How long does it take for a book to be published? And why?

When I got an offer for my first book, The Monster In Me, I was astonished when they said that the book was slated for publication in 2 years. 2 YEARS!!! What could possibly take that long. I’d already worked on four different drafts of this manuscript. I had a PhD in language and had written a dissertation all by myself. I had been the editor of a college newspaper. My grammar (in English and German) was impeccable.

And so I found out. It takes about 6-8 months (and this is if nothing goes wrong) for an editor to get an editorial letter back to you on the first round. And then even if you are super fast and revise in a month or two, the editor will take another 4-6 months to get you another letter. And most of the time, you will go through at least 3 revisions on a book. Often, you will go through 4 or 5 or even 6. Your book may actually be pushed back if this happens, because you are working so hard to get it as good as it can possibly be in order to be published and get the send-off it deserves. This is particularly important if you are a debut author. If you don’t get good reviews, it can be nearly impossible to sell a second book under the same name.

Now, do you REALLY need to go through that many rounds of edits? Yes. Yes, yes, and yes. When someone asked me what the main difference was for me between publishing traditionally and trying my hand at self-publication on some sequels of my traditionally published books, what I regret most is not being able to hire an editor who isn’t being paid by me to go through that many rounds of edits. Every editor I’ve worked with has made my book better. Some have made my book so much better that I think they are akin to gods.

Then what? The book has to be copyedited. Yes, they hire an entirely different person than the previously brilliant person who worked on your book before. This person is persnickety at a level you, as an English major, have never even met before. Believe me. Even if you work as a copy-editor, I guarantee someone else’s fresh eyes on your work will find mistakes you didn’t realize were there.

Then there are the galleys/proofs. This is your very last chance to find minute errors. They always sneak their way into the manuscript. When I have people occasionally complain about how bad editors are in the book business because they find an error once in a hundred pages, I laugh. That is when it’s been edited six or seven times. It would otherwise be riddled with errors. I have also changed a few more substantial things, yes, even at this stage. Because I want may book to be the best that it can be.

Then what? The book gets made into ARCs, paperback versions that may or may not have the right cover on them. These are made to send out to reviewers. Do you really need this stage? Well, I’ve heard of authors delivering books so late that there were no ARCs before publication. Maybe big-name authors can survive this, but my books sure can’t. I want to make sure every reviewer possible has a chance to look at my manuscript in advance. Even if they don’t write a glowing review, at least someone is talking about it.

After that, there are tours to plan, if you’re lucky. Blog tours if there’s less money in your promotional budget. Advertisement money has to be allocated and just at the right time. You want to plan a launch party, possibly other book signings and appearances at appropriate conferences.

And don’t forget, during all of this, you’d better have the next book written because if it’s going to come out a year after the first one, it will already have to be sent to your editor before book #1 comes out.

So, yes, it turns out that two years is not an unreasonable amount of time from a book being accepted for publication and it actually coming out. Rushing it is not a good strategy.