The World Of Book Publishing Is A Mystery To Many, So We Did Our Best To Show You Behind-The-Scenes
Do you ever think about how something can go from words on a document to a gorgeous bound book you can hold in your hands?
BBC / Via GIPHY
For books that are traditionally published, this process can take several steps and many different people behind the scenes. So, we wanted to dive in and see what a day in the life might be for folks who are in some of these positions, and luckily, we get to share that with all of you!
Quick reminder, though, that every publisher is different, and every process is different.
Let's imagine this as a journey for our completely and totally made up author Will Shakespeare. Hi, Will! (See below.) In this piece, we'll go through some of the steps you might see in the course of a book's voyage and talk to some epic people who are part of these journeys. Let's get into it.
So, you've written a fictional book or have an idea for a nonfiction book...now what?
After finishing their book, Will wants to see if someone will publish it. But to do that, they're going to first query it to a literary agent. Querying is sort of like writing a cover letter for your book, the quickest way to explain what it's about and why you'd be a good fit. This agent will serve as the go-between for the author and the publisher, securing book sales and representing the author's interests.
Our real-life agent is Patrice Caldwell, a literary agent at New Leaf Literary & Media.
What a day in your job looks like: One of the things I love most about being a literary agent is that no day is the same — on any given day, I can be reading a client's new manuscript and discussing career strategy with them, attending a marketing and publicity meeting to discuss plans for a client's upcoming book, sending a book out on submission to editors (and, on the flip side, negotiating an offer for a client's book), troubleshooting issues that might arise to ensure a smoother publication process for a client, or having conversations with the foreign and film departments to talk strategy about a client's work (or all of the above!).
Some recent or upcoming books you're working on: Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner and The Making of Yolanda La Bruja by Lorraine Avila.
So, you sent out a query and SURPRISE! It was successful, and an agent is representing you. So, now what?
Will has now signed with a literary agent. They may work together to give the book a final polish before going on submission. This process is where the agent submits the books to editors at publishing houses who they think would be a good fit for the manuscript. These editors may then take the book to their team, and then to acquisitions, and hopefully, they get clearance from the publisher to make an offer to purchase and publish the manuscript. Sometimes, at smaller publishers, folks might serve in two roles, like the next person I'd like to introduce you to!
Our real-life editor is Irene Vásquez an Assistant Editor and Publicist at Levine Querido.
What a day in your job looks like: No two days are exactly the same, but on any given day, I could be reading submissions, finding a cover artist for a book, writing an editorial letter to give feedback on a draft, pitching an author for a festival, pitching news outlets, or attending an author event (or all of the above).
Some recent or upcoming books you're working on: The Free People's Village by Sim Kern and Arcadia by Willow Naomi Curry.
Congrats! You and your agent queried editors and ended up selling your book to a publisher. Wow! Now what?
How are people going to find out about Will's book? Well, there's a few people that might help with that. For example, if someone was to reach out to, well, me or another media outlet so we can get advanced copies of a book, that's probably a publicist. Publicists are assigned multiple titles to work on and work to get the awareness of those books spread as widely as they can through media contacts, planning author tours, and so much more!
Our real-life publicist extraordinaire is none other than Ashley Yepsen, Associate Publicity Director at HarperOne Group.
What a day in your job looks like: Mail out copies of galleys or final books, correspond with authors, agents, and internal marketing and editorial colleagues, pitch journalists, read through media sites/social media to stay up to date on current news
Some recent or upcoming books you're working on: Idol, Burning by Rin Usami, and Wade in the Water by Nyani Nkrumah
At the time of writing this post, the HarperCollins Union is still on strike. Visit the Harpercollins Union linktree to learn more.
Ok, the book was sold, edited, and publicized. Now, what about marketing? There's a whole team for that, too!
Did you see an ad for Will Shakespeare's book? That was probably because of someone in marketing. Marketing covers a wide breadth of things from ads and consumer outreach, to things like Goodreads giveaways. Bezi can tell you more...
