The Publication Process
The production (aka publishing) process has many stages and can be confusing, especially since publishers tend to vary in their project management and timing. In the past six months alone, I have received several inquiries on the topic, so in the spirit of “where there’s one, there’s more,” I hope this post answers questions for a few people.
The generalized production timeline below is based on a mix of conference presentation* notes and specific publisher schedules that I have received or found online.
Production Process & Timeline
Side note for all you independent authors: here is a link to a self-publishing timeline from the Writers and Publishers Network.
Some Example Timelines from Academic Presses
General Production Timeline
Acquisitions: before anything else can happen — a decision is made to publish a book
Manuscript is created and submitted
Editing is performed
Book is delivered to design and production teams
Formatting is set
Editors and author perform final review of fully formatted proofs / Indexing is done
Complete book document (aka e-book) is created
Marketing begins
Printer is chosen / Timeline for printing is established
Review copies are printed and dispensed
Printed books are boxed and sent to publisher’s warehouse
Pre-orders are processed and books are distributed to stores / E-book files are distributed to e-book retailers
Metadata is provided by the publisher to retailers — this includes a book description, author bio, chapter excerpts, TOC, index, price, images, and behind-the-scenes keywords for search engines
Book is released!! (official publication date)
Marketing continues
One year after release date, the book is moved from “front list” to “back list”
Technicalities of the Printing Process
The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign provides a guide on lithographic printing (commonly used for books, newspapers, and quick printing) — not to be confused with flexographic printing (commonly used for packaging, film, and newspapers).
*ASI 2022 presentation, Where Do You Fit? The Art of Indexing in the Age of Automation, by Joshua Tallent. He is director of sales and education at Firebrand Technologies, a company that aims to help publishers manage their internal workflows, digital distribution, and marketing efforts.
