As It Stands Now…

Here’s the situation:

Wildside is interested in doing a mass-market paperback edition of The Vondish Ambassador through their Cosmos Books imprint. However, they aren’t interested in doing a trade edition — the trade edition of The Spriggan Mirror didn’t make them any money.

I don’t expect anyone to accept a mere mass-market paperback as adequate compensation for a $25 donation.

Therefore, Wildside and I are creating a joint venture called The Misenchanted Press which will produce a trade paperback edition of The Vondish Ambassador. It’ll probably (but not definitely) be limited to no more than 500 copies, most of which will go to contributors; I do expect to have a few left over.

The Misenchanted Press edition is edited and typeset; right now we’re working on cover design and discussing whether or not to include an “Author’s Note” at the back. Once everything’s done it’ll be off to the printer, and I should have copies in hand in a couple of months.

The paperback, if all goes well, will be published by Cosmos Books in 2008 or early 2009, but as yet there are no contracts and it’s not definite. Lots of things could still go wrong.

Assuming this works out, though, and the paperback sells decently, I hope to follow this same model for any subsequent Ethshar novels.

20 thoughts on “As It Stands Now…

  1. Really?

    There should be a mass market edition, but it’ll take awhile — there’s a lot of lead time on those. If anyone who’s donated really wants to, he or she is welcome to wait for the mass market paperback.

  2. Yeah, honestly, I *really* prefer mass market to trade paperback. If the prices were reversed, I’d still buy mass market size.

    As for the wait, I don’t care, I’ve already read the story, I don’t need to read it again for another decade.

  3. Okay; I’ll be e-mailing everyone before I send the books out, and anyone who would really rather wait for the regular paperback can do so.

  4. I’d accept PayPal or a check to my post office box (P.O.Box 3912, Gaithersburg MD 20885). I’d need a shipping address, obviously.

    I’m not sure what the shipping charge (if any) would be, so I’m not quite ready to do this.

  5. That’s optional. I’ll send out an e-mail when the books are in hand, asking people to verify their mailing addresses, and to let me know whether they want autographs.

    If I don’t get a response (I’ll allow a week or so), I’ll use the address on file and not sign the book.

    Incidentally, I’m expecting to see a cover proof pretty much any day now. The cover art is a painting my daughter did for one of her college art classes that I like, and that seemed sort of appropriate, though it obviously doesn’t represent an actual scene in the story. It’s a fantasy landscape. I’m afraid I didn’t want to go through the time and expense of commissioning a new piece of art.

  6. It’s good news that the book is getting closer to being printed. I’m looking forward to reading it in it’s finished format.

    I rather like the idea that the cover will be your daughters artwork rather then a purchased/commissioned picture.

  7. Due to a lost file I didn’t see that cover proof until just a couple of days ago, but it’s been approved and things are moving forward. Don’t know if I’ll have the books by the end of the year or not; we’ll see.

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