The State of the Wicket – February
Now, we’ve been getting a lot of mail, Facebook comments, tweets, and so on, asking about the status of Book Eight, the short stories, etc. So I thought I’d give you a quick run-down of what-all I’ve been doing, where it all is at the moment, a short peek at everything, and—most importantly [g]—when things will be published.
For starters, I’m very pleased to announce that The Scottish Prisoner was released on November 29th, 2011. This release also includes a “teaser” chunk from Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (aka Book Eight, or MOHB (aka “Moby,” which is how I refer to it for convenience. I don’t _think_ it will be white, but it will certainly be a whale of a book [cough]). The teaser includes several scenes about different characters.
Now, I do normally work on multiple projects at once; it keeps me from getting writer’s block, and makes me generally more productive. I also think it’s entertaining to write the occasional short piece (novella or short story) that fills in a missing part of someone’s story and/or provides more depth to the overall tale.
The most recent of these short pieces to be published was “Lord John and the Plague of Zombies,” which was published last October—and which gratified me extremely by recently being nominated for an Edgar Award (for best mystery short story of the year—though it’s not all that short, really…)—in an anthology titled DOWN THESE STRANGE STREETS. The anthology is edited by George RR Martin and Gardner Dozois. http://tinyurl.com/Plague-Zombies
I’m presently writing a short story for another anthology (this one titled DANGEROUS WOMEN)—the story is called “Virgins,” and is about Jamie and his not-yet-brother-in-law Ian, as very young mercenaries in France. I don’t have a pub date for this anthology yet, but expect it will be out sometime later this year. I do post occasional brief snippets from “Virgins” (as well as other works-in-progress) on my Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/AuthorDianaGabaldon.
OK– on to Book Eight, which is probably what most people want to know about.
1) WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD is the eighth volume in the main Outlander series. (It’s the sequel to AN ECHO IN THE BONE, where allll the cliffhangers will be picked up. [g])
2) I don’t know yet if WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD is the last book in this series!!
3) I am still writing WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD!!!
A) I hasten to say that most of the mail I get is wonderful, and Much Appreciated! However, I do get a small amount of idiotic email accusing me of having already finished the book, but “hiding” it from the readers, or keeping it off the market “just to be mean” or (of all insane notions) “to drive the price up.” (It ain’t pork bellies, people; the cover price is the same whenever it comes out, and I don’t set it.) I don’t mean to be impolite here, but…geez, guys.
i) Look. Books are
a) written in order to be read, and
b) published in order to make money.
ii) Publishers do not make money from books that are not in bookstores. Ergo….
iii) Publishers want to sell books as soon as the books are ready.
iv) So do authors. What do you think I live on, while I’m supposedly keeping a book off the market to be mean? And why do you think I’d want to be mean to the people who read my books? Sheesh.
4) Right. Now, I hope to finish writing the book around the end of this year.
OK, pay close attention now….
5) The book will not—repeat not—REPEAT NOT!!!—be published on December 31st, even if I finish writing it on December 30th. Why not? Well, because…
A) Books don’t go directly from the author to the bookstore.
B) Books go from the author to the Editor, who
i) reads the manuscript
ii) discusses the manuscript with the author, and
iii) suggests minor revisions that may improve the book
C) The book goes back to the author, who
i) re-reads the manuscript
ii) considers the editor’s comments, and
iii) makes whatever revisions, emendments, or clarifications seem right.
