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A while back, Random House gave Advanced Reader Copies of an upcoming book from China Meiville to the good people of Unshelved (a webcomic I read which takes place in a library). In turn, they offered them out to the first people to respond. I got one.
That was was pretty cool. I like Meiville's work, and not only was I getting a free book, I was getting an ARC months before the official publishing date.
I read it through and took notes as I went. An ARC hasn't been fully proofread, so there were some little mistakes. I jotted those down. Being the grammar nerd that I am, I'm not ashamed to tell you that I got a little thrill just from the thought of being able to actually help correct typos in a real published book. It irks me when I see them. A couple of times, I've actually written in about particularly choice ones, so that they could maybe correct them in future editions. Unlikely that they'd bother to do so, in truth, but when you see something like a 1 in the middle of a word (where an l is supposed to be)... Well, maybe you don't feel a half-amused compulsion to tell the publisher about it, but I do. Here, though, we were talking about something that had yet to receive the final polish, and I had the privilege of reading through it. So when I wrote in, there was a real chance that at least one or two of the errors I found would be corrected solely because I'd pointed them out. (No matter how carefully you proofread, there's always something you miss.) Here was my chance to make an actual difference in a novel being published by a major company. That felt very cool.
But, of course, I didn't just take notes on typos and such. Really, I wasn't sure what they were expecting of me, what kind of feedback they were looking for. All I had was a handwritten note that said, "Let us know what you think." So... I wrote up a full review. About four pages, actually. (Plus two pages of notes about typos, giving a location for and explanation of each one.) I'm not allowed to show it to anyone yet because the book won't be out until May, but if you're interested I can post it here then.
It was much more than they were expecting, but they appreciated it enough to ask my permission to post an excerpt. I happily granted it, and today Random House published my advanced review on their blog. (Well, a few excerpted paragraphs of it, anyway.)
So:
1. Free book!
2. Free book from a good author!
3. Free book from a good author months before it's even published!
4. A chance to actually help fix errors in a soon-to-be-published book!
5. My review described as "particularly eloquent" by an industry professional!
6. My review posted on the blog of a major publishing company!
Epic nerdcore win.
That was was pretty cool. I like Meiville's work, and not only was I getting a free book, I was getting an ARC months before the official publishing date.
I read it through and took notes as I went. An ARC hasn't been fully proofread, so there were some little mistakes. I jotted those down. Being the grammar nerd that I am, I'm not ashamed to tell you that I got a little thrill just from the thought of being able to actually help correct typos in a real published book. It irks me when I see them. A couple of times, I've actually written in about particularly choice ones, so that they could maybe correct them in future editions. Unlikely that they'd bother to do so, in truth, but when you see something like a 1 in the middle of a word (where an l is supposed to be)... Well, maybe you don't feel a half-amused compulsion to tell the publisher about it, but I do. Here, though, we were talking about something that had yet to receive the final polish, and I had the privilege of reading through it. So when I wrote in, there was a real chance that at least one or two of the errors I found would be corrected solely because I'd pointed them out. (No matter how carefully you proofread, there's always something you miss.) Here was my chance to make an actual difference in a novel being published by a major company. That felt very cool.
But, of course, I didn't just take notes on typos and such. Really, I wasn't sure what they were expecting of me, what kind of feedback they were looking for. All I had was a handwritten note that said, "Let us know what you think." So... I wrote up a full review. About four pages, actually. (Plus two pages of notes about typos, giving a location for and explanation of each one.) I'm not allowed to show it to anyone yet because the book won't be out until May, but if you're interested I can post it here then.
It was much more than they were expecting, but they appreciated it enough to ask my permission to post an excerpt. I happily granted it, and today Random House published my advanced review on their blog. (Well, a few excerpted paragraphs of it, anyway.)
So:
1. Free book!
2. Free book from a good author!
3. Free book from a good author months before it's even published!
4. A chance to actually help fix errors in a soon-to-be-published book!
5. My review described as "particularly eloquent" by an industry professional!
6. My review posted on the blog of a major publishing company!
Epic nerdcore win.
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(btw, Dad says hi.)
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(Hi, Dad. :) )
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i read unshelved faithfully, but i never read the "extra stuff" on the page, just the comic. i guess that's why i miss out on stuff like this.
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I've read three of Meiville's books. He seems to specialize in creating and developing new and unique worlds.
Perdido Street Station was an exercise in world building. It takes place in this huge city filled with different species and cultures and neighborhoods. A monster gets loose in the city, and some people have to try to track it down and find a way to stop it. But that plot is mostly there to give us a reason to follow them around as they chase all over the city, so we can get a good look at all its inhabitants and parts. Each is well fleshed-out and unique.
The City and The City takes place in another unique setting. In this case, two cities from two different realities got smashed together. So there are places where you're in one city or the other or both. Physically, they're in the same place and you can just walk around as if it was one big, continuous city. But that's highly illegal, and if you try to do it a mysterious power called "Breach" will take you away, to be punished, exiled, or disappeared forever depending on the severity of your breach. So everyone who lives there is conditioned to unsee whatever is in the other city. It's kind of hard to explain, but you get the idea as the plot moves along. Anyway, a dead body turns up in one city, and the cop who gets the case figures out that the murder took place in the other city. So he has to get a passport and training and everything so he can legally cross over to continue the investigation (as a sort of unofficial consultant to the police department of that city). And, as you might expect, it all gets bigger and bigger and there's a whole big plot to unravel. So, again... world building, but this time the new and unique world serves passively, as a setting for a reasonably interesting murder/conspiracy mystery.
Embassytown has more balance. A new and unique world, with a very strange and well-developed alien species. But the world drives the plot and the plot changes the world. And there are always hints that there's so much more to see and explore, more stories to tell. Really, it's pretty cool. But it doesn't come out for another month.
I wouldn't be surprised, though, if your local library had at least one of his other books.
Oh, and this giveaway happened on Twitter. The strip's writer tweeted that the first three people to respond would get a copy of the book. I happened to be online at the time, and managed to write back quickly enough to get one.
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I don't follow the comic thingy, sadly. I did take a peek at the link though. The post was accurate on the eloquence :D
*cheers and yays!*
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(And the comic has nothing to do with the book. It's just that they were offered a few copies to hand out, and I was lucky/quick enough to get one.)
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