggest champion. Your editor isn’t expected to be an expert in every department, but they have to know enough to be able to communicate successfully with each and to contribute to the plans for each.
Art Department
The art director, or one of their team, is responsible for creating your book’s cover. They generally do this in one of two ways: by briefing someone in the Design department (internal or external) on what they expect the cover to look like (in terms of color, tone, and feel) or by briefing a professional artist, who will then paint or draw your cover. Usually, if using an artist, a preliminary sketch will be produced, and the author is often invited to comment on the sketch before it goes back to the artist for painting. It is extremely rare for an author to have final say or the right of refusal on a cover image. The cover is one of the most important things a publishing company uses to promote a book, and so a publisher almost always retains the right to use their best judgment in deciding how to utilize this vital piece of marketing collateral. A cover isn’t there to simply decorate a book but to help sell it.
The Art department will also be responsible for the commissioning of internal illustrations, if your book has any.
Design
The Design department will sometimes create (or help create) your cover, if it is design-led rather than image-led (a design-led cover uses shapes, patterns and text as its primary design element rather that paintings, photographs, or illustrations.). They will also be responsible for creating the style of and laying out the internal pages of your book, making such decisions as what font to use, at what size, what line-break and chapter ornaments, etc. The editor will often sign off on their design and/or suggest amendments, but the author is rarely consulted about this part of the process.
Marketing and publicity
Marketing and Publicity (M&P) are usually part of the same department and work together a lot, but there are distinct differences in what they do and how they work. An oversimplification is that Marketing spends money to promote your book, while Publicity spends time to promote you (as part of your book’s promotional journey). So, Marketing might ask the Ad-Promo team (which is a sub-division within Marketing) to come up with a selection of advertisements for use online and/or in print and then place those ads in online venues or physical magazines, or to create bookmarks or pin badges based on your book design for use in preorder campaigns and giveaways. Publicity, meanwhile, might offer you to bookstores for signing tours (less likely for newer authors) and to podcasts and blogs for guest spots, or to recommend your book to appropriate awards juries, and to create press releases to promote your book.
For press releases, advertisements and giveaway swag (small gifts, such as bookmarks or pins) your editor will usually be consulted and have to sign off on the final designs and copy (or give recommendations as to how they might be improved). Again, these are not things you will necessarily see until they are completed, though your editor might choose to involve you if they see a need.
You’ll almost certainly be expected to be involved in the publicity side, and perhaps to boost the marketing that your publisher is putting out into the world, but you won’t be expected to instigate it, nor will you be expected to contribute to it, financially. Some authors choose to supplement the publisher’s marketing efforts with their own (by ordering bookmarks or bookplates), but this should never be suggested by the publisher, and if you do choose to do this, it’s always a good idea to let your marketer know, partly because it’s useful for them to have a full overview of all marketing efforts, and partly because there’s an outside chance they might choose to pay for some or all of it (outside chance; if they thought it was an activity that would sell more books, they will almost certainly have already thought of doing it).
Will my book be sent to other authors for their endorsement?
Very possibly, yes. Author blurbs, as they’re known, despite being part of the marketing of a book, aren’t sourced by the Marketing department but by your editor, as it’s far more likely that your editor has more author and agent contacts.
You’ll be told if an author has blurbed your book, but you likely won’t be told if an author has turned down the blurb request, or if they’ve read it but decided to not blurb it.
Author endorsements, when they happen, can be delightful, and it’s a wonderful thing to be able to pay it forward to other writers in this way, but it’s always worth remembering that when you (or your editor, or even your agent) ask another author to endorse your book, what they’re actually being asked to do it spend multiple hours reading a book to provide a marketing hook, and to do it unpaid. It’s a big ask.
Will my book be advertised?
Perhaps.
Advertisements (both online and in print) are the purview of your marketer. Your book may get ads on social media channels or relevant websites, and any graphics that are used are designed by the publisher’s Ad-Promo team.
Your book is also likely to have galleys or ARCs (advance reader copies) created (print versions, electronic versions, or both), which are sent to reviewers and influencers.
