[LMB] (news & chat) report from the publishing pipeline

[Lois McMaster Bujold]

So...

    Today's mail brought the proof cover flats for the mass market 
edition of _The Sharing Knife, vol. 1: Beguilement_.  I'm hoping they 
will still sell some more of the prettier hardcovers myself, but hey.  
Anyway, its official mmpb (mass market paperback) release date is set: 
May 2007.  (On-sale date 4/24/07, to be exact.)

    For the record, the ISBN will be 978-0-06-113907-9

    The color reproduction seems rather gray-brown-yellow, losing some 
of the beautiful and subtle colors of the original painting.  (Which is 
now framed and on my newly-repainted living room wall here in 
Minneapolis.)  Granted, the modern-looking and very pink blanket the 
artist put in to match her sunset sky behind Dag was a bit of a problem; 
but I hope this doesn't mean we end up with a brown sky on the other 
volume.  No raised metallic foil on the lettering this time around, 
either, hm.  I actually don't faunch after the fancy lettering except as 
a sign of publisher support, as I think such costly extras are so common 
these days that they no longer make a book stand out.  However, thanks 
to y'all popping the book onto the NYTimes extended list in its first 
week of hardcover sales, they will be able to put "New York Times 
Bestseller!" on the top line of the cover, which should help grab the 
attention of the all-important wholesale buyers, who order in the 
month's books for their stores and chains on the basis of brief glances 
at their covers (and of the prior book's sales figures).  Yellow is not 
my fave color, but the lettering does stand out readably in it.

    _The Sharing Knife Vol. 2: Legacy_ will be on-sale in hardcover 6/26/07.

    Ta, L.