Behind the Scenes
Editing, Formatting, ARCs — oh my!
“A… developmental editor? Wait, why do you need two editors? And you need someone to make the pages look a certain way?”
— A sampling of questions I received throughout the process
The Developmental Editor
Friends, writing a book is chaotic and wild. I had no idea. (I still may not have a full idea).
When I had the idea to write this book, I reached out to my romance author friend who lives in California (you’ll meet her in a later newsletter, but just know that she is beyond fabulous. This is your sign to go get a copy of Saltaire by Hazel Jacks if you’re looking for an end of summer flirty island read). Hazel, upon kindly reading my first two VERY early draft chapters said, “let me get you connected to Dawn.”
Prior to meeting Dawn, my initial thought was ‘do I need an editor this early in the process?’ The answer? YES. Hands down, yes.
As a developmental editor, Dawn was able to take my initial draft, read the opening (spoiler: that opening has changed SO drastically that it will only be read by myself, Hazel, and Dawn) and discuss with me the themes of my book and where I saw it progressing through. She broke down with me what the major plot points should be at various break points in the book (example: 25% of the way through, 50% of the way through). Then, discussed with me where I saw the next chapter going and sent me on my way to write it, a meeting scheduled for one month later to discuss.
And this is where I learned about myself that if we schedule a meeting together in 30 days with pages due to you in 28 days, I will spend 24 days thinking about it and day 25-28 writing it. And so to compensate for my ridiculous behavior, we began having meetings every other week (or this book would have taken me 4 years to write, probably).
When you use a developmental editor, they do not really edit you for grammar (though sometimes some glaring mistakes would get fixed). They edit you for content, readability, story flow. Dawn was integral in making sure I knew what my next step would be. Often we would discuss the next 2-3 chapters so I could work ahead, even if I didn’t supply 3 chapters at our following meeting.
When you read this book, know that the pacing, the expression of how the characters are feeling, and the way the story was told was because of Dawn’s expertise!
Are you thinking of writing a book? Want the cheeriest of cheerleaders but also someone to push you to be better, challenge you to make your manuscript excellent, tell you very funny stories? Contact Dawn at Dawn Alexander Books!
The Line Editor
After I was “done” with Dawn (spoiler: as you may have noted above on my “Not done with me yet apparently” subject line we were not, in fact, done yet haha), my book was sent to James.
Also there was a lot of inbetween here. I edited it, I re-read and edited it, my beta readers read it, I re-read it again to edit. Just know it was read like 40 billion times, which is why when I came across a typo last week I almost threw my laptop out the window! Humans, amiright?!
My relationship with James was quite different and more brief than my relationship with Dawn. While Dawn and I met via Zoom to discuss the storyline in detail over the course of two years, James and I only interacted via email.
James took my manuscript and over the course of about three weeks did several reads of it. During that time, he converted out of the format I used (written in pages, saved in .docx as an alternative for the non-Mac Word users) to a times new roman, double spaced 12 point font (I felt like I was writing papers in grad school again!). James returned to document to me marked up with comments on the side, mostly about formatting or grammar.
In the world in which I was educated, I lived and died by APA. Do you need a source cited? I’m your girl. What I learned about writing a novel is everything is done in the Chicago Manual of Style which is very much not my wheelhouse. The incredible thing about James’ edits is that marking it up allowed me to read why he would suggest those changes, but it didn’t force me to make those changes. In fact, there were a few places I used a particular phrase or word on purpose. For that, I just declined his suggested and carried on. But let me tell you, seeing nearly 12,000 edits almost made my heart stop!
Aside from grammar, James also looked for continuity/timing errors (he is the reason I had to make a slight shift to my timeline. Thank you James!). He looks for flow as well, to help ensure the reader does not get confused about any timing. All in all, James did very big work in a very small amount of time!
Have you written a book and just need that extra polished touch? You can find James here! Also, he’s got a pretty ridiculously awesome bio that you should read.
The Interior Formatter
The book is edited so it’s ready for the world, right? Wrong. While some people possess the ability to format the inside of a book that person is NOT me. There are different software packages you can buy (such as Vellum, Adobe) but I wasn’t looking to master a new software, a new skills, and write a novel all one project. Besides, I had big ideas of what I wanted chapter headers, paragraph breaks, and page headings to look like, but no graphic design skills.
What I knew I wanted was a talented, Chicago based graphic designer who had interior book formatting skills to bring this project to life visually. As I began looking for the right fit, I became more and more frustrated (“interior book design” is quite the unfortunate Google search term, but if anyone is looking for a Chicago interior designer, I’m pretty sure I found all of them). Luckily, my sister-in-law works in textbook sales and even more incredibly, she knew the perfect person.
Enter Alexandria McCrory-Yamamoto!
Alley and I connected IMMEDIATELY on our first meeting. The first thing she pulled out of her bag? Anne of Green Gables. She never would have known this but Anne of Green Gables was a story that I loved and the focal point of one of my favorite shopping trips with my Grams (we went to FYE for the movie box set and to Walden Books for the books, a throwback for any of you my age or older). Alley immediately saw my vision for incorporating elements of Chicago into my text as well as the graphics on the page, producing brilliant ideas we incorporated into the book.
Alley loves art — really loves art — and she loves making the text flow on the page in a very aesthetic way (she was kind enough to teach me all about widows, orphans, bleeds). Not only does she love graphic arts, she especially loves fine arts and oil paintings.
I would rank the Art Institute of Chicago among the top in the world! How lucky are we. — Alley
Not only did Alley and I bond over our love of books but also our love of dogs (newly married, she and her husband Josh are expanding their family with a furchild). She also loves musicals, particularly Hamilton, so if we’re ever in the car together and you see us at a stoplight, don’t worry we’ll serenade you!
Do you need a topnotch graphic designer? Does the interior of your book need a little spice? Do you just want someone to sing Hamilton with? Find Alley here! PS, she informed me just today she is dying to illustrate a children’s book, so now is your opportunity to jump into business with her before she’s so in demand that she’s out of reach!
What’s Next
I think Dawn did a really nice job of telling me we only have 4 things to do. When I accomplished those 4 things, she gave me another 4 things (honestly, if I had known there were this many things two years ago, I may not be here right now…). But next on the docket:
The book is presently in ARC reading! ARC reading is where you release your manuscript to allow readers to get a feel for your work. It’s a free ebook for people who are passionate about reading! Why do this? Because often they will be the first people to leave reviews, which can help other people decide if this read is right for them. (They also catch the pesky errors that linger despite 125938 re-reads).
You are among the first to know this inside scoop…
The ebook is currently in pre-orders and will be live for purchase to anyone (or delivered to your reader if you pre-ordered) on August 17th! You can pre-order here.
If you love holding a print book in your hand, the current projected release date is September 1, 2026. Unfortunately the print sites are running into technical difficulties delivering proofs (which I insist on reviewing before I deliver anyone a product they are paying for). If the date does move due to their technical issues, you will be the first to know!
A playlist for the book is also available on Spotify! Songs included are mentioned or on theme with the adventure the women take. Listen along!