Thursday, August 5, 2010

Echo Excerpt in Outlander: WTF???

So my sister, Jill, just finished Outlander. (Give a collective cheer because she's only been reading it for about 6 months or so. And this WITH a trip to Italy, no less. LOTS of plane time... but I digress.)

And THIS is what I just get in my email box:

I finished the book.  I started reading the excerpt from the next book.  Who the heck is having a baby with 2 fathers????  And where is Ellen cause it keeps saying Ian.  And where are they????

Now... I'm not really sure WHY she's asking about Ellen. Does she mean Jenny? Ugh - whatevs. Anyway - whoever signed off on putting an Echo excerpt at the end of ANYTHING OTHER THAN A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES should have a SERIOUS talking-to by his or her boss.

(Please tell me it wasn't Diana. DOH!)

23 comments:

  1. Just out of curiosity...what edition of OUTLANDER is that? The US edition (blue cover)? Mass-market (small size) or trade (large size) paperback?

    If you can clarify which edition she's reading, I would say that's a great question to ask Diana on Compuserve. (She's in Scotland this week, but post the question anyway, I bet she'd see it.)

    I agree with you, that's a huge and bewildering spoiler to throw at a newcomer to the series!!

    Karen

    ReplyDelete
  2. P.S. Your SISTER? You mean there's another one?? How has she managed to hold out this long without either you or Tracey addicting her already?

    Karen

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jill will henceforth be known as Third Sister Jill. :-) LOL, Carol and I have been doing our best to get her into the series--it doesna help that she's a careful (read: slow) reader or that she claims she never has time to read. But never fear...we got her through all four Twilights and we will get her through this, too!!

    Funny story re: Jill--last time all three of us hung out, Jill had just finished the Jamie/Claire beating. She was all, "you guys, I don't know if I can take much more of this! All the violence! If it's gets any worse, I don't know if I can go on!" And Carol and I just look at each other and go, "Ummmmm....." But she kept reading--yay!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just purchased a copy of Outlander to share with a friend (or two, or more...) since I'm a Kindle reader. This edition DOES have an Echo excerpt in the back. [Blue cover, paperback]. I dinna know what the publisher was thinking!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Karen - good question - I think she's reading the larger blue paperback. (Hell I may have bought it for her; canna remember.) And the fact that she isn't addicted is nothing less than a TRAVESTY!! I dinna get it and willna ever understand how she can be a sister of Tracey's and mine - and not be babbling the word "Jamie" over and over again in her sleep.. after reading Outlander. But... such is life, I suppose.

    I would post a question on CS (you mean I should make it a new topic, right?) but my concern is that Diana will be like "Ugh - I know - it was a mistake - must you remind me? (major eyeroll)" and I'll lock myself in my closet whilst whispering the "find a happy place" chant to myself over and over again. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I originally had the mass market paperback (the wee one) but upgraded to the trade paperback (the big one, both blue). BOTH had the excerpt. And I would swear that at least one other book in the series does, too--though don't hold me to that...

    While we're on the subject of annoying publishing things--can we get rid of ALL back cover copy (except, of course, the various reviews praising HERSELF)? If you look at Dragonfly's back cover, for example, you're sunk before you've even started!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Carol - nah, I don't think she'd roll her eyes at you or anything. It's a reasonable question. (Though I suspect the answer could be something like, "Complain to Random House [or whoever], I don't have any control over the excerpts they put in the OUTLANDER paperback."

    I'm curious, too, to see what she has to say. I don't think she'll bite your head off for asking. But if you want to catch her in a good mood (just in case), wait till she gets back from Scotland in a few days.

    Karen

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hahahahahaha How did you manage to keep a straight face when she asked if there was more violence??

