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In the book world, life happens in 12-month cycles. We live in the future because we must, not always because we want to.  It’s a necessity, this living in the future, driven by the demands of the whole rumbling machine we call publishing.

It’s a fascinating process and I wish more readers could see what I do on a daily basis. If they did, they would appreciate the massive amount of time, talent, money, and dedication required to pluck inspiration from the sky, turn it into a story by tying words and emotions together, and then transform it into something that transports them to another world even as they sit on their couch nursing a cup of tea.

Most people don’t know that it takes a year (or more) to bring a book to market. Well, I mean they know it does, but they don’t really know. It’s like saying we know it takes several years for a good wine to go from a harvest of grapes plucked from a sunny slope to a raised glass as friends sit around a table. Until you stop to consider it, the whole business is easy to pass over without a thought. You don’t really think about the planting, the cultivating, the harvesting, the crushing, and the other bits, because the maker did his job all out of sight. Out of sight, out of mind.

So let me show you my side of the world for a moment.

Most career authors write books that take about a year to complete from concept to first draft. Typically, they turn them in one year ahead of their publication date. Ted just finished Immanuel’s Veins, a book that will come out about a year from now. To be honest with you, I don’t remember exactly when the fully formed story found its way to the surface, but I believe it was about a year ago while he was working through the edits for Green.

Normally, he gives the story to an editor and to me so we can poke and prod the manuscript like a doctor trying to prove that the patient is as healthy as can be. We’re looking for how the story reads as a whole and ask LOTS of questions. Especially Ted. First impressions are very important to him. Does it flow? Are the characters believable? What about their motivations? Is it paced properly? At this point we’re not that concerned with grammar and typos. That comes later when we hand the manuscript over for a line edit. This is the nerve racking part for an author because it’s the first time his baby has been held by anyone other than himself. But the goal is always the same: elevate the story and make it as good as it can be.

Usually that first round will yield some changes. This morning I talked with Ted about a couple things that didn’t feel right about a key scene in IV. He, too, had spotted it over the weekend as he re-read it. We had talked through a couple “what if’s” and the solution presented itself. Just like that. Then he went back and re-tooled it.

Later this week, after we’ve cleaned up the manuscript for the story elements and whatever typos we catch, it will go to Ted’s editor and publisher at Thomas Nelson. They will then put their notes together, including any changes they think should be made.

At the same time we’ll begin talking about initial positioning for the book, marketing, endorsements, and soliciting feedback from a secret group of advanced readers that I keep locked away in a cave. It’s the only way to keep the story quiet.

Then the sales people go to work, meeting with buyers at the various retailers who carry the books, and the marketing and publicity team hammer out a plan to tell everyone how great the book is. All of this will take a year, at which point the manuscript is typeset, sent to a printer, shipped, stocked, sold, read, and tracked. And by the time you get the book, we’re starting the whole thing over again with the next book, which was being written while you slept.