金學堂英語的部落格

【聯合報／By JULIE BOSMAN／王麗娟譯】

“Annihilation,” the chilling first novel of a trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer , tells the story of a scientific expedition to a mysterious place called Area X that has been cut off from the rest of the world.

Fans who want to know what happens in the second book won’t be on tenterhooks for long.

That book, “Authority,” will come out in May, only months after the first installment. On its heels is the third novel, “Acceptance,” to be published in early September.

While the television industry has begun catering to impatient audiences by releasing entire series at once, the book business is upending its traditional timetable by encouraging a kind of binge reading, releasing new works by a single author at an accelerated pace.

The practice of spacing an author’s books at least one year apart is gradually being discarded as publishers appeal to the same “must-know-now” impulse that drives binge viewing of shows like “House of Cards” and “Breaking Bad.”

“Consumers want to be able to bingeread or binge-watch,” said Christine Ball, associate publisher of Dutton . “We wanted to give the consumers what they wanted in this case.”

Sean McDonald, the editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux who acquired the trilogy by Mr. VanderMeer, said that when he read the first manuscript, he realized it presented a narrative filled with unanswered questions. He quickly came up with an idea that was believed to be a first at Farrar, Straus: publishing all three books on what he called a “rapid fire” schedule, partly to avoid antagonizing readers.

“You can end up with angry and perplexed fans,” he said. “I think people are more aware of series storytelling, and there is this sense of impatience, or maybe a fear of frustration. We wanted to make sure people knew that there were answers to these questions.”

The blockbuster “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the erotica trilogy by E L James, showed the merits of publishing all the books quickly, before readers can catch their breath. The series was first printed by a small press in Australia. Vintage Books, part of Random House, acquired it in March 2012, and released the books in paperback in the space of less than a month. They have sold more than 90 million copies to date worldwide — Random House’s fastest- selling series ever.

“I think the bottom line is that people are impatient,” said Susan Wasson, a longtime bookseller at an independent shop, Bookworks, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “With the speed that life is going these days, people don’t want to wait longer for a sequel. I know I feel that way. When I like a book, I don’t want to wait a year for the sequel.”

Publishers are responding to that sentiment. This month, Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House, released a hardcover debut novel, “Archetype,” a futuristic action thriller. Its sequel, “Prototype,” is scheduled for release in only five months.

“Letting Go,” the first book in an erotic trilogy by Maya Banks, a best-selling romance author, was also released by Berkley Books this month; the last installment will be published in August, with three months between titles.

At St. Martin’s Press, editors took what they called “a TV approach” with the publishing schedule of a coming series by Megan Hart, a writer of erotic fiction. Ms. Hart’s series is scheduled in five installments, published in e-book every two weeks.

St. Martin’s hasn’t even scheduled print versions of the series yet.

Some publishers who have embraced a faster publishing schedule acknowledge that it can be risky. Cindy Hwang, the executive editor at Berkley, said that while the approach has worked for some authors, like Nora Roberts, the best-selling romance writer, “There’s always the fear that you’re saturating the market, that the reader demand isn’t as great as what you’ve foreseen.”

中譯

「殲滅」是傑夫‧凡德米爾所著的三部曲中，令人看了膽顫心驚的首部曲，敘述在「Ｘ區」，一個與世隔絕神秘地點的科學冒險故事。

想一探二部曲究竟的粉絲，不會坐立難安太久。

二部曲「威權」預定五月面世，離一部曲僅隔數月。緊接著三部曲「認同」也會在九月初推出。

在電視業者開始迎合缺乏耐性的觀眾，讓他們一次看個夠之際，圖書業者也開始顛覆傳統時間表，鼓勵狂讀，將單一作者的新作品加速推出。

同一作者的作品起碼隔一年再出版的作法已漸遭揚棄，電視觀眾狂看電視劇集「紙牌屋」和「絕命毒師」，出版商也開始迎合讀者「現在就要知道結局」的類似衝動。

「達頓」出版社副社長克莉斯汀‧波爾說：「消費者希望能狂讀或狂看。這種情況下，我們希望能滿足消費者。」

凡德米爾三部曲版權由「法拉、史特勞斯、吉羅」出版社取得，總編輯麥唐納說，閱讀初稿時，他發現內容充滿未解開的疑問。他很快便想到採取在這家出版社應屬首見的作法：以他稱為「霹靂火（快速射擊）」的快節奏推出三部曲，部分是為避免引起讀者反感。

他說：「你有可能把讀者搞到火大和迷惑。我認為讀者已越來越了解系列故事的敘述方式，因此產生了急躁感，或是擔心失望的恐懼感。我們要明確告訴讀者，這些疑問一定會有答案。」

暢銷書「格雷的50道陰影」是英國女作家E L詹姆絲的情色三部曲，它是快速出書優點的例子，不待讀者喘過氣即出完三書。三部曲最初是由澳洲一個小出版社出版。「藍燈書屋」旗下的「古典書店」2012年3月取得版權，不到一個月便把平裝版全套出完，迄今全球銷售逾九千萬冊，是藍燈書屋創立以來賣得最快的套書。

新墨西哥州亞伯克基獨立書店「書工廠」的老資格店主蘇珊‧沃森說：「我認為關鍵在於人們耐心沒那麼大了。以時下生活的速度，人們不喜歡續集等太久。我知道我就有那種感覺。我喜歡一本書時，不希望等續集等上一年。」

出版商正在回應這種情緒。本月，企鵝藍燈書屋的翻版「達頓」出版社，發行處女作小說「典型」的精裝本，是部未來世界動作驚悚小說。續集「原型」預定五個月後就發行。

暢銷愛情故事作家瑪亞‧班克斯的情色三部曲的首部曲「放手」，本月由柏克萊書店發行；最後一部預計八月推出，每部間隔三個月。

在聖馬丁出版社，編輯採取了他們所謂的「電視手法」，預告情色小說作家梅根‧哈特新系列小說的出版時間表。哈特的系列小說預計出五本，每兩星期推出一本電子書。

聖馬丁甚至還未敲定這個系列小說印刷版的出版日期。

部分搞快速出版的出版商坦承，這種作法有風險。柏克萊書店總編輯辛蒂‧黃說，有些作家適合這種作法，例如暢銷愛情故事作家諾拉‧羅伯茨，「但我們還是擔心，是否在塞爆市場，讀者的需求不如想像中大。」