Many of you asked that I write about my experiences in getting a book published because you are writing or thinking about writing a book. Gladly! So here is the first in a series of posts giving a look behind the curtain. I hope this glance gives you the kick you need to move forward to publishing.
A while back, Tate Publishing offered to publish my book, my first book, based just upon an outline and draft Introduction (you can get more details by clicking The Book in Categories in the left column). It took me about 15 months to write the book. During my writing process, I asked a close friend read the book and offer suggestions. I’m so glad I did. As a writer, you know what you are saying but sometimes forget details that help the reader fully understand what you saying. My friend helped me to see the gaps in my book. I highly recommend taking this step. It will add time to the writing process but will be worth it in the long run.
When everything was in place to begin production, Tate assigned a production manager to me. All contact I have with Tate about my book 
goes through him which is good because I won’t have to deal with a lot of different people during the production process. The first thing I was instructed to do was to format my manuscript according to Tate’s formatting guidelines. What does this mean? This means I had to put chapter titles in a certain font, insert subtitles indicators as well as indicators for indented text, lists, quotes and the like. All of these format indicators tell the layout staff how specialized text should appear in my book. I am sure each publisher has its own set of formatting guidelines for manuscripts. The production manager also gave me a deadline for submitting the formatted manuscript. Meeting deadlines are important to keep the release date of your book on track. Of course, I met my deadline and received an email the same day letting me know it was accepted for the next step…..editing!
