Well, today is a banner day.
I just submitted my "final draft" of Death from the Skies! to my editor.
W
0
0
t
!
What does that mean, you may ask. Well, I submitted the first draft to her back in November. She took a month or so to edit it, make notes, and all that. Then she sent it back to me for revision, and I’ve been slaving away for weeks getting it ready for resubmission. I had to rewrite a couple of chapters fairly extensively; they didn’t flow well. I had to find pictures, write captions, add an introduction and an acknowledgments page.
But that’s all done. I wrapped it all up, attached it to an email, and by now it’s sitting in her inbox.
I’m not done; far from it! It needs to be copy edited, for example. The artists at Viking Press need to look over what I sent and massage the pictures. We need to decide on cover art, and a subtitle. The book still needs to be typeset, then I check the proofs. Then once it’s in good shape, it gets sent out for blurbs from reviewers (and I need to think about who will do that — anyone have J J Abrams’ phone number? 
).
Then, finally, in October 2008, it will come out as a hardcover to a store near you!
There’s a long way to go yet. But I feel a lot better today. Blue skies ahead, baby, blue skies.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Great job, BA! Can’T wait to buy this baby when it’ll be all over!
January 24th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Well done! I’ve been trying to get my books published for years without success.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Bonus points if you can get a positive review comment from one of the “the comet will hit us!” folks.
:)
Mega bonus if you get Hoagland to comment.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Congratulations, Phil!
W O O T !!!
When’s the book signing in Charlottesville? ;-D
Rich
January 24th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Oh sure, blue skies alright. If you like blue skies that are FULL OF DEATH!
January 24th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Isn’t it strange that you, John Scalzi, and Chad Orzel are all finishing books within days of each other? It can’t be a coincidence, it must be the Blog-God’s plan!
January 24th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
[BA Asks: "Then once it’s in good shape, it gets sent out for blurbs from reviewers (and I need to think about who will do that — anyone have J J Abrams’ phone number?
)."]
I believe your Man Crush might have his number… shoot him an e-mail!
January 24th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Jamas Enright:
> Mega bonus if you get Hoagland to comment.
Darn… Beat me to it.
aiabx:
> If you like blue skies that are FULL OF DEATH!
Double darn. Also beat me to it.
Well, congrats anyway.
January 24th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Now how about getting the “Colbert Bump” when it comes out?
January 24th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Jamas Enright:
> Mega bonus if you get Hoagland to comment.
“I hated it!”
–Hoagland
Seriously, Congrats BA. *marks october on calendar*
January 24th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I seem to recall that there was a chapter in a recent book written by Dr. Neil Tyson on this subject. How will Dr. Plaits’ book differ from the Tyson tome?
January 24th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
\/\/ () () T ! indeed!
But seriously, dude, books are SO last millenium. Just post a searchable pdf and we’ll PayPal you funds. I’ll have my speech synthesizer read it to me over my car stereo via my bluetooth-enabled personal digital assistant.
…OK, a book will be fine. Can’t wait to read it.
January 24th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Congrats on finishing this round! I look forward to buying it. Hopefully, there will be a book tour?!
January 24th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Will there be a launch tour?
Will you get William Shatner to do the audio book version?
January 24th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Yes, Thomas. I concur.
SHATNER
should read
the book
to the
audience.
January 24th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
[...] Death from the Skies! – submitted By The Bad Astronomer The artists at Viking Press need to look over what I sent and massage the pictures. We need to decide on cover art, and a subtitle. The book still needs to be typeset, then I check the proofs. Then once it’s in good shape, … Bad Astronomy Blog – http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog [...]
January 24th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Let us know when it’s our job to buy it and read it, Phil.
January 24th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
eBook?
Will there be an eBook edition? I don’t like buying dead-tree books because I move around a lot.
January 24th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
I trust you encrypted the email?
January 24th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Awesome!
Why does it need a subtitle, though? What’s with subtitles? If they’re going to force the book to have a subtitle, go with something like, “Does this make me look fat?”
January 24th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
“Then once it’s in good shape, it gets sent out for blurbs from reviewers”
Try to send it to Dawkins and Penn and Teller too.
January 24th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Shatner…. THAT
WOULD
BE
AWESOME!
January 24th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Congratulations on almost being done with Death from the Skies! Have you seen a Colbert Bump yet from the nomination of Bad Astronomy for the 2008 Stephen T. Colbert Award for the Literary Excellence?
