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Bakker XXXVI: The Horror of Threads to Come


Madness

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Shocked to hear this comment from Scott:






I genuinely have no idea: rocking the boat a bit can’t be a bad thing at this stage. I haven’t even been assigned editors yet.


Shit. Things are looking bad when the author cannot even hear from his publishers about a date and there isn't even any response from Overlook to the submission of the final manuscript.



It all seems so extremely unprofessional.


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Yeah I mentioned that comment on TSA.

I mean seriously what is wrong when the writer doesn't even know what's happening?

I have a bad feeling the series is going to be shelved - I really hope not.

Seriously? The way Wert talked Bakker is a decent mid-lister. Why would they shelve it? Do you think he'd just have to find another publisher? I'm at a loss with this information. I'm ready to unleash my inner Cnaüir!

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Try Tweeting Overlook and Orbit as well. If you don't have a Twitter account, get one and follow Scott and Scott Bakker Fans. Those 839 followers for Scott are pretty poor given his popularity and following (not that Scott his helping himself here by refusing to actually use Twitter for marketing purposes).



I will follow up with my contacts at Orbit as well.



ETA: Scott is a decent midlister for Orbit. His initial sales for Overlook were excellent but seem to have trailed off since then, so he is no longer a top priority for them. That said, 15 months without any reply is Tor-at-their-worst levels of incompetence. Overlook are also Scott's primary publisher and they have likely outsourced the Commonwealth publication to Orbit, so Orbit cannot proceed until Overlook have given them the final, copy-edited MS. I suspect Orbit may be as irritated as anyone with this situation.



I also strongly suspect (no word from Orbit themselves on this, this is my speculation) that if Overlook drop the series Orbit will grab it and re-market it for the NA market with a vengeance. To be frank, it may be better in the long term for Scott's career for that to happen now whilst there is a real fan demand for The Unholy Consult. That could make the delay interminable however. These kind of cross-Atlantic rights tangles are a right mess, Paul Kearney (if you haven't been reading him, do so immediately) has been going through rights hell for eight years for an incomplete series (The Sea-Beggars trilogy) his American publishers are refusing to release to a new publisher who are hungry to release and finish off.


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It all seems so extremely unprofessional.

So sad.

Try Tweeting Overlook and Orbit as well. If you don't have a Twitter account, get one and follow Scott and Scott Bakker Fans. Those 839 followers for Scott are pretty poor given his popularity and following (not that Scott his helping himself here by refusing to actually use Twitter for marketing purposes).

I will follow up with my contacts at Orbit as well.

ETA: Scott is a decent midlister for Orbit. His initial sales for Overlook were excellent but seem to have trailed off since then, so he is no longer a top priority for them. That said, 15 months without any reply is Tor-at-their-worst levels of incompetence. Overlook are also Scott's primary publisher and they have likely outsourced the Commonwealth publication to Orbit, so Orbit cannot proceed until Overlook have given them the final, copy-edited MS. I suspect Orbit may be as irritated as anyone with this situation.

I also strongly suspect (now word from Orbit themselves on this, this is my speculation) that if Overlook drop the series Orbit will grab it and re-market it for the NA market with a vengeance. To be frank, it may be better in the long term for Scott's career for that to happen now whilst there is a real fan demand for The Unholy Consult. That could make the delay interminable however. These kind of cross-Atlantic rights tangles are a right mess, Paul Kearney (if you haven't been reading him, do so immediately) has been going through rights hell for eight years for an incomplete series (The Sea-Beggars trilogy) his American publishers are refusing to release to a new publisher who are hungry to release and finish off.

Thanks, Wert. An effective and striking hashtag should be discussed. It disturbs me greatly to think of Bakker's situation being compared to Kearney's.

EDIT: There should almost be a TSACast worth of roundtabling in this discussion, should anyone be interested in participating.

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Damn... this is a real downer.

So how long do we give Overlook before we start pulling out Madness' toe nails in an effort to get answers to our questions????

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Sorry to hear about that, although I agree with Wert - if he can get out of his existing publishing contract and move the series to one that actually wants to promote it more, good for him.



And Madness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . we will ply you with ALL OF THE METHODS! EVEN THE DUCK!


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Sorry to hear about that, although I agree with Wert - if he can get out of his existing publishing contract and move the series to one that actually wants to promote it more, good for him.

And Madness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . we will ply you with ALL OF THE METHODS! EVEN THE DUCK!

What I still don't get is why Scott, or his agent, would not be able to pick up the phone and contact Overlook to see what's going on.

I mean this would be a daily concern for him and his agent.

Overlook just updated their listing on Amazon.com till April 2016, and there is no Bakker book in it. For now.

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At this point, I'd assume that our only option is to exhibit so much fervor as to either convince Overlook there is a legimite enough demand to publish or release The Second Apocalypse.

EDIT: Which, incidentally, is a decent hashtag.

#UnleashTheSecondApocalypse

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What I still don't get is why Scott, or his agent, would not be able to pick up the phone and contact Overlook to see what's going on.

I mean this would be a daily concern for him and his agent.

Overlook just updated their listing on Amazon.com till April 2016, and there is no Bakker book in it. For now.

The agents, I imagine, do pick up the phone. But if you pick up the phone too often as an agent, you piss off the publisher. You can't do it too often for diplomatic reasons. It's a game of phones.

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Has anyone considered a boycott of Overlook? Maybe something like "I'm not going to purchase anything published by Overlook until they release some kind of statement concerning their plans for for Bakker's release date"? I know I'd be down for that


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Has anyone considered a boycott of Overlook? Maybe something like "I'm not going to purchase anything published by Overlook until they release some kind of statement concerning their plans for for Bakker's release date"? I know I'd be down for that

Do they have any books I want to read?

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