Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
Today I’m in a mood. Thunderclouds have gathered over my office, and I’m not feelin’ groovy, even if I do live in California. I’ve observed that authors express less and less concern about making the deadlines they committed to in their contracts. Here is a case in point.
One of my clients, let’s call her Sandy, casually mentioned to another client of mine that she had never made a deadline on any of her five contracted books. Hey, it was no big deal.
My second client, whom we’ll call Ray, a new author with his first contract, called me to ask if deadlines are taken casually by everyone in publishing.
I clarified to Ray that deadlines are to be taken very seriously. Sacrifices need to be made to make deadlines; one’s professional reputation is on the line (speaking of lines); publishers pay attention when deadlines are missed. (And I’m pretty sure Sandy’s publisher won’t want to publish her next book since she’s caused such mayhem by missing her deadlines.)
Note: I’m not writing about justifiable reasons for missing a deadline. We’ve all experienced the unexpected that makes a tossed salad out of our lives. Instead, I’m writing about those instances in which the author put off doing the work of writing the book until it became inevitable the deadline would be missed.
Someone pays for your missed deadline
The bottom line (another kind of line) is that someone pays the price if you miss your deadline. The further from the deadline you turn in your manuscript, the more people pay the price, and the higher the price.
The first person is your editor. It will fall to your editor to make up the time you consumed. Because the editor’s projects are lined up by the production department, if your project comes in late, the editor still has to finish your manuscript on time or the next project (which might have come in on time) will release late. So the editor burns the midnight oil the author failed to burn. Under this kind of pressure, the editor won’t give your book the editorial work it needs. The editor’s mindset will be to attend to the most obvious areas but to ignore the more nuanced editing.
Marketing has committed to a marketing/publicity plan that will have to be trashed because the book is no longer coming out in the season it was scheduled for. Most of your marketing dollars have been committed and can’t be retrieved. So your book now has little or no marketing budget.
Bookstores have placed orders, but now the publisher’s sales reps have to explain that the book will release later. The sales reps’ efforts are lost. When your book does release, the reps need to present your book again, but buyers might well decide to pass on it the second time around. If you end up writing the book of the century…too bad, the publisher and the book buyers won’t be able to gear up for the big burst necessary to get your stunning book noticed.
The publisher becomes less and less likely to garner enough sales on the project to make a profit. Not to mention that he has been carrying the first portion of your advance as a loan to you and he has no hope of that money being earned until your book releases.
So what’s with this callous view toward deadlines?
These authors lunch with their friends, blog, Facebook, and tweet endlessly, take vacations, make sure their houses are decorated just so and that their gardens are pristine–but never manage to fit in time to work on their manuscripts until a couple of weeks before the due date. Then, they madly dash to the deadline, which often is missed. And the work most certainly is less than it could have been.
I can only conclude three reasons, from my observations, as to why deadlines are seriously missed:
1) Procrastinating is a common ailment among writers. Any activity is more appealing than putting butt in chair and actually working on the manuscript;
2) Authors are inherently optimistic (and sometimes unrealistic) when they commit to a deadline by signing their contract;
3) Advances have lost their meaning. Why did advances come into existence? So authors would have sufficient money to set aside other financial pursuits, enabling the writer to concentrate on producing the book contracted. If the author can’t meet his deadline, why does he think his publisher should pay him an advance? Or offer him another contract?
Publishers do ask themselves those very questions. As a matter of fact, a number of publishers have amped up the punishment inflicted for a late manuscript–severely reducing payment when the manuscript is turned in or even cancelling the contract. (These measures are spelled out in the contract.)
So some authors receive a nasty surprise when they turn in their late manuscripts. The publisher says, “No thanks. We don’t choose to publish your book.”
What should you do when you realize you’re going to miss your deadline?
As soon as you know that the manuscript just can’t be ready on time, call your agent (or call your editor, if you don’t have an agent). The longer you wait to confess, the more repercussions for the publishing house. Phoning the day of the deadline won’t do. Confessing a month before the due date is better. (Come on, if you haven’t started writing it with one month left, and you know it takes you three months to complete a manuscript, you really can ‘fess up earlier.) Publishers won’t be happy the deadline will be missed, but with advance warning, they can adjust the production schedule and have some flexibility to figure out what to do.
How to avoid missed deadlines
Aside from the obvious point of starting to work early enough to actually write the book, I’d suggest these straightforward solutions:
Estimate how much time you’ll need to devote to research. This will keep you from becoming heady with the joys of searching through piles of facts and keep you pressing forward with a set date when you must start to write.
Give yourself a word count diet. How many words must you write everyday to meet the deadline?
