Thread moved from HPfGU to OTC: Release Date and Editing Process

[hpfgu_elves]

From:  Steve (bboyminn)
Re: Clue to Release of Book 7? 

--- "Goddlefrood" <gav_fiji at ...> wrote:
>
> ... I am somewhat surpirsed that the suggestion ...
> has not yet been made.
>
> ... of the title of book 7 "Harry Potter and the
> Deathly Hallows" .... I propose that the title ...
> gives us a clue .... All Hallow's Eve or Hallowe'en
> or even Samhein. That's 31st October folks.
>
> Goddlefrood hoping he may be right as the wait is
> killing him (althought not as much as the three year
> summer yet).
>

bboyminn:

I think you may be right but for different reasons. I
think, and hope others will correct me if I'm wrong, that
it takes about 6 months from completed first draft
manuscript to the book hitting the stores. Since JKR is
still writing, that means /more than/ 6 months before
the book appears.

The first step is for the first draft manuscript to be
submitted to Editors for proofreading, then sent back to
the author for needed corrections. Then copies have to
be sent to the various people who do art work (covers,
chapter artwork, etc...). They need copies of the book
so they have a framework for creating this art work.
Then the materials have to be gather for printing. Then
MANY millions of copies of the books have to be printed
and distributed. All that takes time.

If the manuscript were already done and submitted, I
would be comfortable with a July delivery date. Since
it is not, then I think more like 9 to 12 months. Which
could easily make it around October. October seems a
somewhat auspicious date as October seems to have been
very significant to the story.

I know we have some people in the publishing industry
here in the group, could you comment on typical turn
around time between the manuscript and availability
in the story?

Steve/bboyminn


**************************************************


From:  JustCarol
Re: Clue to Release of Book 7? 

bboyminn:
>
> I think you may be right but for different reasons. I
> think, and hope others will correct me if I'm wrong, that
> it takes about 6 months from completed first draft
> manuscript to the book hitting the stores. Since JKR is
> still writing, that means /more than/ 6 months before
> the book appears.
>
> The first step is for the first draft manuscript to be
> submitted to Editors for proofreading, then sent back to
> the author for needed corrections. Then copies have to
> be sent to the various people who do art work (covers,
> chapter artwork, etc...). They need copies of the book
> so they have a framework for creating this art work.
> Then the materials have to be gather for printing. Then
> MANY millions of copies of the books have to be printed
> and distributed. All that takes time. <snip>

Carol responds:
Oops, Sorry, Steve. You've forgotten copyediting! "Copy" is the
manuscript form of a work; "proof" is the work set in print subject to
further corrections. So, after a preliminary examination of the
manuscript by the managing editor or project editor to make sure there
are no major problems (say, unsuitable material for the target
audience), the first step is to submit the manuscript to the
copyeditor for copyediting (correcting all mechanical errors, revising
any awkward or wordy sentences, querying anything that seems
inconsistent or unclear). Then the author goes over the manuscript to
accept or reject the copyeditor's corrections and act on the queries.
After that, the manuscript is sent to the typesetter, who creates the
proofs (loose pages that look like the pages of the book but are the
size of typing paper and printed only on one side). The proofreader
than reads the proofs against the copyedited manuscript to make sure
that the editor's corrections have been made correctly and that the
typesetter has made no further errors. Things like page numbers in the
table of contents and running heads and fonts for chapter titles also
have to be checked. The proofreader may make a few further editorial
corrections, labeled as such, if the copyeditor has missed something
or made an error. The author and the publisher also check the proofs
and make their own corrections. All of these corrections are collated
and checked, with pages submitted and resubmitted until everything is
as perfect as humanly possible. Naturally, there will still be
mistakes, but many eyes will have examined those pages before they go
to the printer to be bound. (I forgot to mention people like book
designers and illustrators and production editors who are also
involved in the process, primarily at the manuscript level.) The
printed books are then distributed for sale to the public.

As Steve said, all this takes time, and six months from the author's
final manuscript (I haven't included her own drafts and revisions in
my discussion of the process) to completed book is a reasonable
estimate. Lucky JKR doesn't even have to worry about the marketing!

Carol, who is currently a copyeditor but has worked with books on
various levels over years, including manuscript markup, proofreading,
and incorporating author's and publisher's corrections, not to mention
writing her own 637-page doctoral dissertation