Just in case you didn't see it

[msagara]

The cover for Cast in Fury, which is due in October of 2008. Which, by normal calendar, is generally called September of 2008.

This is the cover flat that is used in sales kits, rather than the cover that will be bound; it's also called a cover proof. The front is what I've posted, and the back -- which I should have had scanned, and will if anyone wants to see it -- has the marketing tips and information that are in theory more relevant to selling the book to bookstores.

One of the points listed in my Luna publishing history is that Cast in Secret had a 6 week Sales Velocity of 57%. I still haven't remembered to ask a rep what "Sales Velocity" means, but I am assuming that a Six Week Sales Velocity of 57% means that the book in question (the previous volume in the series) sold 57% of the total number to date at that time in the first six on-sale weeks.

ETA: Because I never upload images, I didn't realize that this one would be smaller than the actual .jpeg; if you want to see a larger version (with slightly more legible text, it's here.

Comments

[msagara.livejournal.com]

Also is that meant to be her elemental dress? (I'm assuming from the water and the gold belt there.) I always thought it was a strapless? ;) Although I did spend a long time trying to figure how a dress could be sleeveless AND backless, so small straps would work

I was thinking of a low scoop with no sleeves, so, not spaghetti straps, but, no sleeves.

Tank tops are sleeveless, right? But you wouldn't say they had straps? (This is sort of a genuine question).

[lyssabits.livejournal.com]

It's tricky, with dresses. I suppose because prevailing fashion has most dresses with no true sleeves, just varying widths of straps, when I hear "sleeveless" I tend to associate that with "strapless" but that's not necessarily *your* problem as much as it is mine for making assumptions, since prevailing fashion here is not the prevailing fashion in Elantra. ;) I think generally I wouldn't describe a dress with straps as sleeveless, I'd just describe the way the straps looked and leave the reader to assume no sleeves. But this is a topic better left for my seamstress sister, who actually knows all the names of the parts of clothing. I know you've mentioned before not paying that much attention to physical details and frankly, neither do I when I'm reading so the time I spent pondering this question was really more a result of me being sort of unhealthily obsessed with these books for a few weeks and less a problem of confusion descriptions.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

I know you've mentioned before not paying that much attention to physical details and frankly, neither do I when I'm reading so the time I spent pondering this question was really more a result of me being sort of unhealthily obsessed with these books for a few weeks and less a problem of confusion descriptions.

Because I know I am not very good with clothing (I have a sister who is fabulous with both that and shoes, although shopping with her is not for the faint of heart), I try very hard to find something similar to what I think people are wearing so that I can describe it.

So I'm only asking because I'm aware that I could actually be very wrong about this o.O.

My understanding of sleeveless has always been something like a sun dress, in which the dress falls from the shoulders the way a normal dress would fall -- but doesn't have the arm fabric.

I thought strapless meant nothing at all on the arms or shoulders.

So when I describe sleeveless, it means no sleeves, but implies fabric over the shoulders, and if this is wrong, then I have been doing this wrong for, oh, mumble mumble books now, and I need to know ;_;.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

Ummm, and this is not meant to be argumentative or at all critical -- I have a minor paralyzing fear of certain types of detail, and am feeling that lovely sense of mild panic that occurs when I'm in no way certain that I haven't been doing things wrong because everyone was too polite to mention it =/.

[lyssabits.livejournal.com]

Never even crossed my mind that you were being either argumentative or critical. I sorta feel bad, since I'm not that good with reading physical description either I'm not sure I should be critiquing anyone's writing of them. It's not always a bad thing, not being too descriptive. ;) My biggest complain with RJ's books was they spent a lot of time describing what everyone was wearing that the characters didn't have time to do much in each book.

[lyssabits.livejournal.com]

As to your question about tank tops.. the problem with them as an example is the term "tank top" already conjures the image of a shirt with no sleeves and but with straps. Same thing if you'd used a camisole or a chemise as an example, those words refer to pretty specific clothing silhouettes so there's no assumptions that need to be made when using them. Dresses are.. harder.