March 2025 Update
Onward into April!
Beta reading should be in full swing by now! March is over, leaving April as the last month for the readers to finish reading the current draft of The Manuscript.
This being the second time I’ve done proper beta reading rounds, I’ve learned that the first month always is the busiest for readers, which means they start a lot later into the first month or towards the beginning of the second. Which is why it’s good to give beta readers at least two months to read - but don’t give them too long or else they might slide or procrastinate. This is not just taking into account individual reading speeds, but also personal life schedules as well. Some people have to “make time”, and that can be hard to do if their month has already been mostly planned out in advance.
However, I have completed my own technical edits - grammatical and spelling errors for the most part - and have made some notes for myself once beta reading feedback starts to roll in. I am keeping a draft as close to the beta handouts as possible to keep their notes mostly accurate, for my sake and theirs.
Once More — Timeline Overview!
While the list of to-do has not changed much, some priorities have shifted around ever so slightly.
Beta Reading — April: Beta readers have until the end of April - or end of May if an extension is requested - to finish The Manuscript and provide feedback on whatever they have managed to read. May 31st is the hard cut-off date, and while any feedback given by then will still be taken into account, changes based off of it may not be guaranteed.
Editing Stage 1 & Formatting — April: Preparations will be made to start the formatting process as soon as feedback begins to roll in. The Manuscript will most likely be formatted by the time it is sent off to editors. Besides waiting on the beta reader feedback, there is no real reason to wait so late to do the formatting when it can be done now.
Editing Stage 1.5 — May: While waiting for any late feedback from beta readers, May will be the time to work through most of the feedback given in April so that the editors can work with the more up-to-date version of The Manuscript.
Editing Stage 2 — May, June, & July: The Manuscript will be sent off to be marked for finer mistakes and errors, whenever all the feedback has been given, sorted through, and acted upon accordingly.
…Everything Else — July, August, & September: Final edits, necessary paperwork, formatting tweaks, cover art, and anything else that must be completed before publication will be finished in this remaining time frame.
Publishing — November! Or December if issues arise, but November is the target!
If you’d like to support me this year, consider buying Shadowbound if you haven’t already - or maybe get a copy for a friend or family member! - and leave a review for it on Amazon if you can.
But word-of-mouth also helps! Even if you can’t afford the book, consider checking out and sharing around the Shadowbound Audio Book & Author Commentary playlist, where I read the entire novel from beginning to end. All the readings are free up until The Manuscript is published. It’s perfect for those who want to give the story a spin before buying.
Of course, if you have thoughts, theories, hopes, critiques, or anything else about Shadowbound that you’d like to share more in-depth, drop a comment about it down below!
And don’t forget to like and subscribe ;)