A couple of folks have asked me when Spider’s Bite is coming out. Since my new publisher, Pocket (part of Simon & Schuster), does things a little differently, I thought that I would address that here on the blog.

Technically, Spider’s Bite is a February 2010 book. But the on-sale date — the date the book is supposed to be on the shelf at the bookstore for you to buy — is Jan. 26, 2010.

Why? Well, Spider’s Bite is a mass market paperback, and Pocket has a policy of releasing all their mass market books the last week of the month before they’re supposed to come out.

New books usually come out on Tuesdays, like new DVDs do, and most books usually come out on the first Tuesday of the month. So really, the release date for Spider’s Bite should be Feb. 2, 2010. But because of Pocket’s policy, folks get the book a week early on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010. At least, they should — sometimes bookstore don’t put out the books when they’re supposed to for all kinds of reasons (the books didn’t arrive on time, Johnny called in sick that day, whatever).

So why does Pocket release the books a week early? I’m guessing here, but I would assume it would have something to do with sales. Most mass market books don’t stay on the shelves that long — a couple of months if you’re lucky. So Pocket is getting an extra week of sales in by releasing their books a week early.

I also think it could have a little something to do with helping an author get on a best-seller list. Since most new books come out at the beginning of the month, I would think the competition to make a list wouldn’t be quite as strong at the end of the month. In other words, everyone eager to get their hands on their favorite author’s latest book would have bought it the first week it was out at the beginning of the month, not necessarily during the last week of the month. At least, these are my theories — I could be completely wrong. (And if I am, someone please let me know).

But more and more, I’ve been noticing publishers who are releasing new books in the middle of a month. For example, the release date for Kresley Cole’s latest Immortals After Dark book, Pleasure of a Dark Prince, is Jan. 19, according to Amazon — which is in the middle of the month instead of at the beginning. (And yes, Cole is published by Pocket just like I am).

And this same thing will happen with the next two books in my Elemental Assassin series. Web of Lies, a June book, will be out on May 25, while Venom, an October book, will be out on Sept. 28.

So that’s the deal with the release date. You should be able to get Spider’s Bite as early as Jan. 26 — which is only a little more than a month away now. Not that I’m counting down the days or anything … 😉

Tags: About Books, Elemental Assassin series