Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: Fellfrosch on April 29, 2005, 12:06:56 PM
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Read it here: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=1050
I know how he feels: once you gone through all of the intermediary steps in publishing something, the actual end product is more of a sigh of relief than a whoop of excitement. Don't take this to mean that he isn't excited--he's always quick to tell me about the great new news that pops up every now and then, such as a new foriegn contract or a possible second print run.
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I am horribly disappointed in you, EUOL. From the sound of it, I am more excited about your book getting published than you are. As a person who would like to be published someday, that seems horribly depressing.
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Well, the last line says he feels satisfied. That's still pretty positive.
I think the article is perfectly understandable. Getting a book published is not some magical thing where poof you have a book...there's so much work that goes into it that it gets grounded in reality.
If I had a book picked up and I DIDN'T get to see all the work put into it before it went to the shelves, I'd feel more worried that they screwed things up rather than being ecstatic.
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Pictures of the book will be up soon.
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Who needs pictures? Don't we all have our four copies already?
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EUOL asked me to snap a few and place them into the article, a lot of non-forum goers read his articles.
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It is great that the book is out and selling. Its great that EUOL can be published but if he really wants to make it big, he needs to be more than a great writter. He needs to do marketing. This could be why EUOL is not that thrilled to be finally published as he now might have to cut back on the writing and starting getting people to read the book (beyond his fan club). Have fun on book tour!
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Yes, book tour will be a new experience for EUOL. As it would for any of us, except maybe HoM.
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This is actually the same sort of response that Bird by Bird talks about. I was kind of expecting this.
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I really like that book.
/me goes and adds it to her Amazon wishlist
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I got Bird by Bird as a Christmas present several years ago. I enjoyed the first half, but never did finish it. Just kind of lost interest.
On topic, it's kind of the same for editors. It's especially that way in the book business, because you've been working on it for so long. I worked on a textbook for almost a year, and it was nice to see it all pretty and bound and in color, but I'd seen it through every step before that, too, so it was just a nice thing to see the end result, then you move on to the next project. Magazines are a little different, for a couple reasons: it's a much shorter turnaround time (we had a monthly cycle at Electrical Apparatus, and readers and advertisers often call in about things within the last few months (and years, and decades--we've had people call in and say, "I saw an article about such-and-such just a few months ago" and it ends up being an issue from 1988 or something). Especially with advertisers, you have to keep them happy, so it's in your best interest to notices any mistakes that went to press before they do.
I wonder how that's going to be when I start working for Wizards--they do about 70-80 books a year with a staff of 8 in the book department (I think I'll make 9), and they're expanding. With that many books going through, lingering on a recent publication won't happen, I'm thinking (other than, obviously, marketing).
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I am horribly disappointed in you, EUOL. From the sound of it, I am more excited about your book getting published than you are. As a person who would like to be published someday, that seems horribly depressing.
I would imagine--though i am only just turned eighteen and have yet to write anything serious--that the process of getting a book published is very similar to pregnancy and finally labor.
I dare any of you to walk up to a woman right after labor and say to her, "You don't look half as happy as you should, c'mon lets to the harlem shake! whats wrong with you?"
Not wise.
Sure, when the baby, or book in this case, arrives the mother (author) will be overjoyed--still exhaustion will effect her greatly. The reality of it would have already been so deeply branded on her that its more of a relief that all that work is finally in her hands...
And really there isn't much time to enjoy the end result, as the child (book) will demand much of your time after the fact...
labor (publishing), is only half the work...
Sleepless nights and a whole new lifestyle awaits our friend EUOL.
I write this now when he is already "pregnant" with his third book and due less then a month from now!
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You mean fifth book, right?
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hmm...i count this to be his fourth published book. ???
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He already has Elantris, the first Alcatraz book, and two Mistborn books out. HOA will be the fifth published.
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of course, of course, alcatraz. I really should pick that up sometime...
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You mean fifth book, right?
Err, yeah, fifth.
That put a damper on, what i thought to be, a damn good analogy... :-\