Authors paid per page or book?

[BrotherBenny]

Then closer to twenty years ago, Pocket published a King Arthur trilogy by Courtway Jones, and they used a really stylish typeface for the text there. I wish the third book had been published in hardcover, though, to match the hardcovers of the first two.

I'll bet the sales figures didn't justify the costs for the hardcover.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'll bet the sales figures didn't justify the costs for the hardcover.

Unfortunately, probably not. The first book, In the Shadow of the Oak King got good reviews, but about a year after it came out it was clogging up bargain book tables.

It was an interesting trilogy. Courtway Jones took the framework of Le Morte d'Arthur and set it within a generally authentic fifth century Britain. The first book was told from the perspective of Pelleas, Arthur's older brother. The second, The Witch of the North, was told from Morgan le Fey's perspective. The third, Prince of Camelot, was from Mordred's perspective.

 

[BrotherBenny]

I'll bet the sales figures didn't justify the costs for the hardcover.

Unfortunately, probably not. The first book, In the Shadow of the Oak King got good reviews, but about a year after it came out it was clogging up bargain book tables.

It was an interesting trilogy. Courtway Jones took the framework of Le Morte d'Arthur and set it within a generally authentic fifth century Britain. The first book was told from the perspective of Pelleas, Arthur's older brother. The second, The Witch of the North, was told from Morgan le Fey's perspective. The third, Prince of Camelot, was from Mordred's perspective.

Sounds interesting actually, will see if I can find a copy of them for my father. He's read pretty much every version of fictional and factual Arthurian stuff around.

 

[Daddy Todd]

The most annoying typeface ever is the one specifically designed for the Vance Integral Edition. The VIE project was a fan-driven effort to republish all Jack Vance's works in a uniform edition, using preferred texts.

Unfortunately, one of the principal drivers of the project got it into his head that he could design the "perfect" font for Vance's works.

It's fiercely ugly.

The VIE volumes are beautifully bound, intelligently laid out, with a pleasing selection of stories in each volume. But the font is horrible to the point of being almost unreadable. Very, very sad!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Thanks for bringing this font atrocity to my attention, Daddy Todd.

I've now seen some samples of Amiante online, and yes, it's unreadable. The letters are too narrow for their height, and they look sickly. Of course, they were starting from Garamond, and I despise Garamond, so I'm biased.

 

[OmahaStar]

Thanks for bringing this font atrocity to my attention, Daddy Todd.

I've now seen some samples of Amiante online, and yes, it's unreadable. The letters are too narrow for their height, and they look sickly. Of course, they were starting from Garamond, and I despise Garamond, so I'm biased.

Now I'm curious. Would you please post a link so I can see how awful the font is?

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

For those interested in the publishing industry, this blog from an industry insider is very interesting:

Pimp My Novel

 

[Allyn Gibson]

There are some sample pages here.

For some discussion of the font's design, look here.

Actually, I think this newsletter is done entirely in Amiante. This one, too.

It's pretty gross.

 

[Steve Roby]

I'm no expert in typography -- I don't even mind Garamond -- but that font just doesn't look right. Glad I don't have the money for the VIE, because to invest that much cash in a special project like that and have it sabotaged by a crap typeface would be a major annoyance.

 

[OmahaStar]

There are some sample pages here.

To put it mildly, OUCH. That hurt just reading the first couple lines.

It's pretty gross.

Yes.

 

[Daddy Todd]

I'm no expert in typography -- I don't even mind Garamond -- but that font just doesn't look right. Glad I don't have the money for the VIE, because to invest that much cash in a special project like that and have it sabotaged by a crap typeface would be a major annoyance.

You have NO idea...

I've managed to read 5 of the 44 volumes (The Demon Princes titles) by forcing my way through. If there was any other way to acquire all these texts, I'd put my set up for sale on eBay, where it regularly fetches $3 to $4k (US). But dammit, someday I want to read all the rest of that wonderful Vancean Goodness!

...sorry for derailing the thread.

 

[Steve Roby]

I've got a few dozen Vance books in paperback, many of them used and inexpensive, but readable, at least. I do have one semi-collectible book, The Complete Magnus Ridolph published by Underwood-Miller; that'll have to do for the collector side of me.

 

[S. Gomez]

I actually kind of like the font.

Don't throw rocks at me.

 

[TerriO]

You're not alone, S Gomez. I was wondering what was so unreadable about it. I mean, I can see how it might not work on a smaller (10 pt or less) scale, but in a typical 12+ pt scenario I'm a little lost on the readability criterion.

Then again, I'm not the fontaholic that some others here are.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Hey, I don't have a problem with fonts. I can quit them at any time!

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

There are some sample pages here.

To put it mildly, OUCH. That hurt just reading the first couple lines.

It's pretty gross.

Yes.

This and this. Scratching my eyes started to become a viable and welcome option after about 2 or 3 sentences.

So, two questions:

1. Why does Star Wars having a small write-up on their fonts in the back of their recent Fate of the Jedi books? I noticed that wondered why they thought I'd care. Is that a licensing thing? They have to do it if they're using that font?

2. Regarding writers (DRGIII, I'm looking at you... through your window...), how does it get agreed upon that a novel should come in the length of Provenance of Shadows? Or did you wind up writing that long because it fit the story?

 

[JarodRussell]

I might have asked that question some time ago, but can you live from writing Trek tie-in?

 

[Greg Cox]

I might have asked that question some time ago, but can you live from writing Trek tie-in?

Blunt answer: no. There are only about twelve TREK slots a year and plenty of hungry authors. And you need to write at least five or six books a year to make ends meet. Which is why most of us have day jobs, or have sidelines, and write for many different series.

In my case, I also edit, write catalog copy, and write for as many different series and publishers as I can manage . . . .

 

[MJF]

I might have asked that question some time ago, but can you live from writing Trek tie-in?

Blunt answer: no. There are only about twelve TREK slots a year and plenty of hungry authors. And you need to write at least five or six books a year to make ends meet. Which is why most of us have day jobs, or have sidelines, and write for many different series.

In my case, I also edit, write catalog copy, and write for as many different series and publishers as I can manage . . . .

Wait a second...we get PAID???

 

[Christopher]

I might have asked that question some time ago, but can you live from writing Trek tie-in?

I've been managing to get by almost exclusively on tie-in income for several years now, but it's a tenuous and somewhat spartan existence and I wouldn't recommend it. And I've only managed that by being fairly prolific.