Out In One Week
Posted on July 28, 2015 Posted by John Scalzi 28 Comments
Look, it’s the paperback version of Lock In, which arrived here at the Scalzi Compound just yesterday. It looks great, feels great, and while I can’t legally promise anything, anecdotal evidence shows that when you hold it, you are three to five percent more attractive to those you wish to appear attractive to (and also, to dragonflies. We haven’t figured out the science on that one). This edition is officially out in exactly one week, although, as I am not JK Rowling, I’m sure that release date will be leaky and you will find copies available before then.
This is the “virtuous cycle,” incidentally — release the previous hardcover as a paperback on or near the release date of the new hardcover in order to take advantage of the publicity and excitement around the hardcover release. And then next year, repeat, with a new hardcover and the old one in paperback. Easy! Simple! Fun. And useful for book tours, curious new readers, and so on.
This also means the hardcover release of The End of All Things, not to mention my tour, is just two weeks away. Those of you coming to the tour will be happy to know that I will, as is my custom, be reading something new and exclusive on tour, which you won’t be able to read or hear anywhere else. Plus other stuff! So it will be worth your time to show up, I promise.
John, is the TEOAT tour Dayton stop at the Books & Co at the Greene?
Oh. Weird. Books & Co is a standalone. My whole life I thought they were a chain. Sorry, don’t mind me, I’ll just go mutter to myself in the corner.
I have a signed copy from BEA 2014. I haven’t read it for fear of damaging the darn thing. Now I can pick up a reading copy. All is good with the world!
Very Important Question. Will The End of All Things be released in England at the same time? I’ll be coming home through Heathrow August 20 and it would be nice to be able to pick this up for the hop across the pond.
I find it weird that some Amazon stores (like .it or .fr) are selling two different versions of the “The End of All Things” ebook (the one directly from TOR seems to be bigger in size & pages)
Is there a reason in that?
When is “101 uses for a spare goat” released?
Vanbarel:
There is no difference in content between the Tor and Tor UK editions. The discrepancies are probably due to different formatting.
DDavis:
I believe it will be available electronically in the UK on August 11; print edition will be January.
You’re coming to my local indy book store! I must remember to BE THERE. Have you figured out a way to sign the e-books/audio versions?
Tony:
I usually sign the objects that contain the ebooks/audio books.
John, good luck on your upcoming tour and the paperback release of “Lock In”. I am disappointed that you are not making a tour swing to the northeast which, according to Amazon, has 5 of the top 20 most well-read cities in the country (I noticed that Raleigh, NC is as close as you are coming.) I do hope that you would consider a swing to the D.C., Philadelphia, New York, and Boston areas in future tours. We actually do like you here! (I live in the D.C. area.) P.S. I enjoyed the novel thoroughly (and the novella as well.)
Oh, cool, Borderlands! That might be worth a trip into the city. And dragonflies are an under-represented demographic.
Release control a la JKR: Daughter read 1st Rowling when she was ~7. By the time the 3rd one came out, she was dragging The Mom to the line at the local bookstore for the midnight release. Across the street, a Safeway supermarket was ‘leaking’ them. She refused to get one there, despite The Mom’s pleadings. She’s still a fan at 25, listens to the audiobooks on her laptop while cooking or cleaning.
I actually saw the mass market paper at B&N last night … stocked in Mystery new releases. I get the sense the employees at that particular B&N don’t do much reading of their own.
This is North American, yes? Because I’ve seen a British trade paperback. Is this MMPB or TP size? Because there are not enough MMPB’s around nowadays, dammit, and if it is, I will rush to buy it in support.
@Troy, the book does work as a police procedural, though. Perhaps someone at B&N is being subversive and clever.
@Marion. Oh, I hope you’re right — that would actually be kinda cool.
Already preordered that puppy. *Rubs hands*
@Troy: The book starts with FBI agents looking at a dead body, probably a murder. Then the agents do a lot of questioning of people, info gathering, analyzing evidence, speculating on motive, there’s several more serious crimes… it’s the definition of a procedural!
It’s just set in the future and Chris is a little different. But even Chris has a regular life — starting a first job, dinner with the folks, a gently worried empty-nest mom, finding a new apartment, making new friends.
This is not about your book (as wonderful as they are) but about the picture at the top. That is a lovely, somber memorial. Where is it and who’s it dedicated to, please?
We got the paperback several months ago. What am I missing here?
Why is this cycle considered “virtuous?” I mean, I get that it has economic advantages, but I don’t see why it’s more moral to do it that way.
Ooh, I wonder if maybe, just maybe I can coerce my husband by telling him we can go see the US Pro Challenge cycling race end in Ft. Collins on 8/22, spend a romantic evening together, and then catch your gig at Old Firehouse Books. Do you think if I buy the paperback version of Lock In it will help influence him with my increased attractiveness? (Really, the race goes right by the Tattered Cover in Denver on 8/23. Wouldn’t you rather sign books and watch sweaty men on bikes at the same time?)
Although I am given to understand that the hardcover sold no more than a dozen copies at best, probably to friends and family, and that Tor is making a huge mistake by bringing out a paperback edition which nobody will buy, especially with the massive boycotts crushing them financially because nobody is buying any of their other books either, I nonetheless congratulate you on your achievement! May it comfort we who are the tiny minority of Social Justice Warriors until we are crushed like a bug beneath the modern, Internet-savvy publishing juggernaut that is Castallia House!
(Just in case Poe’s Law attempts to bite me in the butt–I am explicitly being humorous here. Congrats on the paperback release.)
Yays! I’ve been wondering, though, since you sometimes add related materials for the paperback release, will the paperback include “Unlocked?”
> I usually sign the objects that contain the ebooks/audio books.
Yep, I’ve got a Kindle singed by Scalzi, along with several other authors. I don’t actually use the Kindle itself anymore. Turns out I like reading actual books. And my phone is big enough I just use that for the few ebooks I do read instead of carrying around an extra dedicated book reader. So the Kindle is for autographs only at this point.
I have the cover to a Nook signed. It’s about full up, so I’ll have to move onto another cover. There’s limited space available on any gadget, but you can always buy a new cover/case.
(I had a Pup-sympathizer’s autograph on there, from before Pupgate. Turns out if you’re really patient, you can scrape it off and replace it with another. Who happened to be — and I didn’t even think of this till after — a black woman. Bwa ha.)
Bummed you’re not making it to Saratoga again (and the Northeast in general) this tour, but doubly glad I made it to the Saratoga date last year.
Opposite of bummed to be getting a new OMW book in less than two weeks.
I too recall purchasing a paperback copy several months ago, here in Australia.
@starkis – I believe that’s the King’s Park War Memorial in Perth, Western Australia. Aussie war memorials are usually general and cover WW1 through present-day Middle East conflicts, although some have an Anzac focus.
https://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac-day/