1. Saltation, the Second Book of Theo Waitley, published by Baen Books in hardcover with a street date of April 13, 2010, sold out at the warehouse before the subscriber copies were shipped to Maine.
1a. The authors are aware that the book has been for sale from bookstores for A Really, Really Long Time
1b. The authors are also aware that subscriber copies have not yet been mailed
1c. Really, they are
2. Upon learning of the sell-out, Baen Books immediately ordered a new printing of Saltation.
2a. It takes time to print books
2b. It takes time ship books
3. The subscriber copies of Saltation arrived in Maine on Tuesday, June 8.
3a. That’s 1200 subscriber copies
4. Each book must be:
*signed
*packed
*mailed
*in addition, there is considerable database wrangling involved
4a. The above tasks take time
5. The authors are going to a convention from June 17 through June 21.
5a. This has been in the works for a Very Long Time; it is a professional commitment. While we are away, no books will be processed.
5b. Had matters gone as originally planned, Saltation would have arrived in Maine at the end of April and we could have begun the process of signing-and-shipping before we left for Oasis. Conceivably, some folks would have had their books by now.
5c. Pursuant to 1, above, that didn’t happen
6. We will begin the process of getting the books to subscribers when we return from Duckon
6a. As with Fledgling and pursuant to 4 and 4a above, the process of getting books to subscribers will take time. Steve basically does the mailing single-handedly, and mailing 1200 books is non-trivial.
7. The authors thank you for your understanding.
Ha! that’s quite the most reasoned, logical, un-argue-about-able ..um..argument… I’ve read in a while!!
I just picked up a copy of Mouse and Dragon (in the Polaris B&N, Columbus, OH) last night … and finished reading it …sometime… early this morning. Gotta say, it reads a lot like “Local Custom”! And BTW, B&N had TWO copies, as well as several other Lee and Miller books.
Anyway, I had been wondering when the Saltation printing was gonna get to you… Thanks for the update! I suspect that I’ll be re-reading the prior books again until I get a package in the mail.
Thanks again!
Please keep writing! I can wait, and re-read, my collection (as I have many times)as I do so. Hopefully you will give us a chance again to read a work in progress (aka: Fledging and Saltation)!