… and you switch to publisher mode, comes the editing, the arguing debating, amendments, then the formatting, the proofing, the re-formatting, the tweaking of every single page, slowly, painstakingly coaxing paragraphs to fit without gaps, without bitty hanging words – miniscule kerning adjustments that test both eyesight and patience.
Then the editing stops and you switch to designer mode – now come the cover ideas, the arguments collaborative discussions, trials, the scrapping of these attempts, the starting over, the arguments slight differences of opinion… blurb must be written, blurb must be changed, blurb must be re-written… blurb must be argued over discussed… fonts, images, colours, placement, size, guidelines, standards, rules…
After the writing stops, there is a hell of a lot of work still to be done before a book reaches its intended customers.
It can be very satisfying though, after the publishing stops and the postman knocks. If a writer imagines how thrilling it is to hold their published book in shaky hand, and multiplies that by, say, 100% for a book you’ve invested in throughout the whole process… well that’s what it can feel like on a good day.
sandie zand 