Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: New Edition, Jan ’10

I’ve been sitting on this bit of news for a while now, but now is as good a time as any to announce it: Tor Books will be releasing a trade paperback edition of my Hugo-winning essay collection Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008, this upcoming January. This is good news because the original hardcover release was limited to 1,000 copies, and is sold out, although some of the $250 lettered edition are still available. So this new version will be both cheaper (go trade paperback format!) and more plentiful, and a perfect way to spend those book store gift certificates you will have accrued during the holiday season.

(In point of fact the book’s release date is January 5, which means there’s a reasonably good chance you’ll see it on bookstore shelves in December, just as Old Man’s War leaked into stores well before its official January 1st release date back in 2005. So keep a look out.)

Pictured above, incidentally, is a proposed cover for the new edition of Hate Mail, which I love (the actual cover may be different, but hopefully not by much). The original devil cover has its charms, to be sure, but it’s an object example of a cover that’s intended for a limited audience (i.e., people who know me already). The above cover is I think really smart for people who may not be familiar with my essayist side, as among other things the quote in the artwork pretty much tells you what you’re getting into on the inside of the book. Well done, Tor art folks.

If you’re of a mind to pre-order this Tor Books version, here’s the Amazon page for it, although of course if you want to pre-order it from your local bookstore, I’m sure they would appreciate the commerce.

Let me also note how really thrilled I am Tor picked this up to bring it to a wider audience. Tor is primarily a fiction publisher, as most of you know, and while Hate Mail has some obvious genre appeal (what with the Hugo win and all), it’s still a vote of confidence in the book and its appeal to a wider market. I do appreciate that vote of confidence; it’s one reason I’m glad I’m published by Tor.

33 Comments on “Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: New Edition, Jan ’10”

  1. Have you seen what Dooce.com is doing with her hate mail by “Monetizing the Hate?” It’s a pretty cool idea of sharing her hate mail while raising money for charities. But it probably won’t win her any Hugos.

  2. Well, long as everyone is booking up their blogs and publishing them, might as well do it.

    I used to think that doing so was really stupid, but a pocket sized version of the lol-cats book is an impulse buy at borders. Sh*t has changed.

  3. Yep. Digital is dead. The web is yesterday’s tech. Blogs are all going to be printed in ink on paper someday and you can’t hold back the tide.

  4. Ben:

    “Well, long as everyone is booking up their blogs and publishing them, might as well do it.”

    Considering Hate Mail was the fourth book of mine published after its content appeared on the site, the first being almost five years ago now, I’ll gently suggest I was ahead of that particular curve, Ben.

  5. should it be “congratulate you *on* your decision not to breed”? And if so, might that be a good thing to fix?

  6. Great news!

    Just curious – any new content in the trade, or will it be the same as the original hardback?

  7. This is good news. I’m going to put Hate Mail and The God Engines on the same shipping order.

    Dear Tor,
    Please change the cover for Hate Mail.
    Thanks,
    DWH

  8. Oops, I meant that I LOVE the proposed cover. Ditch the scary devil one. It scares the bejesus out of my cat, Junebug.

  9. Now you tell me!

    I just got around to picking up the hardcover, ordered through my local indy bookstore, last week!

  10. Oh good. I do still have my electronic version from the Hugo downloads, but a trade paperback will be 1) much easier on my eyes, and 2) easier to buy for others.

  11. May I suggest using that cover text with the original cover’s DevilScalzi as the avatar?

    Best of both worlds, IMHO.

  12. I love the new cover. I hope it’s available before Christmas, I have a few folks on my shopping list it would be perfect for.

  13. gah! huge block of Helvitica!

    I didn’t care at all about fonts until I watched the Helvitica documentary, and now it’s everywhere! It’s following me, man, I swear!

  14. Nice… I own the e-book edition but would like to have something to put on a bookshelf. Someone caught me reading it in a meeting today on my ipod touch and after sharing one of the entries with them they immediately wanted to order the book. This is a nice option for them… (and hopefully the public library will finally get a copy).

    ben@3

    It is kind of nice to have a printed version of the posts to read. I sit in front of a computer all day long and being able to read something I enjoy “offline” is nice.

    Rabid

  15. Oh, yay!!! This is fantastic news! Congrats on the reprint, and the cover looks fantastic. I just pre-ordered my copy from Amazon.

    Not that I wouldn’t love one of the hard-covers with your and Wil Wheaton’s (yay @wilw!!!) signatures, but $250 is a bit rich for my blood these days, sadly. I need to eat, after all… (I know, what is UP with my priorities?)

    Anyway – again, great great great! Go @scalzi!

  16. Tor really is a great publisher. They’re fortunate to have you, and you them. It’s just a big love fest all around.

  17. Add my name to the growing list of People Who Think That’s A Really Cool Cover For The Book. It’s the kind of cover I’d see in a bookstore and just HAVE to pick the book up to see what other snark lurks inside.

  18. I just got my signed hardcover edition in the mail about three weeks ago and still have not read it.

    No, I’m not ignoring it. I am flying home from work on Thursday and this has reminded me that I have a few enjoyable hours of reading to look forward to when I get home.

    BTW: I’ll also throw in my vote for the new cover.

    *grumbles to self as he now has yet another edition of a Scalzi book to purchase*

  19. the old cover was HORRIBLE!

    why would you let it be released? it still beats me…

    anyway, this one is excellent. it will make me buy your book.

  20. Awesome! I’ve wanted to read it for ages, but could never find a library or used copy. And $250 is a wee bit out of my price range.

    I wonder, does the stuff people say to you on the internet harden you to bad reviews? Whenever I hear someone sob over a less-than-stellar review I sometimes think, “Are you kidding? That’s nothing! You should see the hate mail people send to John Scalzi. He’s got an entire book’s worth.”

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