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Main Junction: Warren Ellis' SHIVERING SANDS Now Available

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  1.  (7148.1)
    Today I release SHIVERING SANDS, a book containing a selection of essays, articles, columns, rambles and jabberings that were written in various places on the internet over the last seven years or so. I publish it, with trusty mechanic Ariana Osborne, as the International Electrophonic Unit through the print-on-demand house Lulu. Regular readers will know that I've been talking about POD for months, and I thought it was time to try it out. This work has not been collected in one place before, and I think pretty much none of it has ever been on paper.

    SHIVERING SANDS is 176 pages long, and costs USD $15.54. Go to http://www.electrophonic.net and click on the book title to be taken to the order page. Or, hell, just click right through to the Lulu page. You'll also find a book preview there, a dozen pages or so.

    All books are sold through and mailed by Lulu. We touch nothing. This is the most useful thing about POD houses like Lulu: they handle everything once we upload the book file. So any questions about shipping will have to be handled through the Lulu FAQs. We can tell you that Ariana, in California, got her proof copy within five working days. We're printing with an international standard size that means your copy will be printed as physically close to you as possible, rather than everything being shipped from the States.

    Ariana -- who designs much of my Avatar Press work, like AETHERIC MECHANICS -- has outdone herself on the book. It's beautiful. Even though making a collection like this beautiful is like being presented with a young and very well dressed mental patient.




    Brief notes: no plans yet for a digital edition: no, it won't be in bookstores: no, I can't sell or send you a signed copy: I have no copies of the book, they're all sold through Lulu: we don't set shipping prices: no intent to sell it through Amazon. There. Thanks for your attention.

    Blogging, reblogging and twittering is encouraged, if not openly begged for.
  2.  (7148.2)
    Clicked, ordered and now waiting for the Royal Mail......
  3.  (7148.3)
    Can I ask a quick question (not sure if it's been asked before): Why Lulu, and not Blurb? Is it more cost-effective? More creative control?

    I ask because for a while now I've wanted to do something POD (like a book of design work etc, call it a monograph of unused stuff) and I've studied both sites on and off (services provided etc). So I'm just wondering what gave you the impetus to go through Lulu (one advantage of them is the obvious Amazon link, but you're not going to use that for the time being)?
    •  
      CommentAuthorAgitpunkt
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2009
     (7148.4)
    Lulu suggests I might also like

    STEVE PERRY - A singer's journey
    by Laura Monica Cucu

    Oh, Lulu, how well you know me.

    Members of Journey aside, I'm excited as hell to read it and not just for the high Ellis brain-juice content; I've never ordered a POD book before, and I'm interested in the mechanics of the thing: shipping time, print quality...
  5.  (7148.5)
    Lulu is, frankly, much cheaper. Blurb's great for high-end visually-based projects, but they are bloody expensive compared to Lulu, especially on shipping.
    •  
      CommentAuthorcelan
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2009
     (7148.6)
    Demanded. Printed.
    • CommentAuthorkozmund
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2009
     (7148.7)
    I'm excited to get this. I'll miss Jacen Burrows' bizarre and random illustrations from the old From the Desk of Warren Ellis / Bad Signal books but from the Lulu preview, it looks like Ariana deserves some serious kudos on the design end.
    • CommentAuthorOddcult
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2009 edited
     (7148.8)
    Polite request: could you keep us updated on how this sells and how many copies are ordered in the first week or so, then after about a month, and what the margins are, including cost of time spent on it in terms of design and set up?

    Ordinarily I'd feel a little rude asking about the last bit especially, but if you don't ask, you don't get and I think this sort of info might help other authors decide whether to go ahead with this sort of thing.
  9.  (7148.9)
    I'm unlikely to release any information about the margins.

    I can tell you we've moved 46 copies in the first hour of release. And, yeah, I'll keep a tally going.
  10.  (7148.10)
    Lulu is, frankly, much cheaper. Blurb's great for high-end visually-based projects, but they are bloody expensive compared to Lulu, especially on shipping.


    Yeah I guessed as much. I know Blurb is great for image based stuff, but the Amazon/ISBN function of Lulu is very, very interesting. Ahh, decisions, decisions…
    •  
      CommentAuthorkperkins
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2009
     (7148.11)
    Ordered. Ariana did a very nice job on design. As someone who's ordered from Lulu before, I can tell you that the print quality is very good.
    • CommentAuthorIainCrow
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2009
     (7148.12)
    Definitely going to purchase... what's the postage like to the UK??
    •  
      CommentAuthorGreg SBB!
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2009
     (7148.13)
    Done.

    Looking forward to it.
    •  
      CommentAuthorGreg SBB!
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2009
     (7148.14)
    @IainCrow P&P was £2.99, making it £12.73 all in.
    •  
      CommentAuthorGekko
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2009 edited
     (7148.15)
    And what's more, basic postage is only €1 more than Am@z¤#: ordered, Sir!

    Ariana: beautiful cover.
    •  
      CommentAuthorMark R
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2009
     (7148.16)
    Is this a limited engagement run, or will it be around til the Holidays?
    •  
      CommentAuthorvrbtm
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2009
     (7148.17)
    Ariana and Warren,

    Ditto to Mark R's question. I want very badly to buy this book, but money will be tight for the next 2 months (buying my first home!). Will it still be available in January? Since it's POD, I'd like to assume so.

    Many thanks.
    • CommentAuthorPhranky
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2009
     (7148.18)
    I'll buy it this weekend after I get paid.
  19.  (7148.19)
    The book is not limited. That defeats the point of POD. It'll be around as long as Lulu is. And they've been at this ten years.
    •  
      CommentAuthorremotepush
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2009
     (7148.20)
    i take it this is all non-fiction?
    doesn't include the flash fiction pieces you do?
    any plans to collect those?

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