This past week I’ve been deep in edits for my new book, Career Coaching for Midlife and Beyond. It reminded me how much of writing happens out of sight. People often imagine books arriving fully formed, but there are many quiet stages before they become the finished copy you see on a shelf. One of those is copy-editing.
In my earlier books, I’d sometimes get substantial comments. An editor might suggest restructuring a chapter, shifting the emphasis, or rewriting a section. With Rethinking Retirement, I was surprised when my editor simply said it was ready for copy-editing. At the time, I thought perhaps they hadn’t done a thorough job.
This time, with Career Coaching for Midlife and Beyond, it’s been different again. Two editors, my editor and the series editor, read the book. Both came back with the same response: they loved it, and it could go straight to copy-editing. That gave me a quiet confidence in how my writing has matured over the years. This is my ninth book, after all.
I’d prepared myself for a long process. I remembered from the last book, with an academic publisher that copy edits came with pages of queries to work through. I even mapped out a system, easy wins first, then tougher queries, then references and final checks.
And then the copy edits arrived. Five queries. That was it.
Three were simple. I’d referred to numbered sections like “Section 10” while drafting, and those needed to be replaced with the section titles, such as “Visualisation.” The other two were equally minor.
The bigger challenge wasn’t the queries but the sheer busyness of the manuscript. Copy edits are marked up in red for deletions and blue for additions. Even small things, a capital letter changed to lowercase, make the page look like a battleground. It’s distracting, but necessary for consistency.
What helped was receiving a PDF version of the manuscript. Reading it in that format, more like a book, gave me the chance to step back and see the flow as a reader would. And it meant I could make the occasional tiny change, like updating “final salary pension” to the now more common “defined benefit.”
By the end of a single day, I’d gone through half the book. What I thought would be a mountain turned out to be a gentle hill.
The final stage will be one more review, just to check that all my changes have been implemented correctly, and to make sure names and case studies feel balanced and representative. My editor suggested varying the names I use for clients a little more, a good reminder of how even small choices can affect how a book lands with readers.
After that, it goes back for typesetting and then into production.
This is the part of writing most people never see: the quiet graft of turning a manuscript into a finished book. It’s painstaking, but also satisfying, especially when you realise how far you’ve come.
Closing note:
I thought I’d share this glimpse behind the scenes because so much of writing happens in silence. You spend months shaping words, then more months reviewing them, and finally you get to hold the book in your hands. I’ll keep you posted as things progress, and in the meantime, thank you for being part of my family.
More details on my book here and sign up for a 25% discount
