bookpublishing

It’s a very important part of the book process: making initial contact with the author. As a project manager, I get in touch with an author after I’ve seen her book and read 3-5 chapters to get a general feel for what its about and her style of writing. The author has already worked with the acquisitions editor (or several) so occasionally the author wonders what I’m doing in this whole process. But she quickly figures it out. If all the materials is in and the manuscript is the right length, we’re off to a good start. If it doesn’t fill her contractual obligations, that’s a fun little situation I prefer to deal with after it’s been copyedited, if possible. Authors need a chance to understand the process and they should be aware that they must answer queries after copyediting. Many times they have a payment coming to them when it’s successfully completed, so it’s helpful to have that incentive.

Here is an example of an introductory email to an author:

Hi Jane,*

My name is Jess Haberman and I’ll be the project editor for your book, The Best Book You’ll Ever Read.* I’m very excited about your book and after reviewing it, I’m confident that this will be a very enjoyable project.

Your manuscript is currently with a copyeditor and I expect to be able to send it to you to respond to queries within 2 weeks. You’ll have about a week to respond to those queries.

Please let me know if you any questions or concerns arise as we work together on this book. You can reach me via email or by phone (see contact information below). If you know of vacation time or time you will be unavailable, I’d appreciate it if you could let me know so I can plan around it.

Thanks and I look forward to working with you!
Jess

* Names and titles above other than my own are completely fictional.

If the book is already back from the copyeditor, I will include instructions for how to answer queries, usually in MS Word using the Track Changes feature.

Then I typically get a return email. Sometimes it is difficult to tell right away what kind of author I’m dealing with. Usually the truth comes out after the book has been copyedited. However, there are some red flags that typically appear early in the process that make it clear I might be dealing with a difficult author: immediate disagreements about the book process or expectations; no response; when the author feels personally affronted by the copyeditor’s change; missed deadlines; excuses for late work or few responses.

Here’s an example of an email from an author that indicated to me right off the bat that she’ll be a pleasure to work with (and so far, so good!). In this case, she received the copyedited text with my introductory email.

Hi Jess,

Wow! I’m amazed to have this so quickly, and with so few queries to answer! Maybe I was exceptionally sloppy with my previous book, but there was a lot more flagged in it during the copyediting stage.

After quickly looking through the ms, I have a couple of questions before I get to work.
1. If I disagree with a change that the copyeditor has made, should I simply change it again, or mark it for you? I noticed two words that he consistently changed, but they’re actually correct the other way.
2. For the recipes, your recipe style sheet said to number the steps, though I prefer them without the numbers for the sake of consistency, since the yogurt recipe was tricky to number. Is it okay to omit the numbers on all of them?
3. Corrections from my tech reviewer arrived over the weekend, and I’d like to incorporate them. Most are simply a phrase here and there, but a couple will require the addition of a paragraph. Is there any problem with making those changes at this stage?

Thanks so much for getting this back to me so quickly. I’m delighted to be working with you, and I can’t wait for the next round, with all the lovely photos incorporated!

Best,
Marsha

Here’s an author who is certainly not as easy to work with. She writes while reviewing the copyedited manuscript (copyedited by Jason). Can you count the red flags?

I’m a little confused about who does what in this book revision process. What is your job, and what is Jason’s?

Jason has made some comments that I take issue with. He wants to omit the Rainforest Restaurant, which is in the Mall of America, his reason being that it isn’t Minnesota specific. That’s bogus and picky.

He also questioned whether outdoor stores should be included with the other businesses listed at the end of the chapters, commenting that they might not be in business any longer. That also is bogus. Seems his comment would also apply to restaurants and motels. Any business can quit operating or change management at any time. I spent much time last winter and spring checking all these phone numbers and updating them. All our revisions were due June 1. We can’t possibly check them again in the short window before you want our corrections returned to you, never mind the holiday thrown into next week. And never mind that our book has been out of date since it was published in 2002. None of it makes sense to us.

Jason also made fun of our description of the falls in the Minnehaha Falls section. If he takes issue with our writing, he should write his own book. I don’t think much of him as an editor.

Just thought you’d like to know. And by the way, what will the revised edition be called? And with the photos, there were a few that were mine.

Betty Ann

She’s just a gem, isn’t she?

There are, of course, the authors who sit somewhere in the middle of the spectrum and typically I’m just fine with that! For some reason, I tend to find that I work very well with male authors and I have very few problems with them. Female authors can go either way. First-time authors are almost always easy to work with. Authors who have published many books with us tend to be the most demanding and have the hardest times adjusting to changes in our process. This is overgeneralizing in all cases, and every editor has a different experience. I can tell you one thing for sure: It doesn’t get boring no matter who your authors are.

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