Patrick Swenson's Blog, page 7

THE PR PROCESS PROCEEDS

My first official book signing has been arranged. It will happen on the actual publication date of the novel, August 12, at the University Bookstore in Seattle, at 7 p.m. I’d talked to the SF book buyer (and good friend) Duane Wilkins a while back, and in fact he reached out to the publicist assigned to me by Tor. Which was great, considering I’d not been aware who that would be before then. Almost immediately, my publicist contacted me to confirm the date, time and place.

So it begins. A debut novel needs a good start out of the gate, so early promotion is crucial. I’m already at work thinking about what else needs to happen, including, I very much hope, a small tour of the Northwest, and on down into California and some of the better known specialty independent bookstores.

There will be interviews. One such will be coming up with Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat (also known as #sffwrtcht because it has traditionally been a live interview on Twitter).  That will happen the day after my pub date, on August 13.

I suspect there will also be some type of “blog tour.” Between myself and publicist, we will find some blogs in the field that might best connect with the book, and hopefully  I can do guest posts.

There’s also talk of a little road trip earlier in the summer to some other bookstores, traveling with a couple other writers in an effort to increase visibility of our respective projects.

And … a release party? I’m sure there will be something along those lines. It’s not every day you release your first novel, so might as well do it up big! And of course there will be business cards, postcards, bookmarks, posters to think about.

Although I won’t be going to Worldcon in London this year, I’ll be at a few other conventions, including World Fantasy in Washington, D.C., although that isn’t until November. Of course, I’ll also be promoting books from my own small press, Fairwood, and I’ll hopefully have a table in the dealer room.

Here we go!

 

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THE PROOF IS IN THE PDF

A few days ago, I received the page proofs for The Ultra Thin Man from my publisher. These include the interior pages and how they’ll look in the finished product. This was the first time I saw the interior design concept and the extra accents, as well as headers and page numbers and copyright information.  (Below is the title page from the file.)

Proofs often come to writers electronically now, and in this case, a PDF file. Not all writers receive electronic proofs, but it’s becoming more and more common. I’ll admit that I thought I was going to get printed proofs. (My FAQ section about proofs said as much.) Instead, I get to make my corrections on the PDF, using the Acrobat Reader tools to insert, overwrite, and delete text to make corrections to the interior text. These corrections have to happen pretty quickly, usually in two weeks or less.

I must do my best to only take care of typos and make small corrections when necessary. I’m to avoid any major alterations, or put in anything new that might cause the text to reflow into other pages. That will be a challenge in itself. I’ve already seen things—even at this late date—I want to add or change that I just won’t be able to. The book is what it is now! I found a typo in the 2nd paragraph of the first chapter, and yes, something like this is a must-fix. This is why the proof process is in place.

Meanwhile, Tor is taking this page proof document and creating the advance reading copies (or uncorrected proofs) to send out for reviews and blurbs.

I’ve been asked how many times I’ve read this book now, and I’m not sure I know how to answer that question. It’s true that by the time the book comes out in August, I’ll have read it for sure at least a half dozen times. But that doesn’t count the times I’ve read chapters over and over, here, there, back and forth, while writing, while editing…

I’m more than halfway through writing book two, and that’s the story that’s in my brain right now. For you, the reader, you’ll experience this book for the first time, fresh and new, and hopefully all the kinks will be worked out, and you’ll enjoy the experience.

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WRITE IN THE RAIN

Write in the Rainforest, to be exact. And even more exact: Write at the Rainforest Writers Village at Lake Quinault, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. This is year eight of this annual retreat. I’m the administrator of the whole shebang, and it’s sponsored by my small book company, Fairwood Press.

Later today I head down, and I’ll do administrative duties during the five days of the retreat, but I’ll also have some solid time to write. And I need to, as I’m behind on where I should be on book two. The retreat ends Sunday afternoon. About 38 writers attend. Every year it sells out faster. I’ve added a second session. I’ve toyed with a third session, but that might be a bit too much.

Thinking it might sound like something you’d be interested in? Look for registration to open for 2015 at the end of March, or early April. You’ve gotta keep your eye on the site though, because once it opens, those in the know are sitting at their computers hitting refresh, refresh, refresh …   Last year both sessions sold out in TWO hours.

Cell service is spotty, and the WiFi sometimes has difficulty, but I’m sure there will be some news somewhere in my other social media venues. Here’s the link: www.rainforestwriters.com

All is write in the rainforest!

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COVER ART BEFORE TEXT

When artist Victor Mosquera created art for my novel, he did so without title, author name, and quotes. Here it is! The final cover below it.

Tor’s art department, run by the inimitable Irene Gallo, did the typography, of course, and I must say they did a great job presenting the title, which in itself (I humbly think) grabs a lot of attention. On the final cover, you can see slight differences in the artwork on the upper half, where the art department added some textures to it to help be a backdrop to the typography. I also love the way each word sits on (dare I say it?) an ultra thin line that gives it even more depth.