January 24th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Wonderful. I’m sure there’s plenty stuff in it about comets, asteroids, cosmic radiation, etc. But.. what about pointed sticks?
January 24th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Feh pointed sticks! What about drop bears?
January 24th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
WooT! indeed!! Congratulations on getting a large load off your shoulders. Any idea when it might be bound for the stores? I’ve got a birthday mid-July and the husband’s always asking for ideas…..
January 25th, 2008 at 1:39 am
subtitle:”If you’re reading this, on the bog(toilet), when you hear the warning sirens go off; bend over and kiss you’re ass good bye.”<– similar to an old anti-nuclear poster I saw in a bog, in the eighties.
or
“walking in your foot steps”, from the Sting song about dinosaurs.
January 25th, 2008 at 5:38 am
Well done, BA. I look forward to it.
BA said:
“Then, finally, in October 2008, it will come out as a hardcover to a store near you!”
Hey, does this mean you’re going for simultaneous worldwide release, Dr Phil?
Or will it just be out in the US in October?
January 25th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Nigel Depledge:
“Near” is relative. Given the scope of the book, even 1/2 an Earth circumference away is pretty “near”.
As for an audio book…
“DEATH!… From… TheSKIES!… By… PHIL… Plait!”
January 25th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Congratulations for the milestone. I can’t wait for the book, and I too hope for a tour.
Screw the ebook (for now). I prefer the texture of a well-written hardcopy book. And (as it seems to me) books are a carbon sink. So thank your local library for doing it’s part in reducing global warming.
Plus nothing is better than a nice book in the can.
- Doug
PS I just noticed your footer for the first time. LOL.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Congrat’s on the milestone, Phil.
One question, though. Must all books have subtitles these days?
“Frankenstein : the man-made monster”.
Subtitle not really needed IMHO.
January 25th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Thank the FSM you’re not as bogged down in personal appearances as George R.R. Martin. At least you got your book to the publisher in the agreed year. George is over a year late sending his next book in his Fire and Ice series to his publisher. I understand his obsession with making his story perfect, but there comes a time when you gotta publish or perish.
Congrats on the book Phil. Keep us posted on the delivery date,,,
GAry 7
January 25th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Actually, the title is Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus.
When the book was published in 1818, just the name wouldn’t have said anything about the content of the book.
January 25th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Just out of curiosity, Phil, does your book touch on momentum transfer between an orbiting satellite(Luna) and it’s parent body? I’m wondering how that phenomenon would apply to earths distance from the sun. Wouldn’t momentum transfer also apply to the earth/sun system? How much closer might earth have been to Sol 4.5 billion years ago?
GAry 7
January 25th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Hey, If you can’t get on The Colbert Report, there’s always Glenn Beck on CNN
January 25th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
RE: Frankenstein:
Do’h!
January 25th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Halcyon Dayz says: “Actually, the title is Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus. When the book was published in 1818, just the name wouldn’t have said anything about the content of the book.”
And sadly, today the subtitle says nothing to most readers.
- Jack
January 27th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Yay! Congratz Phil! I can’t wait until it comes out
January 28th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Just wondering… amongst the list of things yet to do there’s no mention of an index. I hope there will be an index. A proper one with subheadings, as with Bad Astronomy. I’ve been put off buying books with bad indexes eg a string of more than five or six pages listed for an entry in the index. They’re infuriating!
January 28th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Superluminous news Phil (ie. Beyond mere brilliance!)
I assume – & hope its being released Up Here (Southern hemisphere) in Oz as well as Down There (Nothern) in Yankland?
Yeah,there’s no ‘up’ or ‘down’ in space just our one imperiled planet ..
Hmmn .. my suggested sub-title :
“Really Bad Apocalypes From the Bad Astronomer!”
My suggested reviewers : ME!
(well, okay, not on the Blurb ..)
Seriously : Arthur C.Clarke if you can get him?
or David Tennant or the chick that played Rose Tyler in Dr Who?
Noam Chomsky – who America’s leading thinker, intellectual & author?
or Richard Dawkins? (Hmm.. the Xn’s ‘ll love that!
January 29th, 2008 at 12:04 am
Or should that be Apocalypti?
Anyone know the plural for Apocalypse?
February 15th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Damn, sure takes a long time to get it out, doesn’t it? Almost a year from first draft to bookstore, and that doesn’t even count the time you spent writing the first draft.
October 28th, 2008 at 12:55 am
is there an audio format of the book ?
i only found the ebook online so far.
if you dont already have it in audio you really should for us that work 20 hrs a day!!!