So...
The UPS truck rolled up to my house this morning and brought me two copies of Legacy, hot off the presses, courtesy of my editor. It's In Print! A cursory glance shows no pages upside down or other printing disasters, and the interior design is right up there with that of the first volume.
And it's even lovelier when set up next to the hardcover of Beguilement.
Ta, L.
Subject: (chat) it's only a LiveJournal review...
Date: Mon, 28 May 2007
... but it's always nice when a reader Gets It.
http://alaeda.livejournal.com/1196.html
Ta, Lois.
Subject: (news) Westercon Added to Legacy Tour
Date: Thu, 24 May 2007
Hi all --
It turns out that Westercon 60 is going to be in San Francisco the same weekend as my book tour passes through. I've made plans to stop in. I'll be limited to Saturday during the day, due to the other obligations, but I should be able to get perhaps a panel and an autographing, plus maybe some stock signing in the Dealer's Room as time permits.
Ta, Lois.
Subject: (news) Legacy tour finalized!
Date: Fri, 18 May 2007
Ah ha --
HarperCollins has the final version of the Legacy tour up now at
http://www.harpercollins.com/author/tour.aspx?authorID=20310
Or in plain text:
Promoting The Sharing Knife Volume Two
Whew!
Ta, L.
Subject: (chat) one step closer -- dust jackets
Date: Fri, 18 May 2007
Ah ha --
Today's mail was very late, but worth it; it brought me samples of the dust jacket of Legacy, final version. So the dust jackets are all printed up and awaiting the printing of the books, which will happen within a few more weeks, a print run to be based on pre-orders, the performance of the prior book, and, probably, a dart board.
I wrapped one jacket around a spare hardcover Beguilement and put them up side by side -- the pairing is going to look great. I hope at least some stores take the hint and display them that way. The effect is pretty much as seen in the prior scans. The raised foil lettering of Legacy has a slightly greenish cast, and the interior of the flap is on a pale green paper, as contrasted with the butter yellow from the first volume. A nice array of subtle signals -- "Yes, these books belong together, no, this isn't the one you bought before..."
http://www.dendarii.co.uk/Covers/American/knife.html
Ta, L.
Subject: (chat) Only x days till...
Date: Thu, 17 May 2007
Heh --
The HarperCollins website page for Legacy has a cute little count-down cartouche telling just how long it is till publication day. By the second.
That's... bemusing.
http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061139055/The_Sharing_Knife_Volume_Two/index.aspx
They have the Legacy tour data up on a related page, but it seems to be incomplete -- it's missing the Chicago stop at Anderson's. I've dropped an e-mail to the publicist, and he'll doubtless fix it tomorrow.
Ta, L.
Subject: (chat) mink!
Date: Fri, 11 May 2007
So...
On my walk this afternoon around Bredesen Park, a wetland about half a mile west of my house and well within the city, I saw a wild mink up close. Cute, ferret-y face, lovely dark cinnamon brown color; we stared at each other for a minute, both holding very still, till I tried to move closer, then s/he vanished into the cattail wrack.
Minneapolis. What I love best about this city is that it's so much like the country.
Ta, L.
Subject: (chat) Sylvia Kelso's books on Amazon
Date: Thu, 10 May 2007
Oh hey --
I just figured out one can buy my friend Sylvia's books from Amazon (they're not well distributed in brick and mortar stores.)
The Moving Water is the sequel to Everran's Bane, and just out. Amberlight will be out in November, and she's rightfully overjoyed at the cover art, which is indeed very fine. All very memorable books. (Well, EB and Amberlight are; I read them in manuscript. I haven't read tMW yet.)
Ta, L.
Subject: (chat) useful e-book link for Beguilement
Date: Wed, 09 May 2007
Oh, and while I'm thinking about the perplexities of promoting Beguilement (and Legacy), here's another useful link to append to reviews and such, for the benefit of the e-book, instant gratification, and geographically challenged crowds...
http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook45700.htm
Fictionwise. Good folks.
A reprise of the sample chapters link wouldn't hurt anything either...
Huh. They seem to have taken down the good sample chapter link, and replaced it with a much kludgier and slower to load one. Now I hesitate to recommend the link, but anyway
http://www.harpercollins.com/search/index.aspx?kw=bujold
seems to be my page. You have to hit the "browse inside" buttons to get their servlet.
Ta, L.
Subject: (chat) book tour musings
Date: Fri, 04 May 2007
Hiya --
As noted, there will be a book tour the last week of June / first week of July for Legacy. I'll have more and more final data in a few weeks, but at the moment it looks like the cities will be Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland OR, San Francisco, and Chicago.
A fan on my chat list asked, "Why not my city?" Actually, the process by which author tours are arranged is a bit mysterious even to me. What I do know is that the publishers put out notices of availability, always for around the first two weeks their hot new book is coming out, and the stores have to contact the publisher PR guy to say if they want an author. This takes place six to four months in advance of a book release, often earlier. So part of why I'm not in, say, Albuquerque is that I haven't been invited by a bookstore there asking HarperCollins for me (or Baen, tho' I haven't had a new book and therefore a tour with them for a while.)
If a bookstore hasn't heard of me, and I would expect most general bookstore managers to be in the "Louis Who?" crowd, they won't ask. As a rule, I am only invited to either SF specialty stores, or stores with large and actively managed F&SF sections.
Stores where I've had good, successful signings before of course remember and want me back; they can tell by their sales figures for a given night which authors do them the most good. Which is why three of my stops this time will be University Bookstore in Seattle, Powell's in Portland, and Anderson's in Chicago.
Then, when my publisher's publicity manager has all the offers in front of him, he must triage: budget allowed for this author/book, which stores have the right dates open, which stores report sales to the most important bestseller lists, what makes a reasonable string of stops without too much doubling back. He has to make the travel times and hotels work, too, line up author escorts, and nail down a hundred other details. This results, a few weeks before the tour, in the arrival on my end of an itinerary a couple of dozen pages long chock-a-block with contact data, hotel reservations, and a scary string of airline flights, none of which had better go wrong if I'm flying that day into a city for an appearance that night.
And now you know as much about how sausages are made as I do...
Ta, L.
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