A Pre-Publication Summer

I thought you might be interested in all the little (and big) things I had to do with Carina Press in order to get Face in the Magic Mirror ready for publication next February.

1. Review the contract. This took time. It should always take time. I went over it line by line, noted all the differences between this contract and my last one, and made sure I understood them.
2. Developmental Edits. This is the first round of edits for major revisions. Alissa had a lot for me, and then as I went through and did the edits, I had a lot of other things I wanted to change. I had tight deadlines and had to keep Alissa informed of any delay. It was very much like having a second job.
3. Line Edits. During this second round of edits, Alissa went over the story line-by-line. This is the funnest part of the edit process, because she puts these hilarious little comments in the margins about when things don’t make sense–or about when she especially loves something. I make revisions, respond to comments, and send it back. Then, she looks over the changes, responds to my comments, and sends it back to me again for one final look-through. And as the manuscript goes back and forth, comment threads actually develop.
4. Copyedits. This part is still forthcoming. Another editor goes over it line by line once again, checking for continuity and basic grammar and style.
5. Title Worksheet. This part was new to me because they want to change the title, and for The Sevenfold Spell, they kept my original title. I was never wild about “Face in the Magic Mirror” myself, so I agree that the title needs changing. As I completed the worksheet, I did come up with some titles that I liked much better, but I can’t share them with you now because none of them are official.
6. Cover Art Worksheet. This is a lot of fun. In included a photo of a German farmhouse in it, along with some photos and paintings of Rhineland towns, my character descriptions, mood descriptions and story synopsis.

Still to come: the next step in of my title selection (now sure how that will work), the writing of the cover copy, review of the cover art, marketing plans, receipt of the review copies, and I am sure I’m forgetting something. A couple of months before publication date, it will appear at Amazon and elsewhere. Maybe it will be picked up by Audible, and for translations.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out compared to The Sevenfold Spell.