Hi Sam, I don't know if you like feedback about your books (the physical copies, not the writing) so please ignore if it's not relevant.

Just wanted to say that I am impressed at the quality of the paperback omnibus. It is heavy, as expected, but it's surprisingly easy to hold open and the spine hasn't cracked horribly whilst doing so.

(Pics for proof)

Thanks for putting your writing out into the world, it brings great joy. 😊

Oh, that's great to hear! And I'm glad you're enjoying it.

I have very little input on the print quality -- I pick the size and paper and binding type but beyond that it's all Lulu. But I'm always delighted to see the books out in the wild and in this case pleased to see that the beast is at least manageable. And the quality of Lulu printing has been highly variable in the past so I'm glad the spine is holding.

On that note, definitely if folks buy the physical book and get the wrong book or one with significant flaws, do reach out to Lulu, they are usually really good about making it right.

But yeah, cool to see, thank you! And good to know because the cost for the book for readers is not insignificant, so I want to make sure you guys get your money's worth.

[ID: Two photographs of my latest publication, The Shivadh Romances Volume 2; both show a hand holding the book, one image showing it open, one closed to show off the spine. It definitely looks well-read but doesn't look in danger of falling to pieces anytime soon.]

Tonight when I was watering the herbs and fruit bushes in my garden, I managed to quash my usual "terrified because I have to step near a spider" feeling because (and this is why I'm sending this message to a complete stranger on the internet) it was a really beautiful spider and I probably never would have noticed that before if it hadn't been for your posts. (It's a white flower crab spider and its front legs look so funky.)

@speedygalaxytraveler This made me tear up a little bit lol if my only legacy on this earth ends up being that a few people feel less negatively about spiders then I'm cool with that 🥲

❤️ CRAB ❤️

speedygalaxytraveler

Umm, not sure on the etiquette here but  @copperbadge I am just saying I would totally read Eddie out-bossing Haul Pollywood in the Shivadhverse.

Ahahaha, oh dear, that would be so much attitude in one place. 

I snipped this off of someone else’s post, sorry about that, but I too, even as a midwesterner, am actually quite baffled as to why anyone would put corn in a cake. :D Unless they were just making a sweet cornbread in which case that’s fine. 

*watches the southerners rage* 

Now, on the one hand I think Eddie would enjoy meeting and having a bit of a chat with Paul Hollywood but realistically I know nothing about Paul Hollywood, so if he’s a dickhead in real life, I retract this :D But Eddie generally enjoys talking with other professionals, especially if they’re willing to take him seriously. Normal chefs I think, especially at the upper levels, sometimes aren’t. TV chefs generally are because it’s a different beast entirely, they get that the public face isn’t always an indicator of the private person. Paul Hollywood is trapped by soggy bottoms no less than Eddie is by the phrase “Truly Tasty”. 

The problem with having Eddie interact with Great British Bake Off, even if he were to outboss the Hollywood Expy, is that I’d have to watch GBBO in order to work out how to go about it and I find it frustratingly unwatchable. :D  The cooking of the food is filmed in such a way that they’re always almost ABOUT to show you the interesting bits and then they cut to some guy nattering pointlessly about his nan’s cupcakes or something. Drives me up the wall. 

Eddie is distinctly Not A Baker -- he mentions in Fete that he’s not a pastry chef, and while he does make cookies with the kids that was a one-off, like he’s competent with most foods but he doesn’t have the patience for pastry. So I suspect if he were to be on a GBBO-style show, perhaps for charity or something, he would immediately begin the process of subverting expectations. Eddie is much like myself in that if I am in some form of competition and know I can’t win, or would find it tedious to try, I instead set about trying to be the most undeniably interesting. 

I am going to rules-lawyer my way into defining a meatloaf as a form of cake and then make the best (only) meatloaf in the competition. 

I would imagine Paul would find that a welcome change, to be honest :D

Hello Sam. Firstly, if you have already answered this, please accept my apologies. I was wondering if you had come to a conclusion on the omnibus pricing for the Shivadhverse? I'm trying to work out if I want to buy the three paperbacks individually or wait until 31st October (if that is still when you are planning to release?) and get the omnibus. Thank you in advance. 😊

I hadn't, and I should have! I am still planning to release it on October 31st, as long as the proofs arrive in time.

The prices vary by region, but I try to keep them relative (ie, you're not paying more outside the US, just a different amount because of exchange rates). In most places it will be cheaper to buy the omnibus, even in hardback, than to buy print copies of the books separately. I kind of wish I'd structured things a little differently since I feel bad for folks who bought the individual copies and paid more, but I hadn't really intended to release the omnibus this year -- there was just a lot of demand for it from people shopping for holiday gifts.

Currently the list price for each print book is $12.99, so before postage the cost for all three is just under $40. The Omnibus in paperback (same size as the individual books, just much thicker) will be $22.99, and in hardback will be $29.99, before postage. Hardback comes with a "linen wrap" (a reasonably nice blue hardcover with gold stamping) and a dust jacket, although the dust jacket is identical to the paperback cover. It's taking FOREVER to get the second proof of the paperback and first proof of the hardback, but I'll post photos when I have them. There will be an epub omnibus but I'm still working on that one so don't have pricing yet, but it'll probably run around $10. I don't plan to release a PDF since the PDFs of the individual copies are already available and free.

Having read the paperback version cover-to-cover, it's not unmanageable in terms of being able to hold it, turn the pages, carry it about, etc. and it fact I found it pleasantly hefty. But it is very large and got beat up a lot faster than the individual volumes on account of that, since it's got some weight to it and knocked around quite a bit in my bag. The hardback may be a bit more durable.