Cleaning out the storage: more stuff going up on eBay

[dianeduane]

Before going to the Discworld convention in Leicestershire the week before last, Peter and I had to stop by the storage where we keep various books, authors' copies and other stuff that there's no room for in our house (we were hunting for a specific Terry Pratchett book for the charity auction at the convention). While going through the boxes, I came across a whole lot of manuscripts, galleys, proofs, and other things associated with my novel work.

We really don't need all that paperwork lying around -- we're trying to get rid of some of the storage contents so that we can downgrade to a smaller unit -- so I'm going to start cleaning a lot of these items out over the next month by offering them on eBay for whatever the market will bear. The first of item on offer, which I just listed on eBay, is the only extant version of the original manuscript of So You Want to Be a Wizard, complete with author edits and notes from my then-editor at Dell, Olga Litowinsky. (And it'll be autographed to the buyer, of course. Look below the cut for more info.)

If this kind of thing interests you, you should keep an eye on my eBay bookstore over the next couple/few weeks for the material that will be going up.

Thanks!

To the best of my knowledge, this is the only extant copy of the original typed manuscript of So You Want to Be a Wizard. (The original typescript was lost during a house move some years back.) It features handwritten notes and edits by me, and by my then-editor at Dell Books, Olga Litowinsky. It has been in the same box for twenty-five years. The title page even has the version of the title that still included a question mark after "Wizard". (This was dropped before publication.)

The manuscript contains excised material that never made it into the original book, as well as added material that did not appear in the original manuscript. (Click on the image for a much enlarged version of a typical edited page. You can also click here for an Adobe Reader / PDF version of the page.)

I'll sign and personalize this manuscript for the winning bidder..

The preferred method of payment for this item is PayPal (which will also support credit card payments made via PayPal) or wire transfer.

Due to upcoming business travel, I will not ship this manuscript to the winning bidder until I return home during the first week in September. However, I will be in touch with the winner immediately after the end of the auction to sort out what kind of shipping they prefer. Due to the unique value of the item, FedEx or a similar courier is probably going to be the wisest choice: I'll determine the cost of shipping to the bidder's location after the auction. Also, if the bidder is North America-based and prefers not to incur transatlantic courier charges, I will hand-carry the MS to the USA during the month of October -- I have another convention commitment in the US then -- and FedEx it to him or her from inside the US.

Thanks for your interest! Please feel free to contact me via eBay with any questions you may have.

Comments

[mitchy.livejournal.com]

Out of idle curiosity, why was the question mark dropped from the title? I always read it as being something that's asked of the reader and wonder why there's no question mark there :)

[dduane.livejournal.com]

You know, it's been long enough now that I don't really remember. I think possibly we dropped it because the book series from which the title was derived didn't use the question mark. But I could be wrong...

[posicat.livejournal.com]

If only my van didn't need a new transmission.

I want to eventually get my own work published, and seeing those edits, even just the preview teaseer page you posted, takes away a little of the fear of the unknown.

[dduane.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling that the injunction "Don't be afraid to make changes" may have gained additional juice, as it were, as a direct result of the editing of Wizard. David Gerrold was fairly, uh, robust with me: he understands the challenges of a second novel/public work better than most.

[wetdryvac.livejournal.com]

*grins*

That's a useful thing - but given what he said in his overture to the Door Into Fire, I can't imagine it was in anything other than good spirits. Any time I feel like crap, that's the book I turn to, tupperware commentary and all.

Oops report

[kerithwyn.livejournal.com]

Diane, I'm a big fan of your work, and that auction is so terribly, magnificently tempting. *g*

Unfortunately, I need to report an "oops" regarding the lulu.com printing of Raetian Tales 1: A Wind from the South. I ordered it and received the shipment very quickly...only to find that while the cover was correct, the interior text was that of another book entirely, some sort of evangelical text: http://www.lulu.com/content/387049

I'll be contacting lulu later today for a replacement, but thought you might want to know. This will not, of course, deter me from buying any other books you publish in this format, including The Big Meow. :)

[miss-next.livejournal.com]

Hallo - I was the lady in the writers' workshop at DWCon who had a friend with a dodgy agent. I've just discovered you have a LJ, so I thought I'd let you know he's going to take your advice and pull his work out of there if he can find a legal way to get out of the one-year contract they made him sign.

In the meantime, he's contacted Harper Collins to see if they have really been sent his MS, which I think is wise.

And I've added you. :-)