D) The book goes back to the editor, who
i) reads it again
ii) asks any questions that seem necessary, and
iii) sends it to
E) The copy-editor. This is a person whose thankless job is to
i) read the manuscript one…word…at…a…time
ii) find typos or errors in grammar, punctuation, or continuity (one heck of a job, considering the size not only of the individual books, but of the overall series), and
iii) write queries to the author regarding anything questionable, whereupon
F) The book comes back to the author—yes, again—who
i) re-reads the manuscript
ii) answers the copy-editor’s queries, and
iii) alters anything that the copy-editor has changed that the author disagrees with. After which, the author sends it back to
G) The editor—yes, again!—who
i) re-re-reads it
ii) checks that all the copy-editor’s queries have been answered, and sends it to
H) The Typesetter, who sets the manuscript in type, according to the format laid out by
I) The Book-Designer, who
i) decides on the layout of the pages (margins, gutters, headers or footers, page number placement)
ii) chooses a suitable and attractive typeface
iii) decides on the size of the font
iv) chooses or commissions any incidental artwork (endpapers, maps, dingbats—these are the little gizmos that divide chunks of text, but that aren’t chapter or section headings)
v) Designs chapter and Section headings, with artwork, and consults with the
J) Cover Artist, who (reasonably enough) designs or draws or paints or Photo-Shops the cover art, which is then sent to
K) The Printer, who prints the dust-jackets–which include not only the cover art and the author’s photograph and bio, but also “flap copy,” which may be written by either the editor or the author, but is then usually messed about with by
L) The Marketing Department, whose thankless task is to try to figure out how best to sell a book that can’t reasonably be described in terms of any known genre [g], to which end, they
i) try to provide seductive and appealing cover copy to the book
ii) compose advertisements for the book
iii) decide where such advertisements might be most effective (periodicals, newspapers, book-review sections, radio, TV, Facebook, Web)
iv) try to think up novel and entertaining means of promotion, such as having the author appear on Second Life to do a virtual reading, or sending copies of the book to the armed troops in Iraq, or booking the author to appear on Martha Stewart or Emiril Lagasse’s cooking show to demonstrate recipes for unusual foods mentioned in the book.
vi) kill a pigeon in Times Square and examine the entrails in order to determine the most advantageous publishing date for the book.
M) OK. The manuscript itself comes back from the typesetter, is looked at (again) by the editor, and sent back to the author (again! As my husband says, “to a writer, ‘finished’ is a relative concept.”), who anxiously proof-reads the galleys (these are the typeset sheets of the book; they look just like the printed book’s pages, but are not bound), because this is the very last chance to change anything. Meanwhile
N) A number of copies of the galley-proofs are bound—in very cheap plain covers—and sent to
O) The Reviewers. i.e., the bound galleys are sent (by the marketing people, the editor, and/or the author) to the book editors of all major newspapers and periodicals, and to any specialty publication to whom this book might possibly appeal, in hopes of getting preliminary reviews, from which cover quotes can be culled, and/or drumming up name recognition and excitement prior to publication. Frankly, they don’t always bother with this step with my books, because they are in a rush to get them into the bookstores, and it takes several months’ lead-time to get reviews sufficiently prior to publication that they can be quoted on the cover.
P) With luck, the author finds 99.99% of all errors in the galleys (you’re never going to find all of them; the process is asymptotic), and returns the corrected manuscript (for the last time, [pant, puff, gasp, wheeze]) to the editor, who sends it to
(1. The ebook coding happens somewhere in here.)
Q) The Printer, who prints lots of copies (“the print-run” means how many copies) of the “guts” of the book—the actual inside text. These are then shipped to
R) The Bindery, where the guts are bound into their covers, equipped with dust-jackets, and shipped to
S) The Distributors. There are a number of companies—Ingram, and Baker and Taylor, are the largest, but there are a number of smaller ones—whose business is shipping, distributing, and warehousing books. The publisher also ships directly to
T) The Bookstores, but bookstores can only house a limited number of books. Therefore, they draw on distributors’ warehouses to resupply a title that’s selling briskly, because it takes much longer to order directly from the publisher. And at this point, [sigh]…the book finally reaches
U) You, the reader.
And we do hope you like it when you get it—because we sure-God went to a lot of trouble to make it for you. [g]
6) As it happens, Random House (who publishes my books in the US and Canada) prefers to publish my titles in the Fall quarter (between September 1 and December 31). That’s because this is traditionally the biggest sales period in the year, what with the run-up to Christmas, and therefore all the publishers normally release their “big” titles in the Fall. I’m flattered to be among them.
However, if I do finish the manuscript around the end of this year, Random House (and the UK publisher, Orion, and the German publisher, Blanvalet) _may_ decide to release the book earlier in 2013. They probably won’t set a pub date until I deliver the manuscript—which I _HOPE_ (no guarantees, mind you. Stuff Happens) to finish by the end of 2012.
(The other foreign editions—I think we’re now up to 29 countries, including Israel, Croatia, Russia, Greece, and Korea, which is pretty cool—will be out whenever their respective editors and translators finish their production processes, but I’m afraid I can’t predict that at all.)
So—that’s why the English and German-speaking readers will almost certainly get Written in My Own Heart’s Blood _sometime_ in 2013.
When I have a specific publication date, rest assured—I’ll tell you. (Webmaster’s note: WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD has an official publisher release date of June 10, 2014.)
[Amended to add that the photo above is of me sitting down to a well-earned glass of wine at the end of all this...no, really, it's of me at a dinner at Culloden House last summer. Thanks to Judy Lowstuter, who took it!]
