The Pre-Submission Author’s Freak-Out

Dear Reader of Blog (especially you many many “Authors” out there):

I beg you to be aware of a phenomenon that I have seen occur in the final week before the delivery of your manuscript to the publisher, whether it be a “traditional” publisher such as, let me think, umm, Portfolio (hi Adrian Zackheim, you business publishing Titan you!), or a print-on-demand site such as, umm, well there are many of them -- and they do one heck of a job for you. I am not kidding; the POD book is looking pretty, pretty close to the one printed at an ink-and-big-sheet-of-paper shop. Except for those very special firms such as GGP Media GmbH, Possneck, Germany. (Check out the Everyman’s Library edition of The Raj Quartet if U don’t believe me.)

Oh yes, the phenomenon. I almost forgot! It is the interesting behavior that comes over authors when they realize that, with that final press of the SEND button, they are committing their thoughts, indeed their legacy, to paper forever, or as long as anything might last these days or in the days to come. I must describe it as something akin to a freak-out. Suddenly, every word becomes ultra-precious. Hyphens and commas become oracular.  Points that seemed minor only a month before, now take on the significance of The Hierarchy of Needs.

This is understandable, I guess, because, unlike the Web-thing, books, with their acid-free paper and cloth jackets, sit on the shelf for long periods of time and can be picked up and searched by anyone with capacity for grasping and scanning. No wonder so many authors, so many of them dear friends and collaborators and clients of mine, bite their nails down to the quick and forego weekend activities and obsess over words in ways they have never done before, in that final week before all is frozen forever in type.

Please call me if U need help with this.

Love and understanding,

Andi von Ravi