It looks like the publication date is going to be later than I thought--somewhere around May of '05. When I asked why so late, here is what Joshua (my agent) had to say:
> Brandon: In publishing terms, May 2005 is not all that far off, only a few
> months later than the February date we'd been thinking about over the course of
> World Fantasy, and as far away as it seems right now, the time will go much
> quicker than you think.
>
> Even for a book that's been on the schedule (let's say it's part of a
> multi-book deal, or sold on the basis of an outline) and is moving very quickly from
> delivery to store shelves, the publisher is hoping to have eight or ten months
> to put the book through copy-editing, revisions, production, etc. from the
> time it's turned in until the month it's to go on sale. It's not good to be
> crashing deadlines like Robert Jordan, rushing from manuscript to finished books
> in ten weeks. ELANTRIS isn't a book that Tor signed up in 2002 or 2001 and
> has had on its projected schedule for a year or two already, so I certainly
> wouldn't have expected it to be published until the first quarter or first half of
> 2005.
>
> May '05 means you can turn in a revised manuscript in February, that there's
> time for Moshe to read, for you to do any additional tweaking, for the
> finished product to be sent to blurbers over early Summer so quotes would be
> available for the catalog, solicitation jackets, galley or advanced reader copies,
> etc. which are being worked on in late summer and very early fall. As we get
> along in 2004, I think you'll be happy there are a few more months for the buzz
> to build. It also gives a bit more leeway for finding a British publisher that
> can coordinate a release in the same season as Tor.