Paksworld

Very likely Book III will get a new title in the next few days.    I’m participating in the process of coming up with a new one.    There was editorial concern that Crisis of Vision, though it did fit the “hinge book” position, did not carry enough of the epic fantasy feel (and in fact “felt” more like a nonfiction book to some.)   This will not delay the schedule or anything; it’s just one of those changes that comes along, and I thought I’d give y’all a heads-up about it.   I think I mentioned that the US edition now has cover art, but I’m not cleared to show it to you yet (and the old title’s on it, so it’s a good thing it’s not spread all over the internet.)

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We always knew that long books cost more to produce than short books, just because of the production  cost.     So long books are priced higher to cover that higher cost.    It’s not just the paper in the books–or even that fat books need bigger covers (which they do.)   It’s that longer texts take longer to edit, copy-edit, typeset (even with electronics working there, too) and proof after typesetting.   However, the materials cost is still the big problem, due to the ever-rising cost of paper and (related) the per-pound cost of shipping.

Some of us (points at self) thought that e-books would solve that problem, because a long electronic file (though yes, it takes a bit more bandwidth to download) isn’t that much more costly than a shorter one.  Within limits.   And paper & shipping costs are now out of the equation (“shipping” cost now consists of what the customer pays for a download…it’s no longer the publisher’s problem.)

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The morning began with the discovery (not unexpected by me!) that the dozen or so ants on the counter yesterday had become a superhighway of ants along the edge of the counter, up the wall, and into one of the cabinets.  They had also constructed a network of smaller routes on the counter itself.  Some of them had crossed the Great Chasm between counter and stove top, with the result that the sugar bowl (these are sugar ants, much to be preferred if you must have ants) had ants in it.

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It took longer than it should have, thanks to getting sick (at which point my brain goes duuhhhhhhh… and can’t see the sense in a sentence) but Editor Revisions are second-run done.  Now to see if Editor agrees with what I’ve done with what she did.

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Today has been not-quite-typical but sufficiently full of writing stuff that you might find it interesting.   Though it started not with writing stuff but with the car making odd noises the last time I had it out.

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Writers with what I call Engineer Mind have perfectly organized desks and files.   I’ve met a few of those.   I’m not one.  I have what I call Writer Mind (in lieu of calling it Chaos Mind.)    All my organizational skill goes into the writing…none is left over for anything else.

This becomes even more obvious when I’m faced with competing demands on organizational ability.

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Yesterday’s post was written before the call and email  from Editor, and now Crisis of Vision is back at the top of the priority list.    As expected (given the raw speed of revision in December) I missed some things.   Editor also wants a chapter moved from Crisis to the next book (did that this morning) to get Crisis under 170K.

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Book III is no longer Book III, or the tentative title I sent it in with.   Editor (who is a genius, if anyone asks)  agreed that the tentative title wasn’t an obvious marketing winner, and suggested (ta-DAH)  Crisis of Vision.     And I immediately said (after the ritual headdesk maneuver for not thinking of it myself) Hurray, hurray, o frabjous day, a book is born, hurray, hurray.

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