Honorverse Update!

In a youtube video released earlier this week, RFC gave updates through 2021 on his writing output. Towards the end of the video he stated that Eric Flint will be finishing his portion of the next Honorverse novel shortly and it has a preliminary release date of October/November 2021.

No firm update on the next Manticore Ascendant or Star Kingdom books provided, but hopefully that was an oversight and they are both well on their way.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6SLn_GOTfE

Erls wrote:In a youtube video released earlier this week, RFC gave updates through 2021 on his writing output. Towards the end of the video he stated that Eric Flint will be finishing his portion of the next Honorverse novel shortly and it has a preliminary release date of October/November 2021.

No firm update on the next Manticore Ascendant or Star Kingdom books provided, but hopefully that was an oversight and they are both well on their way.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6SLn_GOTfE

That is more than a year away? Sometimes I get the feeling authors are using an archaic system of publishing that is somehow hampered by Lacoon.

Nowadays they have electronic typewriters which are not hampered by ribbons and ink and cartridges and whiteout and worn out impact heads and jammed paper and depleted stock. They communicate via a phone system without long distance charges. They exchange drafts almost at the speed of light. Yet, publishings are once every blue moon. Okay, fine, blue moons come around faster too.

Even publishers supposedly are a far cry from yesteryear's typesetting nightmare. But still, blue moons are the norm.

cthia wrote:

Erls wrote:In a youtube video released earlier this week, RFC gave updates through 2021 on his writing output. Towards the end of the video he stated that Eric Flint will be finishing his portion of the next Honorverse novel shortly and it has a preliminary release date of October/November 2021.

No firm update on the next Manticore Ascendant or Star Kingdom books provided, but hopefully that was an oversight and they are both well on their way.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6SLn_GOTfE

That is more than a year away? Sometimes I get the feeling authors are using an archaic system of publishing that is somehow hampered by Lacoon.

Nowadays they have electronic typewriters which are not hampered by ribbons and ink and cartridges and whiteout and worn out impact heads and jammed paper and depleted stock. They communicate via a phone system without long distance charges. They exchange drafts almost at the speed of light. Yet, publishings are once every blue moon. Okay, fine, blue moons come around faster too.

Even publishers supposedly are a far cry from yesteryear's typesetting nightmare. But still, blue moons are the norm.

Baen used to hold printing slots from S&S for David in advance of his books being finished. Post his medical issues , they stopped doing that. So Baen only adds David's books to the S&S pub schedule after they are completed.

so long lead times

Theemile wrote:

cthia wrote:That is more than a year away? Sometimes I get the feeling authors are using an archaic system of publishing that is somehow hampered by Lacoon.

Nowadays they have electronic typewriters which are not hampered by ribbons and ink and cartridges and whiteout and worn out impact heads and jammed paper and depleted stock. They communicate via a phone system without long distance charges. They exchange drafts almost at the speed of light. Yet, publishings are once every blue moon. Okay, fine, blue moons come around faster too.

Even publishers supposedly are a far cry from yesteryear's typesetting nightmare. But still, blue moons are the norm.

Baen used to hold printing slots from S&S for David in advance of his books being finished. Post his medical issues , they stopped doing that. So Baen only adds David's books to the S&S pub schedule after they are completed.

so long lead times

Well, how many printers do they have anymore? Number of copies sold is vastly decreasing and paper printing is effectively decamping to China... so all the associated extra industries/printers/printers services one used to use as backup when one got busy have decreased significantly.

Now add S&S isn't exactly the biggest around...

As for printing should be easier: I agree, but this has meant buying fewer printers and streamlining without changing capacity. Also expensive and profits in printing have VASTLY gone down with Amazon. Give me paper anyday over electronic. My eyes cannot take Ebook form. Likewise you remember things in 3d whereas an ebook... you lose this context.

Relax wrote: Give me paper anyday over electronic. My eyes cannot take Ebook form. Likewise you remember things in 3d whereas an ebook... you lose this context.

