Cue the Lion King soundtrack, because here’s where the cycle of life (for a writer) happens. Betrayed, Book 2, launched on Tuesday, and on the next Tuesday (yesterday!) I sent the manuscript for Avenged, Book 3, off to my editor.
Lots of tremulous emotions around sending this one off. It’s the last in the series, and whatever secrets the Arnaud Manor continues to hold, they are forever silenced.
You may wonder why I am turning in the book a full year before it will hit bookstores. There are a lot of things that happen to a book in the meantime:
1. My editor reads it and gives feedback.
2. The cover art is created.
3. The copy editor reads it and gives feedback.
4. “First pass pages” are created, basically the last chance to catch errors and make changes.
5. Galleys get bound. These are also called ARCS, or Advanced Reader Copies. They get sent to reviewers and media sources to try to get pre-publication reviews.
5. The book itself is released.
Each of those steps takes time. I love this process and am so happy to have two books emerge in the space of a week, in very different stages of their development!
Lynn Carthage is the pseudonym of an acclaimed fiction writer who has been a Yaddo fellow and teaches novel writing. Connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.
