WALL Manuscript Sent: What’s Next?

As promised last week, when I shared having pressed ‘Send’ on WALL #4, I’ll run through the process from here so you have an idea what to expect. (Those of you who don’t already know, that is. 🙂 )

The-Chaos-Gate-The-Wall-Of-Night-Book-Four

Where to from here?

First-off, by delivering the manuscript (ms) it means we’re now in the first stage of the road to publication, known as D & A, short for Delivery and Acceptance. Basically, once the author sends the ms (Delivery) the editor, on behalf of the publisher, then decides whether or not they will accept it.

If they do, then the process, and the ms, goes straight to edit. If not, the editor and publisher may ask for major revisions before that occurs, after which they will either i) accept the manuscript, in which case it goes to edit; or ii) reject it altogether.

The road goes ever on, but there’s still a journey to complete on this adventure.

Obviously I’ve got all my digits pretzelled for acceptance upfront, because at that stage there’s highly likely to be a publication date to share with you.

The edit, of course, can still be a major exercise, even when the ms is accepted straightaway. It’s also my last chance, as author, to make any tweaks of significance to the work

More of this to come — probably with way less paper, tho’ 😉

Once it’s done, the copyedit and proofs follow, but they’re about continuity, consistency, and errors, rather than major rewriting.

All leading to publication, although that may follow some time after all the production phases are wrapped up. In terms of when this happy day is likely to occur, the worst case scenario is that it may still be years away. Having taken so long in the writing thereof, it all depends on when there is a slot on the publisher’s schedule.

However, Voyager did indicate that it I got the ms to them first thing in the new year, then they would strive to publish in 2027. So again, I have every finger crossed that all will go smoothly and that will prove to be the case.