Allow time for the manuscript to sit, undisturbed, before you return to it for at least one round of revisions.
Count on life to interrupt your productivity. With months or a year or more to write your manuscript, life will bring the unexpected–illness, a major move, the loss of a loved one. Plan for at least one month to be lost to unforeseen circumstances.
Now, talk to me:
What do you do to make sure you’ll have your manuscript in on time?
If you’ve missed a deadline, did you see any fallout from it?
Now that you’ve read my blog, do you think there was some fallout, but you hadn’t realized it?
What keeps you from writing?
TWEETABLES
What happens when you miss your deadline? #writing Click to tweet.
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Gonna be ‘the late’ soon enough. Rather not have people get used to using it to describe my business habits.
* I try to have a finished product ‘up’ first; it may not meet my standards but meets contractual obligations if things go deeply south. Refinement is a luxury.
* People who pay you have a big claim on your time. Taking vacations or doing volunteer work on their dime is wrong
* Critics may love an elegant turn of phrase but publishers love the journeyman writer about whom they don’t have to worry. Guess who’s going to sign your cheques? OK Today beats Fashionably Late every day of the week.
* Many, many thanks to those who have kept me in prayer. It’s not looking too great at the moment. This comment used up today’s energy, but it was fun to write.
Breathe in the strength of God, Andrew, exhale pain.
The prayers of your many, many friends are with you.
Read this and thought of you and your wife. Praying for strength for both.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/11/fashion/modern-love-lung-transplant-stress-marriage.html?_r=0
Hang in there!!
Continuing to pray for you, Andrew.
It’s not just publishing, Janet. My son is in a whole different field, and he worked diligently to meet all of his deadlines. It seems that he was alone in his success. The powers that be asked him for his secret. “I thought that’s what they were–deadlines,” he answered. “And that’s what you do–meet them.”
*He is his mother’s son. Term paper due date, data deadline at work, publishing timelines. What do I do with deadlines? I meet them. What else is there?
The business world thanks you for building that sense of obligation in your son.
Love his response … and a big Amen to that!!!
I suppose lack of confidence or overwhelm can contribute to this scenario. But procrastination is probably the main culprit. I’ve not much experience with writing deadlines other than self-imposed ones and also for a vanity published book. Good habits and set routines are definitely helpful in getting the job done and good old fashioned hard work.
I agree with everyone’s comments. A casual or callous disregard of the contract deadline disrespects the process and people involved in every step of birthing a book. This article should help enlighten and inform.
Haven’t had a publishing deadline yet. For other endeavors, the word is scary. Deadlines. Overnight. I’m not good at keeping to time, and I’m seriously working towards becoming time-effective.
Who knows where it would profit in the near future.
Janet, I’m so sorry. Because I know you take pride in your clients and choose them carefully. Thank you for transparency in revealing this side of your work. And I’d imagine that it’s rare. Yes, contracts and deadlines are to be taken seriously. We all make mistakes, have accidents, but to be late habitually? A missed deadline should be gut-wrenching to the writer. Because our word should mean something. Also because not only do you represent your clients, but your clients also represent you, in a sense. And while it is a lesson on a disrespectful attitude and not realizing a blessed opportunity/position, it’s also a lesson in being careful what you say. Word travels. I have great respect for writers who commit to one book a year. I think it’s the perfect amount to balance work and family/life. I can’t imagine more because those writers are usually marketing the book they wrote last year, as well. I’m sure it can be done, but I can’t imagine it. And if procrastinating is common, have they lost their love of writing?
“Word travels”.
Doesn’t it??
A solid reputation is painstakingly built, but cannot be bought back once, not for all the tea in England, once it’s tarnished. After a downfall, it’s twice as hard to rebuild one’s integrity, if not more.
To me, meeting deadlines is a matter of integrity. If I say I’ll do something, I do it. And yes, there are those legit tossed salad circumstances which haven’t happened yet, thankfully. And I’m always aware there are many writers waiting to take my place, a great motivator to honor my contract, not to mention the mess I’d make in-house by being late!
Laura, your integrity shines through your work. 🙂
And I’m still thinking as I make breakfast about all the wisdom & thoughtfulness in your comments! Thank you, Shelli.
Ahhh, “tossed salad circumstances”!!
Am I thankful NOT to have a contract? No!
But am I thankful that I didn’t have a project due this summer or fall? Absolutely!
The last 5 weeks have been difficult, to say the least. I completely underestimated the whole “brain rest” thing.
A tired brain doesn’t hurt very much, but it does hurt.
It hurts enough to feel like it got tossed, like radicchio against a wall.
