The editing phase of the the book process has finally begun! I was contacted this week by my production editor, who is responsible for coordinating the production of the book from this point forward: copyediting, rendering/quality control of art, typesetting, proofreading, and indexing. Apparently my chapters are well written, and he is “expecting an overall light copy edit.” Note: the screen shot above is from the “light copy edit” of the first chapter – phew, I wonder what a heavy copy edit looks like!

I’m learning a lot about the book making process my first time through. One thing that amazes me is the amount of people involved in the project, both at McGraw-Hill Professional (MHP) and freelance consultants they hire. Here are the titles of the people associated with the book so far:
MHP editorial director
MHP acquisitions editor
MHP project editor
MHP copy editor
MHP senior art director
MHP senior marketing manager
MHP senior manager, marketing and publicity
freelance production editor
freelance art production consultant
indexers
… and that’s not counting my book agent who has been with me the whole time!

According to the latest schedule, the text editing should be done and sent to layout by September 9th. This means that right now the copy editor, project editor, and production editor go through each chapter and make some corrections, then send it to me to accept/reject/comment on the changes before final approval. Then, the text of the chapters will be sent to layout with all the art for each chapter, and I’ll get to review proofs over the first 2-3 weeks of September. I can’t WAIT to get a copy of this book in my hands!