Hunger & Thirst

From Editing to Publication: Proofs, ARCs, Quotes and Blurbs

/ Claire Fuller / 2 Comments

This is part of a series about the process, from my point of view, of how my sixth novel,
Hunger and Thirst moves from editing through to publication. Read my earlier posts about US Cover Design, structural and line edits, and copyedits.

“Atmospheric, psychologically vivid, and unputdownable” Alice Winn, author of In Memoriam

ARCs and Proofs

ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) and Proofs are the US and UK words for the same thing: a physical or digital version of the book which is sent out to other authors for quotes and blurbs, and to book reviewers, event organisers, and booksellers. This version usually uses the text before the final proofread because of timing, so it often includes typos and sometimes bigger issues in the story, all of which will hopefully be resolved before the hardback is printed.

“I was enthralled, rapt, utterly unable to put this book down. Claire Fuller, a master of psychic suspense, has done it again” Lindsay Hunter, author of Hot Springs Drive

Blurbs and quotes

A blurb is the US term for a quote (the UK term) provided by another author which is usually put on the cover, and sometimes inside the finished version. I get my fair share of proofs sent to me asking for a quote for the cover, and I’m nearly always happy to receive them*, but I don’t always provide a quote, and never if I don’t like the book and don’t finish it.

“Harrowing and tender…the kind of book to clear a weekend for, the kind of resonant nightmare that lingers long after its end” Hayden Casey, author of A Harvest of Furies

Do we need them?

This year (2025) the perennial debate came round again about whether the industry needs blurbs; how time-consuming they are for authors (to read the book and write the blurb), and for editors to ask agents and other editors to ask their authors for blurbs. My UK editor estimated that asking for blurbs takes up 80% of her time!

“An absolute masterpiece. Utter absorbing, genuinely unsettling” Jennie Godfrey author of The List of Suspicious Things

Lots of readers say they never pay attention to blurbs on books, and choose what they’re going to read from reviews or what the book is about. But although blurbs might still be useful to some readers, they are helpful for when the publisher is trying to get a retailer to stock the book and help promote it. Retailers like Waterstones are pitched many many books by publishers’ sales teams or sent catalogues to pick which books they are going to stock, and quotes for these books help guide them. If your book has a quote from Stephen King, say, then they are very likely to take note.

Why I think writers should say yes to ARCs and proofs

Last week I was speaking to an editor at a large publisher and I asked whether one of her high-profile authors might be interested in a proof of Hunger and Thirst. The editor seemed embarrassed to have to tell me that this author has told her editor and agent to never send her any proofs and never ask if she wants any. Although she writes contemporary fiction, she apparently doesn’t read it. The number of books we’re sent can be overwhelming, I get that, and yet that author was a debut once, trying to find her space in the world of publishing with her editor asking already published authors for quotes. I feel there should be more paying-it-forward going on. Afterall, it’s easy to say yes to receiving a proof but adding the disclaimer that they might not have time to read it. Who knows, they might find a gem.

“A gothic chiller — haunting, artful, suspenseful, complex, and cinematic” William Landay, author of All that is Mine I Carry With Me.

*Which proofs I won’t accept

I don’t like receiving unsolicited physical proofs, if someone knows my address; I’d much rather be asked via email first because there are some genres which aren’t for me: most historical fiction, most comic novels, most science fiction and fantasy. I never accept digital proofs because I work on screens enough already. And I don’t accept self-published books.

“Gothic, disturbing, and mesmerisingly well-written, Hunger and Thirst is like nothing I’ve read before” Lucy Atkins, author of Windmill Hill

Netgalley

In the UK book bloggers, booksellers, librarians, and reviewers can request a digital proof of books they’d like to read, including Hunger and Thirst. You can sign up here, but please do note that the vetting of whether you’re accepted or not is up to my publisher.

25% Off Hunger & Thirst Pre-orders at Waterstones

/ Claire Fuller / 5 Comments

Pre-order Hunger and Thirst from Waterstones today and get 25% off! Offer ends 17th October. Just enter OCTOBER25 at checkout. And you’ll get a sneaky preview of the UK cover, which I’m not officially revealing yet.

The book will land on your doormat in early May 2026, and you won’t pay until it’s dispatched. (And if for some reason the price goes down before then, you’ll pay the lower price.)

