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About the schedule

In the breaks in his writing schedule, David has promised to stop by and chat for a while!
Re: About the schedule
Post by George J. Smith   » Sat Aug 26, 2017 4:56 am

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Any chance of a snippet or two whilst we are waiting? :D
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Re: About the schedule
Post by Marty   » Sun Aug 27, 2017 10:36 pm

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George J. Smith wrote:Any chance of a snippet or two whilst we are waiting? :D


+1 :D
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Re: About the schedule
Post by Annachie   » Thu Aug 31, 2017 7:01 pm

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Knebworth House, Hertforshire, England

It was a dark and stormy night
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You are so going to die. :p ~~~~ runsforcelery
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still not dead. :)
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Re: About the schedule
Post by Duckk   » Fri Sep 01, 2017 3:44 pm

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Just a brief update, David is done with the first draft of Uncompromising Honor.
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Re: About the schedule
Post by JohnRoth   » Fri Sep 01, 2017 4:03 pm

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Duckk wrote:Just a brief update, David is done with the first draft of Uncompromising Honor.


Yay!

I guess the draft didn't want to compromise on anything. (Ducks and runs.)
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Re: About the schedule
Post by jeremyr   » Sat Sep 02, 2017 9:49 pm

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Marty wrote:
George J. Smith wrote:Any chance of a snippet or two whilst we are waiting? :D


+1 :D


Snippets posted on Honorverse forum
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Re: About the schedule
Post by pappilon   » Wed Oct 04, 2017 4:02 pm

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Annachie wrote:
Knebworth House, Hertforshire, England

It was a dark and stormy night

And all the Admirals were gathered around the Defense grid monitor ...
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The imagination has to be trained into foresight and empathy.
Ursula K. LeGuinn

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Re: About the schedule
Post by OrlandoNative   » Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:34 pm

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runsforcelery wrote:
Production time after hand in runs about 4 months. Release schedules have to be said about a year in advance. And Toni has decided that she isn't going to schedule any of my books until she has the manuscript in hand. (Which, as I have indicated, I think is a good idea.) So, if I handed the manuscript in tomorrow, absolutely the earliest it could be ready would be the end of October. Now, since she hasn't scheduled it yet, the earliest it can be SCHEDULED is sometime in 2018. And from my perspective, having it come out in 2018 – the 25th anniversary of Basilisk--is a good thing. Trust me, she will get it out absolutely as soon as she can within the constraints I mentioned, but I'm afraid 2017 is right out.


I hate (well, really I don't) to say this, but there are times I wonder about Baen. And, for that matter, other publishers as well.

We see these loooooooong lead times between manuscript "turn in" and a book actually seeing print; but yet what really is taking the time? It can't just be editing, because many of the books I've bought off a store shelf had almost as many typos and other obvious mistakes as the "unedited" eARC I bought online.

And Baen *reprints* a *lot*. Now, it's not that I don't think reprinting is bad; but, personally, I still *have* most of my Norton, Dickson, and other authors books; usually in pretty good condition. True, folks new to the genre might not be so lucky; but personally I would rather see more *new* works than reprints of older ones. Usually it seems each month is about half and half. For that matter, reprinting shouldn't be all that hard; all the work was done years, if not decades ago. It shouldn't be all that tougher than duplicating DVDs. Especially with today's automated printing gear.

Realistically, it would make more sense for them to immediately offer the eARC as soon as they get the manuscript. Especially if they got the manuscript via online submission. They're not editing it, after all, and they're charging about 1 1/2 times a paperback price. Most folks who read the eARCs are going to buy a physical copy at some point anyway; so it's not like making the story available almost immediately in digital form is going to hurt sales once they get around to publishing it on paper.
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Re: About the schedule
Post by JohnRoth   » Sun Oct 15, 2017 1:33 pm

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runsforcelery wrote:
Production time after hand in runs about 4 months. Release schedules have to be said about a year in advance. And Toni has decided that she isn't going to schedule any of my books until she has the manuscript in hand. (Which, as I have indicated, I think is a good idea.) So, if I handed the manuscript in tomorrow, absolutely the earliest it could be ready would be the end of October. Now, since she hasn't scheduled it yet, the earliest it can be SCHEDULED is sometime in 2018. And from my perspective, having it come out in 2018 – the 25th anniversary of Basilisk--is a good thing. Trust me, she will get it out absolutely as soon as she can within the constraints I mentioned, but I'm afraid 2017 is right out.


