So I’d said The Spriggan Mirror should be out the second week of November, right? Which would be now?
Well, it isn’t. My apologies. It is, however, making progress — I finally have my last set of proofs to check over, and should have that done later today. It should still ship in time for Christmas, though just barely.
There’s another issue that’s come up, as well. I said it would include the short story “Sirinita’s Dragon,” but it turns out that would push the page count up into the next price bracket, which the publisher is very, very reluctant to do. So the current plan is to put that story online instead, and give the URL in the book.
I had told people who contributed $15 or more that they would get the short story, though, so I’ll also be printing a chapbook of it that will be included with the copies I send out to those donors. The chapbook will also be offered for sale through my website, details to be determined.
Thanks for your patience.
Mr. Watt-Evans, I’ve been reading your books for a LONG time and I’d really like to say that I love what you’re doing with the serialization of your Ethshar series. I’ve been buying the hardcovers of the recent Ethshar novels and was wondering if Wildfire would be doing a hardcover edition of The Spriggan Mirror. Maybe I missed it but I didn’t see anything about a hardcover, only a trade and possible mass-market. I don’t know if it would be cost effective or not though…either way I’ll be buying a print copy as soon as they’re available! Keep on writing! 🙂
So far as I know, Wildside has no plans for a hardcover. I wouldn’t mind one, and our contract would allow it, but I’m not aware of any.
Promises, promises. I’ll believe it when I have a printed copy in my hands. Meanwhile, I don’t believe in throwing good money after bad. I’ll be happy to contribute to The Vondish Ambassador, but only after I receive my printed copies of The Spriggan Mirror and Sirinita’s Dragon. You’d better get started on the Sirinita’s Dragon chapbook now so you don’t have to delay shipment of The Spriggan Mirror when it is finally published.
I’ve got a question. I did not start reading this until the spriggan mirror was done. I could simply order it from amazon, but would not get the extra story and would have no option of getting an autographed copy (unless your coming to do a book signing in Pittsburgh anytime soon). Could I pay extra and get still get in on the “Spriggan Mirror”? All things being equal, I would always prefer to buy from the author. Indeed, I would prefer to purchase from the author in such a way as the publisher was uninvolved.
John, I don’t blame you. One reason I started the serial of The Vondish Ambassador when I did was that I thought The Spriggan Mirror would be out the following week.
Oops.
The chapbook of “Sirinita’s Dragon” is all pasted up in Microsoft Publisher, ready to print, except for illustrations, and I’m not sure whether I’m going to have illustrations or not — depends on whether I can find the right artist. It’ll be thirty-two pages, soft cover, with an afterword about the story. Set in Garamond, for those who care about such things. I pulled the text from the copy-edited proofs of The Spriggan Mirror before it got cut.
Paul, right now I’m not selling The Spriggan Mirror — I’ve been burned enough by these delays. Once it’s on hand, though, if I have extra copies left after sending out all those previously ordered (which I should — I over-ordered from Wildside by about twenty copies), I’ll be happy to sell those, and the chapbooks, as well. I don’t yet know what the price will be; depends on shipping costs.
I wish you’d stuck with your original publisher. It seems to me that Wildside is just stringing you (and, indirectly, us) along.
No, honestly, they aren’t. They’re just more interested in keeping costs down than in meeting schedules.
The reason I put up with it is that they’ll get a lot more copies into bookstores than would any of the other publishers who were interested in the book. They’ve told me how many copies the big chains and wholesalers have ordered, and it’s a lot more than FoxAcre or most other small presses could have done.
And Wildside has a mass-market paperback deal, which no other small press has.
So I tolerate the delays.
I’d hoped it wouldn’t happen this time; they delayed The Spartacus File for months, too, but there have been changes that I thought would make it less likely to happen again. Obviously, I was over-optimistic on that count.
If they don’t make the christmas date, you may have cause to regret that. That would be an expensive delay.
Oh, I know that, believe me.