General Release Timeline
When your book is done and ready to go is when it can be “Released”. How long does that really take?
We’ve seen too many times where a manuscript was sent in and although it had been worked on for months, if not years, there’s an expectation that it’ll be ready to go, and the author will have books in hand for a release event in a couple of weeks.
There are many factors that come into play when setting an actual release date. Although it can be exciting, especially for a new author, there are a number of things that the book designer has little to no control over. Let’s consider the optimum timeline for a 60,000-word novel ending up around 200-pages. We’ll assume it’s been edited and only needs the layout and design work to complete. First let’s define the “pieces” to the puzzle. We start with the layout and design process, then proofing, then production or POD, then shipping.
Layout and Design
Our page going over The Development Process (Here) defines how we, as do many other book designers, work. If all of the assets for the book are there our 60,000-word novel can take a couple of weeks. Depending on how responsive the author/publisher is, it can be in a range of days, weeks, or months. A non-fiction technical book or something like a memoir with 50-100 photos of the author’s life will take considerably more time to complete. The process is an iterative one where work is done, that part is reviewed by the author/publisher, more work done, and another review takes place. Corrections may be made and reviewed one or more times. If the cover assets are readily available, that can be done quickly enough, but if not, then that simply adds time to the process. For the sake of our exercise let’s say it all came together in a couple of weeks. Next is the proofing process.
Proofing
This step creates a single physical copy, maybe more than one, for review. This gives the author/publisher the opportunity to check for anything not noticed during the design process. It also is an opportunity to check the colors on the cover, clarity of images, and any potential typographical errors that need attention. What is seen on screen can look dramatically different on the pages or cover. After looking at a physical copy there may or may not be additional corrections. Depending on the printer, making and sending the physical proof copy can take around seven days before it shows up on your doorstep. This part too can end up as an iterative exercise if substantive changes are made and a new proof is desired. Once everything is considered good and correct then it’s on to production, setting up for POD, or both.
Traditional Book Production
A good book manufacturer most likely has a dozen or more other books on the production line at any time. The quantities may be a couple dozen copies on upwards of hundreds or thousands. While the actual time to print, bind, and finish a small run of 50 copies, collectively, may only be only a few days, it is most likely not the only thing they are working on at the time. Most of the time it’s waiting its turn to print and after printing, may wait again for binding and finishing. Experience has shown that to usually be around two weeks.
POD (Print-On-Demand)
Once a book gets placed on one of more of the POD Platforms it can take anywhere from three to four days (KDP) to well over a week (Ingram/Spark) before it appears on the websites or becomes available to bookstores.
Shipping
If the print provider is not a local company where you can go to pick up your freshly printed copies, then they will need to be shipped. Depending on the distance from them to you it can be a matter of days if it’s within a couple hundred miles on upwards of 7-10 days, or more, if they are on the other side of the country.
Summary
In this exercise, under optimal circumstances, your layout took a couple of weeks. Proofing your book took another week. Your production took probably two weeks, and shipping maybe another week or so. That ends up around six to seven weeks. We generally recommend that a release or signing event is not scheduled until the book is in production and allowing for four weeks or more to finish and ship. You never know when something along the way is going to create a delay. Even if it’s going only to POD then you still have the layout, proofing, and wait time running on upwards of a total of four weeks before it’s available.
For more information or to inquire about your book project with Bravo Book Design use our Contact Form, or email us at BravoBookDesign@gmail.com or call 509-953-8680 9am to 4pm Pacific.
