I finished the 10% edit, going from 205,000 words to 185,000, this morning and emailed the finished manuscript to Super Agent Caitlin who will perform various incantations before sending it off to ye Editors for review.
While that’s happening, I will be switching gears and starting the thriller. I’m looking forward to this. Not only am I having fun developing the ideas, but unlike these epic fantasies I’m writing with a gajillion story lines, this is going to have one story line (okay, with maybe, maybe two subplots), one point of view (instead of three or four), and a limited cast of characters like six (as opposed to close to twenty). I’m preparing to reach escape velocity. I’ll tell you what jupiter looks like when I get back.
So, best case, if no further major revisions are required, when will we be able to buy Curse of a Dark God? Obviously you don’t have an exact date, but best guess?
Best guess is sometime next summer or fall. But it’s not in the schedule yet. But I would imagine they’d want to get it out then.
@JohnW – John probably won’t be able to give you an official date for several reasons, but here’s what little I know about the publishing world. If you’re a superstar like George R.R. Martin, then they’ll be rushing your new book out just as fast as they can bind them, and deep editing be damned. If you’re a star like Brandon Sanderson, then they’ll put you right to the front of the line, and you’ll go through the normal process where your book is probably edited and bound and sold within 4 months. If you’re a new author like John, then there are a ton of other factors. Whether or not the publisher has room in their lineup to fit you in, whether or not they feel that the book would cut into another big author, or whatever other crazy reasons that they have. Needless to say, if i had to offer a guess, I’d say that 6-9 months sounds like a pretty good one. I’d love to hear from John on this, though, and I’m certainly not trying to steal his thunder, just bored while waiting to go to pick up some Black Friday junk at Target.
Sweet! It’s a huge undertaking. I’m sure it feels great to have it done. I know we all feel great knowing we’ll get to read it relatively soon.
Bryce,
That is about what I thought. Hopefully these things start to change soon, now that e-publishing is becoming more widespread. It sucks for authors to be at the mercy of the big publishers.
Wonderful! I’ll bet that feels great. It’s going to be fun re-reading Servant in preparation.
Congrats John! I hope everything goes smoothly. You’ve been on my list of sequels that I want really badly, right up there with the third Patrick Rothfuss book, the third Scott Lynch Book, and Peter V. Brett’s third one. I’m probably looking forward to yours the most, though. Good luck on the thriller. Hopefully a change of genre will really get the creative juices flowing for ya! 🙂
I love your book and your website. Thank you for taking the time to post so often. I was wondering if you were going to do a post on how your transition into the new genre of thiller. It seems that you have a lot of experience writing in the Fantasy genre, I wonder if you have the same type of experience in Thrillers or not. Anyway best of luck on the new genre. I can’t wait to read your new book.
John,
Great news! Congradulations on finishing Curse and good luck on the thriller!
Maybe you can get on Writing Excuses again once Curse is out… 🙂
James,
Sorry I missed approving your post. I’ll certainly be posting on how things go with the thriller. I haven’t published anything in the thriller genre to date, but I don’t see the story telling as substantially different. My fantasy includes situations of peril and action with sprinkles of humor. The thriller will be the same, except I won’t have to invent a whole setting 🙂
Any chance you can post the first chapter or two of the newly revised Curse?
JohnW,
It will be posted. It’s just a matter of timing. But it will be up as soon as the Editors and I go forward.
Amazing.
First off the bat gotta say I’m sending this from Bulawayo, a small town in Zimbabwe – yes that Zimbabwe!
SODG rocked my mind – concepts were vibrant, smells were palatable, everything struck me as being authentic.
Cannot wait for sequel – if you sell a blurb version I’ll be first in line to skip the publisher delays! 🙂
Welcome to the Grove, ZimboDood. It’s absolutely awesome to hear that Servant has made it to Zimbabwe. So are you a citizen, visiting, working?
Just wondering if there is an update on when this might be released? Thanks for your writing – its lots of fun.
Ryan,
I truly hope to have an answer for that by the end of July. It’s still on my editor’s desk. Stay tuned. I’ll post the news on the website as soon as I know it. And thanks for stopping by.
So much for July, 2012. Maybe July, 2013 might be enough time for the editor to get back to you?
Have you considered changing to another editor/publisher that does not delay your work so long? Or looked into hiring your own editor and self-publishing?
JohnW,
I hear you, buddy. But I can’t say anything more at this time. I do hope to have the issue resolved soon. 🙂