Latest version off to Dean & what's next

December 19, 2012

I’ve just sent off what is most likely the nearly final version of the manuscript, along with a letter containing 23 questions and clarification requests, off to Dean. According to this last letter to me the plan is that he’ll answer these questions and write his introduction to the book. At that point the manuscript will be locked and Cemetery Dance will take over to begin the editing and layout of the book.
Yes folks, we’re heading into the final stages!
In the mean time I still have plenty of work to do and holes to fill in. Here’s what is still to be done while waiting for Dean’s response and some other tidbits:

• The title has been changed to The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz 1964-2012. Officially, anything published after 2012 will not be included. (It’s got to stop somewhere.) However, since the paperback edition of Odd Interlude is being released on January 1, 2013 it will be included. Depending on when we lock the manuscript, one or two other 2013 items may sneak in.
• Wait! “His first poem wasn’t published until 1965,” you say. Yes, I have one item I’ve included from 1964. It’s seriously obscure, and isn’t poetry or prose. I’ll leave that one as a mystery for you to discover when the book’s published.
• While we’re waiting for Dean’s response I’m going to continue to try and fill in the known holes. Want to help, check out the “Needed” entries on this site. Fill in a blank and get your name in the books acknowledgements.
• I may have mentioned this before but when I started scanning all the book covers back over a decade ago, 75dpi was plenty. It isn’t any more. Now everything needs to be re-scanned at 320dpi. Basically, this means I’ve got a 1000+ item scanning project to look forward to which will be slow-going since scanning at that high of a resolution isn’t fast work. I’m thinking that early in 2013 I’ll be taking a week off from my day job just to sit at my desk and scan scan scan.

So, that’s the news for now. Please stay tuned since as this project proceeds I’ll keep everyone posted right here.