Author Review

I’ve been a bit distracted by the whole vacation thing, but I’ve actually been working on the book as well, and as the days tick by, we’re getting closer and closer to the end of the process. (The final deadline is next Thursday, August 26.) So. What have I been doing?

I’m currently in the AR ("Author Review") stage. When I send in the first draft of the chapters, each a Word document, Wiley hands it in turn to three different people, a copy editor (CE), a developmental editor (DE), and a technical editor (TE), in addition to my project editor at Wiley (who I’ve worked with on all the Secrets books; in fact, most of the people I’m dealing with have remained constant throughout these last four books, which is both nice and unusual).

Each person can (and does) make edits, ask questions, make sure the references to other chapters are correct, verify figures, and so on. If you’re not familiar with this process, it can be horrific. In fact, my first co-author, the guy who got me into writing, told me he broke down in tears when he saw all the edits that came back. I thought he was kidding until I saw my first set of edits. Yikes.

In the old days, this was done, literally, on paper, and with colored pencils. Now, of course, it’s all done electronically, using Word’s Track Changes feature. But the effect is the same: The wonderfully pure and unadorned text I sent in is sent back all marked up and colors everywhere, text crossed out, and huge blocks of queries, questions, and changes. I haven’t actually cried as a result of seeing this, but I get it. Just looking at such a document can be deflating.

Here’s a tiny taste.

And that’s just the introductory material. :)

Over the past few weeks, I’ve gone through several AR chapters, as they’re called. As I write this, I have about five left. After that, I need to finish up the "front matter" (which I’ve started) and review PDFs of the near-final book. I’ll write about both of these items separately over the next few days. But the point here is that, while the initial writing can be awful and difficult, especially on a brand new title like this, that’s only the beginning. And with a topic like this that is changing almost day-to-day, it’s even worse.

More soon.