Sold: *Warm Words & Otherwise: A Blizzard of Book Reviews*

[realthog]

Infinity Plus Ebooks is to publish, probably before the end of the month (such is the speed of events in this mighty digital age, Jim), a 150,000-word collection of the book reviews I've written over the years. For the last several days I've been editing this compilation, correcting all my typos, toning down a lot of the pomposity, and stripping out at least 5% of the general adolescent snottiness.

Perhaps half the reviews (and some two-thirds of the wordage) were done originally for the webzine Infinity Plus; a further big chunk of the book comprises my reviews for the late, lamented genre-fiction webzine Crescent Blues. The various other magazines represented include Extrapolation, Samhain and SFX. There's also a handful of reviews which were obviously published somewhere but, y'know, er, how can a writer be expected to keep proper records, um . . .

There's lots of discussion about what the "digital revolution" means to book publishing. One of the aspects which I think is too often ignored is exemplified by Warm Words & Otherwise.

I have the touching belief that the book is worth publishing: some of the stuff I've been editing over the past few days is actually, in my modest opinion, worth preserving. Even so, however much I might rosify the tint of my spectacles, a conventionally printed or PoD edition would obviously be a complete disaster; if my mum were still alive it'd be a different story, but since her demise sales have plummeted. An ebook edition at perhaps $1.99, on the other hand, while hardly destined to burn its way up any New York Times bestseller list, has every chance of doing moderately well -- it might sell a few tens or hundreds of copies where a print version would likely sell zero. At best.

Later, when I feel less entangled by flu, I'll try to remember to post a contents list here.

Comments

[desayunoencama.livejournal.com]

Mazel tov, and glad technology allows such a project to come about. Sounds like a win-win situation.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

technology

I think I'm slowly beginning to grasp how it can be put to the benefit of all of us in the book trade. I'm hoping to be able to announce Real Soon Now a three-book reissue deal with a different epublisher, thanks to my having relentlessly badgered the original print publisher over a period of six months or so! In this instance I might actually make some sensible dosh.

[jmward14.livejournal.com]

Cool! I'm glad all your reviews have gained a second life. :-)

[realthog.livejournal.com]

You mean they had a first life?!!??

Copyediting this big fat manuscript, I was made grateful over and over again about all the goofs and typos and general idiocies of mine that you and Keith Brooke (IP) quietly corrected.