[INDEXED]The Best of Cemetery Dance: Volume 2

[bsaenz24]

I do think this will be a tremendous book that readers and collectors will love, though!

Brian

As I know this will be true, I don't mind the wait at all!

[Brian James Freeman]

What I find it frustrating is you Brian feeling you need to explain in such detail what has been going on.I have been a member of the CD family for awhile.I thought Rich
explained himself great back a couple of years when things were really slow.I had only been with CD a short time and things almost ground to a halt for you guys.I just knew the way you responded that things would be ok.I even remember calling the office when I did not receive a package when I thought it would be here and the bank had called to tell me my credit card # had been stolen.I called the office to see if that was why my package had not been received.Not only did I get a call back
telling me that at that time you shipped mostly on Fridays the person who I assume was Mindy was very sympathetic to what I was going through.I feel you have done a great job catching up on the old titles.You can not be held responsible for writers block or artists who are trying to get things just right and take more time.The outcome will be that the book will get done eventually.High production values are one of the great qualities of CD books.They are worth the wait.Keep doing what you are doing.You guys do it better then most that is why you have been around for so long.I got your back because you have had mine.

Thanks, and no worries! This project has been on my To Do list every week in some form or fashion for the last couple of years, but a lot of the work has been stuff we don't like to publicize, so we have NOT posted as many updates as we should have, which can definitely create frustration because it looks like there's no movement. I totally understand that. (An example: we almost NEVER name names when signature sheets are "stuck" or someone owes us something and hasn't turned it in. Some presses do because they figure the public pressure will "help" get things done, but we tend to understand that "life happens" and we don't want to embarrass someone because they've gotten overwhelmed.) So I might have talked to an author this morning, and he said, "It's really coming this time!" but I'm not going to post details, you know?

But I completely understand why anyone might be frustrated at this point. It's been a fairly frustrating book for me, too. I do think this will be a tremendous book that readers and collectors will love, though!

Brian

[peteOcha]

^^ TLDR version of BW's post for anyone who's interested:

CD = awesome!

[bookworm 1]

What I find it frustrating is you Brian feeling you need to explain in such detail what has been going on.I have been a member of the CD family for awhile.I thought Rich
explained himself great back a couple of years when things were really slow.I had only been with CD a short time and things almost ground to a halt for you guys.I just knew the way you responded that things would be ok.I even remember calling the office when I did not receive a package when I thought it would be here and the bank had called to tell me my credit card # had been stolen.I called the office to see if that was why my package had not been received.Not only did I get a call back
telling me that at that time you shipped mostly on Fridays the person who I assume was Mindy was very sympathetic to what I was going through.I feel you have done a great job catching up on the old titles.You can not be held responsible for writers block or artists who are trying to get things just right and take more time.The outcome will be that the book will get done eventually.High production values are one of the great qualities of CD books.They are worth the wait.Keep doing what you are doing.You guys do it better then most that is why you have been around for so long.I got your back because you have had mine.

[Brian James Freeman]

Thanks for the reply Brian, I really do appreciate it. Sorry for my impatience, I am very excited about this title and eagerly awaiting news about it

No need to apologize! We're the ones who have made everyone wait way too long for this book... but our end goal of making it the best book it can be should make ALL of us very happy in the end!

By the way, here's the good news: the next time we do one of these big anthologies, you won't have to worry about waiting years and years because the book will already be in production when it's announced. That'll be so much better for everyone. We do learn our lessons... eventually! ha!

Brian

[keysersoze]

Thanks for the reply Brian, I really do appreciate it. Sorry for my impatience, I am very excited about this title and eagerly awaiting news about it

[Teriw]

Take your time and get it right Brian. I havent preordered it but only because I am waiting on the TOC and if the wait means the TOC will be better than anyone should be willing to wait.

[bsaenz24]

Thanks Brian! We know it will be well worth the wait. It always is!!

[Brian James Freeman]

Finally got home after a long day at the office, and it occurred to me that I hadn't made an important point: this book isn't taking so long on *purpose* unless you consider wanting to get the best line-up possible being "on purpose." If the book could have been done five years ago and met the standards we set for it, then you'd have it in your hands. But the book isn't "done" as far as we're concerned, so it hasn't been published.

(On a related note, we had a lot of trouble with the binding and traycases for Legacies, and at one point about six months before the project was published, someone posted, "Just use whatever binding you can and skip the traycases, no one cares! We just want our book!"

I don't believe, once the book was published, that anyone would have been happier if the book had been published six months earlier because we used a cheaper binding method and we skipped the promised traycases. I simply can't even imagine the possibility of us just chucking some cheap version of the book out there and saying, "Well, this is what you get." We promised a certain quality of publication, with certain special features, and we were going to deliver the book the way it was supposed to be -- even though it meant taking more time to get the book done right.)

