Don’t get me wrong. I love getting great books to review. But the geek in me cringes as the sheer unsystematic chaos of it all. Even though there are publishers who are very selective, whose PR people seem to have a gift for knowing what sort of thing I’m likely to review, that should be the icing on the cake, not the cake itself. A comparatively tiny investment in a CRM system would tie together the efforts of editorial, marketing, sales and publicity so that people who should get books really get them, and people who will just throw the book into the reject pile don’t get them.
But whenever I talk to publishing people about this, it seems like no one is bothering to build what amounts to a structured system for keeping track of what works and what doesn’t – who to send what to, in other words.
And don’t get me started on electronic advance reading copies (eARCs). I once had lunch with a Big 5 publicity person who said, ‘‘We’ve figured out our company eARC strategy.’’
Aha! I thought. Now we’re talking – I bet the whole thing is database-driven, sending out laser-targeted multiformat e-books to reviewers and buyers via their Dropboxes, Instapapers, and e-mail.
But no: ‘‘We’re going to send out DRMed PDFs.’’
Facepalm.
eARCs are the next frontier of indiscriminate review-copy spamming. A golden opportunity to refine PR, marketing, and sales with highly selective, targeted pitching will, instead, almost certainly turn into a pointless exercise in flooding reviewers’ inboxes with badly behaved, crippled DRM files. On the other hand, DRMed eARCs will help me with my winnowing task: when you’ve got 100 times more books than you can read (and with eARCs, that will quickly balloon into a one-thousandfold surplus), one way to whittle down the pile to manageable size is to simply delete all the DRM-locked files.
If I was in charge of this, I’d buy a bunch of Salesforce.com CRM licenses across the business and give everyone a crash-course in producing cheap, xerographic ARCs in the manner of Teresa Nielsen Hayden. Teresa produces ARCs on demand for her writers by laying up their books as two-column, 11-point type on a vertical 8.5” x 11” sheet, double-sided, with a 1” gutter on the left side. You can put 100,000 words into about 50 pages this way, and all it takes to bind it is a couple of staples up the left side. These can be produced on demand for cheap and mailed in standard business envelopes. Investing in these two, simple measures would do more to improve the sales, marketing, and publicity of major publishers than a thousand harebrained DRM eARC schemes.
–Cory Doctorow
Return to In This Issue listing.
MAGAZINES RECEIVED: MARCH
Analog Science Fiction and Fact–Trevor Quachri, ed. Vol. 133 No. 6, June 2013, $4.99, 10 times a year, 112pp, 15 x 22 cm. Part three of a four-part serial by Edward M. Lerner; novelette by Mark Niemann-Ross; short stories by K.S. Patterson, David D. Levine, Maggie Clark, Linda Nagata, and Jack McDevitt; a science fact on tsunamis by Richard A. Lovett; a special feature about working on the space shuttle by Jeff Mitchell; columns; and reviews.
Asimov’s Science Fiction–Sheila Williams, ed. Vol. 37 No. 6, Whole Number 449, June 2013, $4.99, 10 times a year, 112pp, 15 x 22 cm. Novella by Robert Reed; novelettes by G. David Nordley, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch; short stories by Eric Del Carlo and Megan Arkenberg; columns, poetry, reviews, etc. Cover by Alan Lynch Artists/Mélanie Delon.
Black Static–Andy Cox, ed. Issue No. 33, March-April 2013, £4.99, bimonthly, 96pp, 17 x 24 cm. Dark British SF/F magazine with stories by James Cooper, Tim Casson, Andrew Hook, Carole Johnstone, Gary McMahon, and Michael Kelly; an interview with S.P. Miskowski; columns and reviews. Cover by Richard Wagner. Subscription: Europe £24.00 or EURO36.00/USA & Canada USD$36.00/elsewhere £27.00 for 6 issues to TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB, UK; e-mail:
BSFA Awards 2012–Anon, ed., 2012, free to member of the BSFA, oneshot, 96pp, 21 x 29 1/2 cm. Oneshot magazine containing all the shortlisted stories for the BSFA Awards, including work by Aliette de Bodard, Chris Butler, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, Tim Maughan, China Miéville, and Ian Sales. Cover by Andy Bigwood.
Galaxy’s Edge–Mike Resnick, ed. No. 1, March 2013, $5.99 for print or $2.99 for a digital download from Amazon.com or B&N.com/$2.99 for a digital download or free online directly from
Interzone–Andy Cox, ed. Issue No. 245, March-April 2013, £4.99, bimonthly, 96pp, 17 x 24 cm. British SF/F magazine. Stories by Chris Butler, Melanie Tem, Carlos Hernandez, Damien Walters Grintalis, and Antony Mann; interview with Paul Cornell; and reviews. Cover by Jim Burns. Subscription: Europe £24.00 or EURO36.00/USA & Canada USD$36.00/elsewhere £27.00 for 6 issues to TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB, UK; website:
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction–Gordon Van Gelder, ed. Vol. 124 Nos. 5 & 6, Whole No. 707, May/June 2013, $7.99, bimonthly, 260pp, 13 x 19½ cm. Novella by Andy Stewart; novelettes by Robert Reed, Rand B. Lee, Albert E. Cowdrey, Dale Bailey, and Bruce McAllister; short stories by Angélica Gorodischer, Alexandra Duncan, Paul Di Filippo, Joe Haldeman, and Ted White. Cover by Kristin Kest.
