Charles Stross's Blog, page 119

CMAP #6: Why did you pick such an awful cover for your new book?

(I'm going to try and keep this one brief ...)

Many readers hold the charming misconception that authors not only write their books, but are responsible for the size, shape, texture, flavour, and appearance of the finished physical object.

(We're talking physical books here, not ebooks. That's yet another opportunity for discourse that I'm going to eschew for now.)

Here's the reality: as an author, I am required — per contract — to supply the publisher with a manuscript of approximately the...

Public reading: Wednesday 17th, Edinburgh

Blackwells have organized an evening launch for Ken MacLeod's new novel The Restoration Game at the Pleasance Theatre in Edinburgh (on The Pleasance), at 7pm on Wednesday the 17th. Tickets are free from the front desk at Blackwell Bookshop, 53—59 South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1YS.

Confusingly, the book in question isn't due out until July (these gigs are scheduled months in advance, so occasional whoopsies happen: in this case, the publication date slipped). But not to worry: Ken's doing a...

Post mortem

My first author copies of "The Trade of Queens" arrived this morning; that's one of them, sitting on top of the pile of its predecessors on the step-stool. (Parenthetically, this means that copies should be showing up in warehouses and book stores over the next week, and in the mailboxes of folks who placed advance orders very soon thereafter.) The stack you're looking at is the culmination of eight years' work; I began work on these books in 2002, if I remember correctly. It's about 70-100 p...

For sale; first edition of the Necronomicon (used once)

I don't normally run corporate press releases on my blog, or carry advertising — except insofar as the blog promotes my own writing. There's always a first time, though, and so here it is:

Cubicle 7 Entertainment to publish roleplaying game based on Charles Stross's Laundry Files novels

Cubicle 7 Entertainment is producing a roleplaying game based on the award-winning Laundry series (The Atrocity Archives, The Jennifer Morgue, and the forthcoming The Fuller Memorandum) by the...

CMAP #5: Why books are the length they are

Publishing is a whole bunch of different businesses flying in loose formation; which is by way of saying that this particular topic is specific to commercial fiction publishing and has nothing to do with text books, technical reference manuals, autobiographies, or cookbooks.

Why are novels (the prevailing form of fictional entertainment on retail sale today) generally the length that they are?

PSA: I Have a New Book!

I have a book coming out this month; "The Trade of Queens", the sixth novel in the Merchant Princes series, is shipping (the official publication date is the 16th, but it should be showing up in bookstores in the USA from Monday onwards). And the last, for the time being — if you've been holding off starting on the series because you wanted to know there was an ending in sight, this is it. Series climax: finale: fat lady sings.

(You can find links to buy my books — including all the Merchant...

CMAP #4: Territories, Translations, and Foreign Rights

(I'm going to try to keep this post a wee bit shorter than the preceeding ones, because they're eating into my writing time and, as Rule 2 of being a successful author goes, "paying words have priority". Rule 1 is "don't die", in case you were wondering. Not many people break that one and prosper.)

In CMAP #3 I dissected a book contract for the sale of US and North American English language rights. As you probably guessed from the words in front of "rights", other stuff gets sold separately...

Look over there ...

As a sidebar to my current publishing shtick, The New York Times runs an article discussing the costs of ebook publication:

In the emerging world of e-books, many consumers assume it is only logical that publishers are saving vast amounts by not having to print or distribute paper books, leaving room to pass along those savings to their customers. ... But publishers also say consumers exaggerate the savings and have developed unrealistic expectations about how low the prices of e-books can...

CMAP #3: What Authors sell to Publishers

I'd like to tackle two common misconceptions about publishing in this piece. Firstly, a lot of people who should know better — business journalists covering the publishing industry, for example — seem to think that authors sell the copyright on their books to their publishers. And secondly, a lot of readers think that if a book is available in print in the English language in, say, the United States, they ought to be able to buy it anywhere in the world. This might be true in a practical...

CMAP #2: How Books Are Made

It is a common misconception — to paraphrase a commenter in the previous post on common misconceptions about publishing, that "the only two people that matter are the author and the reader (one puts creativity in, the other money: the rest add cost)".

This is a bit like saying that in commercial air travel, "the only two people that matter are the pilot and the passenger (the rest add cost)". To which I would say: what about the air traffic controllers (who stop the plane flying into other...