OrlandoNative wrote:I hate (well, really I don't) to say this, but there are times I wonder about Baen. And, for that matter, other publishers as well.

We see these loooooooong lead times between manuscript "turn in" and a book actually seeing print; but yet what really is taking the time? It can't just be editing, because many of the books I've bought off a store shelf had almost as many typos and other obvious mistakes as the "unedited" eARC I bought online.


The year-long lead time is mandated by the distributors for major releases.

OrlandoNative wrote:And Baen *reprints* a *lot*. Now, it's not that I don't think reprinting is bad; but, personally, I still *have* most of my Norton, Dickson, and other authors books; usually in pretty good condition. True, folks new to the genre might not be so lucky; but personally I would rather see more *new* works than reprints of older ones. Usually it seems each month is about half and half. For that matter, reprinting shouldn't be all that hard; all the work was done years, if not decades ago. It shouldn't be all that tougher than duplicating DVDs. Especially with today's automated printing gear.


Reprints are a different story. The distributors don't impose that year-long period on reprints. They're usually scheduled four months or so in advance.

Been doesn't have the files for everything they reprint - some of them they buy the rights from the original publisher or the author (if the rights have reverted) and they have to go through almost the entire production process. The way you can tell the difference is by whether the electronic version is available as soon as the schedule is up. If it is, they've got the file, if it isn't, they've just bought the rights and have to go through the production process.

Baen does not print their own books. They contract with one of the three or four book printers in the country, and that means that they have to reserve a slot on the production schedule. Printing 4,000 copies costs maybe 1 or 2 dollars per copy, for print-on-demand the printing costs are most of the per-copy costs.

OrlandoNative wrote:Realistically, it would make more sense for them to immediately offer the eARC as soon as they get the manuscript. Especially if they got the manuscript via online submission. They're not editing it, after all, and they're charging about 1 1/2 times a paperback price. Most folks who read the eARCs are going to buy a physical copy at some point anyway; so it's not like making the story available almost immediately in digital form is going to hurt sales once they get around to publishing it on paper.


The primary reason for ARCs is for the book-sellers to evaluate the book and decide how many copies they want for their brick-and-mortar stores. Been makes a hefty chunk of change making the e-arcs available to the general readership, but that's not their purpose. They're for marketing, and they will come out when the marketing department feels it's best. (In fact, the eARCs started being available to the general readership when they noticed ARCs appearing on eBay and commanding frankly ridiculous prices.)
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Re: About the schedule
Post by NervousEnergy   » Mon Oct 16, 2017 11:41 am

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JohnRoth wrote:The primary reason for ARCs is for the book-sellers to evaluate the book and decide how many copies they want for their brick-and-mortar stores. Been makes a hefty chunk of change making the e-arcs available to the general readership, but that's not their purpose. They're for marketing, and they will come out when the marketing department feels it's best. (In fact, the eARCs started being available to the general readership when they noticed ARCs appearing on eBay and commanding frankly ridiculous prices.)

I'd disagree with that notion somewhat... ARCs are primarily marketing tools, and many of the ones that wound up commanding mid triple figures on eBay were put there by reviewers. It seemed back in the day (2004 and earlier) that every reviewer with just about any audience at all got an ARC in hopes of having a ton of positive reviews buzzing about in the month before the book hit the shelves. I own an ARC of SoSag (among others), the last Weber novel released before eARCs became a thing.

eARCs released for public sale are to make money. Positive marketing feedback from happy customers are important, sure, but no more so than any other sale of the book. Releasing one version of a book (eARC) a year before the final version may result in less buzz about the title, but it would also result in more cash flow. A dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow, and way more than a dollar a year from now. Reviewers are still going to get their ARCs and write their reviews.

In short, I'm doubtful that the eARC sales timeframe to the hardcore fan base has any significant impact on book marketing at all. I'm not a marketer, though, so I'm certainly open to being wrong. ;)
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