This week was all about the art – multiple covers getting worked on, revealed, and finalized!

Pressing Matters: Week of March 11-15, 2013

Editing

1. Anne E. Johnson has updated Blue Diamond Delivery to make Editrix Sarah’s continuity tweaks. Yes, she does in fact make line-by-line reference lists of who was where when. She’s that good. This is what we do for you people, to avoid plot holes and even minor continuity gaffes!
2. Revisions on II Crimsonstreak are in; time to edit the new version!

Production

1. The Daughter Star’s cover is no longer a secret! Stop by The Book Smugglers to see it, and to read how artist Rio Griffiths came up with such a beautiful, fitting design. And hear from author Susan Jane Bigelow about what it’s like to have a cover made for your book.
2. UPS lost the proof copy of The Other Half of the Sky. Luckily, we built an “oh shit” factor into the production schedule…

Reviews, Promotions, and Buzz

1. Bunbury in the Stacks has reviewed the entire Extrahumans series by Susan Jane Bigelow – and LOVED it. We agree: he series is criminally under-read and more people need to discover it!
2. Sent the review copy of Blue Diamond Delivery to Publishers Weekly on Tuesday. Next up, all the reviewers who still require print copies…

Sundries

1. Keeping up with all the madness surrounding the Random House digital imprints and the SFWA? It’s pretty much been resolved – Hydra and Alibi revised their contracts, and are now allowing a choice of revenue models for authors.
2. Nearly all the books we’ve got in-house are up on shelves in the Lair. Beginning to worry that the shelves will break under their weight…
3. Rebuilding the royalties database. Still. Gotta finish it up in time for Q1 royalties to go out…!
4. Check out these delicious literary cakes – I’m particularly taken by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the Poe cake!
5. A fascinating breakdown of how many copies it might take to become an Amazon print bestseller. Great reading for anyone who dreams of striking it rich off book sales in this day and age, presuming their name isn’t King or Patterson. Warning: here be numbers!