Many express surprise that it takes a year or longer to get a completed manuscript into print as a finished book. This is a fact of life in publishing. It is frustrating, but there are some good reasons for it.

Part of the lead time is editing, which believe me you would not want to eliminate; and the time lag is actually helpful in that regard. Manuscripts generally improve with age, in the sense that most authors need to get a little distance from their work before they can see some of the problems that need fixing. I often do additional work on a book after my editor has had chance to go over it, and then again (to a lesser degree) when the copy-editor has made nit-picky changes, and one more time when I see it in page proofs after typesetting. Each time it gets a little better -- I hope.

Some of the lead time is necessary for physical production by the publisher -- which can sometimes be rushed for a hot topical book, but overall works better if done in an orderly fashion. This includes such things as book design and typesetting, and commissioning cool cover art. There's also promotional and sales lead time, which is important because publishers need to space their books in a regular schedule, for distribution. And of course, there needs to be advertising and production of bound galleys for reviewers.

Some of this may change in the future, with electronic and on-demand publishing. These changes will probably be a mixed bag, and not entirely to the benefit of the quality of books that you read. To those who wonder if I wouldn't rather just publish my books myself, the answer is a resounding no! I'm the writer in this outfit, but I'm happy to let my editor and publisher do what they do best -- and am grateful for their dedication and hard work on my behalf.