Re: But that only applies to piracy of the actual book itself. - Edit 1
Before modification by DomA at 28/09/2009 07:58:09 PM
Discussing the content of leaked copies/illegally obtained copies is at the very least a very good way to get on the publisher's bad side and the publishers would be perfectly in their legal rights to take measures to have these reviews/spoilers removed from sites hosting them. I know it's the case for movie spoilers - I've signed enough NDA in two decades for the stuff I work on to know this - and I don't see why it wouldn't be the same for books that are protected by the same laws.
That's true. Although I think Tor do need to get a bit of a grip. This isn't the new JK Rowling or Dan Brown or Stephen King. Strictly enforcing street dates and refusing to let anyone review the book before it comes out, especially in the current situation with a new author taking over, is a brilliant way of reducing first-week sales until people wait to hear if it's any good or not (Jason's review not being regarded very well, it has to be said).
From what I heard it's a decision from Harriet enforced by Doherty to keep a blanket of secrecy over the content of TGS for fans who have waited so long for the book. I'm guessing for the rest, but I think the marketing folks and publicists have been asked to be imaginative to promote the book and work around the fact they can't do an ARC campaign etc. It might be a reason why they've released two chapters already, so everyone can make their own idea.
Tor didn't turn us down when we discussed with someone there the possibility to get the book a week or so before release, but the answer was something in the vein of "I'd love to if I can, but I'm not able to give you a definitive answer on this yet.". It's not a matter of not knowing if they'll even get the book in time, they were supposed to have the first copies very soon.
I thought that's what we were talking about: did we want reviews (spoilery or otherwise) a couple of days before the book was coming out?
From what I understand, it's more than many people claim they have or are about to have the book and want to post reviews soon.
From all I've heard so far, it's not very likely - or not legit review copies anyway.
that the book will be on shelves anything up to a week before its official date, so reviews and spoilers will start appearing then anyway.
It's more likely to happen in the UK perhaps? I don't recall what happened before. From the little I know of the US/Canadian distribution system, it's not so likely unless there's a mistake, because except for exceptional releases they need to work a lot on (say, like Potter and Brown), the chains tend to keep the books at central storage until they're about ready to put them on the shelves in the stores, a day, two before street dates. It's more frequent here to have the opposite and some bookstores missing the street date because the get the books so late that if there's a mistake in shipment they need a day to correct it. I got 75% off and 30% off on another book for quite a few (5 or 6) titles like this in the last years - it's what the book chain I shop at do when they miss a street date. Not being a fool, I started shopping more often on release days.