From Book Deal to Cover Reveal: The Story So Far
I’ll never forget this moment. I was sat in ASK Italian, in a post-pizza daze, idling on my phone when I noticed I had my first ever review for my debut novel The Seawomen – and it was 5-stars. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t read reviews, but heart racing, I made an exception and read the review from my first enthralled reader, not quite believing it was real myself.
Had it actually happened, was I a real writer now?
After months of secrecy, editing and tinkering behind the scenes, my debut novel, The Seawomen is being published by Hodder Studio on 14th June 2022. And you can pre-order it now!
It’s been a surreal few months. Writing is so often a solitary, quiet process of sitting at a desk and working. Living in your own thoughts for the most part. Even when you’ve got words down on paper, it can still feel like an intangible thing – particularly if no one else has read it but you. The characters, the world, the entire story, exists only for you, in your head.
In October 2020, my dreams came true and I got a book deal. Every writer longs for their words to be in the hands of readers and for me that has become a reality. And I couldn’t be happier!
Publishing is a long process. When I signed my contract (about a month after being offered the deal) I know there were many of my friends and family who expected to see my book on shelves imminently (sorry pals), but not only did it need a lot more work, I also had to keep my book deal secret(ish) for 11 months. The announcement was made in September 2021 – the first of many strange and wonderful moments where I got to bask in the joy of an achievement I know many people would kill for. Though the announcement occurred in September 2021, behind the scenes, I’d already been hard at work to edit my novel into something I was proud of.
Rewind almost a year. Not long after the contracts were signed in November 2020, I received what’s known as the editorial letter and my editor and I had a Zoom meeting to discuss the potential changes. It’s always a nerve-wracking experience getting feedback on your work but I was keen to get started on making the novel as good as it could be. There was a major structural change I was nervous about, especially as I’d done a lot of work on a previous draft with my agent, but I knew in my heart of hearts that my editor’s suggestion was spot on and so, I got to work.
As many writers know, the editing doesn’t stop there. My editor and I went back and forth, reading, making changes, discussing issues, adding new scenes, removing scenes, moving events around, tweaking and polishing. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read and re-read the manuscript and I’m sure my editor can say the same! But the changes all go towards making the book as strong as possible and after every edit I felt a real sense of pride that page by page my novel’s best version was shining through.
In August, I got a first glimpse at my cover and was blown away by how beautiful it was. I think the cover is one of the things I was most excited about, but of course there’s a feeling of apprehension too. What if I didn’t like it? My editor and I had discussed the brief and I’d sent over a few Pinterest boards – covers I liked and also images that I felt captured the book – but the cover was in the hands of the artist and design team and I was in the dark until that first glimpse at the magic they created. This was another moment of feeling slightly teary. My dreams of being an author were becoming more real by the day – the cover is the first bit of tangible “proof” that this is actually happening.
But the editing process was still not done. Next we moved onto the copy edit. This is where a professional copy editor goes through the manuscript with a fine-tooth comb, highlighting errors of punctuation and grammar as well as looking for continuity errors that have slipped through the net. After many many edits you’d be surprised how things like “which of the brothers is the eldest” get muddled on the page!
It was then my turn to consider the changes my copy editor had made, approve or tweak them (sometimes the voice of a character trumps grammatical conventions!), confer with my editor, write a new scene at the end of a pivotal chapter – and then, it was onto the next stage: proof reading.
All I can say is: thank god for proof readers. I’m utterly hopeless at spotting my own typos and mistakes, especially when it’s a manuscript I’ve read hundreds of times (no exaggeration) so I’m really grateful for the expert eyes of someone else picking up other inconsistences! At this point the novel had been type-set. No long was I looking at a Word document with its red squiggly lines, but now my novel was a pdf, laid out exactly how it would be in book form, with spacing and chapter headings and the copyright page at the start which is a familiar sight to readers. This was another moment to take a breath and take stock of how far I’d come.
I sent back my changes (called first pass proofs) in November 2021 and since then it’s all been a bit of a whirlwind. I had my stunning cover reveal (and the feedback was incredible), my book is up on all retail sites available to pre-order. I updated my website, I met with my publicity and marketing team and as I type this the book is being reviewed by NetGalley members and in the new year physical advanced copies of the book will be made available for other bloggers and authors to read and review.
Without question the best part of the journey so far, the part that makes me feel the most like a “real writer” has been hearing from readers who have enjoyed The Seawomen and already the reviews have been amazing. It’s one thing inventing characters and stories in your head, but it’s even more special to have shared those characters with other people and know they will live on in other people’s imagination.
This is only part of the journey and there’s so much more to look forward to, but just now, as shit gets real, I wanted to give you a peek behind the scenes at the story so far…