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!]
Thank you Diana for all this precision, but you don’t have to justify yourself, take the time that you need, during that time, Jamie and Claire are still in my mind. I am the one who has to be patient because I live in Canada (Quebec) and have to wait until it is traduce in french before reading it. So now I am waiting for the Scottish prisoner to be traduce. The problem is that since I have finish the last book The ECHO last spring, and the Lord John series in the summer, I can’t read anything else ! So I decided to start over again all the books, while I have to wait for the MOBY book, and that for me should be in 2013 !
I am exhausted just reading what goes into publishing a book. I am grateful that you go through the trouble. I LOVE<LOVE<LOVE your books and read the series every year…Thank you for your vision and creativity!
This blog had me laughing. I love the #3 comments. Great job on pointing out the process of a book being created!
Diana, Please enjoy your much earned glass of wine maybe two your books are wonderful and worth waiting 10 yrs for ! Those people who critizise you are just jealous of your talent and have nothing better to do so write on girl and enjoy your wine ! Oh btw I love your outlander books I fancy myself traveling through time right along with all your charecters and try to guess who traveled and when they came and if they are good or bad. Thanks for keeping at it and stay safe ! Marcia in Texas
Diana: You crack me up. You can take any topic and
A. Make it long
B. Make it hilarious
C. Make it informative
D. Make it entertaining…and the list goes on.
Will be very excited to see the new work.
Best Wishes.
I love your books, and am happy to wait as long as it takes. You are a wonderful storyteller <3
Diana,
I have been a big fan of yours since I read Outlander xxx years ago
One of the things that makes you unique is the level of detail, history and complication of characters you weave into your novels. True genius takes time… We have to be patient and let you do what you do best.
On a side note, I, too, will be devastated if MOBY is the last book in the series… I canna bear the thought!
Anxiously anticipating MOBY,
Gina
Thank you for that education on the world of publishing. Wow, who knew so much went into getting a book out. I can’t wait for the next book and I do follow you on fb. Thank you for all your hard work:)
Diana, I enjoy your books so much, and I came to them later in life, not reading them when they originally came out. I especially like the last few which have taken place in America. I have nothing against Scotland, just like these better. I’m curious to know if you think a woman just page the age of Social Security and a breast cancer survivor, can/should attempt to write a book and have it published.? I know it may be a silly question, but I’m serious. I have approximately 20,000 words of a first draft done, but keep thinking I should write more, write faster, etc., and go to this conference and that workshop, but don’t because….well, I just can’t do that that way. But, enough of that. I anxiously await the publication of MOBY, whether it’s white or not. Thanks for all your hard work.
Dear Christine–
Why _shouldn’t_ you write a book? Once you have, you can decide whether you want to try mainstream publication (the rather tedious process I outlined [g]), or perhaps go the self-publishing route, which is a heck of a lot faster. But it’s the writing that’s important. Good luck!
–Diana
So thankful for all the info. What an amazing process! Was sad to find out we won’t see the next book until next year, but know for sure it will be worth the wait. I’ll just keep rereading the older parts until the new one comes out… I’m addicted!
Diana,
That’s my girl! Good-humored response to a ridiculous gripe and at the same time, who knew all the steps involved! Thanks for explaining the grueling process of publication… like a tennis match in slow motion.
Here’s what I want to know. I want to tell my fourth-grade writers how some authors plan their stories.
How do you manage to keep track of events throughout your novels and short stories? Your eight anchor novels move sequentially (while moving back and forth between centuries) while your other pieces fill in gaps. What tool do you use to lay out the plan? Or do you have a flawless memory or both? J.K. Rowling used post-its on a wall.
(I also wish I could ask Michelangelo how he painted the Sistene Chapel. Are there any stones that go to Italy?)
-Laurie B.
Dear Laurie–
Errr….well, to be honest, it’s all just in my head. I mean, it’s more complex than that [g], but I don’t have a tool other than my brain, and I don’t write things down, beyond the MFILE (master file) that I use to catalog the disparate scenes so I can find the one I want when I come to a place where I think it joins up with something else. Stay tuned, though–later this month, I plan to post a long piece explaining what happens _before_ the publishing process; i.e., how I get to the _first_ step of “Finished.” [g] I’m afraid it won’t be a lot of help to your kids–except insofar as making it crystal clear that there is no One Way to write, and there are no Rules. [g]
–Diana
Diana,
Thank you for setting these people staight. You take whatever time you need to make the next book the best ever! I’ll be waiting no matter what.
