Rebel Base in ... two-point-five Months

So, the next stage in the production of a book has arrived: The bound galleys for Star Wars: Death Star have been printed and sent out to reviewers. This is done to generate ink in advance of publication, to give reviewers sufficient space to read, write, and get the reviews into the queue in time to do the book some good, sales-wise. You do this if you think readers are going to like the book. (If you have doubts they will, you don't risk it ...)

Which is how I got one, in my capacity as a book reviewer for the local paper.

I found it ... disturbing, to quote Vader, that they, ah, didn't send me copies as one of the book's writers. I haven't heard from my collaborator as to whether he got any yet, but if I had to guess, I'd say he didn't.

Usually, I get these from my publisher on my other novels.

When I wrote Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, for Bantam Books, they sent galleys. After it came out and sold so well? They sent me a leather-bound, gold-lettered edition, inscribed "With Appreciation and Admiration, Bantam Books, 1996," on the cover.

Classy, huh?

Things have gotten tighter at Del Rey Books -- the rights to do Star Wars novels are waaay expensive, and so I wouldn't expect leather-bound thank-yous, but surely they could afford to treat the authors to bound galleys ... ?

Oh, well. We are just the writers. Our contributions to the project weren't all that much, hey, hey ... ?

But, in the interests of fair play, I have to say that my editor is on vacation, and since she's the one who would normally take care of such things, then I'd guess that's what happened; soon as she gets back, I expect to see that fixed.