Time between finishing and release date

[Euron III Greyjoy]

I wasn't really sure on where to put this post, so I thought here would be best. TWoW will be the first book in the main series that I'll actually read on release, and I was wondering, as the title suggests, how long is the time usually between a book being finished, and it actually getting released to the public. For the sake of the argument, lets say GRRM finishes the book tonight, and makes a post tomorrow saying "I've finished TWoW", how long would it take for the book to be released? About a year? A little less? 

[HexMachina]

@Werthead and @Ran are good at giving more thorough answers to this, but more or less 3 months from completion to shelf i believe

[kissdbyfire]

1 hour ago, HelenaExMachina said:

@Werthead and @Ran are good at giving more thorough answers to this, but more or less 3 months from completion to shelf i believe

That was, iirc, the time between Martin’s “kong is dead” post on nab and publishing. I wanna say he announced in April and the book was out in July, but could be wrong. 

[Platypus Rex]

If the precedent holds from A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, he could announce publication about 19 week (a bit more than 4 months) in advance.  Then he will continue to work on adding material to it until the last minute, which will be about 11 weeks in advance.  Then, after announcing completion of writing, he will continue to edit it until the last minute, which will be about 5 weeks in advance.

I don't think he is likely to even announce a publication date, without giving us plenty of warnings in the form of happy noises.  But who knows.  Perhaps he has changed his ways permanently

[lrresistable]

13 hours ago, Euron III Greyjoy said:

"I've finished TWoW", how long would it take for the book to be released? About a year? A little less? 

ironically, GoT the most popular tv show of all time has first aired, risen to prominence & now we're looking at it's fallen end in the 8+ years before we ever were to get our hands on Winds.

many of us first picked up AGoT when we heard they were making a show out of the books & saw the lead was Sean Bean

 

 

[Werthead]

ASoS came out about 9 weeks after final submission, ADWD about 12 weeks (but 5 months after the pre-line edit phase). However, there were a lot of typos in the 1st edition ADWD, so I think they might want a slightly bigger break this time. So I'd say 3 months at the absolute minimum, but more realistically maybe around 6 months.

[Ran]

1 hour ago, Werthead said:

ASoS came out about 9 weeks after final submission

George announced its completion April 21st, and it was published on August 8, which makes a little over 15 weeks.

[Werthead]

49 minutes ago, Ran said:

George announced its completion April 21st, and it was published on August 8, which makes a little over 15 weeks.

That was pre-typesetting and copy-editing, which I believe George confirmed had been completed by May 31. The book's cover date may have been August 8th, but it was certainly on book shelves the last week of July 2000 (ah, the good old days of shops just ignoring the cover date and whacking the book out immediately).

[Ran]

38 minutes ago, Werthead said:

That was pre-typesetting and copy-editing

I think that's a technicality that George does not observe when he announces submission. He submits it, typesetting and copyedits all follow that. It's easier to just look at it that way -- time between submission and publication -- since usually the post-submission process is opaque for most people.

[Lord Varys]

They should take more time with TWoW than they took with ADwD.

[Guest]

21 hours ago, Ran said:

I think that's a technicality that George does not observe when he announces submission. He submits it, typesetting and copyedits all follow that. It's easier to just look at it that way -- time between submission and publication -- since usually the post-submission process is opaque for most people.

Any chance GRRM finishes at one time? Namely we get one, or two, or three books at once and he just finishes the whole thing...

[Ran]

1 hour ago, GrapefruitPerrier said:

Any chance GRRM finishes at one time? Namely we get one, or two, or three books at once and he just finishes the whole thing...

Nope. When a book is finished, it'll be published.

[Roswell]

George will also want to have the last word.  Whatever date is chosen will be long past the end of the show.

[Lord Varys]

It is pretty strange to assume the show has anything to do with the publication or finishing date (aside from the fact that George really wishes he had finished the thing some time ago). This book is going to be a success no matter when it is published and any author having as many issues with writing stuff as George would be completely insane to not immediately publish a book when it is finished. That's how he did it with AFfC, and that's how he did it with ADwD (and presumably all his previous books, too).

Sitting on a huge amount of finished pages makes, perhaps, sense for a dragon like Smaug, but not for a man who has a profession of writing and likes to see his name in print.

That he really likes to see things get published could be seen with FaB last year. A little more than half of the book essentially were finished pages he had been sitting on since they had finished TWoIaF, and he decided to get that out before TWoW so that something pretty finished got out there at all. He had to write all the Jaehaerys material, to be sure, but that clearly is not much of an effort for a writer of his stature compared to the intricacies and complexities of the main series - especially when one considers George's writing style of trial-and-error.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

It is pretty strange to assume the show has anything to do with the publication or finishing date (aside from the fact that George really wishes he had finished the thing some time ago). This book is going to be a success no matter when it is published and any author having as many issues with writing stuff as George would be completely insane to not immediately publish a book when it is finished. That's how he did it with AFfC, and that's how he did it with ADwD (and presumably all his previous books, too).

Sitting on a huge amount of finished pages makes, perhaps, sense for a dragon like Smaug, but not for a man who has a profession of writing and likes to see his name in print.

That he really likes to see things get published could be seen with FaB last year. A little more than half of the book essentially were finished pages he had been sitting on since they had finished TWoIaF, and he decided to get that out before TWoW so that something pretty finished got out there at all. He had to write all the Jaehaerys material, to be sure, but that clearly is not much of an effort for a writer of his stature compared to the intricacies and complexities of the main series - especially when one considers George's writing style of trial-and-error.

George has stated in interviews that he wishes the show did not get ahead of the books, and from his comments I think he tried to stop that happening but it just did not come to be. Now it is water under the bridge, just send GRRM good vibes to support him in his work.