Monday, October 23, 2017

Why Deadlines Matter

For new authors, having deadlines is simply not an issue. You write your story when you want to and when the mood inspires you. Sure, you set for yourself smaller goals, but if you don't make it, there is no harm. However, if you are someone wishing to write professionally, or you have made that leap, then deadlines CANNOT be taken lightly. Those dates are there for a reason.

I fully understand that some authors think missing that deadline by a week is not that major of an issue. You know your book is not to be out for another 6 months so why worry? The issue here, is that those authors are only thinking about their own lives. They are not realizing that there are other people involved.

Let's start with some basics.

Although your book might not come out for a year, it has to be put into a release schedule along with all of the other authors that publisher works with. This also means that your editor is not just working with you, but also working with a lot of other authors. Your editor has to read, edit, and write up all of those revision notes for you so that you can get things done. Remember there is only so much time in the day to get this work done.

Now, we add to the fact that your work also has to get to copy editors, the art department, the business department and potentially other editors for review. This now impacts a lot of other individuals.

Your editor is blocking out their calendar to work on your work. If you miss that deadline they cannot simply go to work on another author's work, unless that author is ahead of schedule. Sure, they might like to get to that work, but that is not always the case.

Those publishers are working hard to position your book for the best release time. This might be having books coming out in a series of consecutive months, or even situations such as Christmas releases for those themed books. Miss that deadline, you will be looking at a release date that might be 2 years away now.

I just want you to really think about the people around you. Miss that deadline, you are putting pressure on others. Miss that deadline, you are hurting your own career in an already competitive industry.

1 comment:

  1. As usual, a good post with pithy insights. True, writing and wanting to write is not just about the author but the other people involved.

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