Edit with me! The hard truth about publishing timelines ⌛

Where I reveal how long the publishing process REALLY takes

A few weeks ago, I had lunch with a client who signed with a literary agent this summer. As a developmental editor, I love these moments — getting to celebrate when an author I’ve worked with takes the next big step toward publishing their work.

But as we clinked glasses and chatted, the conversation shifted to the next phase of her journey: the anxiety of being on submission. Her manuscript is now being considered by editors at publishing houses, and while the querying process was relatively fast for her — she landed her agent within a few months — hearing back from editors has been a much slower process, and she’s stuck in a “limbo” state.

This conversation reminded me of something I think every emerging author needs to hear: there is no “standard” path in traditional publishing.

It’s easy to look at the books currently out on store shelves and envision the enviously smooth, quick path those authors must have taken to get there. But the reality is every author’s journey is different — and rarely is it smooth or quick, no matter how it looks from the outside. Every book’s path to publication has its own twists, turns, and timeline, including the one you’re working on right now.

In this industry, slow is the norm

Authors frequently ask me how long “on average” it takes to get traditionally published, and the truth is that this seemingly-simple question has no real good answer. The publishing industry moves notoriously slowly, and the timelines authors face getting their books to shelves vary widely.

For some, querying is the hard part — it takes years of writing and rewriting various drafts of various books, researching agents, and weathering rejections to find representation. But once they do, things start to move quickly, and they land a book deal within weeks or months.

For others, the opposite is true. Querying might be surprisingly smooth, but the submission process stretches on for months as you wait to hear from editors who are juggling dozens of manuscripts themselves. Your book might “die on sub,” and you might go back to the drawing board to consider revisions or work on a new manuscript altogether.

And then there’s the most common experience: Both stages are slow.

No matter how the journey unfolds for you, this is an industry that demands a tremendous amount of patience — but that can be especially hard when so much of the process happens behind the scenes.

Why publishing timelines are rarely shared

It’s hard to know how long someone’s publishing journey really takes because this information is rarely shared publicly — just one of the many reasons why traditional publishing can feel so opaque and mysterious.

Authors don’t necessarily always want to share how long it took them to get an agent or a book deal. It’s not that they’re trying to be secretive; more often, it’s because slow timelines can feel discouraging to share (or even to think about).

Agents and editors also tend to keep quiet about these details. An agent might not want to share how long it took them to sell a client’s manuscript because they don’t want it to look “bad” (even though slow timelines are the norm in the industry). They also know that the market is unpredictable and that every project is different, so they likely don’t want to discourage new authors or set unrealistic expectations about what the publishing timeline “should” look like.

But there is good news — this is slowly changing. In an effort to encourage hopeful authors and demystify the process, more and more authors are opening up about their publishing journeys, including how long it took them to get an agent or a book deal.

This honesty can be incredibly valuable. It reminds hopeful authors that long waits are normal and don’t reflect on the quality of their work or the likelihood of their book finding success.

Knowing all this, what is a querying or on-sub author to do? How do you stay sane not knowing how many months — or even years — it will take you to get published? I have a few tips that I shared with my client: