Galleys

I’ve been speaking with small book stores this week, and it seems to be tipping into next, so until I have something tangible to present, I thought you all might enjoy a bit of a peak into the galley.

After all the edits are said and done, that’s when the galleys come. Beautiful and neatly organized in a PDF, I received mine a couple weeks ago. A galley is really a final proof. You go through and make sure that everything transferred into the new format correctly. If certain paragraph splits are important or particular punctuation, you go and check them. It’s simple albeit time consuming depending on the length of your manuscript. At 205 pages, mine took the back half of a day mostly due to issues with indentations.

Galleys are also your last opportunity to note continuity errors. Most, if not all, ought to have been caught in the content edit; however, there’s the possibility one slipped through or that between the content editor and the line editor, the switch over between drafts didn’t fully occur somehow.

While it’s all well and good to rely upon your editors, the final product truly is yours. I went through several times carefully because I know this is my debut novel, and the manner in which one’s debut is received can help or hinder any further materials from being published. The effort you put in can also translate in the publishing community. If word gets around that you’re a thorough and hardworking author, more doors will open than if you ignore deadlines.

Good luck and cross your fingers that I get cover art to show you in the next few weeks!