I’ve had a few readers asking me what’s happening behind the scenes for The Keepers: Ethan at the moment so I thought I’d share a little more about this process.

And yes, it’s a process.  I blogged a few weeks ago that Ethan’s book is finished.  Happy high fives and champagne all around.  

But what happens after that?  Here’s a glimpse of my experience with the editing part of my books:

1. The book is sent to my editor for her to read.  It’s usually 2-3 weeks before I hear back from her – and all I can do is take a breather from the deadline madness and W.A.I.T.  (Whilst trying to keep my fear monster and doubt crows under control and reminding myself that the book is great and the parts that aren’t so great can be fixed during the edits 🙂

2.  My editor loves it!  More champagne and high fives!

A glimpse of the line edit during The Keepers: Declan

3.  The book comes back to me with structural and line edits – this is usually to check that the structure of my story makes sense, that timelines add up, and that everything flows.  My editor’s suggested changes are highlighted in red – and sometimes has this weird ability to make me cringe!  But there are often encouraging or excited comments in the margins too that are always fun to read.  This part of the editing process is possibly the hardest for me. Sometimes it requires a lot of changes and for other books – like with Ethan – there were only a few.  Once I’ve worked through this, I read the book again before returning it to my editor.

4.  My editor (or a freelance editor) will proofread the book.  This is to check for comma placements, repetition, spelling errors etc.  

5.  After 2-3 weeks, the book bounces back to me and I have about a week to accept or reject any suggested changes.  This is a much quicker and easier process.  When I’m done, I read the book again and return it to my editor.

And step 5 is where we are now!  I’m busy with the last of my edits and I’m aiming to return to my editor by the end of the week once I’ve had another chance to read it.

Again.  🙂

Although this process is tiring and long and often challenging, it’s fun and I’m slowly starting to appreciate the edits rather than dread them.  I’ll explain more of this in another post.

If you have any questions or comments about this process, please leave a comment or get in touch via my contact page.

I’ll be back soon to explain the rest of the process as we go along.  We’re almost there!

Thanks for reading!

Rae Rivers