Setting a Realistic (Self)Publishing Timeline
Hey, slow down, there's a lot that goes into this!
Hey! 👋🏻 Hey…how ya’ll doing?
I accidentally took a social media break (from posting, not scrolling/lurking) in June. Am I fully back? We’ll see. But it’s given me the space to actually think of ideas to write about.
If you ever have any writing craft or editing questions, I’d love to compile a few and make a Q&A post or dedicate an entire post to one of your topics!
Write me directly at kourtneyspak@gmail.com with the subject line “Craft Question.”
Big shout out to B.L. Brown, S.E. Nielsen, K.C. Brooks, and Elwood Stevens for helping me with this post. Go check out their books—they’re all incredible writers.
Setting A Realistic Self-Publishing Timeline (For Your Debut Novel)
I’ve been having talks with my authors (that is, my editing clients) about publishing timelines because I’ve been seeing a trend in people wanting to get their debut novel out to readers as soon as possible.
This trend has found it’s way into my inquiry box too. It typically looks like wanting a developmental edit a few months before their chosen publication date.
This is stemming from a few things:
Being excited. (Duh, who doesn’t want to share their book with readers?)
Not knowing how long the different editing phases take or how long it takes them to implement feedback, along with the other pieces that go into getting a book ready for publication
I want you to keep that excitement! But I also want you to be informed so that you can do everything you want to do for your debut novel without any unneeded additional stress. I also want you to enjoy the entire journey of publishing a book.
I’m about to go over a lot—editing and its timelines, book covers, ISBNs, ARC campaigns and more. You decide your (time and money) budget. There’s no shame in not doing everything listed here.
My only goal is to inform and to give you the average time it takes to do all the individual tasks so you can come up with a timeline that realistically works for you.
The Editing Phases & Timelines
If you’d like to know exactly what each type of editing is, you’ll find that here:
AFTER DRAFTING, SELF-EDITING
You’ve finished your draft.
Great! Congrats! I hope you celebrated because you’re in a league of your own for just completing a manuscript.
It’s time to self-edit. But first, I recommend getting some space from your manuscript.
Why?
Time away gives you more objectivity when editing. You’re less attached, you’re less emotional. It makes you a better editor when you’re more objective about your own writing.
The amount of time away is up to you. There’s no correct answer here. I know people who take a week, a month, several months. I personally like to take six months or more so I can forget what I wrote.
Top Tip #1: Give yourself time away from your manuscript between every round of editing (and formatting) so that objectivity can return and you can catch any errors that may have slipped in.
How do you self-edit?
The same order that professional editing is done: developmental (plot, character, worldbuilding, pacing, etc.), line editing, copy edits, etc.
If you need a good place to get started, I can’t recommend Janice Hardy’s 31-Day At-Home Editing Workshop enough. It’s a series of blogs walking you through exactly what to focus on from big-picture to small.
It may take you those 31 days, it may take you longer. That’s okay.
DEVELOPMENTAL EDITS
Developmental editing is the first type of professional edit your book can go through. This is non-negotiable if you’re going to be contracting/working with editors. What is negotiable is whether you 1) want to work with a developmental editor or you 2) want to utilize your writing group/critique partners or beta readers.
You can also do both since leaning on your writing group or beta readers is usually free or inexpensive.
If you are going to use a developmental editor, critique partners, and beta readers, the order of when to use them is up to you depending on how you like to work.
For example: some writers like to draft, then send that rough draft to their critique partners for feedback. They’ll incorporate that feedback to create a second or third draft. Then, they’ll work with a developmental editor. After they implement editor feedback, then they’ll work with beta readers for the final developmental polishing.
Find what works best for you.
Average Developmental Edit Timeline:
Developmental editors typically dedicate between 4-6 weeks to work on your manuscript.
What is hard to gauge, especially as a debut author, is how extensive the developmental feedback is going to be and how long it’s going to take you to implement that developmental feedback.
You may need a week or more to sit with the feedback and formulate a plan of attack. And from there, you’ll be able to figure out a rough timeline of how long implementing developmental feedback will take.
From what I’ve heard from my authors, there’s a very significant range:
1 month
3-6 months
6-12 months
1+ years
Some can implement the feedback quickly, especially if there’s nothing foundationally wrong with their manuscript.
Some like to take their time.
Some like to start from page 1 and rewrite the entire thing.
Top Tip #2: Wait to set your publication date until after you get your developmental edit back.
LINE EDITS
Like developmental edits, line edits are the next significant edit your manuscript can go through because they’re going line by line, looking at the phrasing, word choice, character consistency, clarity, POV consistency, sentencing pacing/flow, etc.
Average Line Edit Timeline:
Line editors tend to allow 4-6 weeks for them to edit your manuscript.
What’s harder to gauge is how long it takes you to implement their feedback and edits. Noticing a trend?
