The Next Step

I mailed the manuscript of The Vondish Ambassador to the editor yesterday.

No contract as yet, though — Wildside was not happy with sales of the trade paperback of The Spriggan Mirror, which complicates matters.  (None of the big chains wanted to carry it.)

The regular-sized paperback from Cosmos Books is just now shipping, and we’ll see if that helps.

10 thoughts on “The Next Step

  1. Trade paperback is a retarded size in my not so humble opinion. I hate them.

    Of course, I hate hardbacks as well. Mass market paperback size forever!

  2. I’m afraid I have to agree with Humbaba, although I wouldn’t have used their exact phrasing. I prefer to buy mass-market paperback editions whenever possible. Most of my collection is already in that format, it’s easier to store and move, and most importantly it’s much easier to toss a few of them into my work bag to read during the inevitable slack periods. The fact that they’re cheaper doesn’t hurt either. The only downside is that it means I’m forever a year or more behind.

    As such, I really hope the Cosmos line succeeds. Bought that edition of The Spriggan Mirror this weekend, actually. It was quite nice to be able to go into a bookstore and see a new Ethshar novel on the shelf. 🙂

  3. Lawrence,

    Hope you’re well. I’m ready for _The Summer Palace_! The Annals of the Chosen have been fun and thoughtful fantasy. I’ve also been re-reading my old Ethshars and I can’t wait to start reading _The Final Calling_.

    Also, _Taking Flight_ has gotten me thinking more about demonology. The shatra from The Misenchanted Sword were really cool and it would be great to see some more action like that.

    On a side note, my local Barnes & Nobles is carrying The Spriggan Mirror in the pocket-book sized paperback. Did the sales reps at Wildside get it together after all?

    -Allen

  4. Sighted in Stockholm as well. Silly observation: books carrying suggested retail prices in both USD and GBP aren’t exactly common.

  5. It used to be that Penguin books had both prices, but that was a long time ago, probably not the case anymore.

    Stockholm, huh? Cool!

  6. Hmm….
    Chapter 25: “I take it you’re satisfied with your current condition, and don’t want Tobas and I to attempt any further magic?”
    Chapter 28: “Would it really be so terrible for Karanissa and I to share two husbands?”
    Deliberately lax grammar or lack of copy editing?

  7. As I just said in the previous set of comments, The Vondish Ambassador is edited, and a deal with Wildside looks to be in the making despite the unsatisfying sales of the trade edition of The Spriggan mirror.

  8. I’m also not fond of larger trim size paperbacks. To me they seem to have the worst features of hardcovers (unwieldiness) and smaller paperbacks (lack of durability), with their only advantage being that sometimes they’re easier to keep in print over time (Tor’s Orb books).

    I am sorry that the trade edition of TSM didn’t do well, but I bought a copy of the rack-size paperback as soon as I saw it at my local specialty store, and I’m pretty sure there were noticably fewer copies on the shelf last time I looked…so I hope that’s a good sign.

  9. The rack-sized edition seems to be doing well; it’s possible that The Vondish Ambassador will only have a limited edition in the larger size, then go directly to rack-size. We’ll see.

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