All of which has served to teach me to get the work done WAY ahead of schedule.For I am Jennifer, and I am a klutz.
Given that this post is NOT about a crisis of some form that forces the writer to drop everything and rush into the fire, I’m astounded that a contracted writer would be so callous and blasĂ© about a deadline.
Let’s look at that word, shall we? It’s composed of two root words, “dead” and “line”.
‘Nuf said.
In my country, Jenniferland, of which I am Queen, I truly loathe when someone takes a HUGE blessing for granted. Whether it’s athletic skills, academic excellence, or musical talent that we are blessed with, we need to respect that others have had a hand in our successes.
Thus, I am aghast that anyone with a publishing deal would be so flippant, and so inconsiderate, to disregard the efforts of everyone else in the process.
As a sports parent, with 17 years of hockey, soccer, volleyball, rugby, and football experience, there is one thing that all players know- we win as a team, and we lose as a team.
So it is in every profession.
Especially so in writing.
Thanks for these thoughts, Jennifer. I am stymied at the cavalier attitude some authors have toward deadlines. I see, over and over again, writers doing everything possible to garner a contract–but not obtaining one. So a writer who views a contract as a given is a writer I’m hard-pressed to understand.
I haven’t had to meet a formal deadline yet, but I’ve heard the suggestion to estimate the time you need for research, writing etc. Susan May Warren says look at your calendar, determine how many days you have available (besides vacation, etc) to dedicate to writing and then divide the work into those available days. For me, setting word count goals is very effective. I have to better figure out how long to give myself for rewriting and editing my book. And then do the work. 🙂
*Great post, Janet!
Just to add a few other thoughts. I have always taken other deadlines seriously. When I commit to something, I work hard to make certain I finish what I say I’ll finish WHEN I say I’ll finish it, and to do my best possible work. Acting with integrity is important.
That’s a sound plan, Jeanne.
As an editor, I always figured how many chapters I had to edit per day, giving myself time to go through the manuscript twice. Each week I left two days blank so I had space for either life or to make up for missing my self-imposed deadlines. By the end of the week, I didn’t go to bed until I met my goal.
I like that mindset for editing, Janet. Thanks for sharing!
How horrifying. This makes me want to always have a completed manuscript before I try to sell it. Win win, right? Is that possible for a writer to do?
Kristen, some authors insist on not having a contract until their next manuscript is complete. But all the authors I know who function this way are super best-selling. The downside for a publishing house on waiting for the author’s next work is that the publisher has no idea when another book might release–one year from now, two, maybe even three? It makes it incredibly difficult for a publisher to work with no time frame.
The reason a best-selling author can operate this way is that the publisher will squeeze the book into the next season since it’s pretty much guaranteed to bring in considerable profit.
For an author building her career, the next work will be placed in a season about a year from when it’s handed in. If the author had been working with a deadline, the book would have been scheduled to be released a year from the due date. Building momentum for this writer is difficult for both the writer and the publishing house.
Ahhh, now I understand. Interesting dilemma. So, have deadlines…but be sure to make them!
Most of my published writing has been in newspapers and other periodicals. Deadlines for those are short, often a matter of weeks or even days, but I’ve usually turned in my articles ahead of time. As a Christian I believe in keeping my promises.
Thank you for this sobering look behind the scenes, Janet. I’ve participated twice in NaNoWriMo and completed it both times. It’s an excellent experience for an unpublished writer because it helps one see how much can be accomplished in a month. I’d heartily recommend it for anyone who wants a taste of deadline pressure. Being in an online writer’s group that has monthly contests has helped me too. My biggest challenge is my memory. I must write deadlines down immediately if I plan to enter a contest or submit a proposal by a due date. Having a blog and a small column to write also help develop the polite and necessary skill of punctuality. Manners matter in the publishing world. 🙂
Blessings ~ Wendy Mac
Wendy, NaNoWriMo is an excellent exercise in meeting a deadline and having that grand sense of accomplishment at the end. But writing a novel in a month is a bit like participating in a reality TV show–it isn’t real. I would never advocate writing a novel in that amount of time. A few authors can do a good job in a month, but especially new writers shouldn’t think a month’s worth of effort is likely to result in one’s best work.
So true, Janet. But as with everything in life, there are always a few exceptions that drive the dreams of many. I agree there’s a million miles between a first draft and a publishable manuscript. First drafts stink. Here’s a link about NaNoWriMo novels that must have done away with the stench before going on the become big time winners: http://writersrelief.com/blog/2014/11/nanowrimo-books-that-became-bestsellers/
`I had two encounters early on that were so different.
