First, the bad news. I lost my editor. He was supposed to turn in an edited manuscript by April 11th and, after three messages unanswered and three days passed, he responded and told me who couldn't get it to me by the deadline. Then he told me I would need to get a new editor. Yes, you read that correctly. After months of working with this guy, I am just now finding out at the last minute that he cannot do the job that I hired him for.
I'm still recovering from the news. Seeing as the book has been out of my hands for some time now (I handed it over in early March), I hadn't even comprehended the idea of the next step not being completed on time. I knew that I may have to deal with a flexible deadline or two, but that eventually the novel would get back to me, all squeaky clean.
Unfortunately things between the editor and I turned ugly as he tried turning it around on me, telling me that I didn't give him enough time and that I needed at least a couple months of work (this is after he ignored my messages for days). This is also after he already told me he could do it by the deadline, no problem. Not to mention the fact that I delayed the project, twice, in order to give him enough time to edit it. All that he would have had to do was tell me he couldn't have done it, I would have hired someone else, and the book would have been released in late March as originally intended.
But now, and here is where we get into the bad news that I'm sure you've already guessed by this point: the book will be delayed yet again. I sincerely apologize and really wish that there was some other way but unfortunately there is not. The book is out of my hands in terms of what I can do with it creatively, and I am therefore dependent on someone to proofread and make sure it's good enough for publication. And unfortunately my last editor did not leave me with enough time to hire a new guy and still hit my release date. So as much as I'd like to say "I'll just put in more time and get this released on time" that is simply not possible.
As you can imagine, I am extremely frustrated. I've not been let down this drastically in a very long time and it sucks. I tried pulling together a good team, will similar sensibilities, that I thought would be reliable and it ended up biting me in the ass.
Fortunately, my efforts weren't entirely in vain as a key part of that team, Alvaro De Cossio, has done an incredible job with the art for the book and this is finally where the good news comes into play: here is a sneak peak at the actual book cover!
 |
| Artwork by Alvaro De Cossio |
Can you believe it? No matter how stressed this situation has made me, this art always puts a smile on my face. Because it reminds me that no matter what obstacles come my way, the book is on its way. Again, I sincerely apologize for the delay, and never intended to be one of those "Oh yeah I have a book coming out... sometime" type of people. In fact, I even avoided announcing the release date until I thought everything was crystal clear, because I didn't want to have to delay it again. Unfortunately, not everyone cares about this as much as I do (even when they're being paid to) and it didn't work out how I planned. Regardless, the mystery of Camp Watanka will be revealed to you lovely readers this Spring, so keep an eye out.
Thank you for being patient.
No comments:
Post a Comment