Blink, blink, what is that yellow orb in the sky?

[pbray]

Cave troll emerges from her cave, looks around and notices that summer has arrived.

Good news is that The First Betrayal is done, and is making its way to arcaedia. There's nothing more I can do on this story until I hear her comments, and then it gets sent off to Bantam at the end of the month.


I've been head down writing since the end of January, with an incredible push in the final 5 weeks when I wrote the 1/3 of the book. This is typical for me, as my writing process is like a freight train rolling down hill. At a certain point in the book the momentum has built up and it powers me through the finish line.

The reason for this isn't sheer deadline panic, although that does help. But at the beginning of the book the decision tree stretches in infinite directions, and by the time you're on the final third of the book, the decision tree has been drastically pruned. You no longer have to stop to decide the little things, like where the palace is located, whether the barbarians wear smocks or blouses, and how long it takes to journey from Point A to Point B. The big things are also firmed up, such as the relationships between your characters, their motivations, and their backstories.

It's a lot like putting together a puzzle, in that it takes a long time to get the edges done and the first pieces filled in, but the last hundred pieces go in very quickly.


Last night I went to our RWA chapter meeting and gave my annual presentation on "How to pitch to an editor or agent" to help folks get ready for Reno. Hysterical laughter erupted when I gave the example of my first pitch to an editor, which began with the hook "It's a classic English love triangle, involving a guy, a girl and a sheep." After the pitch jennifer_dunne and I role played a pitch, and then other members of the chapter had the chance to practice their pitches.

In other news, it's time to use the hiatus to catch up on the rest of my life. There are books to read, movies to see, and I have to get serious about training for the bike trip in July.

Reading: Started mizkit's Urban Shaman. I have dozens of books in my TBR stack all the way back to books I bought from Larry Smith at Arisia in January. Yet somehow my most recent purchase crawled off the stack and demanded I read it. Enjoying it very much so far-- I was sucked in from the first pages describing the special hell that is the end of a long plane trip.

One more note--upgraded to a paid LJ account (whee, new icons!).

Comments

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Actually, if you want to move to a Jan '07 release, and they were thinking much later than that (if book wasn't even due until March), then you'll not only need to turn it in with enough time to be revised and published (June '06), but you'll have to turn it in with enough time for them to realize it can be released in January, and change all the sales catalogs etc. so you're talking EARLY '06. Probably January/February timeframe.

If you turn the books in early, you should be able to move up the schedule, but I don't think you'll be able to move that far up. Remember, they got their hands on Skewed Throne back in January of '05, and based the release date off of that.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Jennifer made a good point. Assume that your publisher locks down their schedule a year in advance, so if you're shooting for first half 07 release, then you'll need to be talking to your editor about this in late 2005/early 2006. Especially given the complications of whether they'll want to reissue the first book in paperback around the time that the second book comes out, which would mean they'd need two slots in their schedule.

[jlawrenceperry.livejournal.com]

Geez, now I know why Robert Jordan was so relieved that he'd have seven months between turn-in and release, when he used to have a month of editorial review. Obviously when you're of his caliber your publisher makes certain concessions for you, but still....

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Publishing cycles are interesting. Some publishers have their schedules set eighteen months or more in advance. Especially if they are starting a new line, you may sell a completed novel and then not see it in the stores for 2+ years.

Of course conversely sometimes a slot opens up for a writer when the author who was originally scheduled for a release fails to deliver their manuscript in time, and they need something to plug into that spot.

General rule of thumb is that publishers release X number of books per month. This is fairly set, and guidelines include breakout of how many hardcovers, trade paperbacks, and mass-market paperbacks per month.

The book production schedule is built around these releases. There's a finite capacity as to how many book covers they can be working on at one time, how many books can be in the various stages of editing, how many can be typeset and proofed, how many can be printed and bound, etc.

If you are Robert Jordan, JK Rowling, or Stephen King, you can be pretty sure that they'll drop everything else to push your book through as fast as possible. Otherwise, you'll need to line up and take your turn. Keep in mind that the sooner you turn book in, the more time there is to cope with any unexpected problems. If you turn in your June release in January, they'll barely have time to get it typeset and off to the printers. There's no time to find and fix plot holes, copy-editing errors, or for a second chance at getting the bookcover right if the first cover treatment is a disaster.

