If you're familiar with the usual steps of the traditional publishing process, you know that novels go through several rounds of edits, and then they are typeset into galleys.
Galleys look like the actual pages that will appear in a bound novel. When you get the author copies of the galleys, you have your last chance to proofread your novel and make minor changes before it goes to print.
My second novel, Sweeter than Birdsong, ended up needing a very quick turnaround in line edits (the stage right before galleys), an unusually grueling, fast turnaround for both me and my editor. As a result, the galleys were not as clean as I would have liked. There were some errors, and there were a number of stylistic things that needed to be cleaned up. This was only natural because of the time pressure, and I managed to get everything shipshape for publication by some judicious work with the galleys (and with the help of my excellent copy editor and proofreaders).
Still, in an ideal situation, I would like to produce much cleaner galleys, and I think I have done that for my third novel, Lovelier than Daylight.
Why does it matter? Because galleys turn into what are called the ARCs, or Advance Reader Copies.
I was chagrined to realize that the readers for my second novel's blog tour had received ARCs, because I did not want my dear readers to read the flawed copies made from my galleys. I wanted them to read the real thing, the cleaned up version! But that's the way it often works in publishing. Reviews, both formal and informal, require advance copies.
So, when it's your turn, keep in mind that your galleys will go to Publishers Weekly. They will go to Library Journal and RT Book Reviews and every other advance reviewer.
My advice: get your manuscript as close to perfect as you can during line edits. Sometimes, circumstances will really make that close to impossible, as with our editing time frame for Sweeter than Birdsong. But when you have the time, go over your manuscript with a fine-toothed comb during line edits! Get rid of every word repetition, every slightly cloudy phrasing, every metaphor that has even a *whisper* of overwriting about it.
You'll be glad you did when you find out a hundred reviewers are reading your galleys. :-)
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8 comments:
Oh, this is SO true!! Actually, my ARCs were less cleaned up than my galley, because my galleys had gone through copyediting, but my ARCs hadn't. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to writing, so sending out so many ARCs was not an easy thing!!
I'm in the same place as you Rosslyn (and Katie). I'm working on the copy edits now of my manuscript and am realizing how many little errors are going to be in the ARC's. I'm trying not to think about that. At the same time, I'm reminding myself that most early readers know it's part of the process and hopefully won't mind too much :)
Learning so much from you who is sprinting ahead. ;-)
Such helpful advice.
~ Wendy
Oh my gosh, I had no clue! Thank you for sharing this info- I look forward to the day I can put your advice to actual use!
Not to belittle your pain and embarrasement, but what a comforting post!! As a first time self-publisher, it has been a grueling process to re-do my first book after finding all those errors that were overlooked in the original publishing process, even after a couple of rounds of editing. I am now only a couplr of weeks away from a beautiful (hopefully error free) second printing. Thanks for your honest sharing!! Editing is harder than the actual writing of the book.
Katie - That's interesting that your galleys had gone through copy editing! I know every publisher has a different procedure. In our case, the ARCs *are* the galleys. But in either case, both of us had the same basic situation: ARCs were not copy edited.
Joanne - That's true, and most reviewers are aware of the hazards of ARCs. My one concern is that if a reviewer is continually distracted by the errors, can the reviewer *really* love the novel? In most cases, the answer is yes--but my perfectionist does not want to let go. :-)
Wendy - Thanks for coming by! Looking forward to our next talk...
TC - You're welcome, and I look forward to that day too.
OurCrazyFarm - Oh yes, I sympathize! It is *so* difficult to get a book to the professional standard of editing. But now that you and I have both seen that, we can hope that in the future, it will be a little less arduous. I'm grateful for this training I've received during the editorial process.
As always, I love reading into your heart. Thanks for the tips and for showing me some of what the upcoming battle looks like. :)
I don't think I've read many books, even bestsellers, where I haven't found at least one small error. Sometimes it's a typo, other times an inaccuracy. I can imagine how disappointing it must be for the author, especially after all the scrutiny and proofing, to find little things that have slipped through. But I hadn't thought of how those errors in the ARCs might affect the early reviews. Scary!
It's so hard to see my own mistakes. My eyes read what my brain intended my fingers to write. All the more reason to get as many different eyes as possible doing the proofing. :)
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