I delivered Kris Longknife – Defender today for a pub date of 10/13. It’s a month early. It follows Vicky Peterwald – Target’s delivery in July. Now to get Hounds of War in by Christmas and I will have delivered 3 books this year.
I head to the beach Sunday to put the middle third into Kris Longknife – Tenacious for ’14. Fun reads ahead.
Just FYI, some of John Scalzi’s blog readers (like me) are pleased to see Kris Longknife – Furious out in the wild. (John posts pics of the books publishers send him, and yours was one of them.) Read the comments.
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/10/15/a-weeks-worth-of-book-arrivals/
It seems to me to be absolutely ridiculous that a book should require over a year from the date the author turns it in until it’s published. I’m curious as to how much of that time is really required for editing and so forth, and how much is just stupid marketing scheduling?
Mike, your right. If someone with a million dollar advance turns in a book, they’ll jam it through production in as little as a couple of months. But I’m not that big. I deliver a year in advance as my contract says. If you’ve followed Furious through the production process, you know they had the cover art done a good six or eight months early. I did the copy edits in February and they stretched through April. I got the Galley proofs in May or June, I think and they had the book about ready to go to press in August when I got a few ARC’s (advanced reader copies). My books moved smoothy.
Since I’m doing it right, someone like Laural K. Hamilton can deliver her book six months late and they’ll rush it through the process. They need nice guys like me so that the movie star or Jersey Shores type can deliver late and with all kind of typos and get a decent job out.
And yes, I’ve got the same month every year so folks can know to look for me then. I like that.
For what it’s worth, starting in 2014, Hounds of War will be out in January and Vicky Peterwald – Target will be in June with Kris Longknife Tenacious in October, so you’ll have three fun reads around the year. But to start a new series up, I had to give 2 years notice to find a sales slot. I intend to hold down that January slot with the three years after Hounds with the Iteeche war stories and the June slot for at least 3 Vicky books.
This is the price we all pay for the great cover art. He gets about $5,000 or so for each of them, and the access to bookstores with an 7 or 8 dollar book. Yes, I could independently publish a lot faster, but the cover would be a lot worse and the paperback would cost $18 to $20 under present technology. I thought this through when I sold Hounds of War and the Vicky books. I think a lot of readers will like the better and less costly paperbacks.
And who knows, if I sell enough books this week, I might make the NYT list and get to publish in hardback. (g)