The first caused me that tilted head “Huh?” look. I was attending a conference and one of the attendees was spending conference time finishing the last chapters of a book due a day or two after the conference. I would have been a total wreck! And not attending conference!
The second made me think “Yes!” and wonder how anyone could do it any other way. The speaker at that conference told how he planned his year’s book schedule–the same for every book he wrote. Begin this date. Finish outline this date. Finish research this date. Finish first draft this date. And so on to the end. If I could only be half as productive and meet half the deadline dates! BTW, that particular author is WELL known and probably pretty wealthy. I don’t know if he had always worked that way, but it surely was working for him at that point in his career!
Sylvia, for the first author, she probably had paid for the conference way in advance, thinking she’d surely have her book done by then. When that proved not to be true, she decided to go to the conference to participate as much as she could while finishing up her manuscript. I, like you, would be a hot mess.
Just give me a calendar to work from!
Good point on the author having paid in advance for the conference. And at least she could go to her room (private room) and write without distractions!
I meet deadlines because missing them makes me break out in hives. I feel a little itchy reading this post. The trick for me is to NOT WAIT for a contract to write a book.
Sarah brings up a good point. Some publishers can take up to six months to deliver the draft of a contract. Then the negotiations must begin and can take several weeks, especially if some gnarly issues have to be resolved.
The author is taking a chance that the contract will be successfully negotiated, and that the publisher will not have a reorganization, doing away with that line of books in the meantime.
I find it hard to fathom why a Christian writer would genuinely choose not to honor their solemnly (and legally) given word by treating a contractual deadline as something unimportant. It’s a point of personal honor and a bad reflection on our Lord when we don’t honor commitments because we can’t be bothered. I tried to ingrain family mottos of “work first, play later” and “always keep your word” into my kids. I hope I succeeded. Their future bosses will rise up and call me blessed if I did.
*Maybe acting like it doesn’t matter is actually that―acting. Maybe it feels less embarrassing to pretend than to face failing someone counting on you?
*So many things take longer than the time you think it will. I follow the old adage that the last 10% of the work will take 30% of the time and calculate the real time-to-completion by assuming at least a 20% time overrun. That usually leaves time to spare.
Carol, I have no explanation for a cavalier view of a contractually-agreed deadline. I just know it exists. Some authors prefer to live with the guilt of failing to make the deadline than actually making sure they can meet the deadline before they agree to it. Others feel no guilt.
Your equation of planning that the last 10% of work will take 30% of the time is an interesting one, which you call an old adage, but it’s new to me. Thanks for sharing it.
Maybe it’s only an old adage in the science and engineering worlds. We like to quantify everything.
In the world of business I’ve found four levels of commitment:
1. Slime – I promised it on Monday and on Wednesday you call me to ask where it is. I was late and didn’t even have the professionalism to let you know.
2. Bad – I promised in on Monday and on Tuesday call you to apologize for being late. At lease I’m not slime.
3. OK – I promised it on Monday and on Friday I call to tell you I’m going to be late. I’ve given you the ability to adjust your commitments or help me make mine. Note: Don’t shoot people who do this, it really can be ‘OK’.
4. Excellent – Done on time, just as promised.
My observation in poor organizations is people are ‘bad’ desperately trying to get done before they turn into ‘slime’. It’s not all that hard to move up to ‘OK’.
Robert, I’ve always advocated that my clients ‘fess up that they are going to be late as soon as they realize it rather than engaging in magical thinking that, with a sprinkling of fairy dust, they actually can meet the deadline, even though they’ve never written that fast in their entire career.
Not to alert a publisher about being late puts the writer in the slime category. Because, as you say, it doesn’t allow the publisher to make adjustments. The sooner the publishing house is alerted that it needs to make adjustments, the less damage is done to the publishing program, to the current project, and to the author’s reputation.
Janet – it gives me hives to even think about missing a deadline for any reason other than an unforeseen emergency. At the ACFW conference, I took a workshop on The Chunky Method with Allie Pleiter. One of the reasons she gives for this method of identifying your natural “chunk” (what you can feasibly get written in one sitting) is to be able to give an editor/agent a realistic estimation of how soon you can get a project done. Helps avoid agreeing to a deadline you’ll likely never meet. Accounts for holidays, vacations, etc. I found it a wonderful concrete way to take control of word count goals and estimation.
I’m so terrified of missing deadlines that I’ve contemplated asking my future agent to give me false deadlines well ahead of the real ones. I hate being late to anything.
*
But I well know how life gets in the way. I had planned to start querying my current novel at the start of this month and have instead found myself many hundreds of miles from home, dealing with a family emergency. At least the query is ready; I just don’t have the time or fortitude to deal with the process right now.
