Site Announcements 2002

This page archives the announcements that Diana sent in 2002, which were originally posted on the home page.

October 2002

Cover Designs

On the other hand, there are new mass-market covers for the first four books (Outlander, Dragonfly, Voyager, and Drums), which went on sale as of September 2, so some of you will be seeing them in your local bookshops. These are the redesigned covers that “match” The Fiery Cross. I think they're gorgeous, but I may of course be biased. [g] (These are the same designs used on the new trade paperbacks, which have been out for a few months.)

Film Rights, Options, etc.

A lot of people keep asking about the film “deal with ABC.” Now, look; I know I've explained this before. There's a difference (a big, huge, important difference) between “selling a film option” and “selling a book to the movies.”

An option means just that. Someone with a smallish amount of money who would like to make a film of a book offers said money to the author in return for an “option” on the book. This option allows the would-be producer a specified amount of time in which to do various things in pursuit of the $20-30 million dollars actually needed to make a film or TV show. These things include circulating a “treatment” (essentially a synopsis) to various potential buyers, knocking on doors, and--if the producer wants to- -even hiring a scriptwriter and having a script written.

Now, if and when (and the odds are VERY long) someone with a lot of money gets interested in the project, owing to the would- be producer's efforts, then the deal progresses to the next step, and the actual film rights to the book are sold. The author gets somewhat more money, the producer gets a lot of money to start hiring actors, and--God willing and the creek don't rise-- eventually, you actually get a film of some kind.

On the other hand, if nothing clicks, then the option expires on a set date, the rights all revert to the author, he or she can sell a new option to a different would-be producer, and the whole business starts over again.

Just for perspective--of all the books published in a given year, about three percent are optioned. Of these, just about one-tenth of one percent are actually made into a movie in that year. Long odds, OK?

OK. Now, descending to the personal, I told you some time ago that we had sold an option on Outlander, to a reputable production company. These people did hire a writer and prepare a script, and succeeded in interesting ABC in doing a TV mini-series.

All right. Now, about that word “interest.” This does not mean, “All systems go, it'll be on TV a year from Friday.” It means somebody in the enormous corporate structure liked the idea. Several people in the ABC corporate structure liked the idea, in fact, and the project rose up the ladder of approval, until it reached the highest level--at which point, the gentleman in charge of programming (who, naturally, is the person who decides what projects get made) said, “I love the premise, I like the script-- but I've never heard of this Guh-BALD-un [sic] woman. I don't think there's a big enough built-in audience.”

(My name is pronounced GAH-bull-done (rhymes with “stone” in English), for those of you who have also been saying “Guh-BALD-un.” If you're speaking Spanish--and it is an Hispanic name--it's Gah-vahl-DONE (still rhymes with “stone”). This is, by the way, my own maiden name. If you feel you absolutely can't call me “Diana,” then it's either “Ms. Gabaldon” or “Dr. Gabaldon”--but not “Mrs. Gabaldon,” please.)

So anyway, then September 11 happened, and when things calmed down slightly from that, there was a huge upheaval in the film/TV industry, and the rather ill-read gentleman at the head of ABC lost his job. The production company asked for--and got--an extension of their option, in order to wait for things to settle down.

Not surprisingly, things didn't settle down; there was a huge upheaval in the film/TV industry, people got fired, other people got hired, and so on. When the dust finally settled, what usually happens in these situations happened; the new regime doesn't want to even think about projects under contemplation by the old regime, so everything starts over with a fresh slate.

Bottom line being that the extended option finally expired, and I have the option rights back again. However, during the last couple of months, we've had four serious inquiries from various producers about an option on Outlander. My literary agent is presently talking to all these folks, and we'll just see what happens next. [shrug]

As I keep saying, I'm not holding my breath; I suggest y'all keep on breathing, too. [g]

More Books - What's Next

OK. Let's see if we can straighten things out a little bit, here.

1) There are at least two more novels in Jamie and Claire's story. I know this for a fact, because there's no way I can possibly get through the American Revolution in only one more book. [g] So please stop writing me to moan about how The Fiery Cross can't be the last book. It's not, and I can't imagine how anyone ever got the notion that it was.

2) I Don't yet know what the titles tothe next two books in Jame and Claire's story are.

You would think that people who theoretically work in the book industry--like Amazon.com--would grasp the notion of a “working title,” but noooooooo.

I have mentioned working titles for the next two Outlander books (and the first contemporary mystery), but that's all they are--temporary titles that make it possible to distinguish one project from another while I'm working on them. By the time these books are actually finished, they'll have real titles, which will probably not be the same as the working titles.

So why amazon.co.uk thinks it is not only OK to list several books that aren't yet written, let alone take orders for them...thus causing numbers of innocent souls to write to me in agitation, demanding to know where Sons of Liberty, White Knight, and Farewell to the King (the working title really is King, Farewell, but only one out of four readers seems able to remember that long enough to write to me) are...well, it beats me.

Look, when I have a title--along with a publication date, and any other relevant information--I'll tell you, all right? No point in keeping it a secret, I mean.

3) On the Other Hand...

OK, here's where it gets a little weird. See, I sort of just wrote a book by accident, much to the bemusement of all concerned, including me.

What happened is this: A few years back, I wrote a short story (still the only solo short story I've ever written--and there is obviously a reason for that...) titled Hellfire, on request for a British anthology of historical crime short stories (the anthology was called Past Poisons, edited by Maxim Jakubowski, and is at the moment, the only place where Hellfire is available in print--if it is still in print, which I don't know).

There were no decent print venues for reprinting a 12,000-word short story [g], so I allowed some friends who were starting an e- publishing company to distribute the story electronically--not only in order to make it available, but also to experiment with the brave new world of e-publishing.

