A book headed toward publication will go through many stages starting with the prewriting, to the writing of drafts, to proofing, and then to submitting the final draft to an agent or publisher. If you are self-publishing, the process may end there, but if you are working with a small press or a traditional press, other steps remain. The publisher will do a review and edit of their own, and then let the author respond to whatever edits are made. There may be some back-and-forth debate/discussion between publisher and author over these edits, but in the end, the author will be given galleys to look over. The galleys have the correct pagination, images, cover art, and formatting that the published book will have. They represent the final frontier for the author, the last hurdle to be cleared before his or her book “sees print.”

The galleys for The Secrets We Carry: Journal of a Girl in Trouble arrived last week, and as I went through them, page by page, two thoughts came into my mind. First, it occurred to me that I place an extremely high priority on having this book be free from every kind of error. That means no missing or misplaced punctuation, no typos, no awkward sentences, and no misaligned text. It also means no inconsistencies. That was a problem in my first novel, Fast-Pitch Love. At one point in that book, I had the protagonist and his family living in a ranch-style house. Then further on, I had him going upstairs to his room. Elsewhere, I had him driving a different model car than the one he drove at the start of the book. Inconsistencies like this can escape an editor’s attention, especially if there are a lot of pages separating them. But while inconsistencies may not ruin a story, they can cause readers to be confused and possibly lose interest in the plot.

My review of the galleys for The Secrets We Carry revealed numerous technical errors with spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure, but only one inconsistency. Near the beginning of the book, Eleanor, the protagonist’s older sister, was coming up on her 20th birthday; later, she’s about to turn 21. That inconsistency was an easy one to correct.

At the request of the publisher (Van Velzer Press), I listed the corrections by page number and line, and e-mailed them back to the CEO. I offered to mail the galleys themselves back but was told this wasn’t necessary.

The second thought that came to me was the fact that although this journey with writing and publishing The Secrets We Carry is nearly over, a new journey is about to begin. That one will involve promoting the book and looking for opportunities to sell it in face-to-face encounters with potential readers. Accordingly, I’ll be applying to take part in book fairs and contacting bookstore owners about book signings at their respective locations.

And what about writing another YA novel? I do have a couple of ideas bouncing around my head, but that’s a post for another day.