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Local Authors => Writing Group => Topic started by: EUOL on June 08, 2004, 08:25:08 PM

Title: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: EUOL on June 08, 2004, 08:25:08 PM
So, Moshe just told me that it would be okay if I sent him the Elantris rewrite via email, rather than printing it off here and paying to have it shipped all the way to New York.

This may not seem like a big deal to you all, but it's the first time--in seven years working with the publishing field--that anyone has let me submit anything via email.  My agent still insists that I send him physical copies, so that HE can send them off to England!  We both end up paying a mountain of postage.

I realize why publishers don't want to accept, and print off, hundreds of pages from unestablished authors.  However, you'd think that the companies would find a way to just charge each other for printing, then start submitting via email so that everyone saves money on shipping.
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: fuzzyoctopus on June 08, 2004, 09:08:29 PM
They'll catch up.

I have a feeling that part of it maybe be this: that some of the high-up editors aren't used to reading things on a screen yet, and just can't do it.
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: EUOL on June 08, 2004, 09:21:42 PM
Publishing is, oddly, very conservative.  They still like to do things the old way, and sometimes I get the feeling that they're all sitting around grumbling about 'new-fangled' contraptions...like typewriters.
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: 42 on June 08, 2004, 09:23:38 PM
Well, publishing is also an aging field. To be established, you almost have to be old and out-dated.
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: Brenna on June 08, 2004, 09:42:48 PM
Well, I know that I, for one, edit better with a hard copy in front of me. It's just easier to catch things on paper, rather than on the screen.
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: stacer on June 08, 2004, 09:43:49 PM
You should see the amount of paper I just tossed out yesterday. SEVEN ream boxes full of paper. And that was just the last 2 passes. I'd already tossed out as much or more from the first passes.

My office in Chicago only worked with paper as well, and in that case, I would say that it's old-fashioned dependence on paper.

However, I must defend the need to see a hard copy, as far as editing goes. You need to be able to make marks on the paper. Yeah, you can do the track changes thing, but it's just not the same. My office is changing over to InDesign this summer, so maybe I'll get more used to the onscreen editing thing.

Oh, and when you're looking at proof, you have to have hard copy--you have to know whether what you see on the screen is outputting the way it should.
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: 42 on June 08, 2004, 09:57:38 PM
Sp you're saying that we should blame editors for the depletion of the rain forest. I can handle that.
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: fuzzyoctopus on June 08, 2004, 09:59:39 PM
Quote
Sp you're saying that we should blame editors for the depletion of the rain forest. I can handle that.



Yeah, I mean a lot of art is digital these days, but editors?
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: 42 on June 08, 2004, 10:14:35 PM
Apparently, food and biologically-processed food are what's big in art now days.
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on June 08, 2004, 10:15:52 PM
it seems unrealistic to say you have to have paper to edit. Sure, a screen you can draw on is initially expensive, but if you're throwing out SEVEN REAMS of paper each day, well, the cost is saved quickly. you could even have the computer recognize and make electronic impressions of the marks, so that there is no confusion.

The computer is your friend people, even if you're not paranoid. It's not going to bite you.
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: stacer on June 08, 2004, 11:27:15 PM
First, it wasn't seven reams, it was seven ream boxes. Second, that was the accumulated result of a year and a half's work.

Even so, a tablet screen I can write on would be pretty cool. I'd be okay with that. You wanna talk to the higher-ups who are currently working on my raise and promotion, too?
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: stacer on June 08, 2004, 11:29:11 PM
Quote
Apparently, food and biologically-processed food are what's big in art now days.


Um, yeah. Gross. My friend who was at the Art Institute of Chicago said it was a regular occurrence for students in his performance art class to either urinate or defacate as part of their "performance." Art.
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: fuzzyoctopus on June 09, 2004, 12:37:25 AM
Brandon, this is unrelated to ANYthing, but is your editor Jewish?  

Only it's just I've only ever seen that name in books by Jewish authors and I've always liked it.

thanks Peter
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on June 09, 2004, 12:46:36 AM
You didn't even go through the middle step of mailing a burned cd?

(fuzzy: Moshe Feder is the editor)
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: Brenna on June 09, 2004, 12:58:57 AM
The thing is, I love my computer. I really do. I spend lots of time in front of it every day (especially with my current job). However, I still have an easier time catching mistakes and problems if I have a hard copy. I'm not sure why that is, but there you go.
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: Spriggan on June 09, 2004, 01:28:53 AM
I also suspect one of the reasons they don't allow e-mails for standerd submissions is that it cuts down on the amount of stuff they get and probaly weeds out a lot of crap.  If someone was serious and actualy thought they're story was good (weither it is or not) they'd got through the hassle of printing it out and makeing sure the book was the way they wanted it.  If you could just e-mail a manuscript people would probaly just type stuff up and send it more willy nilly.  (I cant beleave I just said willy nilly)
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: fuzzyoctopus on June 09, 2004, 01:37:35 AM
Even if you used willy-nilly, it's a good point.  Although if I were an editor and I accepted electroic submissions, I wouldn't give the email address out to many people...
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: EUOL on June 09, 2004, 04:31:06 AM
Quote
Well, I know that I, for one, edit better with a hard copy in front of me. It's just easier to catch things on paper, rather than on the screen.  


This was an interesting tangent, but you'll note that in my original post, I was talking about saving on postage, not paper.  Also, Sprig's comment is a valid point--however, I think if there was some system by which you sent the piece, then had to pay for it to be printed, it would cut out some of the willy-nilly-ness.

Yes, Moshe is Jewish.  I agree with you--it's a very cool name.  Kinda wish I could use it in a book....

Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: stacer on June 09, 2004, 09:13:59 AM
Sprig's point is also valid. At the small publisher I worked for in Chicago, we were always getting press releases for electronics and other things that didn't fit our magazine. People just saw that our title was Electrical Apparatus and assumed that we published about electronics. Wrong. We covered a highly specialized niche market, the repair and replacement of industrial electric motors. Anything not related to that was just annoying spam, so we were careful not to give out the magazine email to just anyone.
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: House of Mustard on June 09, 2004, 11:02:10 AM
With the exception of my initial submission to Covenant, everything there has been electronic.  It's handy.  Once they get the submissions, they print them out--so that they can still work on a hard copy.  I'm not sure why they prefer this method, but it transfers some of my cost to them, so I'm not complaining.
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: EUOL on June 09, 2004, 08:01:02 PM
It seems like this way you could also have more control over the text format.  If you hate reading courier, you could just change the story to times before you print it off.
Title: Re: Tor Joins the Digital Age
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on June 11, 2004, 12:37:56 PM
I've been doing most of my work on printouts so far but last week I edited two scripts on the computer. It was very annoying and took far longer than I liked--I was editing the rewrite of the manga translation and comparing it with the translation to make sure nothing got munged, and also with the book in hand to make sure nothing got missed. But I'm not sure printing out the script would have been faster. Probably not, since all the changed would have to be entered anyway, and there were a lot.

I do greatly prefer working on stuff that's printed out, but it's easier on the layout people and saves time (for them) if the text is corrected before it's laid out in the balloons. I highly doubt I'll catch everything though until I do see a laid out copy.