If you follow me on social media, you would have seen that in November last year I signed a deal with HarperCollins Australia for the publication of my debut novel Burnt Out.
We now have a firm release date for this beauty, which is January 5, 2022.
But why did it take so long? I’ve written the book, right? Isn’t it just a case of hitting print?
Here is a rundown of what has been happening in the background.
Over the Christmas/New Year “break”, I took the opportunity to print out my entire book and do a full, in-depth edit of the novel, incorporating some of my publisher’s suggestions about things to add or finesse.
In February, it was sent for its structural edit. This is the “big picture” edit, where the editor looks at the book and sees what works structurally, what needs to be cut/amended, and which relationships or characterisations might need a bit of extra work.
When I got that back, it was my time to go through it and incorporate those suggestions where I saw fit. This was a really involved process, but it was also very fun to spend time with the characters again and see what else I could get out of them.
After that, I sent it BACK to my publisher for the copy edit. This is where they get into the nitty gritty of the words and sentences, standardising certain elements and pointing out when a sentence or paragraph needs clarifying.
The editor has sent this back for my perusal, approval and amendment, and that is where I am currently up to.
In other exciting news, my book is now live on the HarperCollins website:
About the Book
She lost everything in a bushfire and became the celebrity face of climate change. But is fame and living with a billionaire all it’s cracked up to be? A warm and witty story for our times.
Calida Lyons is having a very bad week. She’s long past deadline for her still unwritten second novel; her husband has just left her; and her Blue Mountains community is being threatened by bushfires. Just as she hits rock bottom, she’s forced to shelter with neighbours while a fire incinerates everything she owns.
Devastated and emotional in front of news cameras, Cali delivers a blistering, unfiltered rebuke to the nation’s rich to do something.
Her rant goes viral, and she quickly becomes the latest celebrity face of the climate movement. Soon she’s offered a harbourside refuge by handsome tech billionaire Arlo Richard, her publisher is delighted with the new novel she’s writing, and she’s the darling of high society.
But things aren’t as they seem. It’s all built on lies, and Cali’s pretty sure that the precarious house of cards she’s built is about to come tumbling down.
Source: HarperCollins Australia
So yes, I am currently knee deep in a copy edit with my pal Cali and will be for the next three weeks. After this, I’ll send it to the in-house editor at HarperCollins, who will check it over and have it typeset, and then in late August the review copies will start being sent out.
After that, it’ll go to the proofreader, then it’ll come back to me for review and approval, then back to the publisher, then back to me for one final go over, then in October, it’ll be off to the printers!
And that is why it is taking so long for my book to come out.
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VB x
Victoria Brookman 