Diana……….
No matter what Your books are always worth the wait, and always worth the re read or listen. As Much as peole can’t wait to get their hands on them, we will all be upset when the series is over.
Wow you’d think people would be less ignorant. If I were you, I would probably ask them,” Did your mother drop you on the head as a child?” I love your books, it gave me insight on Scottish, Irish, and English culture as well as history. Plus, reading the series allowed me to escape a lot of problems I’m dealing with and to run out with Jamie and Claire is sometimes the best thing that happens to me all day. Thank you and I look forward to reading your next book!
Diana,
Thank you so much for taking the time and energy to explain the publishing process. I am amazed that books even get published at all when hearing that.
Your books have always brought to me great joy. I love the anticipation of waiting for the next installment of the book. I am glad to hear that book 8 may not be the last book. My Dad may not be so glad to hear it. At 80 and in failing health, he may not be alive for a book 9. But you have brought him great joy in these books as well
Thank you again for all of your patience and understanding. I am sorry for the complaints that you get. Don’t let them get you down. Some people aren’t happy unless they have something to complain about.
Best regards,
Louise
Thank you for taking the time to explain this process. I have a teenage daughter who’s desire as an adult is to be published author. This has offered her great insight. I so enjoy the snippets you put on your Facebook page. Till any of the new titles become available I will continue to re-read all of your work as they are all a great source of relaxation & escape.
Diana: Thank you for sharing your exhausting publishing process. As an avid reader and fan of your books, I look forward to the next installment. In the meantime, I will re-read the series and enjoy every minute of it.
Silly people!!! You can’t rush art (in any form)!!! I for one am using the time to re-read the first 7 books. It’s like visiting with old friends. And I want to thank you for re-igniting my interest in my Scottish heritage! Researching now for both my husband and myself as we plan a 20th Wedding Anniversary trip to Scotland! : )
You have been my favorite author since Outlander. You provide great historical information and the only author I know of that provides insight to characters in your short stories/novellas. Love it!
After hearing you speak at the book fair on the Mall in Washington, I liked you even more, and the book you signed is treasured. Please don’t listen to the complainers, there are more of us that truly respect, enjoy, and appreciate all the effort you put into all of your books.
Patiently awaiting MOBY.
God Bless!!
Victoria
Diana, please don’t listen to those, shall we say, challenged people that accuse you of such nonsense as holding back a book on purpose. We, your loyal fan base, know what’s going on and the only we might try is to send you your favorite sweets to hasten up the process, knowing full well that it won’t make a different. LOL. Just saying that when you love a series that much it’s hard to wait, but whaddayagonnado, right? All the Best to you.
Well I must say, that is quite a process to get a book published. We will always want your books done faster and more often. But truthfully we are all just whiners. I consider myself blessed to have found your amazing books. The series will continue when it is due time.
Thank you so much for all that you write and blog for us, your devoted readers! I am eagerly awaiting the 8th book of your Outlander series and know it will be as good as all the others.
Thanks for the update! I will wait as patiently as possible for MOBY, meanwhile hooking as many people as humanly possible on the series! Jamie and Clare are old friends by now and if necessary, I’ll just re-read the series (again!) and visit with them that way while waiting…..
Dear Sarah–
Sorry, I approved your last comment (I _think_ it was yours) about the short pieces, by accident–meant to hit REPLY AND APPROVE. Anyway, yes, I do intend to collect all the short pieces into Gabaldon-only [g] books, in the fullness of time. The thing is, these short pieces are written under contract for the anthologies in which they first appear–and those contracts specify an exclusive period (usually 12-18 months) during which the piece can’t be reprinted. Once that period expires, I have all the rights back, and can do whatever I want with the piece. At the moment, I have back the rights to “The Custom of the Army,” and we’re thinking of publishing it as an “e-short”–i.e., an ebook version–that people could have right away, and then as other pieces come back to me, include them in a volume like HAND OF DEVILS. (The first two novellas in HAND OF DEVILS were originally published in anthologies; I wrote “Haunted Soldier” specifically for that book, so we wouldn’t need to wait for another story’s reprint rights in order to publish the book).
–Diana
Short e-books would be wonderful!
Diana, first let me preface this by saying HOW VERY MUCH I LOVE ALL OF YOUR BOOKS!!!