*
Writers who have a procrastination problem need to take their work more seriously. Even if you’re writing at home, writing is your job. Treat is as one, or you just might find yourself “fired” (by your publisher, editor, or agent).
Great post, Janet. I’ve seen the same trend–people treating rules and deadlines as if they’re suggestions. I hate to miss deadlines–even self-imposed ones. As an editor, if I tell a client I’ll have the manuscript back to them in a certain number of days, I do it. How do I do it? I pad my schedule by a couple of weeks. That way, I’m under promising and over delivering, and my clients appreciate it.
Once, I messed up my schedule and realized I had an entire 300-page book I needed to copyedit in 3 days. I made the discovery on a Friday afternoon, and the manuscript was due on Monday. So I cancelled all my plans for the weekend and did nothing but edit. I got it to the client on time.
I hate to miss deadlines, and people who fail to meet deadlines with me drive me nuts.
On the other hand, I’m late to everything else in my life… 🙂
Robin, well, if one must choose what to be late to, I’d say you’re making the right choices.
Great article. I agree, your reputation hinges on your professionalism, and meeting deadlines is one aspect of that. I have yet to miss a deadline because I take them very seriously. In fact, I did pull an all-nighter once in getting a manuscript to an agent by the agreed upon date.
I’ve worked under 4 deadlines now as a published author. The way I see it, if I’m not willing to meet a deadline the publisher has a hundred other talented writers who will.
Habitually and unnecessarily missing deadlines, in my opinion, is an issue of entitlement. No bueno. We can and should do better.
Susie, I’m afraid you’re right; it’s an issue of entitlement more often than not.
Oh my! So much to say about this one. It frustrates me how some don’t take these things seriously. It reminds me of the time I had to take my daughter to school late and called ahead to find out the policy. The woman thought it was refreshing I didn’t know, because that meant I hadn’t experienced it yet, and most students had experienced being late—often–and didn’t seem to care. What?!
One of the reasons I’ve chosen to continue independently publishing my novels is because of the lack of deadlines—or so I thought! Being currently in the sandwich generation, helping my parents transition (with a father severely affected by alzheimers, and mother not able to take care of him) AND having a newly adult non-verbal son with autism, working out all the financial-emotional-behavioral issues that come with that, I am swamped with personal issues that might impact how deadlines are met. I haven’t wanted to impede a publisher with my current personal life. And yet, I am finding I still have deadlines to meet. Like when I promise my readers the next book will be out next Spring. When I agree to have a novella ready for a collection by a specified date. When I format another manuscript for another collection set to release in the best season for it. Additionally, when hiring out other professionals to polish my manuscript (editing, proofing, formatting, cover design) I schedule these actions with them in an order that will allow one professional to complete her job before the other can do hers. One cannot design a wrap-around paperback cover until the page numbers are known (thus the final manuscript is needed). One cannot format until the editing and proofing are done, etc. I schedule these based on the promises I’ve received and hope these professionals will meet deadlines with me.
However, it doesn’t always happen, and I have been left in the lurch, MY reputation being the one that gets hit if I don’t work through the night to get the product ready for the next guy. I have had some inform me ahead of time that things will be late due to unforeseen circumstances. We worked through the issue and set up new contingencies. However, I’ve had others who seemed to think the deadline was a moving target that didn’t need an okay by me to be adjusted, and some who didn’t even apologize for the inconvenience they’d caused me. This includes tardy guest blog posts as well which should also be treated with professionalism!
As I mentioned above, my personal life is quite chaotic and unpredictable due to family members who can’t do much on their own. I work to keep that unpredictable quality out of the agreements I have with other writing professionals, and therefore plan in such a way as to meet deadlines. I’d like to think they, too, would at least take the agreements seriously!
Connie, thanks so much for giving us your self-pubbing experience. You are in the role of publisher for your books; so you know first-hand how it’s your job to figure out what to do when deadlines are missed by others. It’s discombobulating when the schedule you’ve set is blown out of the water by someone else’s indifference. Yes, life happens to all of us (as you so well know), but most of us do everything within our power to keep life from impinging on professional commitments. Would that everyone approached deadlines with the same attitude.
Janet, I can understand missing one deadline, as unexpected life events happen. But missing five deadlines in row? I might be considering letting this client go, particularly since there’s good talent out there — eager writers who are committed to meeting deadlines. It bothers me that authors who believe they have “made it” assume they can ignore deadlines, knowing that they’ll still be offered contract after contract.
Laura, I’m sure it comes as no surprise to say that thought has occurred to me–big time.