3.8 How's the submission process for novels really work? What about copyediting? (Science Fiction Composition)
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This article is from the rec.arts.sf.composition FAQ, by Geoffrey Wiseman loki@mgl.ca with numerous contributions by others.
3.8 How's the submission process for novels really work? What about copyediting? (Science Fiction Composition)
From the keyboard of the eminent Patricia C. Wrede
(pwrede6492@aol.com) comes the following:
When you submit a manuscript, you usually send in one
copy. That's the submission copy, or submission draft.
The editor then decides whether or not to buy it. If
not, you go on to the next publisher. If so...
The editor asks for revisions. Always. Slow down the
pace here, pick it up there, explain *why* the parrot
didn't eat the goldfish this time when he'd eaten all six
of the previous goldfish, add a darker edge, bring this
sub-plot forward and push that one back, expand the fight
scene and trim the conversation over tea (or vice versa;
depends on the editor), and so on. Some of them are
reasonable revisions; some of them you feel intensely
stupid for not having thought of yourself; some of them
are completely out of the question and you want to murder
the editor for even *thinking* of them, much less
suggesting them.
So you talk. And eventually, you come to an agreement
about what needs to be done. Then you, the writer, go
and do it. The revisions are almost never a matter of
fixing a page here and a page there; you end up doing a
run through the whole manuscript, which you then print up
and send off. (Some publishers request more than one copy
at this point, so that the Art Department can have one
while Editing and Production work on the other.) If the
editor decides that it is now acceptable, this becomes
the Final Manuscript, which gets sent to the copyeditor
and then to the typesetter. The editor can (but seldom
does) ask for a second or even a third round of
revisions, in which case it's just an intermediate
manuscript.
In very rare instances (or in the case of publishers who
don't believe in wasting time editing bestselling authors
whose books will sell like hotcakes anyway), the editor
will decide that the copy you originally submitted is
fine, and send it straight on to the copyeditor (this
actually happened to me once; it was a considerable
shock). In this case, the submission manuscript and the
final manuscript are the same thing.
When sending in the final copy, it can be useful to include a
style sheet--this indicates the variations that you were
-attempting- to stick to. That means, if you used 'grey' and
'gray' inconsistently, your stylesheet will let the copyeditor
know you meant to use the infinitely preferable 'grey'. :)
As far as the format of the style sheet, Gary Farber had this to
say:
There are several; this is not an important detail so
long as it is clear. Some houses have preferences for
their copyeditors, some don't.
The crucial detail is that every word is listed in
alphabetical order as this is the quickest way to use
the sheet(s) for reference.
Whether you go with a more graphic format like an
enlarged tic-tac-toe graph, each section for a letter,
or use a strictly linear list by letter does not matter
so long as it is clear and logical.
Lastly, when you get a chance to review the copy-edited draft
(this may or may not be specified in your contract--if it isn't,
you -may- not get this chance, if time is short), a word that'll
come in handy is 'stet'. You may use it so often that a 'stet'
stamp will come in handy. You should be able to find it in a
dictionary, but it means 'let it stand' and indicates that you
want the copyedited change not to be made--you want the original,
unchanged form which you originally submitted.
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