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| A Message From Herself; who is being held incommunicado! | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 5 2007, 02:54 AM (12,749 Views) | |
| Reptile | Apr 8 2008, 01:23 AM Post #226 |
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The following is sort of a flotsom at the top of my brain: I only worked one year as a bookseller, but about 30 years for magazines and newspapers, mostly magazines, one of which was bookseller produced sci/fi/fantasy-related newsletter that I edited bimonthly as a freelancer. I lack a deep knowledge of the book trade, but I had the impression book publishers were really weird, overall. Also, most editorial staffs seemed terribly understaffed and even more underpaid than magazine editorial! Typical book production time frame seemed one to two years. But understaffed as the firms were, and even overusing underpaid freelance copyeditors, proofreaders, indexers, etc., these lead times are necessary BECAUSE the companies are typically so understaffed. There's no bandwidth, so to speak. A writer such as :cherryh: is invaluable in such circumstances--they copy is probably in great shape when she submits it, and she can pretty effectively catch a lot of stuff in galleys. Still, any glitch may cause delays. Working out a marketing strategy in terms of a particular work and its fit in a company's total list may promote some extra thought for the publishers. Cyteen: Regeneration is such a book. The long-awaited sequel to a Hugo winner, at least twice as long as a typical Foreigner volume, is something special. It needs to be handled "right" to achieve its potential. Also, the publisher probably needs to consider the extent of its investment as well as the extent of its resources--how large a first printing, advertising budget (if much of any), date of publication (will it be a popular Christmas gift?), general marketing strategy and input from marketing staff, etc., etc. With a bit of luck, this book might make the co. mucho bucks. This prospect, however, might slow things down as more people try to fiddle with the book, cover, binding, and all the rest. Just really hard to know. I hope that :cherryh: has a really good agent to protect her interests in these situations. But I really salivate at the thought of this book coming out. Cyteen is by far my favorite Cherryh volume, a very special book, even among the works of a very special writer. |
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| Felicitous Sk8er | Apr 8 2008, 01:47 AM Post #227 |
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Ice Queen Assassin
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Regeneration is in the publisher's queue for January 2009. :baji Correction to my post, above: Regeneration was submitted at the end of September 2007 (not Oct). The silence for most of the past 3 days is because Herself, Janeness, & I were in Seattle together. We had a great trip & are now all safely home. For home security reasons, we don't publicize it when :cherryh: & Janeness are out of town. We attended the Seattle Art Museum's "Roman Treasures from the Louvre". It was fabulous, and I'm certain Herself will blog in some detail about the exhibition. I can't think of a better tour guide! We also did location research for Jane's latest book, then went on the adults-only Seattle (Underground) Underworld Tour. :devil: |
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| Surtac | Apr 8 2008, 06:33 AM Post #228 |
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Antipodean Assassin
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So when are we going to see something in print from Her Janeness, hmmn? I'm glad we finally have a date for Cyteen 2, but ... I don't want to wait! :mad: :invert |
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| Chanor-ji | Apr 8 2008, 05:03 PM Post #229 |
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For many, many years, the publishing industry was built around the nearly unpaid labor of Seven Sisters lit and English graduates who lived rent-free in Mummy and Daddy's New York City apartment until they married. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was one of these young ladies, which is why she returned to publishing after whatshisname Onassis's death. A lot of the publishing world craziness these days stems from the buy-outs and mergers of the late 80s, early 90s. Prior to that time, publishing was very much a "gentleman's" business (think Bennett Cerf), and got by on a gentleman's 5% profit. Those were also the golden days when a publishing house's pride and joy was its mid-list -- authors such as Hemmingway, Steinbeck and all the other more literary authors -- and they held their noses while publishing bestsellers such as Peyton Place and Valley of the Dolls because that lowbrow "trash" paid the bills on the mid-list. After the merger and buy-out mania, which ultimately left only seven major houses standing, those seven houses were left with a staggering load of debt that they'd never been saddled with in the past. Plus, those companies were then big enough to be of interest to major conglomerates. Being bought by the conglomerates added to the debt load, plus the conglomerate bean counters insisted