- Update #1: Draft in Progress
- Update #2: Complete Manuscript
- Update #3: Revisions Complete
- Update #4: Production and Copyediting
Get ready, because this update is a big one!
First, I have a BOOK COVER! See above!
And a PUBLICATION DATE: April 2, 2024!
The book is now listed online on the Columbia University Press website! Preorders are available there, and with other book retailers! If you order through CUP, you can use the discount code CUP20 at checkout to receive 20% off.
What is the rest of the book production process like?
In my last update, I explained the production process. Since then, the production editor has taken the copyedited pages to format the whole book and create page proofs.
Right now, I'm in the midst of checking the page proofs. It's pretty cool to have a complete PDF of my book in hand! My job is to read through everything as carefully as I can to catch any final typos and factual errors—the little stuff that can be fixed at this stage.
I'm also creating the index. University presses frequently ask authors to create the index (you can hire it out if you want, on your own dime). It's time consuming, but I can squeeze it in more easily than I can spare the cost of a professional indexer. I'm doing the first pass while proofreading—picking keywords, adding some page numbers. Then I'll do a second pass to catch any mentions of words that I missed the first time through.
My proof corrections and index draft are due Dec 1. Then, there's the next round of proofs for the index and front matter. We should have a bound book sometime in January, with the publication—as mentioned—February 27!
What else is left?
Marketing and book promotion. I filled out CUP's marketing questionnaire a few months ago, so I presume at some point I'll hear from their marketing people. But, without waiting for them, I have some social media work to do—posts to plan and queue up. I have updates to my personal/author website to finish, and blog posts to write. And, of course, book promotion doesn't end at publication!
It's so cool to have the final product in sight.
* This post first appeared on The Deliberate Owl.