Why you have to wait so long
One of the things I'm asked a lot is "when is the next book coming out?" Right now, the answer is 2/24/09. This is often met with either a grumble, a whimper, or flat out crying, all of which are good reactions. After all, it means the asker cares, and if they care it means they like what I'm doing, but are impatient they can't get it in their grubby little mitts yet.
So this post is for them. Here's why it takes so long. It's different for every author, but here's my time schedule in a nutshell.
I have spent this year:
-finishing and turning in Deader Still
-publicizing Dead To Me
-tour and events for Dead To Me
-my Monday obligations to the League
-starting first draft of book 3
-stopping draft of book 3 to do my 'editorial letter' edits on Deader Still
- going to conventions, signings and panels in support of my writing career
- day job, five days a week, 9-5, some travel
-rereading Deader Still post edits to see if it still holds
-writing and turning in several short stories for anthologies on the side
-trying to have a semblance of a social life or at least say hi to that woman I keep seeing around my apartment. She claims to be this thing call a "wife"... will have to look into that
- Force Unleashed and Rockband 2 coming out soon!
This isn't a bitch list, just the reality of what an author goes through. A lot of this is also dependent on the slow laborious climb that publishing is from manuscript to page. There's catalog copy to be written, cover design, blurbs to get, splash page info to be chose, editor reading book, editor rereading after edits, copy editor then reading, author correcting, going to printer, packaging, selling it in, advertising, promotion, and finally shipping the damn thing.
Gah, I'm tired just writing all that. Back to edits... as you were, my littler chompers-at-the-bit.
So this post is for them. Here's why it takes so long. It's different for every author, but here's my time schedule in a nutshell.
I have spent this year:
-finishing and turning in Deader Still
-publicizing Dead To Me
-tour and events for Dead To Me
-my Monday obligations to the League
-starting first draft of book 3
-stopping draft of book 3 to do my 'editorial letter' edits on Deader Still
- going to conventions, signings and panels in support of my writing career
- day job, five days a week, 9-5, some travel
-rereading Deader Still post edits to see if it still holds
-writing and turning in several short stories for anthologies on the side
-trying to have a semblance of a social life or at least say hi to that woman I keep seeing around my apartment. She claims to be this thing call a "wife"... will have to look into that
- Force Unleashed and Rockband 2 coming out soon!
This isn't a bitch list, just the reality of what an author goes through. A lot of this is also dependent on the slow laborious climb that publishing is from manuscript to page. There's catalog copy to be written, cover design, blurbs to get, splash page info to be chose, editor reading book, editor rereading after edits, copy editor then reading, author correcting, going to printer, packaging, selling it in, advertising, promotion, and finally shipping the damn thing.
Gah, I'm tired just writing all that. Back to edits... as you were, my littler chompers-at-the-bit.
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