The Last Dark ARC is here!!

[peter]

Why would an author like SRD need to send out arc's anyway. It's not like anyone is going to start reading the Chrons with the Last Dark. (If they do I think they're going to have a fair problem getting to grips with it.) So I don't much see the point in it. Those who are Chrons readers are not going to be much swayed (into reading it or not) by a review anyway.

[sindatur]

Why would an author like SRD need to send out arc's anyway. It's not like anyone is going to start reading the Chrons with the Last Dark. (If they do I think they're going to have a fair problem getting to grips with it.) So I don't much see the point in it. Those who are Chrons readers are not going to be much swayed (into reading it or not) by a review anyway.

The ARCs are for the purpose of Reveiwing it (And possibly cause last minute edits from feedback?)

[I'm Murrin]

It's a publisher thing, it's just a standard part of promoting a book.

And as far as it being last in a series... what do you think they should do, promote the book that came out 36 years ago instead of the one that's new?

[Vraith]

Why would an author like SRD need to send out arc's anyway. It's not like anyone is going to start reading the Chrons with the Last Dark. (If they do I think they're going to have a fair problem getting to grips with it.) So I don't much see the point in it. Those who are Chrons readers are not going to be much swayed (into reading it or not) by a review anyway.

The ARCs are for the purpose of Reveiwing it (And possibly cause last minute edits from feedback?)

Definitely major point is in the publicity/marketing...
I haven't paid attention to them in a while, since digital became really big,
but ARC's USED to be pretty expensive to put together.

And, [p's bold "question"]it was a thing on the PUBLISHER's side, not the authors. So it's not "why would SRD," but "why would GOLLANZ [spelling?]"...and I have to say it does seem unlikely to do much in the sales/hype 30 years and 10th [last] book on in the process.

[Savor Dam]

So true. Entirely a publishing thing and probably pointless, but battleships do not turn quickly.

[Menolly]

However, the final print would benefit from editing, as far as type set and skipped words here and there goes.
...should anyone be receiving that type of input from readers.

[Savor Dam]

Agreed. I am giving no content away to say that the ARC I read had a number of places where the kerning of the text was not at all well done.

For those not conversant in typography, this is not an SRD issue. This has solely to do with the typesetting of the text of the ARC by the publisher. Having never read an ARC before and never seeing character and word spacing so poorly handled in a professionally published tome, I am confident that this is an ARC-only issue and the volumes offered for sale will be correctly kerned.

Thus ends my editorial rant on the ARC.

[peter]

It's a publisher thing, it's just a standard part of promoting a book.

And as far as it being last in a series... what do you think they should do, promote the book that came out 36 years ago instead of the one that's new?

Obviously not, but there are many more ways of letting people know that a work is on the way out than sending a few poorly edited copies out into the public domeain where no controll over the response can be made and a good portion just finish up being sold on e-bay anyway. How about a few good posters in bookshops, papers and rail terminals for starters.

Yes, I should have phrased my question better - I didn't mean it so much as SRD having the say on this as whyan auther like SRD (in terms of where he is with this book) would need to have ARC's sent out by his publishers. It just seems futile to me - and quite possibly does more harm than good. The only reviewers whose views I have the slightest interest in are my peers here on the Watch, and not the one of them has the power to stop (or make) me buying and reading the final book in a series spanning the whole of my adult life, no matter what those views.

[I'm Murrin]

They're review copies. They aren't gonna stop sending out review copies. They're certainly not intended for public consumption, even if some people will sell them.

And yeah, the people who are already comitted fans don't have use of the marketing. That's why they're not the target of the marketing.

[Seareach]

ARC's are "uncorrected proofs" so they're the text as it is after typesetting and all that jazz and BEFORE SRD goes through and makes corrections.

[Menolly]

Good to know, Sea.

And hear I thought by that stage his work was done.

[I'm Murrin]

The final pass after uncorrected proofs is purely for typographical errors and very small changes that don't affect the typsetting (you couldn't add a word if it bumped text onto a new page somewhere, for example).

[Savor Dam]

Icertainlyhopetheyfixthetypesettingintheplaceswhereanentiresentenceiscrammedtogetherwithnospaces!

[Menolly]

Icertainlyhopetheyfixthetypesettingintheplaceswhereanentiresentenceiscrammedtogetherwithnospaces!

*nod*
*nod*
*nod*

(you couldn't add a word if it bumped text onto a new page somewhere, for example).

And there are definitely skipped words in places. Obvious mistakes grammatically that I know SRD wouldn't make. If SRD needs to argue to have these changes fixed, I don't envy him in the least.

[Creator]

and of course his typical use of words ... only two this time I think ... that I had to google to find the meaning!

[Seareach]

No, SRD doesn't have to fight for changes etc. It's an uncorrected proof. This is what he receives and will make changes to. And I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter if he makes changes to the text that mean words are bumped onto the next page. That's not so much an issue these days.