The Road to Publication - Copy Edits & Author Alterations (aka: Proof that I'm Not as Smart as I Think I Am)

So this week brought another first in the journey to become a published author for Harlequin Intrigue. Each of these milestones have been exciting and terrifying at the same time. And because each is so new to me, it's stressful. Way stressful.

One First that wasn't stressful - My first Advance check!

My editor sends me something -- a file, a question, a form to fill out -- and I do it. But then I wonder: are my comments understandable? are they appropriate? are they even wanted in some cases?

And, you know me, I always have a comment. About everything. I'm sure there has been times when my editor wished she had never signed me.

Regardless, I'm trying to treasure and appreciate every step as it comes because I know I will never have another first book. It's kind of like parenting: you love all your kids, but everything is unique, new, terrifying and unexpected with the first one.

This week, I received my first ever set of Copy Edits.  Basically, a copy editor and my main editor had gone through and marked up my manuscript -- everything from formatting to grammar/spelling, to overall consistency issues, to just better ways of writing a particular sentence. It was pretty brutal -- like being back in college. If their comments had just been in red ink, it would've bled just like a Freshman English paper all over again.

Here's a sample:

My Copy Edits

This is a reasonably mild page in term of comments, some had many more. Of my 220-page book, there were only about 10 pages that didn't have some sort of correction.

Anything that was undeniably wrong -- the blue words in the text itself above -- was just automatically changed for me, I had no say in that. But anything that required an opinion, something that could go either way, I had to approve. That's where the blue and red boxes came in. For the record, I agreed with probably 95% of their suggested changes.

So after the initial shock and embarrassment of "OMG, how did I miss so many errors?" wore off, and the perfectionist in me who doesn't like any red marks on her paper, was stuffed and gagged, it really wasn't too bad. I made what changes I needed to and I was able to get it back to my editor within a couple of days.

My Author Alteration file

And, to my surprise, a couple hours later my editor sent my Author Alteration (AA) proofs. This is basically my last chance to make any changes and catch any errors within my book. Once I send that file back (due mid-October), I am stating that, as far as I'm concerned, the book is officially and completely finished and error-free. It will then go to a second copy editor one last time for anything me, my editor, the first copy editor (and then me again) might all have missed.


And darn if that doesn't look just like a book. Like a real, live book. That people will hopefully buy and read come April 2014.

So here's my "Road to Publication" Timeline so far:

May 2012 - Sent a back cover blurb & 100-word snippet to Intrigue team as part of a contest; Editor requested first three chapters and full synopsis

June 2012 - Sent requested chapters and synopsis

October 2012 - Received (amidst the 2012 "So You Think You Can Write" Contest Madness - I'm still embarrassed to think about it) request for full manuscript from editor (read about that request here)

December 2012 - Sent full manuscript to editor

June 18, 2013 - Received "The Call" from Harlequin -- they wanted to buy and publish my book in April 2014

Mid-July 2013 - Asked to submit the "Art Fact Sheet" for my manuscript.  A list of a billion questions (about characters, locales, seasons, etc.) from which they will develop the cover of my book. So if my hero looks like Fabio, I only have myself to blame.

August 1, 2013 - After much discussion back and forth, I was notified that the title of my Harlequin Intrigue book would be Primal Instinct (read about that here)

Sept 10, 2013 - Received copy edits; made changes and returned on 9/12/13

Sept 12, 2013 - Received AA (author alteration) file; due mid-October.

There's other stuff I know I still have to do before next April when the book comes out, and I'm looking forward to that too. It's all a little bit scary, but a whole lot of awesome.

So You Think You Can Write? Then Shut Up and Do It

Last week I was all caught up in Harlequin’s “So You ThinkYou Can Write?” contest.  It’s a competition for unpublished writers to showcase one chapter of a manuscript.  It’s open to almost anyone who has finished a novel and the winner of the contest receives a book contract.  The top 25 entries receive feedback from a Harlequin editor on their completed manuscript – prize enough in itself.

                                    I entered the first chapter from the novel I wrote last year: Unbreak My Heart.  Spoiler alert: I did not make it into the top 25 of the contest. Sigh.

But the worst part was not that I didn’t make it into the top 25. The worst part has been my behavior during the contest and results.  I entered the contest on Monday, October 1 then watched with an almost out-of-body experience as I went looney-tunes crazy for the next two weeks.

I don’t even want to talk about how crazy I was because it’s really embarrassing.   But I’ll give you the highlights:

1) I bugged every friend I had (or used to have, most of them probably unfriended me) on Facebook for TEN DAYS STRAIGHT asking them to vote for me in this contest.