This was an interesting experience, but the company eventually ceased operations, and so the story ceased to be available, except for a German electronic version (Die Flammen Der Holle) on Bertelsmann Online (BOL).

Well, people kept asking me how they could get hold of Hellfire--which is a short historical crime story starring Lord John Grey, in a part of his life where he was not interacting directly with Jamie and Claire.

I figured that the way things were going, the only reasonable way to make that story widely available was to write two or three or four more short (well, sort of) stories about Lord John, and then eventually publish them as a collection, in book-form.

I enjoyed Lord John, and had fun writing the story, so this seemed like a reasonable idea. So while working on Sons of Liberty/Fiery Cross, PART TWO/WHATEVER, and the first contemporary mystery, I began playing around with what I thought was the second Lord John short story, in which Lord John deals with a case of murder and regimental espionage, plus a Very Delicate Family Problem.

Well, so. The first story came in at 12,000 words, because it was for an anthology that had a 10,000-word limit on the contributions. (Well, some people write short, so it all works out.) There were no such constraints on the second story, because it really didn't matter what size the individual stories in this putative collection were. So I let the story evolve naturally.

And I suppose you can all see just where this story is going...

I happened to meet with my two literary agents on the way home from the UK tour, and while chatting about what I'd been doing and planned to do, mentioned that I was working on the last scene of what had started out to be a short story, but now I thought it was probably a novella, because it was 75,000 words long...

...at which point both agents looked at me and said, “You do realize that that's the size of most people's books?”

“Well, yes,” I said, “but...oh.”

So anyway, I finished it and it came in at 86,000 words and my editor is now reading it while I go to Australia, and it's titled Lord John and the Chamberpot, and my guess is that it might possibly be published next year, because after all, there it is. [g]

So you probably will get an Outlander book next year, to tide you over until I finish the sequel to The Fiery Cross--but do be aware that it is a story about Lord John, and while he does think about Jamie and Claire [g], they don't appear personally in this particular story.

And now I must go and finish packing. See you--or some of you--Down Under!

27 May 2002

Update - Hard Disk Perishes, but Diana dines
Which is to say, I powered up my laptop last week, only to be confronted with a stark black and white notification saying, “Operating System Not Found.” As you may imagine, this is pretty dang sinister, as error messages go.

Following the usual emergency CPR/defibrillator rescue maneuvers, and the usual multiple hour-long consultations with Technical Support, even Compaq was obliged (reluctantly) to agree that my hard disk was toast.

The good news is that it was still under warranty, and they're replacing it.

The even better news is that I am an obsessive backer-upper and therefore lost nothing in the way of work. Jamie, Claire, Lord John, and Tom Kolodzi are all safe and sound.

The bad news is that it will take Compaq a week (plus shipping) to repair my usual laptop.

The good news is that I have a backup laptop. (See “obsessive,” above.)

The bad news is that I don't backup the unanswered email. So if you've written to me lately, you might just want to resend whatever it was, if it was at all urgent.

Anyway, I have all of the backed-up stuff properly installed on the backup laptop and am back in business, but I do apologize for the delay in posting a couple of dates here that I meant to put up last week and couldn't.

These being:

Friday, May 31 - I'm doing an evening program (7 PM) at The Poisoned Pen bookstore, with Dana Stabenow. Dana and I are great fans of each other's books, so I understand that we are both going to talk about our own work and each other's--and then a drawing will be held, with two winners, both of whom are invited to join Dana and I for dinner after the program. YES, WE WILL SIGN BOOKS! (The Poisoned Pen will sell 'em, too, if anybody wants any. In re which--we have a large shipment of UK-hardcovers of The Fiery Cross, which will be available from The Poisoned Pen at a price of
$40, or so they tell me. Autographed, to be sure.) The Poisoned Pen is at 4014 N. Goldwater, #101, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 - call 480-947-2974 for information.

Saturday June 1 - I'll be doing a one-hour talk (followed by book-signing) for a Soroptimist's fund-raiser called “Girls Nite Out.” This is part of an event called “Highland Fling into Summer,” which is being held at Little America, in Flagstaff, Arizona. I understand that this event begins much earlier in the day, but my part of it will be around 7 PM. The event is open to the public, but tickets are not available
at the door; they need to be ordered in advance--as of May 29. Sorry for the short notice--see “hard disk,” above! If you do want tickets (and directions), please call the “hotline” at 928-526-2330.

More later...

9 January 2002

Foreign Editions of The Fiery Cross - Release Date
The French publisher informs me that their translation of The Fiery Cross (whatever it's called in French) will be released in May of 2002. That's just six months from now!

The German publisher plans to release their translation of The Fiery Cross in “summer, 2002.” This could be anything from May to July, but probably sooner, rather than later.

Now, a word about amazon.co.uk....[ahem]....

I have been getting regular inquiries from people saying that amazon.co.uk is advertising assorted books by me--including the titles White Knight, Sons of Liberty, and King, Farewell--with release dates ranging from 2000 to 2002. The people inquiring have ordered these books from amazon.co.uk, but would respectfully like to know when they might receive them.

Well, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but none of those titles actually exist as yet. I have no idea how long it may be before those books are written and published, but it certainly won't be within the next year! And, if and when those books are actually completed, they may well have completely different titles.

I think it's reprehensible of amazon.co.uk to be publishing such misleading information on their site, and I have no idea where they got it to begin with--but it isn't true. Sorry!

The Fiery Cross, though, was published in the UK/Australia/New Zealand, on November 6 of 2001, simultaneously with the US publication. That book is available, in both hardcover and trade paperback (the large size paperback) editions; the small size (mass-market) paperback edition will be released in summer of 2002.