On June 3rd, after reading and rereading and editing The Step and the Walk, I bit the bullet, swallowed my fears, and emailed it as a formal submission to my publisher as the second contracted book in The Darkening Gate trilogy.

This particular volume scared the crap out of me because I didn’t have money or time for beta readers, and I was tackling some stuff that was either out of my wheelhouse–a M/M relationship with a bisexual lead–or very serious content that required a warning (sexual assault). Plus, add in the epistolary format, and I had something I’d never done before. I was so, so scared to turn it in, but it all worked out, as these things often do. (I tend to worry over nothing.)

So, let’s talk about the process.

When you get a book deal, it’s assigned to an editor. Here’s the deal announcement for my trilogy:

Notice that the book is sold to an editor from the publishing house. So, Kim is the one who is in charge of this trilogy, and I work with her directly on edits.

Although different editors may do things differently, what I get from Kim after she goes over my manuscript is an editorial letter, and then in-manuscript commentary, including some line edits.

Here’s an editor’s word on what an editorial letter is:

The editor will take a close look at your manuscript and give it some line editing as well as typing up a longer editorial letter. During this first round, if you end up doing more than one round, you’ll mostly pay attention to big picture issues like character, plot, story structure, and pacing. Does this story really need two best friends? Can we make the subplot more exciting? Does the protagonist’s relationship with her mother need more emphasis? These are examples of what might appear in an editorial letter.

These larger modifications an editor proposes should bring the manuscript up a notch, making the storytelling far more engaging and marketable […].

–Mary Kole, “How to Approach a Publishing Editorial Letter“

Kim just sent me the editorial letter and edits yesterday (Oliver Heber Books, while being a small publisher, tends to move faster than what I’ve heard about the Big Five houses). And as far as the editorial letter went, it did talk about big picture issues, and a particular item in the text I need to focus on to transition between books. That one is going to be a challenge.

In addition to the editorial letter, Kim put in-text commentary consisting of fixing punctuation, phrasing, and syntax errors, and then some suggestions for clarity…and then fun little comments here and there directly reacting to the story.

I love this method because it’s a balance between repairing the manuscript critically, but also giving positive feedback to round things out…so that way, when I make the 1,000th comma error as I tend to, I don’t feel so stupid if I’m told that meanwhile, I just wrote a great twist in the novel.

I’ve been given the edits, and now the ball is in my court–fix the small errors, and then tackle the bigger issues. Some rewriting will always be involved, although for this round, I don’t need to do as much as I did with The Name and the Key (which genuinely surprised me!). I felt really, really good after receiving my editorial letter and edits from Kim, and the story isn’t looking as bad as I was afraid it would be. It’s a pleasant feeling.

I have a few days to return the manuscript (my contract dictates the number but I don’t quite remember), and then the next step will be proofreading, then formatting. Somewhere in the mix of all of that, I’ll be given the release date for the book and a book cover design. I will also have to come up with my own blurb, which is the hardest thing, because Amazon isn’t doing SEO anymore, but AEO (answer engine optimization, which includes AI). I have to find a way to work with the system plus write an enticing book description to pull in my target audience. Fun!

Amid all of this, I need to keep promoting The Name and the Key, which comes out next month (!) and start writing The Fear and the Flame. I’m trying to do as much as possible this summer before school starts, because I’m tentatively scheduled to teach two classes at my local college and possibly an online one for the other college I’ve been teaching at this past year. As I’ve chronicled on this blog, my work-life balance tends to suck and stress me out. So I’m asking all of my readers, please wish me luck!