Happy Valentine’s Day to us! We’re in love—with the new manuscript from Ruth Tenzer Feldman!

This Valentine’s Day, exactly one year from our anticipated pub date, Feldman returned the revised manuscript for Seven Stitches to our team. Earlier this winter, Feldman got her developmental letter from our acquisitions department, as well as met with our team to talk about the big-picture goals for her book. These conversations will ultimately help tighten the narrative and character development, refining the vast artistry of the first manuscript into a more cohesive draft of the final novel.

Now that the manuscript has been officially handed over to our team from the acquisitions editors, we will tackle line-level developmental edits (DE). If the initial DE offers changes to the big picture, line-level edits assume the revised manuscript represents the first version of the finished book. At this level, we investigate internal choices and consistency. Does this action or dialogue make sense for this character? Does that plot point require any additional context, or would it function better with less explanation? This is an exciting opportunity for our team; since we have an even mix of first- and second-year students, the Seven Stitches line-level DE is the first official editorial project for some, and it is a return to the fun hands-on work of editing for others. When we’re finished, we’ll return the manuscript to Feldman once again, and she’ll have a few weeks to address our proposed changes before we get started on copyediting.

While the team was waiting for Feldman to return the manuscript for our perusal, we began work on some marketing documents that will make their debut later this spring. In addition to building an initial marketing plan and conducting research on target markets, the team has begun developing the marketing copy for the finished book … keep your eyes peeled for the new official addition to Ooligan’s YA titles.