Ready for Publication
—or Not?
WITH SO MUCH TIME INVESTED, you want it to be "publishable." You followed the basic principles of good writing, spellchecked it, said everything you intended to say. What more can a publisher ask?
A BOOK DOCTOR CAN DIAGNOSE problem areas and identify strong points. That process is called a read-through or critique. No substantive editing is done up to this point. You get just a professional opinion, and a written estimate for further work with the author.
IDEALLY, YOUR MS MAY NEED simply a light editing polish before you are ready to sent it off to a publisher or an agent. Most of time, however, line-by-line copy editing for grammar, spelling, and consistency is required to bring a MS up to publishing standards. Why are publishers so particular about typos or bad grammar? — because if a publisher's reputation deteriorates, that will affect all their sales for years to come.
WHAT IF HEAVY EDITING IS INDICATED? At this point, the question is, how much can you do by yourself, and how much are you willing to invest in this project? This may depend on who your audience is — your family and friends? Or reaching a wider public with an important issue or a well-developed novel? Is timing an issue? Understand that traditional book publishing is not "fast-track"; if your issue will peak within a year, you may be too late already. "Crash" books on breaking news (on a super-fast schedule) are almost always commissioned.
GHOSTWRITING IS A SPECIAL CASE of editing, really a collaboration of author and editor, and sometimes with much more written by the editor than by the author. Ghostwriting is not just for celebrities. If finding a ghostwriter fits your needs, then go for it.
FINDING AN AGENT is nearly as difficult as finding a publisher. If you find one interested in your work or even in your field, then you're ahead of the game. But don't bother looking for an agent until your work is nearly done (unless you already have published enough articles to be well known to your peers).
AS A LAST RESORT, if you have exhausted your submissions to publishers and agents, and if you still strongly believe in your book, then you might consider self-publishing. These days it's much easier than it used to be.
THE DOCTOR IS IN. I'm Sasha "Birdie" Newborn, publisher of Bandanna Books. Books are my life. I learned my chops starting with five years in various jobs at several Manhattan publishing houses, including Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Random House, Appleton-Century, Fairchild Publications, Praeger, and on the West Coast, Black Sparrow Press, Wadsworth, Scott Foresman, ABC-Clio. Over the years, I've worked closely with a number of authors to create the vision of the book they want to produce. For professors to poets to regional publishers to children's authors, through my involvement, I always aim toward making a better book. I can do the same for you.
My success was due to good luck, hard work, and support and advice from friends and mentors. But most importantly, it depended on me to keep trying after I had failed." —Mark Twain
Bandanna Books • Santa Barbara
Copyright © 2010 Bandanna Books