Nathan Bransford - The Forums

At last! Bluewood Publishing sent me the proof copy of The Sailor and The Carpenter, Book One of Father Serra's Legacy.

You have no idea how hard it was for me NOT to do more editing on it!!!!! I made absolutely as few corrections as possible. The major one was, as I guess the editor was from New Zealand, she or he didn't know that one has to use inverted exclamations in Spanish before the word or words. That I couldn't let go.

Oh yeah, drove me nuts as the second editor made changes to things the first editor changed. And, instead of a - , used a solid line instead.

Ah well, now to see just how long it takes to actual publication!!!

Was this proof copy a galley proof? If so, is the solid line replacing hyphens an em dash? Publication format for dashes is; hyphens are connectors and verbally can be read as and: nurse-practitioner, tractor-trailer, convention-based metrics, rear-ended. En dashes read for through or to, like for numeral ranges, 1945–1960, though en dashes should be spelled out for inline prose, okay for tables and figures. And em dashes for interruptions. That—she said, is the cat's meow.

The anterior exclamation point, or bang in typesetter vernacular, is a nondiscretionary Academia Real (de Espanol) orthographic style standard for Spanish. U.S. and British dialect style manuals vary in covering foreign language standards. Chicago Manual of Style, the U.S. standard style manual for prose publication, covers inverted anterior punctuation for Spanish language usage. See 10.6. I would question the proficiency of an editor who is unaware of the style standard, like did he or she bother to look it up.

Congratulations on passing the next step into the publication pipeline. Two years from acquisition to release is not an uncommon amount of time.

polymath wrote:Was this proof copy a galley proof? If so, is the solid line replacing hyphens an em dash? Publication format for dashes is; hyphens are connectors and verbally can be read as and: nurse-practitioner, tractor-trailer, convention-based metrics, rear-ended. En dashes read for through or to, like for numeral ranges, 1945–1960, though en dashes should be spelled out for inline prose, okay for tables and figures. And em dashes for interruptions. That—she said, is the cat's meow.

The anterior exclamation point, or bang in typesetter vernacular, is a nondiscretionary Academia Real (de Espanol) orthographic style standard for Spanish. U.S. and British dialect style manuals vary in covering foreign language standards. Chicago Manual of Style, the U.S. standard style manual for prose publication, covers inverted anterior punctuation for Spanish language usage. See 10.6. I would question the proficiency of an editor who is unaware of the style standard, like did he or she bother to look it up.

Congratulations on passing the next step into the publication pipeline. Two years from acquisition to release is not an uncommon amount of time.

Thanks for the feedback. The above comment certainly seems to be my experience.

And, how long does it usually take for sequels? I have three, two of which the publisher already has.

Also, what is your experience about other novels in a different genre or subject area?

My guess is that my publisher will wait to see what happens to the first - even though covers have been made for two of the three.

longknife wrote: Thanks for the feedback. The above comment certainly seems to be my experience.

And, how long does it usually take for sequels? I have three, two of which the publisher already has.

Also, what is your experience about other novels in a different genre or subject area?

My guess is that my publisher will wait to see what happens to the first - even though covers have been made for two of the three.

Publishers confident with installment projects' marketplace performance like to have the full project in hand when the first installment release hits booksellers. Publication then is oftentimes annually for installments, or as short as six months if a hot property.

They plan releases around prime-time bookselling seasons. Late summer into fall for the primary holiday gift-buying season and mid spring for the secondary summer-reading stocking season. Post New Year's wintertime is a slack season, as is summertime.

Fiction genre or subject has little influence on planning seasonal releases. More influential is a publisher's marketplace savvy. How soon they can get suitable copy into a bookmaker's queue most affects timeliness.

I expect your publisher will project performance and estimate first production run in the 2,000 to 10,000 copy range. Subsequent print runs can take days or weeks to fulfill back orders. They'll wait and see for the next installment production runs but gauge further productions runs, from the initial installment performance, about how well the installments might perform. Sequel installment demand often declines from 20 to 50 percent. There are exceptions.

polymath wrote:

I expect your publisher will project performance and estimate first production run in the 2,000 to 10,000 copy range. Subsequent print runs can take days or weeks to fulfill back orders. They'll wait and see for the next installment production runs but gauge further productions runs, from the initial installment performance, about how well the installments might perform. Sequel installment demand often declines from 20 to 50 percent. There are exceptions.

Bluewood Publishing of Christchurch, New Zealand publishes e-books and POD hard copy books so a "first run" is not a factor.

Here's their website: http://bluewoodpublishing.com/ They've indicated they're in the midst of major changes to their website.