Pravic–David Gill & Nathaniel K. Miller, eds. No. 2, Spring 2013, $3.00 for print or $1.00 for a PDF directly from
ONLINE MAGAZINES
Apex Magazine
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
n: $13.99/year from Weightless Books
Clarkesworld
Eclipse Online
Lightspeed Magazine
The New York Review of Science Fiction
Nightmare Magazine
Strange Horizons
Tor.com
THE OUTER LIMITS
Fortean Times (1/13) features an article by Brian J. Robb where he traces the history of steampunk, from literary movement to sub-culture.
The Weekly Standard (3/18/13) includes an article on the ghost stories of M.R. James.
Return to In This Issue listing.
BOOKS RECEIVED: MARCH
Compiled by Liza Groen Trombi & Carolyn Cushman. Please send all corrections to Carolyn Cushman c/o Locus. We will run all verified corrections.
KEY: * = first edition + = first American edition.
* Adams, Guy The Good, the Bad and the Infernal (Rebellion/Solaris US 978-1-76108-089-4, $7.99, 315pp, pb, cover by Dominick Saponaro) SF/fantasy novel, the first in the Heaven’s Gate trilogy. The town of Wormwood, with a doorway to heaven, is due to make a once-a-century appearance in 1889 America. E-book also available.
* Adams, John Joseph & Douglas Cohen, eds. Oz Reimagined (Amazon/47North 978-1611099041, $14.95, 365pp, tp, cover by Galen Dara) Original anthology of 15 stories inspired by L. Frank Baum’s Oz. Authors include Seanan McGuire, Tad Williams, Orson Scott Card, and Jeffrey Ford. Foreword by Gregory Maguire. Illustrated by Galen Dara. E-book also available.
* Aguirre, Ann Agave Kiss (Penguin/Roc 978-0-451-46503-0, $7.99, 309pp, pb) Urban fantasy novel, the fifth featuring psychic pawnshop owner Corine Solomon. E-book also available.
* Alexander, William Ghoulish Song (Simon & Schuster/McElderry 978-1-4424-2729-7, $16.99, 166pp, hc, cover by Erwin Madrid) Middle-grade fantasy novel, second in a series set in the magical town of Zombay. E-books also available.
* Altenburg, Paula The Demon’s Daughter (Entangled Select 978-1-62061-037-4, $14.99, 342pp, tp) Paranormal romance/urban fantasy novel in the Demon Outlaws series. Airie is unaware of her ancestry, a mix of demon and divine, until the Demon Slayer, Hunter, tracks her down. A Liz Pelletier Collection book. E-book also available. The author also collaborates as Taylor Keating. Entangled Publishing, 2614 South Timberline Road, Suite 109, Fort Collins CO 80525;
* Angler, Evan Sneak (Nelson, Thomas 978-1-4003-1842-1, $9.99, 274pp, tp) Young-adult SF novel, the second in the Swipe series. E-book also available. This is dated 2012, but not seen until now.
* Angler, Evan Swipe (Nelson, Thomas 978-1-4003-1836-0, $9.99, 273pp, tp) Young-adult Christian dystopian SF novel, the first in a series. Logan Langly starts to wonder about the Mark of citizenship he’s due to get on his 13th birthday. This is dated 2012 but not seen until now. E-book also available.
* Angus, Jennifer In Search of Goliathus Hercules (Whitman, Albert 978-0-8075-2990-4, $17.99, 350pp, hc) Middle-grade fantasy novel. Henri Bell discovers he can talk to insects, and
eventually begins to transform into one himself. A first novel. E-book also available.
* Anonymous, ed. ’Til the World Ends (Harlequin/Luna 978-0-373-80349-1, $14.95, 361pp, tp) Original anthology of three apocalyptic SF romance stories by Julie Kagawa, Ann Aguirre, and Karen Duvall. E-book also available.
Armstrong, Kelley The Calling (Harper 978-0-06-179706-4, $9.99, 326pp, tp, cover by Carrie Schechter) Reprint (Harper 2012) young-adult dark fantasy novel, the second book in the Darkness Rising series.
* Ashgrove, Claire Immortal Trust (Tor 978-0-7653-6760-0, $7.99, 440pp, pb, cover by Scott Grimando) Paranormal romance, the third book in the Curse of the Templars series. Copyrighted by Valerie M. Hatfield. E-book also available.
Atherton, Nancy Aunt Dimity and the Village Witch (Penguin 978-0-14-312271-5, $8.99, 280pp, pb, cover by Tamaye Perry) Reprint (Viking 2012) mystery novel with supernatural elements, 17th in the series.
* Atwater-Rhodes, Amelia Promises to Keep (Random House/Delacorte 978-0-385-74192-7, $15.99, 236pp, hc, cover by Ericka O’Rourke) Young-adult dark fantasy novel in the Den of Shadows world, featuring a side character from All Just Glass. E-book also available.
* Bailey, Kristin Legacy of the Clockwork Key (Simon Pulse 978-1-4424-4026-5, $17.99, 403pp, hc) Young-adult steampunk fantasy novel, the first in The Secret Order trilogy. This is a pen name for Jess Granger. E-book also available.
Baker, Adam Juggernaut (St. Martin’s/Dunne 978-1-250-01767-3, $24.99, 305pp, hc, cover by Dave Seeley) Zombie novel. Mercenaries looking for lost treasure in 2005 Iraq find horror. E-book also available. First US edition (Hodder & Stoughton 6/12).
Baker, E.D. Fairy Wings (Bloomsbury USA 978-1-59990-756-7, $7.99, 307pp, tp, cover by Krista Huot) Reissue (Bloomsbury USA 2008 as Wings) young-adult fantasy novel. Third printing.
Locus, May 2013 Page 18