Your publisher wants your book to do well, but they don’t always spend the marketing funds needed to give it that extra push. This can be hard to hear, and harder to experience, but it’s worth knowing.
In general terms, the more money your publisher paid for your book, the greater the likelihood you’ll get marketing dollars. (This is a generalization, but there’s some truth to it.)
And yes, your editor hates this, because they adore your book and want all the marketing budget, but it’s one of thousands that the publisher will publish that year.)
Will my book be entered for awards?
Is your book award-worthy? Or is it the type of book that wins awards? Then maybe. Some awards require your publisher to formally submit your book. Your editor and M&P team should be aware of the main book awards that your book is suitable for. Some books can’t be submitted by your publishing team, as they are voted on by the reading public or by a specific group of people (e.g., various library awards, nominated and voted on by librarians).
If there’s a particular award you think your book would fit, feel free to mention it to your editor. They’ll happily look into it for you.
Production
The Production department is overseen by a production editor or production manager. Once your manuscript has been edited to your—and your editor’s—satisfaction, it is then “transmitted” to the Production department. They do a number of things:
Copyediting
The first (visible) thing a production manager will do is send your manuscript to a copyeditor. A copyeditor is a different type of editor from the one you’ve already worked with. They read a manuscript with a view to checking for inconsistencies and factual errors (if your book refers to a historical event, for instance, they’ll double-check the dates, and if you have a character with blue eyes in chapter two, the copyeditor should notice if they’re referred to as hazel in chapter seventeen, and if you’re writing a book about publishing, they should note if copyeditor is used seventeen times and copyeditor twelve, so you can decide which you wish to keep). They’ll also check punctuation and spelling, though much of that will have already been done by your editor. If there are any specific styles you wish to retain in your writing (for instance, British spelling and grammar), your editor will have flagged that so the copyeditor doesn’t spend time unnecessarily (and incorrectly) correcting your work.
Once the copyeditor has done their work, the manuscript will be returned to you (via your editor) for you to work through the copyeditor’s notes, then make changes based on the copyeditor’s notes, accept changes recommended by the copyeditor, or stet changes suggested by them (stet means: “Hands off! I want this bit to stay as it was written! Grrrrr!”, and comes from the Latin for “let it stand”.)
Copyediting is an enigmatic art. No one really knows how a copyeditor does what they do. It’s a kind of magic and we all just accept that it happens without our understanding. Many copyeditors also make good editors, but relatively few editors make good copyeditors.
Design
Production will send your copyedited manuscript to the Design department, who will typeset it—i.e., turn it into a file that looks like the pages of a book. It’s this file that gets sent to the printer when all the stages have been completed. The initial PDF they produce is generally referred to as a “first pass.” A manuscript might go through a number of passes before the “final pass” (i.e., the version that’s actually printed) is produced.
Proofreader
The production manager will then send the first-pass PDF (and perhaps subsequent passes, depending on the complexity of the work and the satisfaction of the production manager) to a proofreader.
The proofreader will look for any typos or punctuation/grammatical errors that might have been missed by you and your editor and the copyeditor. They’ll also look at the format of the manuscript and the words within it, to make sure that nothing jumps out that will throw the reader out of the story. (For example, they might find a section where the word than happens to occur at the end of a line of text three or four lines in a row. This is called a “ladder” and looks strange in print. The production manager can fix this by adjusting the spacing of one or more lines of text.)
Cover creation
Once the production manager knows how many pages your book will be, including the front matter (the stuff before your book starts) and the backmatter (you can guess what this means), they’ll know how wide the book’s spine will need to be, and the process of creating the cover file can start (or be refined, if it’s already begun).
The cover will be sent to the Design department for them to weave their magic. Even if you have a fully painted cover image, the cover still needs to be designed. What’s the best font for your cover? Where should the text be placed? What about special cover effects like embossing or foil? What about the back cover and (if it’s a hardcover) the inside front and back flaps?
