Drafting a book manuscript is daunting! I thought that,
after I’d located and collected sources, organized my notes, crystalized my
argument, and put together the narrative, the heavy lifting would be done. It
turns out that wasn’t exactly right. The heaviest lifting was done, but
I still needed to get through the pre-publication gauntlet.
This post covers the plethora of
tasks that need to be completed before the book can go to press. If you’re
writing your first book (or contemplating doing so!), you’ve likely heard about
many of these steps. I hope this post helps you get through the list more
easily.
Acknowledgments
Every book
has an acknowledgments section, even if not everyone reads them. (I love
reviewing acknowledgments, but even I’ll concede that many readers skip past
those pages.) Crafting the acknowledgements ended up being one of my favorite
parts of the book writing process. It gave me a chance to reflect on the many
people who had made Family
Matters possible, from my
advisors during the PhD program, to the archivists who tracked down documents,
to the friends and family members who supported me throughout the process.
I hope that
I managed to convey my sincere gratitude to everyone involved in making my book
a reality However, it’s entirely likely that I missed some names! I regret
leaving the acknowledgments at the end. If I had to do it over again, I would
have kept a running list of people who helped me with the book as I was
researching and writing it. That way, I could be sure I hadn’t inadvertently
left anyone out.
Images
I should
have kept a running list of potential images too! Images can make a book stand
out. However, securing the rights to print them can be a challenge. Even if a
repository has an image, they do not necessarily have the copyright from the
photographer.
That means securing image rights can
require some sleuthing. Let me give you an example. A few months before
my manuscript was due, I contacted the New York Times in hopes of
licensing a photograph that had appeared in their pages in 1991. They had the
image, but not the rights. My efforts to track down the photographer, Donna
Binder, stalled, until I saw Sarah Schulman’s recently
published book on ACT-UP. The notes mentioned an oral history interview
with Binder! I didn’t know Shulman, but I emailed her anyway, asking if she
would please pass along my information. She kindly did—and Binder agreed to
license the image, which appears on page 207 of Family
Matters.
Although it took weeks to track
down that image, I was very fortunate to have a lead on the photographer at
all. In my research, I came across quite a few snapshots from the 1950s
and 1960s that perfectly illustrated my chapters…but no one at the archives knew
who had taken the photographs. As a result, I could not secure permission to
print them in the book.
Obtaining
the right to publish an image was one obstacle. Paying for the licenses
was another. I ultimately had to spend several thousand dollars to reproduce
and license the photographs in the book. I was able to use funds from a William
Nelson Cromwell Foundation Fellowship to cover some of the costs—which is
yet another reason to apply for these grants! Although I spent thousands on
images, the bill could have been much higher. I was quite fortunate to publish Family
Matters with Cambridge University Press for many reasons, one of which was
that they have an agreement with Getty
Images. That allowed me to include any of the photographs in the Getty
database without paying them a license fee.
Indexing
Images were
not the only cost associated with publishing the book—indexing was another.
Many authors index their own books, but I wasn’t familiar with the process. I
therefore decided to hire a professional—and was very glad I did. My indexer, Derek Gottlieb, did a fantastic
job. I might have been able to create a workable index, but he identified
entries that I would never have thought to include. The index he created was
much more comprehensive, and therefore much more useful to users, than anything
I would have done myself.
Page Proofs
The
indexing happened around the same time as the copy edits. A few months later, I
received the page proofs. By that time, I was exhausted. I’d been
working on the book for years, had just submitted my tenure packet, and was
teaching a new course. But the manuscript needed to be proofread.
Thankfully, I had a team of
students to help me get through this final task. Once I knew when the page
proofs would come in, I contacted my Associate Dean for Research and Academic
Programs. I asked for permission to hire additional research assistants for the
limited purpose of proofreading the book. I’m so very grateful he agreed. At
least two students read each chapter, and while they worked, I reviewed each
chapter twice. They all found errors the others had missed. They also found
several typos that I overlooked.
By the time the students and I
reviewed the page proofs, multiple editors had reviewed the manuscript several
times, and a professional copyeditor had proofed the entire book. And yet…we
still identified hundreds of typos and formatting errors in the manuscript. I
wish I had caught all of those mistakes earlier, but I am really glad we found
them before the book went to print. (I am still very nervous that a few errors
got through. If you see any typos in Family
Matters, please don’t tell me!)
* * *
All book authors have to get through the pre-publication gauntlet. In my next and final post, I’ll talk
about another challenge that all writers face: deciding which stories to
include and which to leave on the cutting room floor.