that the publishing houses begin producing the 15% profit that all the other divisions of the conglomerate were expected to produce. This is a big reason why publishing houses rarely, if ever, groom authors any more. For the most part, authors have two chances to demonstrate that they are the next Tom Clancy or Danielle Steel. Another sad side effect is that the editing process has been utterly corrupted. Far too often, the publishing house editors are merely acquisition editors -- meaning that they decide whether or not to purchase a book. A lot of the editing formerly done by the publishing houses is now done by the writer's agent because the acquisition editors don't want to waste their time doing that sort of editing, and, to give them their due, their employers are reluctant to give those editors that time. And way, way too many publishing houses use Spellcheck instead of an actual copy editor. (And we all know how well Spellcheck distinguishes between to, two and too, not to mention how it will let am or an substitute for the other to the utter destruction of a sentence's meaning.) And so we get to the point to where the Goddess :cherryh: becomes a publishing house major asset: The Divine One meets her deadlines, she turns in "clean" manuscripts that need little alteration, and she gets her corrections and changes done on time. Plus, I'd bet the farm she "earns out" her advances. (Publishers "advance" a certain amount of money, the amount depending on who the author is, against future royalties. Any further money paid by a publishing house to an author comes only when the agreed upon royalties surpass the amount of money the house has already advanced the author. So, to "earn out" the advance means that sales of the book have been brisk enough that the publishing house is paid back the advance it paid the author when it accepted the manuscript. Rumor has it that Stephen King hasn't earned out his royalties in years because publishers pay him such obscene advances for the prestige of publishing him.) And so we are enabled to feed our addiction to the Divine One's universes. |
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| Chanor-ji | Apr 8 2008, 05:07 PM Post #230 |
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I got so hung up in the actual publishing process that I forgot to mention that in addition to these sterling qualities, :cherryh: produces eminently readable and enjoyable tomes, which, of course, is her most important characteristic. (At least to us.) |
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| Felicitous Sk8er | Apr 8 2008, 06:32 PM Post #231 |
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Ice Queen Assassin
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Fascinating historical synopsis / analysis, Chanor-ji. Thank you!
In Herself's case, Janeness. Many of you are probably already with "reading trips", especially if you follow Herself's blog. Significant editing occurs there: Jane drives and :cherryh: reads the manuscript aloud. Does Jane (or sometimes, we) laugh at the right places? Tupos are caught; sentences re-arranged and tightened, word salad fixed ("Carolyn, that sentence meanders on & on, over several subjects, and makes no sense at all!"). Use of certain key words / concepts may also be discussed. Foreigner #10: Conspirator is currently undergoing this process. |
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| Kel Julian | Apr 9 2008, 12:45 AM Post #232 |
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Knnn
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It is very important to have a trustworthy 'first reader.' When I am trying to parse a bit of history for a larger audience, my go-to woman is my bride. She has a very modest interest in history but she likes good stories. After I have read and reread my piece ten times, I am not very sharp on the flow of information and could have edited out a key link. My wife will catch any WTF moments of this nature. And if she finds it informative and interesting and finishes with no questions unanswered (that were addressable within the word limit), then I reckon I did my work for the day, and may now enjoy a beer, as with all who are dutiful and diligent in their labours. |
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| Chanor-ji | Apr 9 2008, 05:48 PM Post #233 |
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Thank you, Felicitous Sk8er. You may not realize it, but I'm actually blowing off a bit of steam caused by my frustration with publishing today. It is so aggravating to watch good authors getting dumped right and left because they aren't producing enough money. It is just as aggravating to see talented authors' books being totally ignored by the publishers's publicity departments because all the publicity money has to go to advertise so-so books that some idiot acquisition editor decided was going to be the next Gone With the Wind and paid an obscene advance for. |
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| Xheralt | Apr 10 2008, 06:59 AM Post #234 |