Once the cover has been completed, with title, author name, cover quote or tagline, reviews or endorsements, author photo and biography, and explanatory copy, it’s usually viewed by a number of people, including the publisher and the editor, who can weigh in to check that everything makes sense. Even the cover copy and endorsements (blurbs)need to be proofread to ensure no embarrassing typos or grammatical errors sneak in at the last minute.
At this stage, there’s usually no opportunity for you to make suggestions.
Will changes be made without my approval?
No legitimate publisher will make changes to your text without your approval. They may suggest changes (either in an edit letter or by changing the text in the manuscript with Track Changes on, for you to accept or reject), but the final decision on wording is always yours. It’s your name on the cover and you have to be happy with the contents of your book. Well, if not “happy,” then at least accepting. I know what high standards you set for yourself!
The production manager is responsible for coordinating everything that happens to a book file once it’s been transmitted to them by the editor. They manage their own internal team but also a team of copyeditors and proofreaders, who are usually freelancers, not employees of the publishing house.
Once a book has been through this process, it’s ready to be sent to the printer. (Note that for imprints that are digital-only, these steps are still followed except for the backs, spine, and flaps of the books.)
The Sales Department
<insert onscreen caption that reads: SOME MONTHS EARLIER>
Before the Production department takes ownership of your book’s files, often during the editorial process, your editor has to let the Sales department know all about the wonders held within the pages of your book—welcome to the launch meeting. This is usually done once per season/ Every editor within an imprint will take it in turns to present their books to the Sales team. Each book will get a minute or two of attention, so your editor must use all the presentation skills at their disposal to grab and retain the Sales team’s attention—after all, there may be a hundred books being promoted at that meeting. Your editor might draw the team’s attention to the incredible blurbs they’ve attracted by other well-known and well-respected authors, or they might point out how the genre you’re writing in is hot at the moment, or that you are considered an expert in your field and your book should be considered a fine example of its type and will further the genre.
All this could happen as far as a year in advance of publication (in the US, at least; some countries work within shorter timeframes).
The Sales teams aren’t expected to remember everything your editor said. Instead, they’ll have with them crib sheets known as AI (advance information) or TI (title information) sheets on which they can make notes, but your editor’s presentation is an important step in the sales process, as they can, to an extent, influence which titles grab the Sales team’s attention and therefore which titles the team remembers when they’re out selling your book.
Some time after this meeting, the members of the Sales team (each of whom has a different geographical territory to cover, though some will be responsible for major accounts such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon, etc.) discuss the books that are coming up in the season that’s just launched (i.e., maybe a year away) with the stores that they cover, and start the process of taking orders. These initial sales estimates feed into the number of copies of your book that will be printed, but those numbers aren’t fixed at this stage. If your book receives favorable reviews or a surprising amount of bookseller and influencer attention, the order numbers could increase until quite late in the process. It’s not unusual for books to receive a surge in bookstore orders at the last minute, forcing the publisher to reprint the book even before it’s gone on sale.
Publishing Seasons
Like the rest of the world, the publishing industry’s year is split into seasons: typically winter, spring, and fall. Winter is January-April, spring is May-August, and fall is September-December. Publishing does sometimes like to take a simple thing that is easily understood by everyone and change it.Audio
Along with physical books (or “dead-tree editions”) and ebooks, audiobooks are one of the most sought-after formats publishers look to acquire when buying books. Some authors are able to hold back their audio rights and sell them separately (either to the same publisher or to a specialist audiobook publisher), but if you’re at or near the start of your career, it’s unlikely your publisher will agree to unbundle audio rights, and you may well be required to include them as part of the package.
Having acquired audio rights, your publisher will produce the audio edition of your book in-house, subcontract the actual recording to a third party (while remaining the publisher of the audio edition), or choose to sublicense the audio rights to a specialist audiobook company.
Will I get to choose the narrator?
Unlikely, though your publisher should consult with you about the type of narrator who would work best. They might even send you a selection of voices from which you can express a preference, but unless you have narrator approval written into your contract (very rare), the final decision will always be the publisher’s.