Time to check in. The book is nearly done with layout, and will soon go to the printer. Mr. Savas and I did have a conversation today concerning one issue – length. I seem to be a bit wordy. As it stood, the tome was pushing 800 pages. That’s a lot.
For those of you wishing to keep score, Scott Hartwig’s new book, “To Antietam Creek” weighs in at 794 pp – and Johns Hopkins, his publisher, priced the thing at $49.95. That’s a lot.
So we will tweak a couple of things to make sure the product matches the pricing. We are shooting for closer to 700 or 750 pp. We are working on the narrative flow, ending the action with the close of battle on the 19th. This means volume 2 will begin with the overnight conferences in both armies, as they prepare for battle on the 20th. I was conflicted about where to put those chapters, since they are really transitional pieces between the 19th and the 20th. The need to watch our page count helped tip them into Volume 2.
We are also trying to avoid excessive duplication in things like the bibliography. I hoping to to explore a creative alternative to putting the same bibliographic information in all three books – that seems very wasteful. Maybe we will make it abvailable online, or as a download, for the first two volumes. Ultimately, of course, the full bibliography will be in Volume 3.
This gestation has been a lot longer than I expected. But then, the research and writing took damn near 16 years. What else should I have expected? I don’t want to put a time frame on publication just yet, but we are really in the final stages.
I hope this book lives up to expectations. It certainly lives up to mine, and then some, but then, I might be a bit biased.
August 31, 2014 at 6:47 pm |
Dave, my friend, I am damn proud of you for having gotten this done!
August 31, 2014 at 7:30 pm |
Dave, do you mean John Hoptak, or is there a John Hopkins who took up writing on the ACW? Who’s publishing those books by Hartwig and Hoptak or Hopkins? Many congrats. See you on Friday. Have a great holiday!!
Tim DeFranco
August 31, 2014 at 7:32 pm |
Check that Dave. I misread the part about Hopkins and Hoptak before.
September 1, 2014 at 8:23 am |
For the bibliography, I recommend both online and as a download, and then publish it in the third volume.
September 1, 2014 at 10:20 am |
I’ve already pre-ordered through Barnes and Noble – Can’t wait! You should be rightfully proud of all the hard work to get your work to print.
September 1, 2014 at 11:45 am |
Can’t wait. I’ve had it on pre-order at Amazon since December 2013.
September 1, 2014 at 1:54 pm |
I have had both the first two volumes on order for ages. I can’t wait to read them.
September 2, 2014 at 11:17 am |
Hmmm. Two volumes? B&N doesn’t seem to show it that way – Am I missing something? ;D
September 2, 2014 at 1:01 pm |
Mad Irregular Battle is forthcoming, and will cover up to Sept 19. Glory or the Grave should appear in 2015. It will cover the fighting on the 20th.
September 2, 2014 at 1:15 pm |
Dave: Couple of questions/points:
What’s the status of Vol. 2? (Good news: I’m not asking about Vol. 3 … yet)
How about a “main” bibliography limited to materials heavily relied on/”most important” and an online/ downloadable extended bibliography? I’ve seen publishers get creative in this way with bibliographies or source notes. Ted should be able to pull that off and you could probably link it here, as well.
Isn’t Hartwig’s book bigger dimensionally? I saw the dimensions for yours and I have Hartwig’s – it’s something that i wouldn’t carelessly drop out of a window 🙂
September 2, 2014 at 1:20 pm |
The good news is that Glory and the Grave could go into editing tomorrow, if Ted wanted it. It is written, and ready to go.
We are going to do something downloadable with the bio. The footnotes are pretty extensive.
Soctt’s book is indeed larger – and I agree, quite the brick.
September 2, 2014 at 4:27 pm |
Sounds great. Savas Beatie keeps publishing groundbreaking books on the Civil War, especially of the war in the west.
September 4, 2014 at 5:04 pm |
This is great news. I can’t wait to read it. I can already tell its going to be awesome.
Chris
September 5, 2014 at 1:07 pm |
Still can’t wait.scott’s book is a big brick but it was worth every penny as I know your’s will be when finally available to all of us.