So many people are asking on so many different threads, I figured I better leave one post here on the front page where you can all find it.
Unfortunately, September is almost over and the book is still in edit. With almost 220,000 words to go thru, it’s going to take a while. I don’t know what the final count will be but something closer to 150,000 which means I’ll be cutting out a chunk as big as Quarter Share!
On top of it, Half Share final edits need to get priority so the text version of that book can get released on time in October. I’m hoping to get Owner’s Share into the queue for October, but the text publication has to take priority.
Thanks to you all for you kind support and I’ll have the new book as soon as I can! I promise.
Take your time. I think we all understand about publishers deadlines. FYI No offense. But I won a bet for a hundred dollars, because I did not think you would make the September deadline for Owners Share.
I’m happy to wait for Owner’s Share. I’ve got a print copy of Quarter Share and I’d love to get Half Share for Christmas, so take the time and get it right!
Looking forward to Half Share! I let 2 of my students (middle school) read QS and their first question was if I had Half Share! They loved it – and the most exciting thing they do is make coffee!!!!!! And they loved it! You have more fans than you could possibly imagine! Word of mouth advertising is an amazing way to get the word out! That is how I found out about the Share series, and I tell everyone I talk to books about your books (both audio and dead tree). Keep us informed about when things are coming out and how everything is going! I know that I check your website about 3 times a week to see how the books are going! The pressure is not on how soon the books is coming out, but the excitement of knowing there is another Ishmael book to listen to and read soon!!!!! Thanks for all the hours of entertainment you have provided – you have made many a lonely drive bearable and boring work doable!
Well, we’re all waiting expectantly, but we will certainly be willing to wait some more if it means that we finally find out how the mushroom growing process is doing on the Lois.
Cheers Nate and good luck with the editing!
I understand that the editing process will wheedle down your word count through tightening the language and such, but I suspect I am not the only one who would be more than happy for Owner’s Share to longer rather than shorter. So, don’t get too delete crazy. I am sure the wait will be worth it.
Far be it from me to give advice on writing but since this will be wrapping things up the longer it takes to read the better! Keep that word count up there!
Sounds like you have a couple of short stories in the 70,000 words to be cut out. Assuming that the 70K are in a couple of good chunks. Trying to find the silver lining here with the wait. I look forward to Owner’s Share when your personal seal of approval is on it, don’t rush. Understand that we completely respect you as the writer of the “Share’s” and only are “chomping at the bit” to get at the next. Pardon, while I go beat my cat (kidding).
Yes, Mr. Lowell, if “Owner’s Share” runs slightly longer then I, for one, would not be offended. So softly, softly with those editing shears. ;-)
220,000 words is a monster of a book – approximately 650 pages. 150,000 is still large (about 450 pages). Compared to Quartershare which weighs in at a about 235 – that is a big, big, book. Last books are usually “on the larger side” as the author has a lot of things to “tie up”. It is interesting that both you and Michael (The Crown Conspiracy guy) are workin on your “final” books in the series and they are both coming out really large. Well it will keep the editors in job security ;-)
Patiently waiting…but as some of the others said, Please don’t cut too much out! We love it when the story is longer! I never get enough! :)
Just one more voice that less is not more when it comes to the Owner’s Share. Even if it’s a part 1 and part 2, I’d be thrilled with more words than less. Like Michael, I’m wondering about the mushroom farm. And I’m sure there are other little tidbits that may not be important to the plot but would be treasured nonetheless. Of course, take all the time you need. We’re just enjoying the ride in the deep dark. : )
I find myself waiting, thinking, and pondering. I am now listening to you on the crown conspiracy, and drifting off to the Golden Age, I remain a huge fan. Looking forward to Owner’s Share.
But I don’t want to wait, I want it NOW! :)
I thought it was big at 180K and you added another 20-ish %? No wonder things have taken awhile. Add on the need to do edits for Half Share and I am surprised you are still sane.
Please – do go for the stuff that actually pays cash in decent amounts (at least, I *HOPE* it’s decent amounts!) rather than the Podiobooks which, while they do serve as great advertising, I seriously doubt bring in as much cash to replace the job you lost! I’m *HOPING* here that you can get enough from this gig to not *NEED* a day job!
Don’t Cut, Bigger is better.
Nate, have a question for you: I thought the tablet that Ish carries around with him was a neat idea. In your mind, which, if any, present-day PDA-type device most closely is able to perform similar to your vision for his tablet? Was his tablet as big as the iPad, or perhaps more like the size of the HTC EVO or Motorola Droid X?
Another thing I noticed was, back in Double Share, Ish was thinking of a way to record audio using his tablet and had to consider that he’d have to upload his recordings off his tablet frequently to avoid them being lost if his tablet was broken during a fight. What strikes me now is that, what with cloud computing being today’s big thing, Ish might have been able to upload his recordings on the fly. I’ve even set up my Android phone to upload to the Internet any photos I take, right when I press the shutter button on my phone. Admitted that’s not live audio, but I guess our tech has a ways to go in that dept. I bring all this up just to point out how interesting the life cycle of technology is.
