Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: Ogge on January 26, 2010, 02:27:14 PM
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Any ideas? ;D
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August 17.
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Way of Kings, I believe.
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If a firm release date is listed, does this mean the book is done? Is it in editing? I am just not sure how dates are set in publishing.
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I think he is done writing the book, but mostly the release date was just a guess as to when it would be ready for sell. It may even change, but I don't think it will.
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Brandon is still revising the book. Normally a book should be finished a year before it comes out, but Tor is making an exception here. Brandon will finish major revisions this month and probably finish final revisions in March. At that point it will go to ARC and will be copyedited. Usually the ARC is done after the copyedit but the schedule for this book is tight.
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What is ARC?
So the book has to be 100% done a year before it gets published? Does this include editing? Is that normal? Why?
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An ARC, or Advanced Reader Copy (usually pronounced "ark") is a book that is sent out to people to review the book before it's actually released. They are usually paperback versions of the novel, though not as nicely bound as the official paperback, and usually state on the cover something along the lines of "not the final version of the book, changes may be made".
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Copyediting, design, typesetting, proofreading, etc. may happen within the year.
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Why do books need to be done a year before they are released?
Who does the reviews? Where are they written? I would think only a small percentage of books get reviewed in the New York Times. What happens if a book gets bad reviews? Does it get pulled from release?
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I don't know about some of that, but as for who does the reviews, it depends. My uncle used to have a review website and he got quite a few books for review. Steve I'm sure also gets a ton of ARCs for his reading pleasure (or displeasure). I used to be part of a program for Harper Collins where I got a chance to review middle grade books for them.
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did BYU say why brandon can't post his class online? Are they afraid enrollment will drop? That certainly hasn't happened at MIT, University of Washington, or Berkeley.
With in 10 years some universities are going to have most of their classes broadcast online. Students still have to pay to get credit for the class and get work graded.
btw, what books does Brandon assign people to read? Do they do a term paper which is basically a sci-fi/fantasy short story?
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For class this year he waved the assign reading because he never actually reads them. Last year (and I assume the years before) he would have the class suggest, and then vote on, books. We chose three last year, and were assigned to read them. (As I recall it was Elantris, Sabriel, and something wars. It was a space opera.)
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Yeah, Nick and I get a ton of ARCs. It will be interesting to see if we get a WAY OF KINGS review copy. I mean, I've already read it and all...
guessingo--Yeah, the book needs to be completely finished before it is published. Publishing an unfinished book would be a bad thing...it would be like the movie Elf where the guy publishes a kids book without the last page.
As for reviews, if ARCS have been sent out, the book is going to be released 99% of the time. If it gets bad reviews, it gets bad reviews. Typically however, certain books will be sent to places where they get favorable reviews. Brandon's novel will probably be sent to places that really like SF & F, and places that liked his prior novels. His novel will probably be sent to people who will say, "This novel is what WoT fans should be reading with their Robert Jordan novels." I got to be a reviewer because my good buddy Nick and I decided to start a review blog. I then contacted all the industry contacts I had and told them what I was doing (they all jumped for joy and sent a bajillion ARCs).
As for Brandon's class at BYU, who the heck knows why they dont want the classes posted online. It's really the University's business, and I can see possible motives. For his class, Brandon usually has the class pick a few novels to read. I've seen Elantris, Sabriel, Mistborn, Old Man's War, Name of the Wind, and some other random SF novels. Usually the class picks novels that are important to the concepts Brandon wants to discuss in class. If you want to know what he talks about, go to Writing Excuses where Brandon, Dan Wells and Howard Tayler podcast a bunch of writing tips and stuff.
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I would assume that if you give bad reviews you stop getting ARCs?
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Brandon has made significant changes to the book even since you read it, BSG, so you probably shouldn't write a review just based on what you read.
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Good. Then I won't feel bad asking Dot for an ARC. It makes sense that he changes some stuff. There were some rough areas in that early draft.
guess--giving bad reviews hasn't stopped me from getting ARCs yet. In fact I think Nick and I are getting more due to people respecting our honesty.
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is the review public or do you just give it to the author and they decide to release it? If sales are based on your reviews, why would they want honesty if you say you don't like it?
How are first time authors marketed? Is it basically "lets hope people like my cover so they give my book a try" and maybe I can get a few quotes.
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The reviews on Elitist Book Reviews are public. Reviews of ARCs are typically released withing a week of the book coming out at the publisher's request. And it's not like people all over the country are saying "OMG! That one review site said the book was icky! No one buy it!" The site Nick and I run is just one opinion out of many. Personally, I think that by being honest, it gives weight to our reviews. We don't like everything, but neither to we hate everything.
Most of the places that send us ARCs know what we like. As I mentioned before, we get sent things that have a good chance of pleasing us.
New authors are marketed in various ways. As I recall, Brandon has little to no advance marketing for Elantris. However, on the shelves his book had a nice cover, and good cover-quotes. This made it an attractive book to pick up and read, and then as a bookstore guy, sell. The marketing is different for every author.
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I just wanted to jump on and agree with what BSG has said about writing excuses. A lot of the stuff that is covered in class is covered in writing excuses. But there's also a ton that isn't covered in class that has been tackled in WE.
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Brandon said the class is Writing Excuses with a chalkboard. (Well, it also has built-in writing groups. Then again, Writing Excuses has Reading Excuses.)