Relax - have you tried an orange or sepia background for the ereader? or use a product like aldiko where you can have a black background and orange characters (great for unobtrusive nite reading)? I (and others) have found they help alot.

But give me a paper copy to backup my electronic copy. The electronic copy is only nice in that I can hold my library in any device, and I always carry it with me.

Relax wrote: Give me paper anyday over electronic. My eyes cannot take Ebook form. Likewise you remember things in 3d whereas an ebook... you lose this context.

Theemile wrote:Relax - have you tried an orange or sepia background for the ereader? or use a product like aldiko where you can have a black background and orange characters (great for unobtrusive nite reading)? I (and others) have found they help alot.

But give me a paper copy to backup my electronic copy. The electronic copy is only nice in that I can hold my library in any device, and I always carry it with me.

The electronic copy also allows searching text to find answers to forum questions. I am in trouble when researching anything after Mission of Honor.

Relax wrote:Well, how many printers do they have anymore? Number of copies sold is vastly decreasing and paper printing is effectively decamping to China... so all the associated extra industries/printers/printers services one used to use as backup when one got busy have decreased significantly.

I don't think the slots have anything to do with printing capacity. At leat, it doesn't look like it's the limiting factor right now.

Instead, it's about both the author's output and the editors. There are several people involved and the editors are also reading and editing other authors' content too. In fact, David described the stages of editing in one of the recent videos too.

And then there's the fact that David is writing a lot of different series. The Valkyrie Protocol was released this week, Mamelukes earlier this year, we have Into the Light for January; he also mentioned there's a Safehold novel coming and that he's working on the Fury prequels.

And he's working on three Honerverse novels at the same time: CS4, MA4 and SK4. I speculate that the one after that is the fifth Saganami Island and those will be "mainline" for a while.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:I don't think the slots have anything to do with printing capacity. At leat, it doesn't look like it's the limiting factor right now.

Instead, it's about both the author's output and the editors. There are several people involved and the editors are also reading and editing other authors' content too. In fact, David described the stages of editing in one of the recent videos too.

And then there's the fact that David is writing a lot of different series. The Valkyrie Protocol was released this week, Mamelukes earlier this year, we have Into the Light for January; he also mentioned there's a Safehold novel coming and that he's working on the Fury prequels.

And he's working on three Honerverse novels at the same time: CS4, MA4 and SK4. I speculate that the one after that is the fifth Saganami Island and those will be "mainline" for a while.

I think the publishing "slots" also tie into advertising plans (print ads, reviews, endorsements, book signings, appearances, etc.) and wholesaler buying planning. The whole system is built around only so many releases per month per publisher and with quite a bit of advanced notice.

(Plus I'm sure the publisher is trying to project profits over the next year for their investors)

So even if a book could get edited and printed sooner than scheduled book stores wouldn't be ready to buy it, etc. etc.
(Which, yes, is annoying for the fan who will find and consume it the moment its available and don't want to have to wait because for the scheduled release if the book's done sooner)

Jonathan_S wrote:I think the publishing "slots" also tie into advertising plans (print ads, reviews, endorsements, book signings, appearances, etc.) and wholesaler buying planning. The whole system is built around only so many releases per month per publisher and with quite a bit of advanced notice.

(Plus I'm sure the publisher is trying to project profits over the next year for their investors)

So even if a book could get edited and printed sooner than scheduled book stores wouldn't be ready to buy it, etc. etc.
(Which, yes, is annoying for the fan who will find and consume it the moment its available and don't want to have to wait because for the scheduled release if the book's done sooner)

Very good points on advertising and book signing. I hadn't thought of them.

As for the fan who can't get their favourite new installment, they can find other books meanwhile. For the publisher, this hopefully means the readers become interested in more titles that they are publishing.

For me, I'm reading the Praxis/Dread Empire's Fall series by Walter Jon Williams, because it has a quote by George R. R. Martin that mentions RFC: “Bujold and Weber, bend the knee; interstellar adventure has a new king, and his name is Walter Jon Williams.” (not Baen books, though; I'd love to get Catherine Asaro's Skolian Empire collection but availability is spotty)