Now comes the fun part...

I'm being completely facetious...

In thinking like a publisher, I have to set publication dates and then make sure I hit all the deadlines leading up to being able to hit the "publish" button.

What that means is that I have to know how long it takes to get things done. Most things, I'll do myself, but there are things, namely cover art and content/copy editing that I'll hire people to do. I'm not worried about cover art. I have enough leads on cover artists, that that's not an issue.

But...content/copy editing is a whole 'nother kettle of fish. While my editor always tells me my manuscripts are clean as far as spelling, grammar, and punctuation goes, and I feel that I could get away with not hiring that out, I do rely on her for the content editing portion. At this point, I don't feel like I'm ready to forgo having someone read for missing plot threads or confusing plot points or what have you.

So I need to know how far in advance of my target publication date I need to get my books to her--which in turn will drive how far in advance I need to revise them, write them, plot and plan them.

While this isn't not fun, it's a bit daunting...and crazy. I mean, I know enough authors published by Harlequin. I know that for whatever book they're currently writing and turning in to their editors, it's a year to eighteen months to two years before that book shows up on the bookshelves.

And now that publisher is me and until I get into a rhythm and figure out how long it takes me to write a book from planning to completion, I may be in for either a lot of late nights or early mornings of writing to meet shorter deadlines or longer deadlines which means longer wait times between books. That's not always plus in the romance novel industry. Not unless you're Nora. :)

I've asked my editor how far in advance she thinks she needs a book, so we'll see what she says. I have a feeling that, right now, I'm slightly behind the time curve, but...since book five is already written and I'm working on revisions now, and my brain has just about enough information to start writing book six, I think I'll be able to publish on schedule.

In other "think like a publisher" news, I filed my assumed name last Friday. I'll reveal my publisher name later this week.

Hope you had a super weekend.