What the publishing industry could do to release The Winds of Winter as soon as possible

We’ve all heard the hubbub over the delayed arrival of The Winds of Winter. In his conciliatory blog post, George R.R. Martin said that if he delivered the book by year’s end it could have been published by this March. The publication process typically takes a year, so how exactly would the publisher have trimmed it down to three months? A recent article on a website operated by fantasy and science fiction publisher Tor provides some insight, and takes an in-depth peek at the publication process as a whole.

In the case of a blockbuster series like A Song of Ice and Fire, the publisher balances getting the book on shelves quickly with maintaining the integrity of the writing. The article breaks down the six major steps of the publication process (Editing, Cover Art, Marketing and Advertising, Sales, Formatting and Finalizing, and Printing and Distribution), which ones provide the largest barriers to publishing quickly, and how each step could be condensed to meet a three-month deadline.

One of these steps obviously includes editing. Martin has said that in addition to writing, he is also always rewriting. Rewrites can be comprised of large structural edits as well as smaller line and copy edits. Completing these edits before a manuscript is turned in can shorten the process significantly. According to the article, A Dance with Dragons underwent this process and went from a manuscript to completion in less than three months.

Another important step in the publication process is marketing and advertising. Even a book as highly anticipated as The Winds of Winter still needs a fresh marketing push. Favorable reviews from major outlets like The New York Times are extremely valuable to a publisher’s marketing efforts. If the process is shortened, that publication will likely go forward without these coveted third-party reviews. A marketing plan can still be executed in a shorter time frame, but would likely be less comprehensive.

A last interesting tidbit is that it’s standard for a book’s release date to change several times. A “hoped-for” release date is assigned to a book but can change depending on the book’s production, which we’ve seen several times with The Winds of Winter. Given the success of Game of Thrones, it will be interesting to see if The Winds of Winter has record-breaking sales once it’s published or if it suffers due to the delays.

Check out the full article here. Anyone interested in the publishing process should enjoy it, and the author has clearly paid attention to the particulars of George R.R. Martin’s situation.

Via http://winteriscoming.net/2016/01/16/what-the-publishing-industry-could-do-to-release-the-winds-of-winter-as-soon-as-possible/