Book #2 update, or what happens between manuscript and finished, printed book

Book #2, previously known as “100 Perfect Pairings: Entrees to Enjoy with Wines You Love” but now known as “100 Perfect Pairings: Main Dishes to Enjoy with Wines You Love – I miss the alliteration of “entrees to enjoy” but had to agree with my publisher that some readers might think “entrees” too high-falutin’ – is coming along nicely.

As you know if you’ve been following along, I turned in the manuscript for this, my second cookbook in the “100 Perfect Pairings” series, in January, and then photography happened in February. (If you haven’t been following along, here’s a post about the photo shoot.)

Since then, we’ve been through a round of edits – basically a copy editor went through the whole thing, in the form of a Word document for each chapter, and noted her suggested changes, then I went through the whole thing and reacted to her suggestions.

We’ve also been back and forth with the designer a few times on the layout. It’s basically the same as for book #1, but with more pop. The colors are brighter and cheerier, the type is more clean and contemporary – and overall, it’s just more fun, friendly, and alive.

I love it.

Page proofs colors

Then we got into page proofs (pictured here). This is where they “pour” the manuscript into the layout and we see how it’s all looking on the page.

The page proofs reveal how many pages the book wants to be, which is, of course, more pages than the publisher budgeted for. And so, before looking at the page proofs with a fine-toothed comb, I had to take an ax to them and make cuts.

Twenty-one pages worth.

With most cookbooks, when you need to cut pages, you cut recipes. But in a book called “100 Perfect Pairings” you can’t have, say, ninety-four recipes. So I had to get creative.

Page proofs corrections

It wasn’t easy. Ask any writer and they’ll tell you that cutting copy is like tossing their gems, killing their babies. But I did it, via pages littered with post-it notes (pictured here).

Now all those length-cutting changes have been incorporated and the page proofs are back to me for the fine-toothed comb. I have a couple of weeks to do that, then I’ll see page proofs again, to confirm that those changes got incorporated.

After that, if my memories of #1 are accurate, I won’t see it again until it’s a real live printed book!

But I’m getting ahead of myself. For now – isn’t she pretty?!?

Page proofs colors 2

Like this? Please share it or subscribe.

Looking for something special?