Amazon quirk
A couple of readers have contacted me today to say "Amazon just cancelled my order! What's happening?"
If you're in the UK and ordered via amazon.co.uk, you may have ordered a non-existent edition by accident. (There's a rogue entry in Amazon's UK database that purports to be a paperback edition to be published by Ace on July 1st.) Amazon are now cancelling these pre-orders. If you think this has happened to you, follow the links in the sidebar at the right of this web page and you'll be directed to the correct Amazon page for the UK hardcover edition.
(The real paperback edition won't come out for another year.)
Accelerando review on the Agony Column
Rick Kleffel, SF reviewer, has a review of Accelerando on his website. This may also be showing up in the Metro Santa Cruz paper, and possibly as a reprint in Metro San Jose.
'Accelerando' fast forwards a not-so-average family through three generations and into a future in which humans seem far more alien than any critters from outer space. With heart, humor and extreme technophilia, Stross embarks on a voyage that unwires humanity and rewires readers to experience the Singularity. Welcome to the Rapture of the Nerds.
Commentary: Buying the cow, though the milk is free
The Book Standard is running an article about authors and publishers who give books away free. You can find the whole article in printable form here:
Charles Stross recently posted the text of his book Accelerando on his site, weeks before it will be available in bookstores on July 1. Since he posted the book on June 16, Stross has logged 22,000 direct downloads from his web server, and another 500-1,000 downloads via BitTorrent, a free, open-source file sharing application. Though it's too early to judge the effect on sales, Stross estimates that he's already garnered a great deal more attention than he would have through traditional routes like review copies or advertising. "Readers like samples, and the ultimate sample is the entire book," says Stross. "People are more likely to download the entire thing, because there's the promise that they can read it all on their computer. However, in practice, most people don't like reading on a screen or a PDA. If they get hooked, they'll continue reading until it hits their personal pain threshold. Then they're highly motivated to seek out the paper edition – in hardcover, if necessary."