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Welcome back to the How to Get Published series.
I'm really not sure what happens when you self-publish, so hopefully someone can chime in on the comment section below. This installment will be about working on a piece of non-fiction or fiction with your editor. Everything from the signing on the contract to publication day.
First we need to go back to those terms and define some roles. You are going to be working with an editor and a publisher. Sometimes, they are one and the same person, but they'll be doing two very different jobs with you. An editor is working with you to tighten (or produce) the content. They will be looking at ideas, character development, tone, pace--and they may also do a little line editing. The publisher--the person who acquired your manuscript--is more in charge of the life of the book after it's done. They were the ones who negotiated with your agent and know the details of the deal, and they're also the ones who are thinking about marketing and how well the book will do in sales. You will also work with a book designer and a copyeditor, though your relationship with them will likely be through your editor or publisher. You will also work with a book publicist, brainstorming ideas based on your contacts and their reach.
I asked an associate editor at a Big Six Publisher about the various jobs associated with the creation of a book and he says,
Your editor is your point-person at the publishing house. The first thing he is going to do is work with you on shaping your manuscript. Depending on the book, the editor may do A LOT of line editing, and the publisher may be involved from the first step. Part of a goal of a big publishing house is to get the whole house behind it, so that Marketing, Publicity, and Sales all strive to make your book the one that breaks out of the morass on the shelves. Your publisher works with all of the departments to position your book, which can often be something as simple as "People who read Jodi Picoult will want to read this, so let’s see how Jodi Picoult is marketed, designed, and publicized, and we’ll try to copy that." The sheer number of people who will help bring your book to the shelves at a big publishing house would rival the end credits of a movie, and one of the biggest advantages of a publishing house is that every person in the process believes that they are integral, rightly so. Someone is actually putting a lot a lot a lot of thought into the trim of your book, into what font to use, into the running heads (those bits at the top of the page that say your name on one page and the title of the chapter / book on the other). It helps.
With fiction, the manuscript is complete, but you'll still do an edit. Or two. Or maybe even more. I had my Big Six associate editor explain:
You’ll do however many edits the publisher / editor requires to feel safe in the belief that they are going to be putting the best possible product into the marketplace. One of the biggest mind-leaps for an author is that while their manuscript is a work of art, once they sign a contract with any publishing house, big or small, it is also a commodity, and a good relationship with your editor / publisher will maintain that sense of the artistic throughout, there are always considerations as to how the novel will spotlight itself in the marketplace. In other words, when you finish a manuscript, figure out the hills to die upon. If changing the ending would make your book no longer yours, bring this up to the editor / publisher who is going to buy the book. You should definitely be able to have a conversation before the contract is signed, and you want to make sure that you have the same artistic vision as the people who will be adding a marketing and publishing vision to it. If every word is sacred and you’re going to bristle at editorial
