PSA: Is the eArc “different”?

[rolanni]

Some folks have written to ask if the eArc of Ghost Ship “matches” the hardcover book that will very soon now be printed and which will appear on the shelves of your favorite bookstore in August.

After some back-and-forth with one of the correspondents wondering this very thing, it transpires that said correspondent understood that sometimes the finished book “differs” from the eArc and s/he wished to know if that was the case with Ghost Ship.

And the answer is. . .

Yes.

And no.

There are certainly some grammatical/spelling/technical issues that have been addressed in the galley proofing stage of the typeset manuscript from which the book will be printed, which issues appear in their Wild Form in the eArc.

Are there whole scenes excised, new scenes inserted, characters written in, out, or altogether made into mincemeat? In short, is it a Whole ‘Nother Book that will be coming out in August?

Of course not.

The way the process has worked with Baen thus far is:

1. Authors contract to write book; receive advance

2. Authors write book; turning in manuscript ahead, on, or slightly past deadline

3. Editor reads submitted manuscript, points out places where story is broken and/or where action/motivation/characterization needs expansion

4. Authors do necessary repairs; submit amended manuscript

5. Editor acks receipt of amended manuscript

6. D&A check arrives; authors party

7. Some Months Later, editor transmits copy editor queries; authors repair or not, as necessary; book goes to typesetter

8. eArc becomes available. I am not certain that the eArc includes the changes generated in 7, above. Most certainly, it is the amended ‘script acked in 5.

The ‘script in 5? Is the complete novel. Any confusion spotted by the copy editor has thus far, and in our experience, been Important Detail Stuff, not Plot Altering Ohmighods. Plot Altering Ohmighods fall into Toni’s honor.

To sum up: Lee and Miller eArcs contain the Whole Story as it will appear in the printed book. The printed book will certainly contain cleaner copy. What you are buying when you purchase an eArc from Baen is the ability to read the story in a rough, but not the roughest, form five to six whole months before the printed book comes out.

Questions?

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Comments

opinion of a satisfied customer

[estara.livejournal.com]

Just chiming in to say that from the BAEN e-Arcs I've bought of various authors the only thing that occasionally is different from the finished product are a few typos. The formatting is done perfectly and all the story has been there.

Question: do you get a higher percentage of royalties on the e-Arc as well?

Re: opinion of a satisfied customer

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Question: do you get a higher percentage of royalties on the e-Arc as well?

This question does keep coming up. Hold on a sec...

*pulls open file drawer, takes out Ghost Ship contract, flips pages...*

OK, here it is.

eArcs are not mentioned specifically. However, it says here that the royalty for sales through the publisher's "webscription" program shall be twenty percent (20%). The percentage will be a pro rata share of publisher's gross receipts...yadayadayada...

So! The answer would appear to be yes and no.

No, eArcs do not have their own royalty system. i.e. There is no "higher percentage" of royalties in place for eArc sales.

But! All is not ashes -- we get paid more because eArcs cost more. Twenty percent of $15 is $3. In comparison, twenty percent of $6 (the price of a Baen ebook) is $1.20.

...and in the interests of completeness:

Hardcover royalties are (leaving aside the complex stuff and exceptions) 10% of cover for the first 5,000 copies sold (less returns); 12.5% for the next 5,000 sold (less returns); 15% on all copies sold over 10,000.

Paperbacks earn 8% of cover for the first 150,000 copies sold and 10% thereafter -- less returns.

Re: opinion of a satisfied customer

[estara.livejournal.com]

So the BAEN ebooks are your highest royalties percent, but since a non-discounted hardcover is overall the most expensive and you would get more if we bought a hardcover...

And "percentage pro rata share of publisher's gross receipts" might not even be the full 20% of the price? Hmm. Hmm.