Not to say that these problems can't happen if your book is on time. Still, if your book is on their normal production schedule they may be able to address these issues, while a rushed schedule means there's no chance to recover.

Then, of course, there's the sales lead time. Your book has to be put in the sales catalog, marketing copy written, promotion plan put together, advertising scheduled, etc.

You'll notice when Locus magazine periodically publishes their guide to forthcoming books that they list as least 6 months out, often 9 months or more. And considering the lead time for publishers to get the information to Locus to include in the magazine, you can make the assumption that these publishers have put together their schedules at least 9-12 months in advance.

As a new author the best thing you can do is to turn your book in on time, or early if possible. Turning your book in late makes the publisher nervous, and if it's late enough you'll lose whatever slot they had penciled you in for and be bumped back in the schedule. Turning in the book early earns you brownie points. And it may help you get a more favorable publishing slot for your next book.

[jlawrenceperry.livejournal.com]

When you say turn a book in on time, do you refer to the deadline your editor gives you, post-sale, to make the changes they want?

I was thinking deadline after making a sale on spec, but new authors don't usually make sales on spec, right?

It's like Dave Ramsey says: Pay your landlord early or on time, and on time is late! Same thing for me here. You won't catch me turning one in late.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Sometimes authors can sell a book on spec, but generally new SF/F authors sell based on a completed manuscript. Even then the contract will include a delivery date in it, since it's quite likely the editor will make an offer for your book and then have a chat with you about the changes she wants. Your delivery date is the date you are expected to deliver the revised manuscript.

If it's a multi-book contract, then the due date for your second book is the delivery of the finished manuscript for that book. Since for most authors the second book hasn't been written at the time they make the sale, this is often the first true test of their ability to meet a deadline. Thus it's important that your contract have a realistic date for when you can deliver the next book.

[jlawrenceperry.livejournal.com]

So are stand-alones truly remnants of a bygone era? I know Salvatore wrote The Highwayman as stand-alone, but again, there's that clout thing.

I was sort of hoping to leave it open ended, so there was good old speculation on whether or not there would be a sequel. Like with the Indiana Jones films, or Back to the Future for example--So it's sort of a surprise. I think that would perhaps be better from a marketing standpoint. I do have ideas to carry it forward in a series, and writing it wouldn't be a problem.

I guess I should just write as much of it as I can while pitching the first one, even though I'd love to develop my other stories? How'd that work for you while doing the Devlin sequels and still developing the 'lizard' series? :D Or do you just think and write incredibly fast?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

It's possible to sell standalones, but the authors I know who have sold their first SF/F novel to a major publisher in the last 2-3 years have signed multi-book contracts (at least 2 books).

Do you read Locus Magazine? It's worth reading just for the people & publishing column, who lists who sold what to whom (and via which agent). Readding this gives you a feel for the kind of deals being made.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

To answer the second question, I wrote Devlin's Luck as a standalone book. It wasn't till I had finished the book that I realized it could be the start of a series, so when I sent it to my agent I included a brief outline for the next two books. It could have been sold as a single title with potential for sequels, or sold as the first book of a series. Bantam liked it, and they wanted the series, so the contract I signed with them was for the trilogy.

My friend Joshua Palmatier jpsorrow recently had a similar experience, in that he wrote a novel that could have been sold as a standalone or the start of a series. His agent marketed the book as the first of a series, and DAW offered him a three book contract.

I've heard that in fantasy market, series sell better than standalone books, so that's why publishers like them.

[jlawrenceperry.livejournal.com]

It is the format du jour, certainly. Thanks a lot, Stanley Unwin! :)

They could ask for thirty-seven books if they want, as long as we don't have to tell the consuming public. Bwa ha ha ha ha... ahem.

Thanks for answering all my q's! I'm at 94,408 and so excited to finally be nearing the end of the story on this thing. Then edit/beta/pitch agent.

And there was much rejoicing....