Makes me wonder how much technology has advanced in the era of the Solar Clipper, between the times of Quarter Share and Owner’s Share. That has to be a few decades, at least.
i envisioned something like an iPad actually – with a 16:9 aspect ratio – a bit longer than an iphone, not as wide as an ipad.
as for cloud, yes, possible, but the clouds are limited because of the distances. the ship is not a cloud configuration on purpose. it was a thought i considered and discarded because of the mobility of the people. the cost of storage is so low that there’s no real need to offload anything unless you’re doing a backup or – like ishmael – concerned for the security of the device.
remember that the world that ishmael inhabits is the frontier. they don’t have all the “good stuff” – just the cheap stuff.
Grumble, grumble, grumble…
Although it is really hard from this end, I’m sure it will be worth the wait. You do one heckuva job with both the writing and podcast.
I’m also hoping there will be something beyond Owner’s Share?
Please take your time and dont cut any parts out. Being as this is the finale, I would want everything it has to offer.
For those arguing that bigger is better – I present as prosecution exhibits A and B: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows (aka Half-Baked Plot and Deadly Halitosis). Let da man edit what he needs to!
What’s with this “cloud” stuff – the shipnet is obviously a WLAN. For uploading the sound data to the shipnet, Ishmael would have been thinking in terms of evidence. Therefore, lossy codecs make it much harder to prove voiceprints. In addition, the shipnet’s storage is almost certainly some kind of write-once storage, only modifiable at a station, and most likely in that case by swapping out the actual memory storage medium. So he’s uploading un-encoded raw audio data at a significant bitrate, to a WORM media where the date stamps help establish the chain of evidence. The logs almost *have* to be on some kind of WORM media, as they’re definitely legal documents, and falsifying a log is not a minor infraction. It’s likely ship’s storage is significant; we see this in Captain’s Share when Ishmael has 2nd Mate Pall pull up the data to find out the Agamemnon’s standing orders to keep a constant transit time was the result of Rossett’s time in command (which was, IIRC, some 15-20 years prior).
Seriously – sure, the PDAs probably had a few terabytes of RAM and a couple of petabytes of non-volatile storage, but a lot of that would probably be taken up with things like the Spacer’s Handbook and it’s *significant* holographic content. (Note: if the pixels are small enough, a computer can generate interference patterns to create holographic images… Two generations better than the current iPad display really should be close to that – though the compute power might be a bit more). Offline storage would be needed at some point.
Nate, your comment on what you had in your mind about the tablets they carry and wondered if you had seen these. Villiv
http://www.myviliv.com/usa/product/x70ex.asp
This is what I keep thinking of you talk about them. Small and pack a load of features.
Just picked up the Kindle sample Quarter Share two days ago. Instantly went and bought the whole book, read it straight through and loved every minute of it. Was extremely disheartened when I saw that Half Share isn’t out yet in book form. Guess I’ll just have to catch up on the podcasts or something…Ah well. You’ve just goten a new spot on my all-time favorite series list, so I hope the rest lives up to that.
Let’s not bring up books like Harry Potter into this discussion. It’s too much a hot-button topic with how strong and variable opinions are.
As for the editing in general, it really shouldn’t be about the length of the book.There are lots of good reasons to cut material and it’s really about making a solid story. I, for one, am glad to wait if it means the book comes together and gives an ending to the overall plot arc. Good luck Nate!
You know what? Nate hasn’t gone wrong with the editing of the other five books. I trust he will do great. While I long for 650 pages or 50 hours of audio, if we get 450 pages and 35 hours of audio I trust it will be a better book for it.
I am like a few others on here. Easy on the shears, this will be the last time we trek through the galaxy with Ishmael. But I am anxiously waiting.
Mr. Lowell what a wonderful ride from Quarter Share to Captain’s Share. I started out looking for some science fiction for my Kindle. There was Quarter Share. I typically read military science fiction but upon seeing the reviews of Quarter Share I decided to purchase the book. When I was finished, I was hooked and proceeded to listen through the rest of the series. In my case, the need to get to the next story was extremely addictive. Thank you for the wonderful pleasure of listening to your books and look forward to owning them as you get them published. Don’t forget the Kindle versions.
One question How does Ish make out with the salvage prize?
Um, Sar? Where are we going and when are we getting underway?
Hope all is going well. Half Share update? And why is there not a mention of it on the Ridan website. I need to get my pre-order in.
It always seem like the best audiobooks come out in November during NaNoWriMo. Scott Sigler does it and now you are doing it.
I just finished listening to the whole Share series and came over here to see about the ETA for Owner’s Share. If you’re still sticking to the October date for Owner’s Share, it looks like I picked a great time to relisten to the series! I can’t wait to hear it.
Haven’t gotten an update in couple weeks. Owner’s Share coming soon? Just found the series after buying the kindle book so managed too immerse myself in the universe for all the books.
It’s coming – Half Share edits are going very slowly, but it’s all still moving along. :)
I read the Quarter Share on my Kindle, and was excited to listen to the rest of the books on podiobooks. I only want more as soon as possible. I would hate to see the series end.
Owner’s Share is completed first draft, but needs some work before I can start recording.
It’s coming tho. :D
Oh, the wait is bitter sweet. The last in the series, I’m excited and sad at the same time. The universe you created seems so vast. “sigh”
Can we expect other in the Age of the solar clipper?
Oh yes.
The Share series is ending, but I’ve only scratched the surface of this universe.