The Book Editorial Process: Manuscript Submission Through the Editing Process

Your literary agent successfully sold your novel or book proposal to a book publisher then, after months (or years!) of slaving away, you've typed "The End": your magnum opus is finally finished!

In the time since your book was acquired, you and your editor have likely had some back-and-forth about the content (including what, if any, art program is expected from you).

Now, proud and exhausted, you deliver your carefully-formatted manuscript on disk (maybe even with a hard copy) to your editor. You're done! But you don't get to relax just yet.

The Editorial Process
Next stop, your pages enter the editorial process, the first stage in seeing a manuscript become a finished book. During this stage, your editor is going to have a lot to say about the book's content, and you'll work together to arrive at an agreed-upon final manuscript.

Following is a brief overview of what generally happens after an author submits his or her manuscript. Note that the exact time between steps varies widely depending on the book's production schedule (highly padded? tight? a crash?), and the individual editor (who's in a dozen or more meetings every week and has a slew of other books to edit). For example, you might wait a month for feedback on a chapter and then have only a couple of days to do a chapter rewrite--or vice versa. And there may be more or less back-and-forth at any stage, depending on the extent and nature of the feedback and the requested changes.

Manuscript From Submission Through the Editorial Process: Basic Stages

1. The author submits the manuscript to the editor according to the contractual due date (this is sometimes referred to as the first pass manuscript).
   
   
2. The editor takes a first pass at the manuscript and makes (sometimes extensive) general comments, sometimes called a "developmental edit." (Most good editors will do some developmental editing during early chapters, prior to the manuscript's completion).
   
   These can be requests for: additional text, cutting text, clarifying information, moving chapters around for the sake of narrative flow, etc. The revisions in the manuscript stage may be handled on the printed manuscript, electronically--or a combination of both. In any case, version control care is taken that there's one master electronic copy, so revisions aren't duplicated or lost. The editor then returns the manuscript to the author.
   
   
3. The author revises the manuscript per the editor's instructions and resubmits it (the second pass). If artwork is expected from the author, it's likely expected in full by this time (note: there are usually guidelines as to how art is submitted, to ensure electronic art goes in its correct place and original art comes back intact).
   
   
4. The editor line-edits the second manuscript--that is, he or she goes over it with a fine-tooth comb and asks for additional corrections, clarifications, and comments on artwork (if applicable); the editor returns the second manuscript to author.
   
   
5. The author makes all corrections, answers all queries and responds to all comments. A clean, final manuscript and matching disk (plus all final art, if applicable) goes to the editor.
   
   
6. If the editor is happy with the manuscript at this stage, it is considered to be "accepted" and it moves on to be the copyeditor, to be copyedited. Being "accepted" also means the author's "payment upon acceptance" check can finally be triggered! (Note that for some non-fiction books, acceptance is also contingent upon legal review of the manuscript).
   

Copyediting is considered to be the first step in the book production process.