When you decide to pursue storytelling as a career, one of the very first things you learn is just how long everything takes. For a writer who has decided to pursue publication with a traditional publisher, the waits can be excruciating. And there are many of them.

To begin with, a writer has to wait on the story. We’re not robots capable of churning out ready-to-read books. We’re creators who require the perfect balance of inspiration, discipline, and time in our writing cave. And while we are in essence waiting on ourselves to finish, even early on we find ourselves impatient for the next step. We want a completed draft so we can revise it into perfection.

But revision takes time too. There’s all sorts of thinking and trying and failing that happens at this stage. Writers often get beta readers involved at this point because none of us can possibly see what our story really says. We can only see what we hoped it would say. What we intended. And suddenly for the first time, with our manuscript in a beta reader’s hands, we’re waiting on someone else.

Why do beta readers take so long?

First and foremost, hear this: Your story, your career, your progress, your schedule will never be as important to others as it is to you. Occasionally you’ll run into someone who can prioritize you at the top of their list, but for the most part, people are more concerned (and rightfully so) with their own story, career, progress, and schedule. They are kindly sliding you into their workload. Be grateful.

While it’s always a best practice to agree upon a deadline with your beta readers, they might ask for more time than you hoped. Whether you’re able to give them that time is entirely up to you. Just remember that stepping away from your manuscript could be good for you and for your story. Figure out how many weeks you can live with, and once that deadline is agreed upon, walk away and let your readers do their job. Don’t fiddle with your manuscript. Let it rest. Time away gives you a chance to reset so that when you take a look at the story again, you’ll have fresh eyes.

Once a beta reader returns your manuscript with their feedback, you are again waiting on yourself, aren’t you? You have to decide what to do with the critical feedback of another human. And while not all feedback is created equal, ideally you’ve selected your beta reader with care up front. You chose a reader you trust, someone who has your good in mind, and who knows what they’re talking about. But you still have to decide what to make of their thoughts.

And so begins the painstaking process of turning first efforts into second and third drafts, until at last, if everything goes as planned, you have something polished to share with an industry professional.

For those pursuing traditional publishing, your first step would be to find an agent.

Why do agents take so long?

Once your manuscript is as polished as you and your beta readers can manage, it’s time to look for an agent. To do that, you’ll put together a query letter. You can read more about query letters here, but just know that a query is the traditionally acceptable way of introducing yourself and your book to a prospective agent.

Oftentimes you’ll query a handful of agents at the same time, and often you’ll end up waiting a lot longer than you anticipated for those agents to read and reply to your email.

This can be one of the more frustrating waits an author has, and understandably so. You’ve worked incredibly hard to complete a novel and now you want someone to give it a chance.

You should know that an agent, depending on how popular they are, receives hundreds or thousands of query letters a month. In fact, some agents have dedicated email addresses just for queries so that they don’t land in their general inbox. Agents will often view this inbox a few times a week to scroll through the new queries, and some even have assistants who monitor incoming query letters. It’s a hefty task. It also highlights why your query letter must hit on all the right notes.

While query letters come in droves, agents know that their best shot at finding a stellar new talent is to dig into those queries, so don’t fear that your query will go unread. While I’m sure some queries get lost in the ether, most make it to the correct inbox. It just might sit there for a bit.

And even if an agent likes your query, they may choose to hold onto it for a bit before replying. Maybe they want to read more about you or dig further into the pages you sent. Maybe they’re not totally sold, but want to think on it some. There are good reasons for all of this, but the wait can be frustrating.

When at last an agent plucks your query from their inbox, reads your full manuscript, declares undying love for both you and your story, you’re still not done waiting. You’ll likely work on edits together, which will involve more waiting, of course. And then, then your book goes out on submission.

When we say a book goes “out on submission,” we’re saying that your agent has submitted your work to a list of editors who might want to acquire your book for their publishing house. It’s a big deal, and while this part can move very quickly, it can take forever as well.

Why do editors take so long?

Reviewing a manuscript takes a lot longer than reviewing a query letter. So one reason editors take longer than we’d like is because they have to read so much. No, they don’t read the entirety of every submission they receive–they can often tell a few chapters in if there’s reason to read on–but they do have a lot to process. And like agents, they receive a ton of prospective novels sent their way every single day.

It’s also important to know that very few editors have the power to purchase your novel outright. Before they can make an offer, they often have to pass the manuscript around to the other editors on their team, and then if everyone is onboard, the editor gets the thumbs up to present the book to their sales and marketing teams at an acquisitions meeting.

Every single one of these stops requires a meeting, and meetings require the juggling of multiple calendars. It is SUCH A PROCESS. The upside is that if your book has gotten to this point, the interested editor is likely corresponding with your agent to let you know when these meetings will take place and when you can expect an update.

Updates are good!

Once a publishing house decides to offer you a contract, there’s no knowing how much time has passed since you originally sat down to write this book. But the wait is just going to get hairier.

While a book offer is something to celebrate, you might be surprised to learn that the publisher plans to have your book on the shelf in another . . . 18 to 24 months.

What?

Why do publishing houses take so long?

One huge upside of going with a traditional publisher is that they handle editing, design, marketing, and sales in-house. You’ll still have quite a few responsibilities outside of writing, but the heavy lifting of getting your book into stores sits with the publisher. They just need time to get everything in place.

Your substantive edits alone could take six to eight months. And then there’s line edits and copy edits and proofreading. All the while the design team is hiring artists for your cover and your book layout. The marketing team is working up a plan to get readers excited about your book, and the sales team is putting boots on the ground to pitch your book to book sellers who in turn get it in the hands of readers. And then there’s the printing and the shipping and the placement.

It’s a process. And all of it takes time. Launching a book without all the pieces in place is a nightmare. You’ve worked too hard to cut corners now. So, as hard as it is to be patient, that’s as much a part of your job as dreaming up stories.

I’m currently in the middle of a contract negotiation myself, and when I look at the deadline they’ve given me for the completion of the book, and then I compare it to the expected publication date, I almost cry. Even once the book is fully edited and ready to go, it’ll be over a year before it sees the shelf. And while the idea of such a long wait kills me, I tell myself again and again that it gives me time to work on another story. That by the time this book comes out, I could be ready to have another story in my publisher’s hands. That keeps me working.

And so the wait becomes a gift.

If you can accept time as a gift, the wonderful, frustrating world of publishing might be a little easier on you. During certain seasons, time gives your creative mind a chance to rest, and during others, time gives your creative mind an opportunity to work.

Traditional publishing is not always the quick road we hope for, but when you choose to go this route, you’re involving a lot of people, and they deserve the gift of time as well. Time to do good, hard work on behalf of the story you love so very much.

Tell me, does the idea of a long wait seem daunting? Does it surprise you to know how long it takes to turn an idea into a book on the shelf?

Shannon Dittemore is an author and speaker. Her books include the Angel Eyes trilogy, a supernatural foray into the realm of angels and demons, as well as the fantastical adventure novel Winter, White and Wicked. Its sequel, Rebel, Brave and Brutal is due out January 10, 2023.

Shannon’s stories feature strong female leads grappling with fear and faith as they venture into the wilds of the unknown. She’s often wondered if she’s writing her own quest for bravery again and again.

It’s a choice she values highly. Bravery. And she’s never more inspired than when young people ball up their fist and punch fear in the face.

To that end, Shannon takes great joy in working with young writers, both in person and online at Go Teen Writers, an instructional blog recognized by Writer’s Digest four years running as a “101 Best Websites for Writers” selection.

For more about Shannon and her books, please visit her website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.