Probably our most frequent question here at Jim-Butcher.Com is when the next Harry Dresden book is going to come out. The answer is actually very easy — they come out once a year, in August.
Jim is usually writing many months in advance of the release schedule. There’s a lot that goes on between the initial writing getting done on a book, and the book making it to print. Several rounds of editing and revisions can factor in, and since publishing is a business with paper-thin margins of profit — pun intended! — there are some very real concerns that have to go into determining how often the publisher can financially support putting another book of a series out. Not to mention, sticking to one book per series per year helps insulate the publisher against author burnout or delays — not too much of a problem in Jim’s specific case, mind, but we’re talking about the industry in general here.
So, if Jim’s going to get more than one book out a year, it will be by way of multiple different series at once. With the Codex Alera series gearing up for its first release in October — in hardcover, no less, which is a great financial step for Jim and Jim’s publisher — Jim is on the cusp of crossing over to making a “real” living as a writer — or at least as real as the writing living gets.
As fans of Jim’s work, the best thing you can do is help to demonstrate that there’s strong and plentiful demand for all of Jim’s stuff. The more selling power Jim’s series have, the more other publishers will be interested in what Jim can do for them.
So that’s the story. If you’ve finished Blood Rites, take a gander at the Restoration of Faith short story, and make sure to put Furies of Calderon on preorder at your favorite bookstore. And then look forward to August 2005, when Dresden Files #7, Dead Beat comes out!
