The unfired sculpture of Homer which appeared on the Sept/Oct 2002
cover of Shift is now the banner image for the PlanetSimpson.com website. Created by Karen Caldicott, an English artist.
As a result of the essay, later this month Turner meets with Martha Sharpe, of
House of Anansi press, to discuss a possible book about The Simpsons.
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January 2003
Turner Is Signed to the Lavin Agency
Sam Hiyate, founder of Gutter Press, signs Turner to
The Lavin Agency. Together, Sam and Turner produce a new book proposal based on the ideas of the Shift Essay. The potential book has the working
title of "Planet Simpson", though Turner has quiet plans to request a different title once a deal is secured. His preferences are "Yellow Journalism"
(with a sufficiently explanatory sub-title) and "The Simpsonian Institution". Both alternates are eventually rejected by all the publishers in
favour of the more zippy & global-sounding "Planet Simpson", to the author's disappointment.
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February - March 2003
Canadian Publishers Interested
Initial interest in the new Planet Simpson book proposal comes in from Random House Canada, HarperCollins, Penguin, & Raincoast.
Negotiations begin in earnest to secure a Canadian publishing deal.
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April 2003
Negotiations, Offers, And Counter-Offers
Sam attends the London Book Fair in London, UK. the proposal for Planet Simpson catches
the serious interest of Random House UK and negotiations begin for a book contract that will include foreign rights.
Sam Hiyate:
"At the 2003 London Book Fair, Planet Simpson was the first project anyone expressed interest in, so I knew we had a potential hit.
Afterwards, they were as certain of Chris Turner's talent as we were and that was when the sales happened."
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May 2003
Turner Blows The Toronto Popsicle Stand
After much contemplation about the future, Turner pulls up stakes and heads west to the Rockies. While not exactly Tunis in the 1950s,
he nonetheless sets up shop in Canmore, with a writing office window overlooking Policeman's Creek.
Away from the neverending schedule of parties, launches, and media fetes of Toronto the Good, Turner suddenly realizes
that there might actually be a book to write.
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June 2003
Canadian Deal Closes; Heavy Research & Writing Commences
Random House Canada signs the deal to buy Planet Simpson, June 23rd, 2003. With one contract in hand and deals for the US and UK in final
negotiations, Turner buckles down to the actual writing-of-the-book in Canmore. Anne Collins of Random House Canada is named the lead editor
(meaning Canada has the final say on the substantive editing process.The other two jurisdictions can ask for specific line edits and
particularities for their own markets, but in general their editions will jump off from the Canadian baseline).
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July 2003
US Deal Closes
The US deal closes with Da Capo on July 25th, 2003 (Turner's 30th birthday). Da Capo Press
is an imprint of Perseus Books.
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August 2003
Audio Deal Closes; Manuscript Pounding
Highbridge's audio book is signed: unfortunately the contract
stipulates that an actor will read the book, rather than Turner himself. The market for audio books is mainly libraries, who are providing
materials to blind and reading-impaired audiences.
Meanwhile, Turner is pounding towards his first deadline in September, cranking out the text of the first three chapters.
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September 2003
UK Deal Closes; First 3 Chapters Submitted
As a first-time author, Turner is contractually obligated to submit three draft chapters in mid-September as an act of faith, and
to show that he's on target. The publisher is pleased with what he's produced so far: Homer (what will become Chapter 2),
Bart (the future Chapter 3), and "The Simpsons & the Internet" (Chapter 7).
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October - November - December 2003
Shorter Days, Longer Nights, And A Three-Month Frenzied Writing Blitz
Turner would like to note that he seemed to hit a never-before-achieved stride sometime in this period. Around this time he talked
about how he'd managed to have finally developed a kind of disciplined-inspiration 'zone'. That he didn't have to sit around,
waiting for inspiration to eventually strike after hours of staring at the blinking cursor. But rather, somewhere along the line in pushing
himself every day to sit down and just do it, because his January wedding and looming publication deadlines simply didn't give him
the luxury of farting around, he'd finally found a rhythm he could almost count on. And that this was a whole new plane of writing.
12:03 AM 02/10/2004(Dig it.)
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January 2004
A Brief Hiatus; Second Major Deadline
Chris Turner marries Ashley Bristowe, 3 January 2004, at Canmore AB.
The new Bristowe-Turners honeymoon in Cuba for a week. No computers were present on the vacation.
Near the end of January, five more chapters are submitted to Canada, the US and UK.
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March 2004
Final Deadline
Last four chapters go in, with much rejoicing.
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April 2004
Edited Manuscript Comes Back; Rewrites Due
With a two-week turnaround, vast chunks of the original manuscript are edited out or totally rewritten.
(original draft edits by lead editor Anne Collins of Random House Canada)
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May 2004
Final Rewrites, And The First Copyedit
Copyediting entails going through the draft manuscript page by page, in an effort to catch all typos, and for secondary factchecking.
(photo: Turner editing the manuscript in Nakusp, BC)
If there are any short additions or requested final changes to the text, they're made at this time.
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June 2004
Canadian Page Proofs Arrive; Final Changes And Edits
When the page proofs arrive, the author gets to see an approximation of what the book will actually look like once printed. The
Canadian proofs show a wider-than-average book, with the sidebar notes represented as sidebars on the appropriate page (the US publisher
opted to list the sidebar notes as footnotes, and the UK publisher insisted on using endnotes at the conclusion of each chapter), and
various boxed graphics and photos to compliment the text. The author loves the Canadian layout.
The page proofs are hand-corrected for any remaining copyedit errors, and for any final-final changes. This results in
"The FedEx Saga"
when the page proofs are sent by courier to the publisher. The final US copyedit is supposed to be taken from the Canadian edition,
although later we find out this didn't happen. As a result the US edition contains a number of missed errors.
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July 2004
Final Changes to the UK Proofs; Website Construction Begins
Copyedited at Turner's parents' house in Kentville, Nova Scotia, the British proofs consume two solid days for Turner and Ashley.
Meanwhile, our short Canadian summer blazes along unappreciated, outdoors.
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August 2004
The Publicity Engine Gets Into Gear
UK publicity kicks off on August 30th, and Turner very suddenly gets the call to jet off across the Atlantic. From here on out, things
are fairly well-documented on the blog.