Our real-life marketer is none other than Bezi Yohannes, Marketing Coordinator at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.
What a day in your job looks like: Writing copy for consumer and trade ads and coordinating with the advertising team to create promotional materials/items for my assigned titles — everything from downloadable activity sheets to postcards and bookmarks, since I work on board books, middle grade, and YA titles. I also regularly collaborate with the digital marketing team, as well as the rest of the marketing team, on various social activations. One of my favorite ongoing projects that I’ve taken on has been shaping overarching strategies for some of our titles (like Bloodmarked) and brands (like Little Simon Chapter Books) that will create cohesive messaging around how specific key moments and partnerships bring together the themes of our books and our marketing goals overall.
Some recent or upcoming books you're working on: Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn, Lightcasters by Janelle McCurdy, Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury
So, your book exists and is about to be fully printed into physical (and digital!) copies. What now?
Sure, one day Will Shakespeare's name might be big enough to be able to sell their grocery list, but for right now, this book needs some cover art. You may think "don't judge a book by its cover," but that's exactly what we're about to do. And that's where folks like Kerri Resnick come in, working to craft eye-catching covers that will get a reader to pick a book up.
Our real-life designer is Kerri Resnick, Senior Art Designer at St. Martin's Press.
What a day in your job looks like: I don't necessarily have a "typical day," but often break up my workday into two parts: busy work and design work. Designing covers and coming up with concepts require a significant amount of brain power and creativity, so I rarely will spend an entire day focused solely on design. Instead, I'll catch up on emails and mechanicals (the full layout of a book jacket) for part of my day, and save concepting covers for the latter half.
Some recent or upcoming books you're working on: Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz and Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa
Any other details you may be worried about for this process? Never fear, the manager is here.
Great news, the first printing of Will's book sold out! Now, the publisher will need to reprint it, a task that might be handled by someone like Arik, a managing editor. The summary on the jacket of the book? Arik might be a second set of eyes on that. Those pesky little typos and factual inaccuracies? A copyeditor should help with that, and Arik may hire them!
Our real-life managing editor is the one and only Arik Hardin, Assistant Managing Editor at Macmillan.
What a day in your job looks like: There are three main aspects to my job — managing MCPG's reprints, serving as a production editor on select titles, and assisting my supervisor with the management of two imprints — that all impact the work I do. On any given day, I might be routing interior or cover reprint corrections, hiring a copyeditor or proofreader, reviewing jacket copy, doing a second read on a first pass jacket, managing metadata in our title management system, attending (or occasionally running) a production meeting, doing any number of administrative tasks, or anything in between!
Some recent or upcoming books you're working on: The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas, History Comics: The Stonewall Riots by Archie Bongiovanni & A. Andrews
Congratulations! Your book was a success in the United States, and now you want to test the international waters.
Will might have sold their book in America, but what if they are hoping it will go to Brazil? That's where a foreign rights agent like Victoria may come in handy. Working within a literary agency, it may be their job to take the existing manuscript and sell it to a foreign publisher to go through parts of this whole process again.
Our real-life foreign rights agent is the incredible Victoria Hendersen, Foreign Rights Agent at Brower Literary & Management.
What a day in your job looks like: On any given day, especially around the times of the London and Frankfurt book fairs, I might be taking meetings with editors at publishing houses and pitching books that I think they'd like to translate. I also negotiate with those publishers to get authors and review author contracts to get them the best terms on their deals.
Some recent or upcoming books you're working on: Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen and War Storm by Victoria Aveyard
So, there you have it! An introduction to just some of the amazing people behind your favorite books.
There's tons of folks in sales, in school and library outreach, in shipping, in printing, in internships, in administrative assistants...we could go on and on (and on and on...) But for now, we hope you enjoyed this look behind the curtain at some amazing publishing people.