    The Jamie/Claire beating was just foreplay!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh, my golly! Had I had your email addie I would have been emailing you in the wee hours of the morning. I have been finishing up Snow and Ashes. Things were just plodding along and then, BAM! all H-E-double toothpicks broke loose! Don't want to give too much away, but I'm not sure I can start Echo quickly enough! WOW!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, and yeah, whose idea was THAT to put a preview from a book on down the line? Dumb. I'm just sayin'.

    ReplyDelete
  11. AG--Best acting I've ever done. :-) I think I actually have a video from that night out--actually, I have several, as it was the night our cousin JennD was in town and we all went out--but I definitely have one of Jill giving her opinion that I may have to put up on YouTube.

    Karen--I agree that the publisher's most likely to blame for the Echo excerpt--but that said, I find this whole topic of "what does an author control in the publishing world" fascinating. I mean, I would think a select few in the industry (Stephenie Meyer/JK Rowling/etc.) pretty much have 100 percent say over what happens with their books and how they're marketed, while others (um, http://amzn.to/bcqA2T) are happy to slink away with their paltry work-for-hire check and call it a day. At what point do you control the marketing aspects? I would guess that Diana has a LOT of control--but maybe not enough to preclude the publisher from adding an Echo excerpt if they think it's going to sell more books. In any case, you should definitely ask! Maybe make it more of a "how are your books marketed" question....

    ReplyDelete
  12. LOL Karen - I totally thought you were going to say something like "If you want to catch her in a good mood, wait until it's late night in Edinburgh and she's had some really good scotch." :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I think Carol or Tracey should be the ones to ask this question. I don't mind passing on questions for folks who don't have Compuserve accounts or are too shy to ask questions of Diana directly, but neither of those applies to you, since both of you have posted there before.

    Plus, I think the more you post over there, the easier it gets. :-)

    Karen

    ReplyDelete
  14. Karen--oops--in my brain dump of a post back there, I meant to address that "you should definitely ask" comment to Carol. What, the whole "my post should automatically record what I'm thinking" comments capability isn't working? ;-)

    Carol, you SHOULD ask, but I'll volunteer if you dinna want to...

    ReplyDelete
  15. mmm I think the "Third Sister" may be a changeling...the fairies have your real sister

    ReplyDelete
  16. sanderson11: ROFLMAO!!! That is brills--how did Carol and I not think of that????

    ReplyDelete
  17. I must confess.... I didn't get anything about it after Outlander, but now that I just finished The Fiery Cross Ikeep going back to the excerpt and guessing whats going to happen.... So, before Ian came back, I knew that he was going to come back. I know, i'm a bad person!!! But I get joy out of getting hints of what's going to happen. So yeah. And I know that Jamie and Claire live through the burning of the house. I agree, whoever put that there needs to have a serious talking to.
    -Miranda

    ReplyDelete
  18. I just gave copies of Outlander to 2 friends of mine (both of whom are loving it, btw :-) I made sure to tell them _not_ to read the excerpt from Echo in the back and _not_ to read the back cover of _any_ of the books until they had finished the previous book! Darn spoilers!
    Diane in GA

    ReplyDelete
  19. P.S
    Carol, did you get my email? I sent you a new story. This one is about Roger. Read it!

    -Miranda

    ReplyDelete
  20. The first CD of DIA has an intro track just before the book starts that says something like - Dr. Clair Randall has come with her 20 year old daughter to the Scottish Highlands to find.....blah, blah. I was so POed it really reduced the impact of the first chapter. (Only a man would do such a thing, a woman would not.)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Sanderson11 - DY. ING. That RULES. Even moreso if you're a True Blood fan.

    Karen/Tracey - alright - I'm going to post that question on CS. It's Friday. I'm in a good mood. LOL

    Miranda - I got your email but no story! I was waiting for you to send it!

    L - omg I would have FREAKED OUT. MUST be a man.

    ReplyDelete
  22. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Does anyone have the Exile preview in back of their An Echo in the Bone?!?! *Meep*

    I'm not done Echo yet but HAD to look at the preview before starting. Verra interesting indeed:)

    ReplyDelete