This is where I have a problem though! There are some of your books (the added books that
help to flesh out the characters!) that I just cannot find, and or that I am wont to spend the
money on! I truly want to read ALL of the books that you write, but, when these shorter books
are included in an anthology along with other authors, or genres, that I don’t read, it makes me
sad! I am the type that when I love a book written by an author, I like to keep all of them so that
I can re-read them at my leisure (making notes in the margins or on the back of the covers, so that
when I find myself reading the ‘bigger’ books and wonder about a detail, I can go back and read the
chapter or the few pages that refer to and / or answer my own query.
Will there ever be ONE (or prefably TWO books!!) that may one day contain ALL of these short stories?
Don’t get me wrong, I would definitely buy the books containing all of these short stories (at any price!),
to love and to cherish them. It’s too bad however that your short stories are not part of books / anthology
books that are in the same genre, so that your fans would want to perhaps discover other authors who write
about time travel / romance (present / medieval times) and enjoy them as much as we do your books!
Please don’t think of this as negative comment (which it is NOT meant to be at ALL!!), just as ME putting in
my two cents (for what it’s worth!!).
OMG!! Can’t wait for your next book!!
as my mama always says, “you can’t rush perfection.”
Dear Diana, my husband wants me to tell you to take all the time you need to write that book….He is so happy to have me back
Hahaha. Seriously, I can’t wait to read number 8. And it’s totally true, I have NO life when I’m reading one of your book. They are like a second life for me. Please, please, pretty please, don’t let it be the last one. Just be sure to post the release date so I can take my vacations…
Thanks for the update and explantion of the publishing process.
I know you are spread thin but are you ever going to be on Google+ like you are on Facebook and Twitter?
I’d love to see your Daily Lines over there.
I’m starting to see other authors there, too. And Hangouts would be a great way to promote when a book comes out.
#pleaseprettyplease
Melody
Dear Melody–
You do know there’s only one of me, right? [g] I’ve never even heard of Google+, but will go have a look as soon as I have a few spare minutes. IF it looks like something I can handle like I do Twitter and Facebook (i.e., about ten minutes a day, each), then sure. Thanks for telling me about it!
–Diana
These are probably the same people who call the customer service desk where I work and expect the person who answers to have the company’s entire merchandise inventory committed to memory AND of course know whether our location has some in stock.
Geesh! Would they rather she go “Willy Wonka” on us like some authors and refuse to engage the public?
And Diana is SO mean, that rather than ignore them as she certainly might/should, she instead took valuable time (away from writing!) and made it a teachable moment and enlighten everyone.
Thanks for putting up with the bad eggs for the sake of the rest, Diana!
While I am rather anxiously awaiting Book8, and quite willing to do whatever I can to assist, I am pondering how I could contribute to the process. Do you need me to catch a pigeon for you?
Dear Marsha–
Much obliged! [g] Actually, though, the pigeon-killing is the province of the publishing people, not me.
–Diana
Reading entrails is for gutsy publishers. Bet Outlander kitchen could come up with a yummy recipe for pigeon pie for the leftovers. No need for squab-bling.
Phew!!! I knew If I read enuff of these someone would have made the offer! I could hold it…or perhaps say a pray? Thank You Diana. ;).
Dear Diana-
Very educational, thank you! I wanted to comment on the lovely picture of you above. Quite pretty!
Amanda
Hi Diana,
I don’t think I can add anything to all the lovely comments above except to say “Amen everyone”! I would like to say I love your daily posts on FB and to tell you that as I read them (or as I reread the books) I have this song playing in my head. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of “Straight No Chaser” but they sing their own arrangement of “Like a Prayer.” I can easily imagine this song playing in Jamie’s head when he’s missing Claire so much in “Scottish Prisoner” with Lord John listening in the hall or maybe when he hears her say his name again after they’ve been apart for so many years. You can listen to it on their website, SNC.com, if you’re interested. Anyway, thank you for all the hours of enjoyment you’ve given me as I’ve read your books. One of my greatest pleasures in life is when I get to experience a master craftsman’s work in their field of expertise. Obviously, writing is yours and I’m honored to have experienced it.
Pam (or if you prefer “Patiently Waiting Pam ) lol
Honestly, people: stop haranguing Herself about the timetable! You like the books the way they are, yes? Well, do you think for one nanosecond that they would be that way if any of the above processes or steps were rushed or skipped?! Of course not! So let Our Lady do what she does in her own time, if you please. Has it occurred to you that she might get so fed up that she stops writing altogether? Doubtful, but you never know.
Dear Diana, I do hope you get to sleep and eat now and then. Take care ~