I just think the pairing of Victor’s art and Tor’s art department has produced an absolutely wonderful cover. Early word from friends, family, and social media seems to agree!

Here’s where I saw the original art: http://cghub.com/images/view/816804/.

And here’s one of several of his gallery websites. There’s some great stuff there! http://www.krop.com/victormosquera/#/

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THE COVER IS HERE

I didn’t expect to make two posts in one day! But while teaching today, during my planning period this morning, an email from Marco Palmieri of Tor was in my inbox with the cover for The Ultra Thin Man! In fact, Tor had already posted it on Facebook and Twitter, so the image is already getting out there.

The artist is Victor Mosquera, and he’s done a fabulous job catching the essence of the book! You can find more of his artwork here: http://cargocollective.com/victorpaint. And my thanks, too, to Tor art director Irene Gallo.

Another milestone! As you can imagine, I’m pretty jazzed about this.

 

 

 

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THE BLURBAGE DIFFERENCE ENGINE

Really, I’ve always liked the word “blurbage.  Then my brain connected it to “babbage,” and then connected it to the “babbage difference engine” (see William Gibson & Bruce Sterling’s novel The Difference Engine), the precursor to the modern computer, and a nifty steampunk prop. Beyond that, the word “difference” in the blog title really applies. Because a good blurb? Well, it can make a difference.

What’s a blurb? I’m not referring to the text on the back of a book (or on the inside flap of a hardcover dust jacket) that describes the book, although I’ve heard it called a blurb before. If you go to the book description for The Ultra Thin Man on my site here, you’ll see that kind of blurb, which describes the book’s basic premise.

When I’m talking blurbs, I’m talking about quotes from established authors, given to writers to help promote a book. On the same book description page, in the right hand column, you’ll see “PRAISE” and, to date, three blurbs. More are forthcoming. What prompted this post was receiving a fabulous new blurb from Hugo Award-winning writer Robert J. Sawyer, author of Red Planet Blues (his newest) and many others, including Flashforward and Triggers. Mr. Sawyer is a well-known, well-respected, and well-read SF author. Red Planet Blues, as a matter of fact, is a SF noir/mystery novel, and it was an easy decision for me to ask him if he might like to see the novel for the purpose of blurbing it.

Most of us buy books for any number of reasons, not just because a well-known author has praised it. But I’ll admit to looking at blurbs, particularly when I’m somewhat undecided about whether to buy a book or not. Obviously, there are levels of blurbage. The idea is to aim high. If Stephen King writes a positive blurb for you,  and it’s printed on the front cover of your novel, that ain’t a bad thing. If Neil Gaiman blurbs your book and says it’s the best thing he’s read in a decade…well, this is likely to lead to some extra book sales you never might have made otherwise.

It’s the same thing with reviews. I’m going to see good and bad reviews of The Ultra Thin Man. I’m bracing myself now for the bad ones. You can’t please everyone all the time, but half the battle is getting readers to pick up the book. A good cover will do that. A good review will do that. A bad review will do that, sometimes. And of course a fascinating, well-placed blurb will do that. And once a reader physically picks up a book in a store, they’re more likely to buy it.

The more positive, high-level blurbs an author garners, the happier the author will be, and the happier the publisher will be. My editor is very happy about the blurb from Mr. Sawyer, and for the others to date. We’re brainstorming a list, and more than a few requests have gone out. The earlier Tor can get good blurbs, the better that will influence the marketing department, and the book reps and book buyers at the bookstores. Those I’ve sent the book to so far for possible blurbs received electronic copies from me. At a time ahead of publication, (possibly February or March for mine), there will be bound galleys (advance reading copies, or ARCs), and many of these will be sent out to other potential blurbers, and also to reviewers. Some readers only want to read a physical copy.

I’m extremely humbled when an established writer has good things to say about the book. I can’t thank them enough, ever.

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COPYEDITS COMPLETE

Earlier this week I turned in my copyedits to Tor for The Ultra Thin Man.

The process was relatively painless. As I mentioned a few posts ago, I did this electronically. All easy to follow. There were no major gripes at the sentence level, which is good. I did add and subtract a few things here and there, and clarify other bits. It was my last chance to do so. The next time I get to look at the text from Tor it will be in page proof form.

So….I gotta believe….soon….I should shortly see some cover art! It’s a milestone I’m quite looking forward to.

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PRE-ORDER ANYONE?

Another post by me so soon? It’s certainly earlier than I expected, but I had to do a quick mention here about something I found out from my sister, who happened to search for The Ultra Thin Man on Amazon out of curiosity and found it listed there! There’s not a lot there yet, not even a cover (I’ve not seen any art to date), but it really makes things hit home: this is going to be a real book!

Further searching found it listed for pre-order on Barnes & Noble and Booksamillion also.

Yowzah! I’ll be adding the links to the website here at some point, but for now, here’s the Amazon link.

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