Generating a contract

Finally, the publisher creates a contract with the author to acquire and publish the book. The contract includes a summary of the book and a delivery date of the manuscript from the author to the publishing house. At this point, the author can officially consider the book acquired and start blocking off his calendar for all-night writing or revising sessions.
After a book is acquired, an acquisitions editor may assist the writer in reworking the flow of the book, the table of contents, the characters’ voices, and so on. Then, the author does her job, creating a manuscript that meets the publisher’s expectations.
But let’s be clear: The author is never set free to work completely on her own. The creation of a manuscript is a collaborative process. The editor (usually the one who acquired the project) edits the manuscript line by line and discusses queries and suggestions with the author, who works on the text and sends it back. The two of them may tackle the entire manuscript at once or work on it piece by piece. Together, they create a manuscript that is ready for production.

Going through committee review

Next, an internal editorial committee or board usually receives the proposal. The acquisitions editor meets with the committee and makes the case for acceptance of the manuscript by the publishing house. If the committee agrees and decides to take on the manuscript, the acquisitions editor pushes the proposal along to another internal — and sometimes external — group of people who further scrutinize the subject matter and outline for any holes in the research that need to be fixed before a book deal can be penned. For academic works, it’s not uncommon for additional peer-review panels of experts in the field of the book’s topic to be brought together for suggestions and comments. All these hands, and we’ve just scratched the surface! The acquisitions editor then takes the manhandled proposal back to the author, who addresses and incorporates the suggestions and changes and submits a final book proposal.

Assessing the proposal

Who are these acquisitions editors? They’re the people at a publishing company who help create headline news. Thanks to acquisitions editors, Anderson Cooper sold his memoir to HarperCollins for $1 million, and Oprah raised eyebrows with her cool $12 million book deal. Because publishing a book is an expensive endeavor, the acquisitions editor holds a book proposal closely to the light, assessing the entire package of information to determine whether the subject matter is appropriate for the publishing house or imprint. If the proposal passes muster, the acquisitions editor works with the author to fine-tune and better complete it for easier acceptance by the publishing house. Sometimes a developmental editor is called in to help the author at this stage.

Proposing a project

Usually, everything starts with the author — or, more accurately, the author’s agent. Sometimes a publishing house contacts an author to write a book, but that’s not the norm; it happens most often with people who have name recognition. The majority of manuscripts come to a publisher unsolicited, and these can be divided into ones that are submitted through a literary agent (which gives them a better chance of being noticed) and ones that come in directly from an author over the transom (which gives them a slim chance of being noticed).
An agent submits a manuscript on behalf of an author to several publishing houses. A good agent plays matchmaker, pitching a manuscript to editors and publishers that he thinks make the best potential mates. If the author has a strong hook — for example, she’s well known and brings a built-in audience with her — the agent may be able to submit only a query letter or book proposal containing a book outline or table of contents; an introduction; and a completed sample chapter, often the opening chapter of the book. And what about those unagented submissions, and even submissions from agents that the editor doesn’t know? If they’re kept at all (and often they aren’t), they go into what’s called a slush pile — a reserve of manuscripts and proposals that sit until an assistant editor gets around to looking through them when it’s a light week for submissions. Published winners do get pulled from the slush pile, but it doesn’t happen very often.

People in Editorial Department

I’ll start by introducing who’s who on the editorial side of the business:

• Editor-in-chief: Oversees the editorial direction and related policies of the imprint or publishing house, including content, style, budgets, and the editorial staff.
• Acquisitions editor: Works with the editor-in-chief to acquire content and make decisions about upcoming title lists. The role varies from publisher to publisher: This person can have the actual title acquisitions editor or can be called an editor, senior editor, or executive editor depending on seniority and on how much staff and list management responsibility the position carries. Some acquisitions editors are heavily involved in editing, and others do the acquiring and then assign the actual editing to a more junior editor.
• Associate editor (or editorial project manager): Works with the acquisitions editor in preparing manuscripts for production. This person works directly with the author and is the acquisitions editor’s right-hand guy or gal. An associate editor will begin to acquire books as well.
• Assistant editor: Handles some of the more mundane (but absolutely crucial) editorial and administrative tasks, such as researching competing titles, logging and doing reader’s reports on submissions, logging contracts and royalty statements, and writing copy for sales sheets.
  
• Developmental editor: Sometimes works with the acquisitions editor and author to help the author further develop a manuscript. This person may actually play the role of the author if the author cannot do the recommended or necessary rewrites.

Not every editorial department has each of these editors on staff, and not all positions are needed for each book. A developmental editor, for example, is only called upon for certain situations. Position titles can also vary between publishing houses.
Why isn’t the copyeditor on this list? The copyeditor is part of the team of people who polish a manuscript.