INSIDE LOOK: Here is the process for returning edited manuscript for my second book
I inched closer to the finish line this weekend for "Are You Kidding Me? The Incredible, Inspiring Story of Allen Iverson and the 2001 Philadelphia 76ers"
I took this picture after completing the manuscript back in April. Last week the publisher returned the manuscript to me following a review by editors.
By AARON BRACY
July 13, 2026
I have never run a marathon, but I imagine the experience might be similar to writing a book.
Long, lonely hours of preparation—training for a marathon; research and interviews for a book.
Long, lonely hours of the race—running for a marathon; writing and revising for a book.
For both, feelings of exhaustion and exhilaration; pain and persistence; discouragement and determination; and so much more.
My second book—my second “marathon”—is nearly complete. I have almost reached the finish line for Are You Kidding Me? The Incredible, Inspiring Story of Allen Iverson and the 2001 Philadelphia 76ers (Brookline). It is scheduled to be published on February 19, 2027. There are just a few more tasks before I can officially cross the tape, before I can officially exhale and celebrate.
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**You can preorder the book right now on Amazon by clicking HERE.**
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Inching Closer
I inched a little closer to the finish line this weekend when I returned the edited manuscript to my publisher, Brookline. I had submitted the manuscript to the publisher back in April. Although that felt like crossing the finish line, it was close but not quite all the way there.
Brookline’s talented team reviewed the manuscript and then assigned it to a copy editor, who did a subsequent review of it. Then, they sent the manuscript back to me last week for review.
Before sharing my review process, a word about copy editors: Copy editors are invaluable for any writer. I have been on both ends of these roles, and one of my most important experiences in journalism was working as a sports copy editor at the Courier-Post from November 2002–February 2007. I would compare a copy editor to an offensive lineman in football. Both are vitally important to a team’s success, but neither gets credit for the success.
In that vein, I am extremely grateful for the editors who reviewed my manuscript.
The Process (No, not that Process)
Here is a look at how my process went:
Step 1) I reviewed a PDF that captured in tracked changes any edits made by the Brookline editors. Mostly, these were minor changes, such as aligning what I submitted to Brookline’s style guide.
Step 2) I went back into the manuscript and, using tracked changes, made any edits based on the PDF review. For instance, for numbers associated with statistics we decided over email to spell out numerals less than 10 and use the numeral for greater than nine. This is in line with AP Style and what I am accustomed to doing whenever I write a sports story.
Step 3) Once Step 2 was complete, which was a somewhat lengthy process, I dived into the Microsoft Word version that was returned to me. Here, there were more tracked changes and many comments/questions to review from the copy editor. These were very thoughtful, and I am so grateful for this process. The editors, the first of whom is my wife, are not the biggest sports fans (at least from what I can tell), and this is a really good thing because I want this book, as with my first book on the 2003–04 Saint Joseph’s Hawks, to be appealing to non-sports fans in addition to sports fans. Many of the comments allowed me to take a closer look at certain parts of the book to ensure there would be no confusion on the part of readers who might not be as in-tuned to sports as I am (and, probably, many of you reading this are).
Step 4) I used tracked changes to make any revisions/edits based on the copy editor’s feedback. A small, but important example was a reference to a four-game road trip in which the 76ers went 0-4 without Allen Iverson. I listed the teams on the trip by city with the exception of the Clippers, which I wrote as “Clippers” rather than “Los Angeles” to distinguish them from the Lakers. But the sentence left the copy editor a bit confused, and I revised it by including city and nickname (i.e. Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns, etc.) for each reference.
Step 5) I renamed the file with an underscore and my initials (“_ab”) and sent it back to the publisher.
Almost There
That was an exciting email to send and probably similar to the marathon runner rounding the final curve with the finish line in sight. Like the runner, I am almost there. After the changes are made, I am expecting to receive a revised version of the manuscript within the next few weeks. I am hopeful that after one final read of that manuscript, I will officially—and very happily—be able to lean across the finish line and say two words that a book author and, surely, a marathoner covet:
I finished!
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Aaron Bracy has covered sports in Philadelphia for nearly three decades for various publications and as a freelancer for the Associated Press. His first book, A Soaring Season: The Incredible, Inspiring Story of the 2003–04 Saint Joseph’s Hawks (Brookline), can be ordered HERE. His second book, Are You Kidding Me? The Incredible, Inspiring Story of Allen Iverson and the 2001 Philadelphia 76ers (Brookline) is scheduled to be published in February 2027. You can preorder it HERE. Follow Bracy on social media HERE. Contact him at bracymedia@gmail.com.