2) About 2 days into the contest, I realized I could also TEXT PEOPLE and ask for them to vote for me on their phone.  Aren’t most of you glad I don’t have your cell number?

3) I went to the Apple Store at the mall 8 days in a row and voted for myself on every device they had hooked up to the Internet (which is 57, btw).

4) I made my children vote for me on their Nintendo games and iPods.  And told them to ask their friends to vote too.

5) Do you know that the public library has multiple computers patrons can use? Want to know how I know that?

6) Because voting was blind, I had no idea how many votes I had versus the other entries. What I could see was how many Facebook “Likes” an entry had (which had nothing to do with voting, but still… at least it seemed like real data). So I went through ALL 690 ENTRIES and wrote down the title of any entry that had more than 100 Likes. There were 120 of them in case you're wondering.

7) I got ABSOLUTE NOTHING done the three days between when voting closed and they announced the finalists because I was so nervous and anxious to find out the results. Nothing – I don’t even think I cooked or took a shower.

8) On Monday, Oct 15 when they began to announce the finalists, I checked my email incessantly even though my email gets sent to my phone and Tom Hanks announces “Houston, we have a problem” on my phone whenever I get email.  Still, I manually checked. You know, just in case it was broken…

8) I didn’t help my kids with their homework on that Monday because I was so busy watching Twitter to see who the winners were.

9) I threw an absolute fit when one of the finalists started tweeting about how she didn’t even have manuscript finished so she better start writing *fast* so she’d have something to turn in.

HAVE SOMETHING TO TURN IN???? I have an entire book ready to turn in! How good can yours be if you’re writing ¾ of it in 2 days?

And… scene.

Do the words: outlandish, preposterous, ridiculous, or absurd come to mind? They should. Basically I lost two weeks of my life to this stupid contest. And by “stupid contest” I mean: “a perfectly reasonable contest in which my behavior was asinine.”

It’s hard to watch a train wreck while you’re also conducting it. But somehow I managed.

Ultimately, I got over my disappointment of not making it into the top 25, and even cancelled the hit I put out on the writer who hadn’t finished her book. I had a Butterfinger Blizzard. A friend sent me an awesome link of some famous authors who were rejected by publishers multiple times, which gave me hope. Looking back on it all now that I’m older and wiser (you know, by 36 hours) I’ve realized some things.

I wasted so much time with this contest – not just begging for votes, but worrying about it and wondering about it and counting FB Likes that had nothing to do with anything.  Being busy is not the same thing as being effective. If I had applied this time to writing, I could’ve been 1/3 of the way done through another book.

So ultimately, I think Harlequin is asking the right question in their contest to beginning writers like me. It just took me a while to find the phrase that should follow their question.

So You Think You Can Write?

Then quit worrying about this other stuff and sit down and do it. Writers write. Always.

Will Trade Pride for Votes...

So today is the day you probably feared – somewhere deep inside – would come as a result of reading my blog.  I know and I’m sorry.  Sigh. It pains me too.

I’m about to ask you for a favor.

The good news is I’m not asking you for money or to buy anything (although if anyone is interested in Yankee Candle’s or Boy Scout Popcorn, we have tons of fundraisers going on in this house).

Cue adorable kitten drowning in sand to garner votes...

No, instead I need a vote from you in a contest. Harlequin Romance is holding their “So You Think You Can Write” Contest (yes, I cringe a little at the title). It’s a writing competition for unpublished novelists. Over 600 writers have submitted the first chapter of their books, in all the 19 different romance lines Harlequin publishes – from sweet & Christian (like mine) to the more Fabio-inspired. 

Harlequin is asking the general public to help them narrow it down to the best 25, by voting once per day for their favorite from Oct 2-11. The top 25 (actually 28; 25 by popular vote, three “wildcard” picks by editors) will submit their full novels. From there, the editors will narrow it down to three and then the public will again vote.

Anybody who makes it into the top28 is guaranteed to have their full manuscript read by an editor and feedback provided by the middle of November.  As someone who has had a query into Harlequin since March and has yet to hear a word of feedback, I have come to truly appreciate the opportunity to have feedback in such a short turnaround.

So, I need your help this week in form of your vote. You can either read all 600+ entries and judge for yourself or just trust that mine will be your favorite and vote for me without reading the others. :-)

Vote for my chapter every day from October 2-11. You only get one vote per day, but you can vote from every computer, ipad, smart phone, dumb phone  or anything else that has an Internet browser in your house, office, school, shed, neighbor’s house…whatever.  You don’t have to sign up or give any personal information to vote.

Click here to vote for Janie's chapter: Unbreak My Heart

Oh yeah, you can even read my chapter if you want to. :-)