Thursday, August 02, 2007

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.

6 comments:

Bobbe Edmonds said...

Yeeowch. Here's to hoping for better days. *Lifts a Nazi beer*

Steve Perry said...

And, truth be told, I don't get to bitch about my job. It's better than being a rock star -- get up late, work short hours, easier on the ears.
Best gig in the world.

Irene said...

You wrote Shadows of Empire in 1966? Wow, talk about being ahead of the curve...

Steve Perry said...

Yeah, that's me, way out in front of George Lucas ...

Mr. Typo rears his ugly head once again. Should have read 1996, of course ...

Tiel Aisha Ansari said...

"You wrote Shadows of Empire in 1966?"

Think that was the empire described in "Toolmaker's Koan"-- you know, the one that was ended by that unfortunate asteroid impact...

Steve Perry said...

Yeah? Well, come back and see me when you are my age, Tiel!

Oh, right, I forgot -- by the time you are my age, I'll have been dead long enough to have become petroleum ...