Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Release Dates and Book Covers and Readings, Oh My!

*Don't forget to come to the Banned Books Week event posted on the right side of my blog TONIGHT if you live in the Chicagoland area!!!*

I would like to start by writing that my ass is fully asleep.  I've been sitting on my bed for an hour, my laptop perched on my Boppy, and my ass has gone numb.  Just another hint that I need to be exercising my ass.  Buns of steel, here I come.

I know I owe you guys a blog post that is to be the opposite of my Celebrity Dissings post from last week, but I have to think of the people I want to write about.  Next week, I'll be out of town, so either I'll get some steam (and ass) to write it this week, or you'll have to wait two weeks.  So far, I'm thinking my list will include Eddie Vedder and Joss Whedon.  I may not have a whole lot to say, though.  I kind of wished I didn't promise that.

In other promising news, I received a comment from someone named Robyn (could it be the Swedish pop singer?  You know, I once had an email pal named Adrian Grenier, but it wasn't that Adrian Grenier.  Weird.) asking why the release date of GET WELL SOON II: ANNA BUSTS LOOSE [I love making up titles for that book] won't be out until 2012.  I don't quite know every detail of why it takes books so long to come out, and maybe my commenters can chime in, but part of it has to do with the long process of getting it revised.  I revise it [what's the difference between revising and editing, btw?  I'm using them interchangeably for now] until it's ready for my editor to see, then she reads it, marks it up, sends it back, and we go back and forth like that for a bit.  Then it has to be copy-edited and designed and laid-out all prettily, a cover has to be designed, and it has to be printed.  There are also other factors.  Books are put onto lists, which are like seasons, and these lists are carefully planned by publishers to be balanced.  They wouldn't want two books about the same topic or by the same author to be on the same list because that would mean competing with their own books.  So sometimes completely finished books still have to wait.  I think that explains it.  I have a book, DON'T STOP NOW, coming out on May 10, 2011 (ARCs available sooooooooooon!!!!), so it would be logical from a sales perspective to not have a second hardcover come out in the same year.  I think.  Plus, I will not be nearly done with the SEQUEL for a while.  I still have to type up the 397 pages!  Which I am putting off by blogging right now.

Lastly, I'm hoping to have a DON'T STOP NOW cover to show you soon.  Actually, who knows.  I'm just saying that.  The cover comes when it is ready, and I don't want it to be rushed.  Rich Deas, the gifted designer, always makes me happy, so I'll wait.  And wait.  This is a business of waiting, people. And one day you check your email, and there it is.  The message that says you're going to have a book published or a TV show made or a brand new cover to your book.  It's worth it, but it sure makes it hard not to check your email 50,000 times a day.

6 comments:

Brian James said...

Well, it takes so long because of the editing process you mentioned, and then at least a couple of weeks in the production department, then several months to print, but before that, publishers like time to plan for the release (or not plan in case of some books, no I'm not bitter about it).

good luck with you're busy-ness.

hellskitchen said...

Being a cog in the editing process, I understand your frustration with the waiting time.

But--May 2011! DON'T STOP NOW--I can start planning presents for kids I know who will have birthdays in the months following. It'll make a great summer read. And I can look forward to rereading it. (I promise you, I reread just a few of the books I work on.) I'll get to your other books in the meantime.

Natalie Whipple said...

I can't wait for DON'T STOP NOW! So exciting:) And it does take a while, but right now I'm just happy to know I get a book from you for the next two years at least. Sweet.

Julie H said...

Brian, I must talk to you off the record about your NOT bitterness. hells, I'm not frustrated at all! It was at a request of a blog commenter that I wrote all that. I was just trying to explain it to a frustrated fan :) And Natalie, you rock! I should pay you. Really.

Maggie Coyne said...

Julie! I can totally hear your voice in your writing, which makes it easy for me to pretend I still talk to you on a daily basis. :)

As the English teacher, I feel it is my duty to tell you that revising = "seeing again" (as the prefix is re- (again) and the root is vis/vision (see)) and editing = fixing punctuation, etc. So revision, as I tell my kids, is revisiting the ideas and structure of the work, while editing is just cleaning it up.

I suppose it might work differently in the world of book writing...in any case, I can't wait for the new books! Sorry to have missed the Banned Books affair. :(

Robyn said...

Dont say I left you hanging. I read it. And i must say, thank you.
Ahh. Ur not some snobby author that barely reads anything.
HATE THOSE.
Okay. Im good with the 2012 release.
Okay.
Okay.
Thats a 5 year difference!. But, whatevers.
Good luck with the typing. XD