Kindest Regards
Yes… it’s “Sistine” Yes… spelling in American schools is taught every day. Yes.. I want to go to Italy some day.
Dear Diana, I’ve read your books since they had been published in Germany first in German, later – because I couldn’t wait for the translation, in English. Now – after this long time – I started again with buying the audiobooks and I still loooove them. I hadn’t realized how much I had forgotten and they are wonderfully read.
Funny – the ghost thing was one I was wondering if I ever read about the why and what – so waiting paitently.
Just finished the Scottish Prisoner on audio and honestly – I loved it, too. Okay, I love Lord John anyway but Jamie and John in one book and the fragile balance/friendship between them…wow…and I thought it was wonderfully read, too, especially the narrator of Lord John did a very good job, emotions gave me shivers while listening….
Thank you for your update. I had no idea! I’d like to see the look on Copy Editor face(s) when your books comes through the door for scrutany. Such a process – but worth every minute.
I’ve been a reader of this series since 1991. Really looking forward to the next one — and grateful to DG for the snippets she posts, as these keep me going until publication of each new book.
(Besides, I didn’t really expect the next one before 2013. DG has been on a 4-year writing schedule for the last several books: TFC came out 4 years after Drums; ABOSAA came out 4 years after TFC; Echo came out 4 years after ABOSAA. Stands to reason that MOBY will come out 4 years after Echo…and that puts it in 2013. Seems to me that Diana’s right on schedule.)
Dear Nifty–
Indeed I am. [g] EXCEPT that the readers got ECHO in 2009, then _also got_ THE EXILE in 2010, THE SCOTTISH PRISONER in 2011–and will get at least two or three novellas or short stories in 2012, to help time them over.
–Diana
I for one am GLAD your MOBY will not be published until 2013! I now know I have at least a year to start at the beginning….again. Every time a new book comes out I like to have the stories fresh in my mind so off to Outlander I go!
Also, Poisened Pen is just the greatest. I have ordered almost all of your books (signed, of course!) from them. They are always prompt, courteous and speedy shippers! I am so glad they are there for both you and us fellow readers who do not live in Arizona.
One question-does this neverending story always float around in your head? Does a day go by that you do NOT think about the characters in one way or another? Well, OK. 2 questions
Dear Wendy–
If I’m sick or really, really tired, then I mostly don’t hear anything from the Other Side. Otherwise, bits and pieces kind of drift through; it’s like background radiation [g]. It’s only when I’m actually _working_, though, that the magic really happens.
–Diana
With my deepest (!) apologies (!!) to them, I’m guessing you could skip the marketing department ‘s job, post a teeny tiny note anywhere, and poof! all gone.
Hard cover, yes, Kindle, yes, AND paperback for the uninitiated. A friend took Drums in Autmn on vacation with her, and when she gave it back it was missing a huge chunk from the middle. When I politely inquired as to its whereabouts, she dug through her car trunk and handed the pieces back to me. Fortunately they were all there and it is now rubberbanded.
Thank you, Diana, for hours of reading pleasure.
Dear Sally–
Oh, no! The marketing and sales reps are _very_ important in the process. I don’t–as an author–usually see any of what they do, though, and am not personally involved in that part, so I didn’t include it in my outline. A nice sales rep left a message upstream, though, explaining about what they do, and so I’ll have that information to include, next time I post something like this. [g]
–Diana
I wanted to say “Thank You” to Diana for writing such wonderful books. You bring characters to life for me and they have become my friends. It seems from the reading the post that sometimes you feel to be under pressure to be a writing machine. Well, this fan says, “Take all the time you need, Honey!” I want each book to be as good as the last and to do that takes time. Keep up the good work and I’ll wait patiently!
Out of all the people in the world, the one person I would love to spend a day (or evening, or even an hour) talking to would be you! Anyone who can write such an entertaining outline, which had me laughing out loud by the way, is someone I’d like to befriend. I’m sure it was no coincidence that letter U) in your outline was You (the reader), right???
Absolutely love your writing! I don’t have the proper words to explain it but the best I can say is you write “emotion” better than anyone else I’ve read. As the others have said, I’m axiously awaiting book #8, but don’t rush…it will be well worth the wait!! Maybe you’ll get to the Seattle area after the book comes out and I’ll actually get to meet you and experience your amazing wit in person!