Common Author Freakouts, Part 2: Toward the End of the Editorial Development Process

How can I tell when a book project is nearly ready to submit? Most of the time, it's when the author hits emotional rock bottom. :)

Above all else, the process of writing, selling, and publishing a book is slow. Everything about this industry takes about ten times as long as you worry it will in your worst nightmares.

Publishing is also uncertain. Only the barest scaffolding of an “archetypal” publication experience exists. No two authors walk exactly the same path, even with the sa…