What are ARCS? Also, A Sample Production Timeline in Traditional Publishing
Diary #4: Why Does It Take So Long to Publish a Book?
Hello, Protagonists! In this post, you’ll find:
🤓 What I’m Reading This Week
💛 The Incredible Kindness of Paper ARCs are here!!
⏱️ Behind the Scenes: A Sample Production Timeline in Traditional Publishing
🤓 What I’m Reading This Week
Deep Work by Cal Newport - (nonfiction) - This inspirational book is our January Book Pick! If you’re looking to kickstart your creativity but constantly feel distracted, I love love love this book.
Reminder: Our January Book Club meeting is Sunday, January 26th. More details & Discussion Qs available here!
“Twenty Years After a Brain Injury, I’m Finally Getting on with My Life. And I’m Terrified.” - (article, Narratively) - A wonderfully touching and inspiring piece about reframing your identity and finding a way back to writing (and the other things you enjoy).
“Noel Gallagher Has Created a Six-Hour Version of ‘Champagne Supernova’” - (article, Billboard) - Do I need a 6-hour song by Oasis, even if it was a part of the soundtrack of my high school years? Probably not. But do I love that artists can continually revisit their own work and still play with it and make it new? Yes, I absolutely do!
💛 The Incredible Kindness of Paper ARCs are here!!
I’m trying not to cry, because the ARCs of my next book have arrived, and this is a Big Moment in the life of a book!
What is an ARC?
ARC stands for Advance Reader Copies.
They are sometimes also called AREs (Advance Reader Editions) or galleys.
ARCs are an unproofread version of a manuscript, either in digital form or bound into paperback form, for marketing and publicity purposes.
They are sent to booksellers and librarians as previews to help them decide which upcoming books they want to order for their stores/libraries.
They are also sent to book influencers on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Substack, etc. This helps generate early buzz among readers.
ARCS are not proofread yet, because that process is happening at the same time as this early awareness marketing/publicity campaign.
(See below for more details about Book Production Timelines.)
They are not for sale! If you get an ARC, please do not re-sell it on eBay. The author does not get paid for that copy.
Why are ARCs a big deal?
This is the first time an author gets to see their story in a format that looks and feels like an actual book!!
If it’s digital, it’ll be just like an e-book.
If it’s paperback, it’s incredible to get to hold the book in your hands!
Speaking of which…
Here’s a mini-tour of The Incredible Kindness of Paper ARC:
Look! It’s a book-shaped thing!
On the front, there is a label that clearly reminds people that
this is an ARC, and
it’s not proofread (so please wait for the final version if you’re going to quote it)
On the back, there’s a book description to entice booksellers, librarians, and book influencers:
And at the bottom, there is the contact info for the marketing person and publicist in charge of the book, so that if podcasts, YouTube channels, etc. want to reach out for more info or to request an interview with the author, they know who to ask:
What do authors do with their ARCs?
Film or photograph them for social media
Giveaways to readers to build anticipation
I always save a copy, because I like having copies of my books at the different stages of production. (This is my 10th book, so my storage unit is getting pretty full, haha. Not to mention the foreign language translations of my books! 😂)
⏱️ Behind the Scenes: A Sample Production Timeline in Traditional Publishing
Today, I’m going to take you through a hypothetical timeline of writing and producing a novel with a Big 5 publisher (Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Hachette).
note: This is part of my year-long series where I take you behind the scenes, from idea to publication of a book!
Book Production Timeline
Keep in mind that every book is different, as is every editor and writer, so the timing of each step here is just illustrative. For example, the Developmental Editing phase can be longer if the editor and author think the book needs more time.
That’s why you’ll usually hear that the average time for publication with a traditional publisher is 2 years.
In this sample timeline, we’ll start on January 1st so it’s easier to keep track of the dates and the pace that production is progressing.
Phase I: Developmental Editing
January 1: Turn in the 1st draft to your editor
March 1: Four to eight weeks later, your editor sends you her editorial letter with detailed developmental comments about major changes: character development issues, plot holes or sagging places or subplots that aren’t working, etc.
Why so long a wait? It’s not because she’s ignoring you. It’s because she has other manuscripts from other authors ahead of yours in the queue.
When she does get to yours, she will read it once, then set it aside for a week or so, then read it again and make detailed notes. Some editors then set it aside again to let everything marinate, and come back to the manuscript a third time before they compose the editorial letter to you.
May 1: Two months later, you turn in the 2nd draft to your editor.
May 21: Three to four weeks later, your editor sends you an email summarizing what developmental points still need work or tightening. (The changes are less extensive at this point, so a long editorial letter is often not needed.)
