The process
What actually happens after you send it
Publishing is often described in vague stages that tell an author nothing. This page sets out exactly what happens, in what order, who does it, and what you have to do at each point.
Before anything begins
What you need ready
You do not need much to start a conversation. You need rather more to start a project.
For the initial assessment, a representative sample is enough: usually your opening chapters plus one from the middle, since openings are often the most revised and least typical part of a manuscript.
Before editing starts properly, we need the complete manuscript in a final draft state. "Final" here means you have stopped rewriting, not that it is perfect: making substantial changes during editing means paying to edit text twice.
- A sample of roughly 5,000 to 10,000 words
- Your approximate total word count
- The genre, and who you think reads it
- A short description of the book
- Any deadline you are working to
- What you have already had done, if anything
Stage by stage
The full publishing sequence
Every stage ends with something you look at and approve. Nothing proceeds while you still have a question outstanding.
Consultation
A conversation about your book, your readers and what you want from publishing. Free, no obligation, and nobody will push you to commit on the call. If independent publishing is the wrong route for you, we will say so.
Editorial assessment
An editor reads your sample and writes an assessment covering structure, voice, pacing and technical accuracy, with a recommendation on the level of editing needed. This is the stage that determines everything downstream.
Quote and schedule
An itemised quote built from your word count and the assessment, with a stage-by-stage schedule. You can accept all of it, some of it, or none of it.
Editing
Developmental, line or copy editing as required, delivered in tracked changes with margin comments. You review, accept, reject and query. A second pass follows once you have responded.
Cover design
Genre research, then two or three concepts shown at thumbnail and full size. You choose a direction and two revision rounds refine it.
Interior typesetting
A design sample first (chapter opening, body pages, front matter) for you to approve before the whole book is set. Then the full interior, with manual attention to page breaks and spacing.
Proofreading
A fresh reader checks the typeset pages in two passes, one for language and one for layout, and returns a marked proof.
Publishing setup
ISBN, copyright page, metadata, categories, keywords, pricing and retail account setup, in your name wherever the platform allows.
Proof copy
A physical proof is ordered and sent to you. Nothing goes on sale until you have held it and approved it.
Go live
The title is published to your chosen platforms and we run listing checks once it appears.
Launch support
Listing copy, author assets and a launch plan sized to what you can realistically sustain. Optional, and quoted separately.
Your involvement
What we need from you
Projects that run smoothly have engaged authors. Projects that stall almost always stall waiting on a decision.
Review promptly
Editorial and design stages pause until you respond. A week is fine; a month pushes every subsequent stage back.
Decide and hold
Changing the title, trim size or cover direction after later stages have started means redoing work that was built on the earlier decision.
Answer the queries
Editors raise questions only where they genuinely cannot resolve something. Each unanswered query is a gap in the finished book.
Supply your content
Author biography, photograph, dedication, acknowledgements and book description. These are small tasks that hold up production more often than anything else.
Timelines
Roughly how long each stage takes
Indicative for an 80,000-word manuscript in reasonable condition. Your quote carries a schedule built on your actual book.
| Stage | Typical duration | What sets the pace |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment | 5 to 10 business days | Editor availability |
| Copy editing | 2 to 3 weeks | Word count and draft condition |
| Developmental editing | 4 to 8 weeks | Includes a full read before editing starts |
| Your review | 1 to 3 weeks | Entirely up to you |
| Cover design | 3 to 4 weeks | Revision rounds and your response time |
| Typesetting | 2 to 3 weeks | Page count, images and complexity |
| Proofreading | 1 to 2 weeks | Two separate passes |
| Setup and proof copy | 2 to 3 weeks | Printing and postage of the proof |
Stages overlap where they safely can: cover design usually runs alongside the later editing passes, so the total is shorter than adding these figures together. A typical full project runs three to six months from assessment to a live listing.
Questions
Questions about the process
That is completely normal. Every stage is available on its own and quoted separately. Plenty of authors come to us for a cover and formatting having already been edited elsewhere, or for editing alone because they intend to handle production themselves.
Yes. Work is quoted and invoiced by stage, so you are never committed to stages that have not started. You receive whatever has been completed and paid for, and you can take it elsewhere.
Tell us. The assessment is one editor's professional read, not a verdict, and it is a conversation rather than a judgment. If you disagree with the recommended level of editing we will talk it through, and you are free to commission less than we suggest.
Yes. If a manuscript needs more work than the author wants to invest, or the project is outside what we can deliver well, we say so at assessment rather than take the money and disappoint you later.
You do, throughout. Your manuscript is yours, the edits are applied to your file, and the design work is commissioned by you. Nothing we produce becomes ours.
By stage rather than a single upfront sum, so payment tracks the work actually completed. Terms are set out in your quote before anything begins.
Talk to us anyway. Depending on where you are up to, the right next step might be a manuscript assessment, developmental editing, or ghostwriting support to get the draft finished.
Begin
Stage one is a conversation
Send a sample and a short description of your book. The assessment that comes back will tell you more about your manuscript than any general advice can.
- Free consultation with no obligation
- An editor reads your actual pages
- Itemised quote and a realistic schedule
- You approve every stage before it starts
Prefer to talk it through? +61 2 8531 1369 · info@harbourbridgepress.com