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So you’ve signed the contract and handed in your manuscript … now what?

What are some of the processes your manuscript will go through before it is published?

25 Feb 2025 9:00

Thuy On

Silhouette of a woman against a faded manuscript filled with calligraphic writing.

Writing and Publishing

Photo: Moshe Harosh, Pixabay.

The publishing industry can seem opaque for those of us looking in from the outside. How exactly does it turn these loose-leaf sheaves of paper into a printed copy, ready to be shelved in bookshops? ArtsHub asks seven publishers, both small presses and large multinationals, to demystify the process so authors – especially new ones – can have an idea of what happens once their precious words leave their hands and are entrusted to a team of publishing experts. It can take a long time before the final version is delivered – and there are good reasons why this is so.

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Thuy On

Thuy On is the Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian. She has three collections of poetry published by the University of Western Australian Press (UWAP): Turbulence (2020), Decadence (2022) and Essence (2025). Threads: @thuy_on123 Instagram: poemsbythuy