4 November 2011, Publication - Manuscript
Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little. I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel. Over the last year, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel.
I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way. At this moment, I'm showing you the marketing material I put together for a novel.
Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, go to my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.
If the cover is a sign your book is moving along in the publication process. Receiving the manuscript of your book prepared for publication is where the rubber really hits the road.
Your publisher will take your manuscript, with all the information requested, and put it together into an electronic copy of the printed novel. This file will usually be a pdf, and it will have questions and corrections in the text. There is really no need to know or mess with editorial changes your publisher has made to your document in this form--that is unless you find something that is really wrong. For example, if your publisher tries to fix one of your poorly written sentences and accidentally messes up a plot point, that is definitely a correction you need to recorrect. Don't go back to your original language--fix the whole thing so it makes sense.
In general, your publisher will fix grammar, misspellings, overused words, etc. They will leave in questions where they are not clear or where the plot doesn't make sense. Your job is to edit the manuscript.
Tomorrow, editing.
I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples: http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.
Showing posts with label manuscript. Show all posts
Showing posts with label manuscript. Show all posts
Friday, November 4, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Publication - Manuscript
30 October 2011, Publication - Manuscript
Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little. I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel. Over the last year, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel.
I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way. At this moment, I'm showing you the marketing material I put together for a novel.
Today's Blog: I'll leave this up--if you go to my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/ where there is a record and list of the steps in the publishing process. Yesterday, I listed the steps in the publication process. Assuming you have a contract, the first thing your publisher will want is the complete and final manuscript plus some specific information.
Depending on how long it takes for your publisher to get to your book, you could have gone through more than one additional edit. Sometimes it takes a while. When your publisher puts you on contract, your book goes into the production queue. I know certain characteristics affect the novels in the queue. For example, the time of year might move a novel about a holiday ahead or behind in the queue. A novel about a historical event can get bumped up or left until later based on the anniversary of the event. A previous bestselling author's novel will likely get precedence over a lesser selling author's next book. The economics of the book trade and the economy will slow the publisher moving through the production queue. So, what I'm telling you--again--is be ready to wait for a while before your publisher starts the publication process.
Tomorrow, I'll give you details on what they will ask you for.
I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples: http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.
Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little. I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel. Over the last year, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel.
I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way. At this moment, I'm showing you the marketing material I put together for a novel.
Today's Blog: I'll leave this up--if you go to my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/ where there is a record and list of the steps in the publishing process. Yesterday, I listed the steps in the publication process. Assuming you have a contract, the first thing your publisher will want is the complete and final manuscript plus some specific information.
Depending on how long it takes for your publisher to get to your book, you could have gone through more than one additional edit. Sometimes it takes a while. When your publisher puts you on contract, your book goes into the production queue. I know certain characteristics affect the novels in the queue. For example, the time of year might move a novel about a holiday ahead or behind in the queue. A novel about a historical event can get bumped up or left until later based on the anniversary of the event. A previous bestselling author's novel will likely get precedence over a lesser selling author's next book. The economics of the book trade and the economy will slow the publisher moving through the production queue. So, what I'm telling you--again--is be ready to wait for a while before your publisher starts the publication process.
Tomorrow, I'll give you details on what they will ask you for.
I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples: http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Formatting Your Manuscript
28 August 2011, Formatting Your Manuscript
One great question is how do you format your manuscript for a publisher or for marketing. I'll show and tell you how I format mine. This information comes from many sources, but is the way it was done before computers. I haven't found anyone to give a really different formatting style, and my publisher hasn't complained. So, unless you find something better, I'd use this. By the way, this is for a novel and not a nonfiction work, although the formatting is similar.
I don't have the first chapter of Aksinya up on its web page yet, but you can see an example of how I have already formatted the first chapter at this link:
http://www.alfordhome.com/LionelAlford.com/documents/Warrior%20of%20Darkness%20Chapter%201.pdf
The link above will take you to the first chapter of Warrior of Darkness.
First Page Header
Note that on the first page, the title is in the header on the left side. The chapter number is in the header on the right side. Every first page of every chapter should look like this. This way if the manuscript is printed and gets out of order, the chapter and title are obvious. While the manuscript is on the computer, this allows the reader to immediately identify the work and chapter of the work. I bold the title and chapter.
