Slacking off, sort of & Happy New Year!

[carolynwhite2]

Jen:
Well, a Happy New Year to all.  Maybe 2007 will be the year of
Deathly Hallows?  I'm hoping for a summer release even though that
may be unrealistic.  Carolyn, any thoughts on the publishing industry
and how likely that is?  I hope it's not *next* summer, can't see JKR
breaking her summer release pattern.

Carolyn:
Well, they could produce an ordinary book a week after they got the 
edited typescript if they wanted to - 24hr/48hr publishing turnaround 
is quite feasible even for print. If they wanted to they could put it 
up on the web and we could all download if they were able to hook 
together enough servers so as not to crash. Maybe the CIA or NASA 
could lend theirs for a week or two? It's a good cause, and much more 
useful than the stuff they usually use them for.

But the real problem is printing enough stock and physically getting 
it shipped around to distribution depots for a book like this. I 
reckon that probably takes a minimum of 2-3 months. 

So, we could easily have a summer publication as usual, even if she 
hasn't quite finished it yet. As I recall, she was still typing HBP 
in early Jan wasn't she? Could hardly reach the keyboard because of 
sproglet three.

Kelly:
PhD, actully, and who knows?  I've decided I'm a science mutt.
Technically, I'm in the Geosciences department, but I work a lot with
the Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences department and a little with
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.  Ocean, climate, effect on fish.  :-
)

Carolyn:
Sounds useful; you can add your mite to the much-discussed fate of 
Atlantic cod, a subject close to every Brit's heart- do you have fish 
n'chips in the US? Fish deep fried in batter with potatoe fries, 
served with salt and malt vinegar? It's a classic end of night out 
takeaway, preferably served wrapped in newspaper.

BTW, I think Kneasy was a marine biologist a very long time ago... 

Kelly/Jen:
> Well, a Happy New Year to all.

I'll echo that.  Happy New Year!

Carolyn:
[guiltily] yes, Happy New Year... well, I'm back to work tomorrow 
after two weeks hol. Haven't done very much at all except sleep and 
eat and visit various friends and relatives. Oh, and did the annual 
down-to-the-charity shop ritual with books, clothes, weird stuff 
found in cupboards etc. 

We must definitely finish this daft catalogue by the time the 7th 
book is published. Still not sure how I can put time into it, but 
currently feeling relaxed enough to have a rummage in our files to 
see how far we have got.

Any theories on the best way forward?

Carolyn