How Long Does It Take to Publish a Book?

My clients are often surprised at the length of time it takes to move from a final manuscript draft to a finished book. "How could it possibly take so long?" "I need it for a conference in five weeks." "Our annual report took only one month." It comes as a shock to them to learn that it can take as long to publish a book as it does to write the manuscript. Why?

Publishing a book is a creative process. Quality and creativity take time. Can you generate a finished book in a couple of months? Sure you can, and the end result often reflects that schedule. Why spend months, sometimes years, creating a manuscript and then not take the time to have the manuscript properly edited, designed, and printed? You will be wasting your time and your money if the quality of the writing and the aesthetics of your book are sub-standard, no matter how important your topic.

Most manuscripts require substantive editing (and unless your friend, your cousin, or your secretary, etc., is a professional editor, they don't count). A professional editor is just that: a professional. She will take the time to think about what it is you are trying to say and work with you to say it in the best possible way. This process frequently takes two to four months as the edited manuscript moves back and forth between you and the editor and each and every suggestion and query is dealt with. You need to allow time for thinking, for you and the editor.

Once the substantive edit is complete, the manuscript is copyedited - line by line - for consistency, style, sense, grammar, spelling, and to ensure that all its various parts (scans, graphics, bibliographies, footnotes, etc.) are edited and properly prepared for a designer. This is not an automated process, and it requires more back and forth between you and the copyeditor. It is a critical collaboration, whether it is a complex novel or a straightforward how-to book.

A designer also needs time to lay out a design that works for this particular book and appeals to its audience. She will take the final edited file as prepared by the copyeditor and work with it in a design program, such as InDesign. Manuscripts with numerous parts such as graphics, charts, and footnotes can take more hours than will straight text. Image scans have to be checked, sized, often enhanced, and the printer's profile added to each scan. Designed pages are proofread by the author and by a professional proofreader, and those changes are sent back to the designer to make corrections, which will require further checking. There are often three or even four sets of designed-page corrections generated until everything is perfect. Throw in an index, and that can take anywhere from a week for a memoir to a month for a technical book.

The printer receives the files from the designer and runs an automated "pre-flight" check to ensure that all is well: no missing fonts, no low-res images that would mar quality, no conflicts with the quote for the book. The printer produces proofs that are sent to the publisher or author for checking. The finished book usually takes four to five weeks to print and ship.

What is an average time to produce a book from a manuscript that arrives on the editor's desk in decent shape? About nine months. But if there are substantive content issues to address, incomplete fact-checking, low quality images that require replacement or enhancing, rights or permissions to seek, graphs/charts/maps to create, author schedules to work around (we all have lives), special printing needs, or a host of unforeseen circumstances, it can easily take longer. In a world where the process of creating a book is no longer a mystery known to a select few, it is even more imperative that your book stands out for its quality. So invest in quality, which means spending time as well as money. Your audience will thank you.