Subsequent Page Headers
If you look at the second and following pages of the chapter, you will see the basic header remains the same, but below the title, on the left side, is the author's last name and the page number. I don't bold the last name or page number. I do place a double dash between them. If you set up the novel as chapter files in the outline view, you can easily get the page number in the header. I don't advise writing your novels entirely in a single file, but if you do, this is easy too. The reason for the last name is to identify the author on each page. The Page numbers is for the reviewer/editor/publisher to keep track of the pages.
Subsequent Chapters
The next chapter is two. You can do this in Word by having each chapter be a new section and listing the section as the chapter. There are some other ways of doing this, but this is the way I do it. The header format is the same for each chapter.
First Page of the Manuscript
Don't include anything except the manuscript. It should not have a title page, a thanks page, an attribution, a dedication, an author's prolog, or anything except the first page of the actual novel. All that other stuff comes later. Don't put anything extraneous in this copy.
The author's information goes on the left. Give your real name, your address, email, and phone number.
The novel information goes on the right. This used to be the copyright information and the word count. Now-a-days the word count is all you need. Use the word count of the entire novel. The copyright is implied and unnecessary unless you really have one. The author and novel information is single spaced.
Title
Move down a few lines and put the title and the "by-line." Use your pen name--if you have one. This is the name you want on the manuscript when it is printed.
First Line
Move down a few more lines and start the text of the novel.
This is the way to format the novel for marketing. When you send it or parts of it away, the only thing you need is the cover letter and/or the publisher's requested cover. Many publishers have a requested cover they want to see with the manuscript. I'll talk about that more when we get to marketing materials.
Notice, I mentioned that Aksinya already has its own website. I'll discuss that tomorrow.
One great question is how do you format your manuscript for a publisher or for marketing. I'll show and tell you how I format mine. This information comes from many sources, but is the way it was done before computers. I haven't found anyone to give a really different formatting style, and my publisher hasn't complained. So, unless you find something better, I'd use this. By the way, this is for a novel and not a nonfiction work, although the formatting is similar.
I don't have the first chapter of Aksinya up on its web page yet, but you can see an example of how I have already formatted the first chapter at this link:
http://www.alfordhome.com/LionelAlford.com/documents/Warrior%20of%20Darkness%20Chapter%201.pdf
The link above will take you to the first chapter of Warrior of Darkness.
First Page Header
Note that on the first page, the title is in the header on the left side. The chapter number is in the header on the right side. Every first page of every chapter should look like this. This way if the manuscript is printed and gets out of order, the chapter and title are obvious. While the manuscript is on the computer, this allows the reader to immediately identify the work and chapter of the work. I bold the title and chapter.
Subsequent Page Headers
If you look at the second and following pages of the chapter, you will see the basic header remains the same, but below the title, on the left side, is the author's last name and the page number. I don't bold the last name or page number. I do place a double dash between them. If you set up the novel as chapter files in the outline view, you can easily get the page number in the header. I don't advise writing your novels entirely in a single file, but if you do, this is easy too. The reason for the last name is to identify the author on each page. The Page numbers is for the reviewer/editor/publisher to keep track of the pages.
Subsequent Chapters
The next chapter is two. You can do this in Word by having each chapter be a new section and listing the section as the chapter. There are some other ways of doing this, but this is the way I do it. The header format is the same for each chapter.
First Page of the Manuscript
Don't include anything except the manuscript. It should not have a title page, a thanks page, an attribution, a dedication, an author's prolog, or anything except the first page of the actual novel. All that other stuff comes later. Don't put anything extraneous in this copy.
The author's information goes on the left. Give your real name, your address, email, and phone number.
The novel information goes on the right. This used to be the copyright information and the word count. Now-a-days the word count is all you need. Use the word count of the entire novel. The copyright is implied and unnecessary unless you really have one. The author and novel information is single spaced.
Title
Move down a few lines and put the title and the "by-line." Use your pen name--if you have one. This is the name you want on the manuscript when it is printed.
First Line
Move down a few more lines and start the text of the novel.
This is the way to format the novel for marketing. When you send it or parts of it away, the only thing you need is the cover letter and/or the publisher's requested cover. Many publishers have a requested cover they want to see with the manuscript. I'll talk about that more when we get to marketing materials.
Notice, I mentioned that Aksinya already has its own website. I'll discuss that tomorrow.
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