What bugs me about HFQ

evilauthor wrote:

NervousEnergy wrote:Also note that the 11 to 12 month cycle from turn in to shelf is hardly set in stone. Sanderson turned in the enormous "Words of Radiance" (a fantastic book, along with its predecessor, if you like fantasy epics) to Tor on December 10 2013, and it hit the shelves on March 4. That's less than 4 months for a book just under 1100 pages!

Why so long? Are the writer and editors going through the book over and over again as part of some proofreading process? Surely it can't take that long to print up a sufficient number of books even if they are 1100 pages long?

SWM wrote:

evilauthor wrote:...
Yes, it does take that long. Yes, the writer and editors are going through the book over and over again as part of proofreading. The editors go through the book. Then they send it back to the author to look over again. The author goes through it, and sends it back to the editors. The editors go over it again, and it may have to go through a couple more back-and-forth cycles. Meanwhile they have to do the same thing with the cover art. After that, they have to schedule time with the printing presses. Printing time is precious--a publisher never wants his presses to be sitting idle. So scheduling is tight. Woe betide an author or editor who runs late and misses the schedule--it can throw the printing schedule off for months for dozens of other books. It can take weeks to print an entire print run. As the books are printed, they have to be temporarily warehoused. Then they have to be shipped--and it's not done by overnight delivery.

There's a thousand other things that go into the process which I haven't mentioned. Yes, it takes that long for a book to get to the shelf. Four months is truly remarkable--and suggests that they skimped on the editing process. Eight months is closer to the normal minimum, and twelve months is not uncommon--the difference between eight and twelve months largely determined by scheduling. (Note: this is all based on what I have seen as an interested outsider, not any inside information.)

jgnfld wrote:

SWM wrote:Yes, it does take that long. Yes, the writer and editors are going through the book over and over again as part of proofreading. The editors go through the book. Then they send it back to the author to look over again. The author goes through it, and sends it back to the editors. The editors go over it again, and it may have to go through a couple more back-and-forth cycles. Meanwhile they have to do the same thing with the cover art. After that, they have to schedule time with the printing presses. Printing time is precious--a publisher never wants his presses to be sitting idle. So scheduling is tight. Woe betide an author or editor who runs late and misses the schedule--it can throw the printing schedule off for months for dozens of other books. It can take weeks to print an entire print run. As the books are printed, they have to be temporarily warehoused. Then they have to be shipped--and it's not done by overnight delivery.

There's a thousand other things that go into the process which I haven't mentioned. Yes, it takes that long for a book to get to the shelf. Four months is truly remarkable--and suggests that they skimped on the editing process. Eight months is closer to the normal minimum, and twelve months is not uncommon--the difference between eight and twelve months largely determined by scheduling. (Note: this is all based on what I have seen as an interested outsider, not any inside information.)

Then provide an e-book after 8 months, for gawd's sake!!! I would buy it!

SWM wrote:No publisher in the world would sell e-books before the print books come out. Not going to happen.

Tanstaafl wrote:

SWM wrote:No publisher in the world would sell e-books before the print books come out. Not going to happen.

It is happening and will happen more and more.
We are moving from a time when some books got also an e-book edition throu a time where some books get also a print edition to a time without print editions.

Collect your dead tree extravaganzas, they will become rare.

Tanstaafl wrote:

SWM wrote:No publisher in the world would sell e-books before the print books come out. Not going to happen.

It is happening and will happen more and more.
We are moving from a time when some books got also an e-book edition throu a time where some books get also a print edition to a time without print editions.

Collect your dead tree extravaganzas, they will become rare.

SWM wrote:No publisher in the world would sell e-books before the print books come out. Not going to happen.

Tanstaafl wrote:It is happening and will happen more and more.
We are moving from a time when some books got also an e-book edition throu a time where some books get also a print edition to a time without print editions.

Collect your dead tree extravaganzas, they will become rare.

SWM wrote:Let me clarify what I meant--no publisher in the world would sell an e-book before the print book comes out IF there is going to be a print book. If they intend to do both versions, both versions come out at the same time.

Tanstaafl wrote:

SWM wrote:No publisher in the world would sell e-books before the print books come out. Not going to happen.

Tanstaafl wrote:It is happening and will happen more and more.
We are moving from a time when some books got also an e-book edition throu a time where some books get also a print edition to a time without print editions.

Collect your dead tree extravaganzas, they will become rare.

SWM wrote:Let me clarify what I meant--no publisher in the world would sell an e-book before the print book comes out IF there is going to be a print book. If they intend to do both versions, both versions come out at the same time.

Hi SearchEngine,

Of course you are right. And I did understand you correctly, but I am in that belligrent mood.
I could not let this opportunity pass.

SWM wrote:Let me clarify what I meant--no publisher in the world would sell an e-book before the print book comes out IF there is going to be a print book. If they intend to do both versions, both versions come out at the same time.