Frequently in our business there is a space of time when Howard and I already know something, but we’re not allowed to say anything about it yet. The delay is frequently caused by the need for paperwork of some kind. Contracts need to be signed, or nominations need to be accepted, or lists need to be compiled. The delay poses a challenge for blogging because my head is full of something and I have to work around it to put together something else to say. What I really want to say is “Baen is going to sell electronic versions of the Schlock Books!” (which we knew for 6 months before papers were signed) or “Howard has been nominated for a Hugo award” (which we knew for a week before we were allowed to say anything) or “We’re publishing a project for Tracy Hickman” (Which I’ve known for a month, but you didn’t know until right this minute.)
You heard me right. Tracy Hickman of the Dragonlance novels. He has a project he and his son Curtis collaborated on called XDM: Extreme Dungeon Mastery and The Tayler Corporation is going to publish it. I am going to be Tracy Hickman’s publisher and editor. This is a little bit surreal for us. Tracy needed a very fast turn around from a publisher who was willing to do the project his way. He also thinks that Howard’s art style would be perfect for the project. The bones of the agreement were laid down at LTUE in February. Last Tuesday’s Business Meeting was when we hammered out the contractual details and the schedule. The schedule is tight. The whole thing needs to be done inside 6 weeks so that we can get the books printed and delivered before GenCon.
This project is scary. We’re working with a Big Name, on a project where it is very important to get things right, with a very short amount of time to get things done. And yet, this is not beyond our capabilities. Howard and I really think we can pull this off. Tracy seems to think that we can too. Only time will tell if we were all deluded together.
By the way, I really recommend working with Tracy Hickman if you ever get the chance. Barely had he walked into our business meeting when he launched into an anecdote about how everyone is just making things up as they go along. Sometimes people pretend that they are not, occasionally they are right, but most of the time, on most projects, people are just muddling through trying to look like they know what they are doing. Tracy opened the meeting that way very deliberately because he knows that his project is pulling us into uncharted territory. (And yet the more we survey that uncharted territory, the more it looks similar to the ground we’ve already covered. We are only going to need a few new tools to make this work.) As we hammered out the contract, Tracy kept putting in clauses that protected us and we kept putting in clauses to protect him. We even told him right out that one of our measures of success for the project is that he is never sorry that he gave it to us.
So my relaxed month before book shipping has vanished into six weeks of being very busy. But I do not mind. This project opens up new avenues and contacts for us that simply were not there before. Howard will be going to GenCon with Tracy who will introduce him to business contacts and fans en masse. Not only that, but Howard is excited for the fun pictures he gets to draw.
So if my blogging felt a little lackluster or scattered this past week it is because my head was full of stuff I couldn’t talk about yet. My head is still full of stuff, but it is all loose bits that are flying about at random. Now that I’m allowed to blog about it all, I’m sure the thoughts will start coming together.