Kudos to Sandra, who tackled the job of proof-reading the printouts for Schlock Mercenary: The Blackness Between today. I reviewed those, found a few of my own, and then decided to stop, because at some point I have to decide NOT to re-write the entire book.
It’s going to be a great book.
I will be doing a promotional desktop background based on the cover art (which wraps around the book), and will make it available to everybody who pre-orders the book. Pre-orders will not open any sooner than September 27th, and we’ll probably wait until October 2nd.
If you’re hoping to get a sketch edition, I have good news — I’m planning on limiting them not by number (we sold 200 of them in about 14 hours on Book I) but by time period. They’ll be on sale for a full 24 hours, one per customer, so everybody gets a fair shake. And yes, I’ll let you know at least a week in advance when said 24-hour period begins and ends.
The book is 100 pages long (a full 25% longer than the first book) with 7 &1/2 pages of bonus story (87% longer than the bonus story in the first book), and the price is STILL just $15.00.
Just a quick “You Rock” comment, because it never hurts to have more of those.
So yeah… You Rock!
Looking forward to book #2!
Hooray for Book 2! When’s the shipping party? 😀
Tentatively? November 16th & 17th.
–Howard
Those the tentative work days or party days, or both?
I’m getting deeply into need-a-vacation mode, and if you’re accepting out-of-town labor and can set a solid schedule so I can work work into the equation, I’d definitely be considering being a primate porter/book badgerer/whatever’s appropriate & needed.
-John
Work-days would be the 16th and 17th. The party would be on the 18th.
Consider a sketch edition from me on pre-order. 🙂
i am so getting one
Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Couple of things…
Re: Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
All sketch orders taken during the 24 hours will be treated as a batch. We cannot guarantee any number to any person.
Re: Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Sure… Crush my dreams, why don’t you…
🙂
I suppose I’ll just have to learn to live with it…
Yay!
This follows on from after the previous book, rather than going back to the beginning, yes?
Yes
I shall be preordering at least one, possibly more.
Just one request — October 2nd is Yom Kippur, and as such I will be unable to order during this time. Can you avoid making this overlap the 24 hour period significantly?
Thanks.
Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll try to make sure I pick a date that is less likely to exclude a large number of people.
–Howard
Dumb question: Who’s Laurell Hamilton?
She of the Meredith Gentry/Anita Blake serieseseses (what *IS* the plural form of ‘series’, anywhoo?) fame.
I greatly enjoyed all but the last few Anita Blake novels, which upped the sex content IMO at the expense of all the rest of the content. *shrug*
Even then, she’s an excellent writer. Just not my particular preference.
-John
PS – Howard – You Rawk, you great god of crunchtimey crayola coloring/bleakest bit black-inker/hipshaker extrordinare! See you in the order line! *grin*
-John
I pretty much stopped reading Anita Blake after Obsidian Butterfly. In fact, I wish I hadn’t read Obsidian Butterfly. I don’t like graphically written horror. I can deal with SchlocktoberFest but that’s about my limit.
For some reason though, my mind will just gloss over the horror of Andais and the slaugh in the Merry Gentry books. Much more sex than Anita Blake. I like how Laurell K Hamilton is using Celtic mythology. The Anita Blake universe she seems to be making stuff up instead of “revealing”. At least that’s what it feels like now. The first 6 or so Anita Blake’s it did feel like a reveal.
Be glad you stopped, I’ve read/have all the books (both series) and Narcissus in Chains should have been a burn before reading. It is not a bad book and it is very well written one but the graphic sexual horror was way over the top. I am very tired of watching Anita turn into a mega character with god-like powers.
I much prefer the Gentry books.
A writer friend dubbed the Anita Blake novels as ‘Fangs and F**king’, analagous to the ‘Sex and Shopping’ genre. The couple that I read certainly fit that bill, though I’ve heard that the earlier ones were much less single minded.
Sold.
So honest question: What works out better for you? Receiving an order for a sketch edition, or receiving an order for two non-sketch editions?
In the short term sketch editions are better, because I can sweat my way past the break-even point on sketch-edition sales alone, and that’s nice.
In the long term, it’s better for me to have more copies of the book in circulation. If you’re planning to buy one and give the other away as a gift, that’s far better for me than you buying a sketch edition and keeping it behind glass (after you read it, of course.)
Ultimately, though, I’d prefer that you do what YOU want to do. As I explained to Sandra last night, the most important determining factor in the way we’re handling this book is “what will keep the fans happy?” We’re not raising the prices, we’re not limiting sketches by number, and there’s more content.
We’re also going to ship the books a lot better than we did before.
o-O
I didn’t notice a single problem with how my copy of SM:UNM was shipped…
…
Well, my glasses ended up lost in O’Hare, but that’s not the fault of the delivery method… 🙂
USA or “Other”?
I fall into the latter category, and delivery was fine for me too, but I seem to remember a lot of USians reporting late and bent copies.
Re: USA or “Other”?
I cheated…
My delivery method involved me flying to SLC, and having it handed to me by Howard…
OOH. Pretty.
And, um, can I ask a dumb question? What’s the difference between a sketch edition and a non-sketch edition? Or, alternatively, what is a sketch edition?
The last page of the book is blank. If you order a sketch edition (which costs $10 more than a non-sketch edition) I deface that last page, AND I number it as part of a series. I think about 100 of the 300 sketch editions I sent out had sketches of Schlock in them.
If you catch up with me at a convention, I’ll sketch in your book for free, but it won’t be a numbered sketch edition.
Ya Beauty!!!!
Excellent! I want one! I want one!
Al An dea’Bibliomaniac
PS – I got the Original Artwork you sent, thanks. Glad you had a good WorldCon ::VBTDG::
PPS – Draw Faster!!!! 8)
You rock! *grin*
I will definetly be ordering a sketch edition, to match the sketch edition of book 1 I have.
Please give us plenty of warning when you are going to be doing the preorders, as I will be away from home from the 28th to the 3rd, so advance warning is a good thing as I do not want to miss it!
Yay!
I hope that part of the 24 hour period lands on a weekday – I rarely have access to the internet on the weekends.
Hm. Book I started in March 2003 and shipped in May 2006. Book II started in August 2003 and will ship in October 2006 (I assume?). That means that book release is going forward at about the same speed as the strip, based on a measly two data points.
Do you plan to keep that up? Will we see Book V released in September 2009? Will you go faster than one-to-one, eventually “catching up”? Will you go slower for a while, using Books zero.one and zero.two to “fill in”?
I trust it’s all part of your brilliant plot for taking over the world. I just know that at some point you’ll reach a steady state, where each year you need to sell enough copies of a year’s worth of strips to keep you and your family well taken care of for a year. I’m hoping that when the steady state arrives, your name is legend among the comic compendium buying public and you sell enough books to live a life of wanton luxury. I’ll be doing my part to help.