She also sends some high-level line edits in Track Changes in the Word document.
June 15: Three weeks later, you turn in the 3rd draft to your editor.
July 7: Three weeks later, your editor emails to say you did a great job with revision! She sends you the Microsoft Word doc with her more detailed line edits in Track Changes.
July 21: Two weeks later, you turn in the 4th draft, with all the line edit revisions done.
July 28: Your editor tells you that the manuscript is ready to go into Production!
Phase II: Production
Copyediting
Your editor sends the manuscript to copyediting.
Sept 1: Four or five weeks later, you receive the copyedited manuscript. The copyeditor has made comments in Track Changes in the Word document.
Sept 21: Three weeks later, you send back the manuscript. You have reviewed it and made requested changes/answered questions, and you’ve written STET where you do not like the copyeditor’s suggestion (STET = put it back the way I wrote it originally).
First-Pass Pages
Oct 1: Four or five weeks later, you get first-pass pages. The manuscript is no longer a Word document. It has now been type-set and looks like the interior pages of a book (in pdf format)!
This is when you start to cry because it is beginning to look real.
And then, you proofread very carefully (again).
Oct 14: Two weeks later, you turn in the first-pass pages with any near-final corrections that need to be made. For some publishing houses, this is the last time the author will see the book before the release date!
(Other publishing houses will show the author the second-pass pages—which incorporate your first-pass changes—as a final check-in. This will be about a month after you turned in the first-pass pages.)
ARCs
Oct 1: Around the same time you receive first-pass pages, your editor tells you that ARCs are also done! The digital versions will be offered to booksellers, librarians, and book influencers (TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Substackers, etc.)
Sometimes the publisher will also print physical ARCs, but not always, because it’s quite expensive.
If you do get to hold a physical ARC in your hands, this is the second time you cry, because it’s now a book-shaped thing!
Fun fact: physical ARCs actually cost more to print than final version paperback books (the kind you buy at bookstores or from online retailers).
That might seem strange because ARCs are printed on cheap paper, and real, final paperbacks are on more expensive paper.
But ARCs are more costly because fewer are ordered, so publishers don’t get the same pricing benefits as with the final, higher quality paperbacks.
Second and Third Pass Pages
As noted above, some publishers will have the author look through second and even third-pass pages. Others won’t, instead leaving the work to the eagle-eyed Production team to make sure everything is right.
I’ve been published under both systems, and it works out fine either way. (Frankly, I prefer to do only first-pass, because I’m so tired of re-reading the book by then that I don’t want to do second- or third-passes, haha.)
Third pass is usually finished a couple months before the book goes to print.
In the meantime, the publicity, marketing, and sales teams are hard at work getting the word out about your book. This takes many months. (I’ll cover publicity and marketing in a separate diary entry).
Phase III: Printing the Actual Book
April 15: Cover art gets sent to the printer
April 28: Interior pages sent to the printer
June 1: All the books are finished printing and get shipped to the publisher.
June 7: The books arrive at the publisher’s distribution warehouse. Now they begin fulfilling orders from libraries and retailers—both physical bookstores and online retailers like Amazon.
Books are packed up and shipped so they can arrive well before your release date and be in stock, ready to go. The outside of the box will have a bright sticker on it with the release date, so that the store employees know when they’re supposed to open the boxes.
(Sometimes stores accidentally put books out before they’re meant to be released, oops! But usually they’re pretty good about abiding by the release date stickers.)
July 15: RELEASE DAY, WOOHOO!!! Your book is on sale and on bookstore shelves!
» Cue uncontrollable sobbing!!!
Got questions about this process?
Drop them in the Comments—If it’s straightforward to answer, I’ll do it in the Comments. If it’s a little more complicated, I’ll explain during the next Book Club meeting, which you can attend live or watch the recording afterward. 💛
That was educational in a nice, straightforward, easy to understand package! Thank you for sharing - it was a fun read, too. Lots of food for thought for those who are on their own without the support of an established publishing house - still very relevant. Especially if you choose to work with a professional editor yet still self publish.
Truly the best part of it is your ability to boil down a very long and complicated process to a simple outline that will make anyone a more learned individual about publishing and ARCs. I’ve heard that this ability can be a hallmark of a true genius… a concept with which I agree.
I’ve saved this, and will return to it many times in the years to come no doubt. Again, my humblest appreciation! 😊👍
Thank you for this breakdown of the publishing process. It is really long! But now I understand why. Congratulations on your ARC. 🍾🎉🎊🎈 it's such a beautiful cover! I can't wait to hold the book in my hands!