The good news is that you’ll spend significantly less time implementing and accepting line edits vs. developmental edits. This can range anywhere from a few weeks to a couple months.
COPY EDITS
Average Copy Edit Timeline:
Editor: 2-6 weeks
You: ~1-4 weeks
PROOFREADING
Average Proofreading Timeline:
Proofreader: 1-4 weeks
You: ~1-3 weeks
I recommend proofreading (on your own) multiple times pre- and post-formatting just to catch anything that may have fallen through the cracks.
The Other Important Stuff
Many of the processes discussed below can happen simultaneously, but they require time and planning to do so.
FORMATTING
You can either hire someone to format for you, or you can do it yourself via Microsoft Word, Atticus, or Vellum.
Average Proofreading Timeline:
While the importing and formatting can go relatively quickly, I recommend giving yourself about a week if you’re doing it yourself. Or more, if you’re going to be incorporating header images or images between scenes.
ISBNs
ISBNs (International Standard Book Number) is the numeric identifier for your book. A different ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and variation of a publication, meaning a hardcover, paperback, and ebook each need their own ISBN.
Note: You do not need to release a hardcover or even paperback if you don’t want to or can’t afford to.
If you’re US-based and can afford to get your own ISBNs via Bowker—do it. It allows you to distribute wide. If you’re UK-based, you can buy ISBNs via Nielsen.
Top Tip #3: If you can buy ISBNs in bulk, do it. It’s cheaper.
I don’t know how every single country does their ISBNs, but if you’re from Canada, New Zealand, or South Africa, congratulations, your government loves you. Your ISBNs are free!
Now, if you can’t afford to buy your own ISBNs, there’s no shame in that. You can get ISBNs from Amazon, Ingram Sparks, or Barnes & Noble. Just know that if you do, you’re limited to where you can distribute.
You can change over from using one of their ISBNs to eventually purchasing your own, but as one of my authors can attest, the changeover is arduous.
THE BOOK COVER
Now, book covers have probably the biggest range of time because it’s dependent on a couple of things:
The availability and/or wait time of the cover artist
Some book out a year or more in advance
Their turnaround time
One of my long-time clients always recommends premade covers, GetCovers, or Mibl to debut authors to save time, save money and, most importantly, to learn because the learning curve in self-publishing is so steep.
Before hiring a cover artist, you should:
have a cover idea in mind
comp covers (covers you’ve liked, covers that fit your genre and the vibe) to submit as references
know your genre
know your page count and trim size for a full wrap design (which means you’ll need to have your book already edited and formatted if you’re doing a full wrap vs just a cover image)
know what ebook platforms you’ll have your book for sale on (images are sized differently across platforms because of course they are 🙃).
Average Cover Timeline:
Cover Artist: ~4 weeks
This gives the artist time to work, send, do the agreed upon revisions, and fine tune.
Ideally, you want your cover to be done at least 3 months before your publication date so you can start marketing with it and to get readers to start recognizing it.
ARCs: ADVANCED READER COPIES
How you go about distributing to ARC readers is up to you (many authors do it themselves or use a service like Nerd Fam to help them with their ARC campaigns), but the manuscript you send to ARC readers should not be unedited and should have minimal errors because they’ll be the first readers submitting reviews.
ARC Timeline:
Give yourself 3-6 months to source ARC readers
If you’re going to use an ARC campaign service, reach out to them sooner rather than later—they do book out, and they take this process very seriously.
Typically, you can send the ARC out to readers a month before your publication date, so the reviews can start trickling in.
Top Tip #4: Whether you have 100 ARC readers or 1,000, don’t expect all or even most of them to leave a review. Get that expectation out of your head—it’ll save you a lot of negative emotions.
Here’s a list of just a few ARC campaign services you can utilize:
NetGalley co-ops
If you’d like to do the ARC process on your own, there are hundreds of ARC groups to be found on Facebook.
To Wrap Up
I know that’s A LOT, but there’s even more that I didn’t go over: website creation/admin, a general marketing campaign, social media content creation, if you wanted to go the kickstarter route, etc.
All of it requires time.
Give yourself plenty of time, especially when it’s your first book. That first book introduces you to readers and to the market. Put your best foot forward and you’ll reap the benefits. Rush it, and you might break the trust of any reader that finds your book if it’s not a solid, well-done product. Breaking that trust means they’re not likely to pick up your next book.
I stand by using the word product because if you’re in the business to make money and establish yourself as an author—either part-time or full-time—your book is a product.
I want you to be proud of what you poured your blood, sweat, and tears into it.
You deserve it.
Again, you don’t have to do everything on this list. I understand the economy and times we live in. Choose what you think your manuscript absolutely needs in terms of editing and whatever else, and pace yourself.
Much love and time,
