Author Topic: Drafts  (Read 1330 times)

guessingo

  • Level 11
  • *
  • Posts: 440
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Drafts
« on: February 21, 2010, 10:55:14 PM »
How many drafts are common before a book is published? I read that brandon usually makes 7-8 drafts, but Wheel of Time was 17. Michael Stackpole wrote that he never does more than 3.

I would think books are typically (but not always) of higher quality of you do more drafts. I would also think that books that are expected to sell less copies will have less drafts. In part because the author has to eat and the book needs to be published and in part because the publisher does not want its editors spending as much time on the books.

Also, do smaller publishers work with less drafts than big ones?

Anyone have any information on this? Each draft is a considerable amount of time for an editor.

Chaos

  • Administrator
  • Level 36
  • *****
  • Posts: 2170
  • Fell Points: 3
  • The Original Hero of Ages
    • View Profile
    • Eric Lake
Re: Drafts
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2010, 01:12:09 AM »
It completely depends on an author. While Brandon writes 7-8 of them, not all of them are "major". A lot are little copyedits and fine tuning.

So not only does it depend on the author, it also depends how they count their drafts. Numbers will vary wildly.
www.17thshard.com - The Official Brandon Sanderson Fansite.

Oh SNAP, I'm an Allomancer.

guessingo

  • Level 11
  • *
  • Posts: 440
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Drafts
« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2010, 03:02:06 AM »
Do the number of drafts depend on the editor and the publisher? If they don't see a book as a big seller, are they less willing to spend time on it?

Chaos

  • Administrator
  • Level 36
  • *****
  • Posts: 2170
  • Fell Points: 3
  • The Original Hero of Ages
    • View Profile
    • Eric Lake
Re: Drafts
« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2010, 03:15:32 AM »
Well, from my keen knowledge from Writing Excuses (that is, not any direct experience, so take anything I say with a grain of salt), any manuscript can be made into something awesome. From an editor/publisher perspective, they judge how much time it would take to make the manuscript good. Any manuscript they do pick from an unknown author would have to be pretty good for them to spend time on it at all.

The publishers want to make money, which means they want to make your work as good as possible. They don't go and say "this book isn't going to hit #1, so screw it", they are going to put the time and effort into it, once they've already signed the contract.
www.17thshard.com - The Official Brandon Sanderson Fansite.

Oh SNAP, I'm an Allomancer.