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I just heard many of the points Chanor-ji made, live and in person at a con panel that included Jim Frankel (an editor with Tor books, and OddessyCon regular) Kage Baker, and Kage's agent. Jim shared the unfortunate story of an author who, some years back, had a Celtic fantasy as a first published novel, which, because the publisher's marketing department felt that Native-American fantasy was "big" at the moment, was published with a cover that featured dark-skinned warriors, with the title rendered in a font where the letters were assembled of birchbark canoes! Note that most authors except for the really big-name ones are permitted little to no input, never mind choice, regarding covers. One just has to pray the marketing brainstorm squad gets it right. And then of course, said book went nowhere, because the instant you started reading it, you realized it wasn't at all what you *thought* you'd bought...and of course people who WANTED a Celtic fantasy would bypass an "obviously" Native fantasy. So, even if one writes a damn good book and does everything else right, an author can STILL get screwed (sans lube) because of such misguided choices made by offices disconnected from everything except the idea of money-making... |
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| Vetch | Apr 10 2008, 07:28 AM Post #235 |
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Mahen Anthropologist
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Disconnected indeed. So disconnected that they forgot how to sell books. P.S. It's exciting to have Chanor-ji amongst us. Fascinating stories pop up. |
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| Kel Julian | Apr 10 2008, 08:09 AM Post #236 |
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Knnn
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I look at the publishing business with the same cheerfully fatalistic, cynical, borderline nihilism I look at all government and corporate institutions. It's like grading coins. The closer you get to any of them, the more flaws and odiousness you find. I used to spend a lot of time being very angry about this in general, and then something snapped, and I gave up hope. I decided that I was herewith liberated from hoping for such agencies to improve, and that since they were low and petty and stupid, that I should focus my energies on trying my damndest to exploit them as ruthlessly as they exploit, or would like to exploit, me. I figure anyone who's entitled to screw me over with the excuse 'sorry, business is business' morally awards me the exact same privilege. So, business is business, indeed. Two can play. And the odd thing is, I became a happier person. Some days I win the match. Other days I take a hosing. Either way, hey...business is business.:) |
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| Chanor-ji | Apr 10 2008, 03:46 PM Post #237 |
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Personally, I wouldn't call them "fascinating"; I'd call them "horrifying". :HB:
A few years back, some marketing drone decided that having a :kitty: on the cover of a mystery sells more books than a book without a :kitty: on the cover. Authors all over the place are now complaining, "But there's no :kitty: in my book!" And customers are complaining all over the place, "But there's no :kitty: in this book!" :HB:
I haven't gotten there, yet. There's a part of me that refuses to surrender. I guess it's because even with conditions in the publishing world being what they are today, just enough gold can be sifted out of the piles and piles of bovine manure the publishers push out on an unsuspecting public to keep me going. |
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| BetYeager | Apr 12 2008, 07:40 AM Post #238 |
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The same thing has happened in the music industry, which explains the vast universe of non-talent such as Fergie and Souljah Boy (don't ask, I live with a 13 yr old boy) while truly talented and creative artists are passed over. Firmly grounded on a world of mediocrity, we are sold the same song by a different performer, the same book by different (or the same!) authors, and an endless run of movie sequels on the theory that if it made money once, it will make money again. The frustrating thing is that as a result of being continually fed dreck, we forget what good intellectual food tastes like and become more willing to accept phenomena like Scary Movie 4. |
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| Resa | Apr 12 2008, 07:56 AM Post #239 |
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Drawer of Stuff
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Hey! Hey -- at least we have a couple of new Cherryh books on the horizon. :t |
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| Vetch | Apr 12 2008, 08:01 AM Post #240 |
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Mahen Anthropologist
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That's why I have no radio and no TV but some mp3s, CDs and DVDs. I regret the two times I ever read a 'best seller' (one by a German author, the other the "da Vinci Code"). Wasted time, will never do it again. As a consumer I can help myself, but as an an artist it's really hard. I mean, yea, you can upload your stuff to the net and hope for word of mouth and donations. Ahaha. :sick: |
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8:45 AM Jul 11