E________, first draft: 41,200 words
We are only about six weeks away from Braking Day hitting the shelves. Needless to say, I am very excited! D-day (P-day?) is April 5, but my agent, the estimable Brady, let it be known that I could expect my own author copies in the next couple of weeks or so, depending on production. (I get a certain number of books free: it’s in my contract. I can’t remember how many. I guess I should go read my contract.) Obviously (though I had not bothered to think about this) in order to get books released on the same date in bookshops across the country, you have to make them up ahead of time and ship them out so they are sitting in storage ready for the big day. Big is relative here. Big to me.
Anyway, having finally got to thinking about it, I also got to thinking: how on Earth do you make a book anyway? Turns out, the New York Times has the answer. They just did an article on the printing of Marlon James’s Moon Witch, Spider King, which comes out tomorrow. Enjoy!