It’ll be about 5 years from start to finish (and I still am not finished). And I’m sure that if I divided the advance by the hours I spent on the book, I’d be envying entry-level line cooks… but it’s hardly about the money. I have a job now that pays for everything I need and then some. The main reason for wanting money is that I could write more.
Congratulations! I’ve had the same dream for … well, decades, at this point 
and haven’t worked up the gumption to do anything beyond write a few chapters so far.
Since this is an “Ask The…” thread…
What was the most surprising thing about the process?
Do you have to do your own promoting, or is that something the agent/publisher handles?
You mentioned extensive changes… what sort of changes? Grammar/style? Actual content?
What draft does the ‘final product’ represent? First? Tenth? 
I’m sure I’ll think of more… and once again, congratulations!
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I will be assigned a publicist, but I understand (from friends who have published) I can expect to still do a lot of my own publicity. I will set up my own readings/signings and my own website, for example. What the publisher will do is submit the book to be reviewed in name publications and try to get the book into the bookstores.
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The biggest change was making the characters two years younger. I wrote a “YA” book, but will publish an “MG” book. I don’t mind the change; it works better. I also substantially changed the back story. I reckon about 10% - 15% of the story changed between drafts the editor has seen. I also cut about 7 or 8 scenes, including ones that I loved dearly and hated to lose. They just didn’t work in the context of the novel. Nothing was changed in the way of style, and any grammatical changes were mere uh-ohs on my part.
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Since I use a word processor and edit as I go, it’s hard to delineate drafts. That being said, I can note five so far, and am preparing on the sixth draft… there may or may not be a 7th before it goes into copyediting. I sent the second to agents, the fourth to editors. The fifth and sixth drafts are responses to the editor’s requests.
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The most surprising thing is how much difference and editor makes. It’s a much better book for having been through the process, and better than I ever could have done by myself, at least for a first novel (I think I have a feel for it now).
Congratulations.
My first (as I’ve said many many times) is at the ‘being read’ stage at the publishing house.
May I touch your e-shoes for luck?
You mentioned your second book, is it the same genre? Do you see it as being something the same publishers will want?
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the next book is also MG and mildly fantastic (like the first), but it’s quite different in genre and has a girl for a hero instead of a boy hero. I hope I can continue working with the same editor/publisher, and they get first dibs.
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you can touch my e-shoes for luck. Good luck!
Awesome news! congratulations! [I remember how excited I was to sell my first and only book (a travel book on China) almost 20 years ago. ]