CD:15 obviously shouldn't have been announced when it was, but we can't really take that back now. Projects like this one and ILT and Legacies are why we no longer announce books before we have finished manuscripts in hand. It's obviously not ideal for preorders to linger for years like this. We don't like it, some customers don't like it -- although many are extremely understanding -- and it's our goal for it to never happen again once we're done catching up on the "old" preorders.

Personally, as a reader and collector, I would rather CD:15 have those last couple of authors who haven't had time to write their stories, but we will move on without them in 2013 if it just isn't going to happen.

Let me know if I still haven't answered your questions. I do appreciate your patience on this one. It's been a bear, but I think it'll be worth it in the end!

Brian

[Brian James Freeman]

Plus after being a loyal customer all this time - to be dismissed and told to feel free to cancel my order(s) seemed unnecessary and off-putting.

I say that to anyone who complains about a preorder, whether they're a new customer or they've been with us for 24 years. What else can I say? We're not holding your money/order hostage. We want the book to be the best book it can be, but if you're tired of waiting, you can cancel your order. We won't mind. It's your money! You can always buy a copy down the road.

(As you know, we no longer announce unfinished books for this very reason. Stuff happens, books get delayed, authors don't turn in manuscripts, etc.)

I hope you'll stick around and love the book when it's published, but we won't be offended if you want to cancel your order and wait things out and see who is on the TOC, etc. That's your call as the customer.

Brian

[Brian James Freeman]

Bottomline, do you guys still feel that CD:15 will be better in regards to contributors and production values as The Best of CD? And when can we expect a true timeline for the TOC and when this title will be published?

How do you define "better contributors," especially when comparing a book of a reprints originally published 1998 with a book that has reprints and originals?

In terms of production values, I think most of our books these days are a notch above The Best of Cemetery Dance when it comes to the production values and the materials we use.

To answer your other question, we're waiting on a couple of original stories that were promised to us years ago. We can finalize the TOC and announce it whenever at this point and just tell those authors it's too late, but I suspect some collectors will be disappointed that they could have had original stories by these authors and now they won't.

We'll definitely announce the table of contents when the book is complete. I expect that to happen in 2013. The publication schedule will then be set based on production time, how long we expect it to take to circulate the signature sheets, etc.

Does this information help?

Brian

[Brian James Freeman]

But that sentence being removed from CD:15 description really ticked me off.......

Daniel, I simply made a change in the sales copy when I updated the product page a while back. If you want, I'll put that line back on the page. It really doesn't matter. Whether readers will find this book to be better than that book, or as good as that book, or not as good as that book, is all subjective. I'd like to point out again that comparing the book to The Best of Cemetery Dance doesn't mean those specific authors are going to be in the book.

Brian

Edited: I added the line back with the explanation that the difference is that this book will have ORIGINAL fiction in it. Better? It doesn't really change what we're trying to do with the book, but if it makes you more confident you'll be happy with the book, I'm happy to add it back.

[keysersoze]

The About the Book description has been changed because the focus of the book has changed during its development. Unlike The Best of Cemetery Dance, which was all reprints, this volume is now focused on a equal split of classic reprints AND original, never before published fiction. No one was ever promised a King story or signature in CD:15. If you imagined there would be one, good for you, but we never said there would be one and I can't tell you now whether or not there will be one because the TOC isn't finalized. Feel free to cancel your order for a full refund. You can always reorder after the TOC is announced if copies are still available.

Brian

What does the change in focus of the book have to do with the fact that for years the sentence "If you remember our edition of The Best of Cemetery Dance, then you know the type of contributors and production values we're talking about - only this book will be even better!" was on the book's sale page, and now has been removed. The first post of this thread even including in its description the new focus of this title and the sentence in question. If CD:15 was going to have the type of contributors and production values as Best of CD and be better; then surely I wasn’t the only person to assume Stephen King would be involved in a Celebration of the first 15 years. I realize that when I spent the $175 that it was a gamble and "assuming" ultimately makes the ass out of me. But after waiting forever for In Laymon's Terms and still waiting on a number of other titles it just gets aggravating. I purchased CD:15 Limited and The Woods are Dark(Lettered) in 2008 and wonder how many more years I will have to wait! I admit the books that I have gotten thru the years are awesome and beautiful, and Mindy has always been great. Brian, The Painted Darkness was GREAT! But that sentence being removed from CD:15 description really ticked me off.......bottom line is the years of waiting are taking it's toll. Plus after being a loyal customer all this time - to be dismissed and told to feel free to cancel my order(s) seemed unnecessary and off-putting. Every time I check the production update page the first title I look for is CD:15 and it always says the same thing.

Bottomline, do you guys still feel that CD:15 will be better in regards to contributors and production values as The Best of CD? And when can we expect a true timeline for the TOC and when this title will be published?

[Brian James Freeman]

That's too bad. I love that art.

Same here.

[Martin]

That's too bad. I love that art.

No, because no one had the original. The artist lost or sold it and we never had a high-res version. We had to commission something else.

Brian