What bugs me about HFQ

I pretty much exclusively buy E-Books these days because I ran out of shelf space long ago. I just don't have ROOM for more paper books.

Also, because I can carry a library around in my Kindle Fire and not break my back.

alj_sf wrote:I must say that I buy eARC but not final ebooks. I may buy hardcover. There is 2 authors that I buy both in english and when they are translated in French a few years later (RFC and Pratchett). The latter because the translator (which is always the same) does a very good job of rewritting the untranslatable jokes and puns to the point it is almost a different book but as good as the original.

The same is true in reverse for the "Asterix-the-Gaul" books - the English version can be quite different from the French, but just as funny. I believe that an American version would have to be further revised as well, but would still retain the humour.

pokermind wrote:One wonders why more publishers don't do eARCs, cost is minimal, and if released early enough you get many proof readers to spot errors, and don't have to pay them Nor do you lose sales as you need to buy the proofed version too. It's a win-win situation fans get the books earlier, sales are increased as they buy both the eARC and the edited book, and if released early enough free proof reading.

Poker

The problem with eARC-readers as proof readers is there is no organization for handling submission and an organization costs money..

But, I as many other here would rather have an eARC to read instead of waiting at least 6 months to get the dead tree variant.

Yeah, but once you get done with the EARC, you just have the much longer of a wait till the next book.

chrisd wrote:

alj_sf wrote:I must say that I buy eARC but not final ebooks. I may buy hardcover. There is 2 authors that I buy both in english and when they are translated in French a few years later (RFC and Pratchett). The latter because the translator (which is always the same) does a very good job of rewritting the untranslatable jokes and puns to the point it is almost a different book but as good as the original.

The same is true in reverse for the "Asterix-the-Gaul" books - the English version can be quite different from the French, but just as funny. I believe that an American version would have to be further revised as well, but would still retain the humour.

That is true to a point for any translated work, but Pratchett's one, Patrick Couton, who does also Orson Scott Card's books, is really in a class by himself, and as the base material is so dense in references it is quite a taxing job. L'Atalante, the French publisher, made him retranslate the 3 first books which had been done initially by someone else, and it is really incredibly better. (I have both translations).

For RFC books, again by l'Atalante, the added bonus are the extremely good illustrations on the covers by Genkis :
http://www.genkis.fr/infographie-honor- ... ton-1.html even if the first edition had other almost as good pics.

Another extreme example is the world of Null-A of Van Vogt where the translator was Boris Vian, himself a French writer (and poet and jazzman) well known for his style quality. The book is arguably better in the translated version

Duckk wrote:Yeah, but once you get done with the EARC, you just have the much longer of a wait till the next book.

Not if it's an eARC too...

+2014/09/07=

Me too.

I have even bought e-copies of some of my "dead tree" books, also in part because I am too old (DOB 1936) and my back simply cannot carry even 5% of the books I own.

R
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evilauthor wrote:I pretty much exclusively buy E-Books these days because I ran out of shelf space long ago. I just don't have ROOM for more paper books.

Also, because I can carry a library around in my Kindle Fire and not break my back.

DrakBibliophile wrote:

Of course, there are lots of other parts of publishing a book that have to wait until the "book is in hand" at the publisher.

So the book isn't "just sitting there", it's being worked on as well.

Starsaber replied:

Indeed, like producing the audio book version so we don't have to deal with all the oddly spelled names (and can read it while sitting at my computer at work writing code. )

I would happily pay more for them publishing the audiobook or eARC or eBook early.

Unfortunately, it isn't yet visible on the Amazon, Tor, or MacMillon web sites. So they should move it - and get a copy to Audible as soon as it is edited/proofed.

-- Bob G

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!

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?