Tor Joins the Digital Age

[EUOL]

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.

[fuzzyoctopus]

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.

[EUOL]

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.

[42]

Well, publishing is also an aging field. To be established, you almost have to be old and out-dated.

[Brenna]

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.

[stacer]

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.

[42]

Sp you're saying that we should blame editors for the depletion of the rain forest. I can handle that.

[fuzzyoctopus]

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?

[42]

Apparently, food and biologically-processed food are what's big in art now days.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

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.

[stacer]

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?

[stacer]

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.

[fuzzyoctopus]

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

[Peter Ahlstrom]

You didn't even go through the middle step of mailing a burned cd?

(fuzzy: Moshe Feder is the editor)

[Brenna]

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.