Pre-orders help books and authors enormously The more pre-orders, the more likely book shops are to stock Hunger & Thirst, and the more they stock, the more readers will see it and hopefully buy it. I’m hugely grateful for every pre-order.

Hunger and Thirst is about Ursula, who at sixteen accepts a dare from her best friend to kill someone and when she does, she is haunted – literally haunted – for the rest of her life.

Pre-order Hunger and Thirst from Waterstones.

From Editing to Publication: How a Book makes it onto Book Shop Shelves. Copyedits

/ Claire Fuller / 5 Comments

This is the second part in a series about how my next book, Hunger and Thirst moves through the process of editing to arriving onto bookshop shelves. The first part covered structural and line edits with my UK and US editors at Fig Tree/ Penguin and Tin House / Zando. And in this part I’m going to be looking at copyedits which I’ve just finished checking for my US editor.

What are copyedits?

Copyedits are done on a novel to check for inconsistencies, missing words, repetition of words, that the publisher’s house style is being used, and many more things. Is a character’s eyes blue at the start of the book and brown at the end? Are capital letters and italics used in the right place? I’ve even had a copyeditor spot a plot hole in a previous book that no one else had. They are life savers.

Continue reading →

From Editing to Publication: How a Book makes it onto Book Shop Shelves

/ Claire Fuller / 4 Comments

Structural and Line Edits

A question I get asked many times is how the process of editing works with my UK and US editors: what if I don’t agree with what they say? Isn’t it my book to do with as I like? What about editors in other countries – do they have any input? What if my English-speaking editors don’t agree with each other? Who makes the changes? And then when I answer these, often another question comes: What happens next?

I thought I would start a regular post about how the process has been working for my next book, Hunger and Thirst, due for publication in May 2026. Keep in mind, though that this is me and this book, and my editors. The process won’t be the same for every published author, and isn’t exactly the same for every one of my books.

And also keep in mind that I’m describing the process after I’ve done all the self-editing I think I can do, and after my editors at Fig Tree / Penguin in the UK, and Tin House / Zando in the US have read the book, bought it, and read it with their editing hats on.

What I got from them both were editing notes. The first round came only from my UK editor (as my prime publisher), and later I got notes from them both. They didn’t particularly confer, but as we got further down the line they talked together before they talked to me so they could agree on what changes they were going to suggest, so I didn’t face too much of issue of conflicting opinions. (Although this was a challenge at some points.)

  1. I’m emailed editing notes by my UK editor. At this stage they’re very high level, and they’re general questions, things for us to discuss. For example,
    ‘The ending feels a little too rushed’, ‘I would love us to work out how best to weave in both the art and the moments when we zoom out of Ursula’s story and into the narrative about the filming of the documentary’, and, ‘Ursula’s strangeness. Just how weird is she!?’ There were seven pages of notes like this.
  2. We meet to talk through them, resolving some of the questions as we talk and agreeing that some might be sorted out on the page. We wonder what will the impact on X be if I change Y. And so on, for a few hours.
  3. I spend several weeks working on these suggestions – the written ones and the things we discussed in person. Agreeing with most, disagreeing with some, or realising as I edit that something else now needs to change.
  4. I send the revised draft to my UK editor, and there is another round of edits. More in depth than the first.
  5. My US editor now sees a draft and is now also involved in making suggestions, and giving me editing notes.
  6. I do another draft and receive more notes; another draft, and more notes. Sometimes I make too many changes and have to replace what I took out earlier, sometimes the story is too clear, sometimes too opaque. We all feel we are getting closer to the finish line.
  7. The last round are line edits – minor changes to make sure everything links together, the pacing is right, the themes work, and more.
  8. This whole process takes about a year.
  9. And then the manuscript goes to copyediting.

    I’ve just received the manuscript back from my US copyeditor, so watch out for a post next month about how this next stage of the process works.

    Any questions? Or anything I’ve missed out? Let me know either in a comment on this post, or send me a message here, and I’ll try and cover them next time.

(The image used at the top of this post was strangely influential in writing this novel. I found it online when I was looking for an old-fashioned medicine bottle. It informed one of the character’s names, the name of some medicine another character takes, and even the year in which most of the book is set.)