Hello, dreamers. As the year winds to a close, I’ve been tying up loose ends, as I usually do each December. That means a lot of editing. My WIP, various short fiction manuscripts, and soon I’ll be diving back into Seven Days on Samarkand. Ultimately, I’ll probably spend at least as much time reading my work as I do writing this month. And that brought up an interesting thought, one many casual readers might not think about much:

How many people read a story before it’s published?

Many readers probably have a sort of romantic notion about the writing process: cloistered authors tapping away at their typewriters in silence, then sending their work off to be published. But it’s a lot more complicated than that. In the modern literary world, sending your work off seeking publication without having anyone read it first is a recipe for disaster. I often tell people I can’t have too many eyes on my work before I start shopping it around. Readers are crucial; they provide valuable, diverse perspectives on a writer’s work.

So in this month’s installment of “The Cutting Room”, I thought I’d take a look at the readers, and try to answer the question, “How many people read a story before it’s published?”

Who Reads a Story Before It’s Published

The short, unsatisfying answer, is “It depends”. The longer, more correct answer is “It depends on the writer, exactly what kind of story they’re trying to publish, and how they’re trying to publish it”. But we’ll start from square one, where there’s more commonality.

The Writer

It sounds self-explanatory, but as a writer, you are your first reader. At minimum, you need to make a thorough editing pass through your work before you show it to anyone. Agents and editors can sniff out a rough draft a mile away, and if you send them something that isn’t polished, they’ll likely reject you. If you can’t be bothered to take the time to fine-tune your work, they shouldn’t be expected to take the time to help you.

Alpha Readers

Some writers employ readers while they are writing. These individuals, known as alpha readers, can be helpful if you’re new at writing, or working on a piece you’re uncertain of. The way I like to put it, alpha readers are great at answering the question, “Am I on to something, or just crazy?”

Critique Partners

Typically, the first people who read a finished work (that is, a story completely written and self-edited by the writer) are fellow writers. Collaboration is crucial for the modern writer, and every successful writer has at least one or two people, known as critique partners (typically abbreviated as “CPs”) who they work with. These are writers who can be trusted not to subvert or steal your work, and who can offer suggestions for improving your work while respecting your overall vision (i.e. helping to fine-tune wording, rather than completely changing the plot).

Critique is a mutual relationship; to have a critique partner, you must be willing to make the time to read your partner’s work just as they read yours. Over time, many writers join or form small networks of critique partners, known as critique groups.

Beta Readers

Once a story has been edited and critiqued, it’s passed off to beta readers; the first true readers of a writer’s work. Beta readers are typically trusted friends of a writer who are not writers themselves. Ideally a writer will seek a diverse group of beta readers in order to assess their appeal to a broad range of demographics. However, in my experience, the core of any successful beta group are avid readers who expose themselves to large amounts of published fiction.

The true value of beta readers, as I’ve mentioned before, is providing a reader’s perspective; while critique partners can offer advice from a writing standpoint, beta readers can assess readability and entertainment value.

From this point, paths diverge. Independent authors (those who self-publish) can skip to the end. For those seeking traditional publishing, however, the path forward depends on whether they’re trying to publish short fiction or a novel.

Short Fiction

I’ll start with short fiction, if only because the process has fewer steps and is more linear.

When an author submits a short story to a literary magazine, its first landing spot is the intake desk. These are the first people associated with the market who read a writer’s work, and their job is simple: winnow the field. They typically have a list of criteria, including various red flags related to genre, tone, subject material, and word count. Anything that strays outside of the magazine’s stated guidelines (every literary mag provides these) is rejected outright. Beyond that, they’ll assess general quality of writing and whether or not the story feels too similar to other pieces the magazine has published. This is fairly straightforward work with emphasis placed on turnaround. As such, the personnel manning the intake desk are invariably the least-experienced members of the editorial staff. Usually they’re interns. Smaller magazines may rely on volunteers.

If the story makes it through intake, it begins slowly working its way up through the editorial office. Multiple editors will likely read the story, each one deciding whether to send a rejection letter or pass it on to the editor above them. If all goes well, eventually it lands on the desk of the editor in chief, who makes the final decision on whether or not to buy the story. All told, a good half dozen people may have read the story by that point.

Novels

The process for traditionally-published novels is, to say the least, more complex. I’ve touched on some of this in prior posts (particularly my “Dear Sir or Madam” series). So longtime readers will know where this process starts:

Literary Agents

In today’s publishing industry, literary agents are effectively the gatekeepers. As I’ve said before, however, most will not read a writer’s manuscript straight off. First they’ll read the sample pages included in a query. From there, an interested agent will ultimately ask to read the full manuscript. And if they like it, they’ll send an offer of representation. From there, it’s off to submission.

Editors

Once a writer has an agent, their manuscript goes out on submission. With their agent’s help, they send a pitch to literary editors with publishing houses. These initial editors are often called purchasing editors, as they are empowered by their publishing company to acquire new stories. An interested editor will read the full manuscript, and if they like it, they’ll offer the writer a book deal.

Copy Editor

Once the initial editor’s work is complete, they’ll send the story off to a copy editor. A copy editor’s job is simple: to make sure a manuscript is ready for publication. Most of their work is focused on formatting the story for various mediums, though they’ll also look for spelling and grammatical errors. The copy editor works with the author to fine-tune the story until it’s ready for print.

Proofreader

Once the copy editor submits the final version of the manuscript, the publisher prints a test copy: the proof. The proof is sent to the author, who is given one final opportunity to make any changes. This is the author’s first chance to see how their story will look as an actual book, and their primary goal at this point is to make sure the formatting works for their story. However, they’re also expected to make one final pass looking for typos. To that end, most authors, even successful and prolific ones, will often turn their proof over to a proofreader.

For most authors, the proofreader is a trusted friend, often one of their top beta readers. The primary criterion for a proofreader is attention to detail; it’s amazing how many typos and other minor errors can make it past all the other readers listed above. The goal of the proofreader is to try and catch them before the story hits shelves.

Advance Readers

Once the author has returned the updated proof to the publisher, the novel goes to print, beginning with advance reader copies. Advance Reader Copies (or ARCs) are distributed free of charge to various readers, typically critics or influencers, to produce reviews and generate hype prior to the book’s official release. This is the point where trad-pub and indie-pub finally overlap; self-pub authors will often distribute ARCs too, though theirs are less likely to go to major literary critics and they must perform the distribution themselves.

All this is to say, when you pick up a book at your local bookstore, you’re far from the first person who’s read it. It’s passed across dozens of desks and through countless gazes on its way to your hands. But that doesn’t make your role in its journey any less special. To paraphrase Stephen King, each story begins in the mind of the writer but ends in the mind of the reader. Many people may have read a book, but none will take away the same thing you will.

Ultimately, you should take heart in knowing how many people read that book on its way to you. It’s arguably the most rigorous quality-control process possible for an artistic pursuit. And it was all done so that you can thoroughly enjoy the story. On behalf of all authors, and all the wonderful people who read my work before it sees the light of day, I certainly hope you enjoy it. – MK