AVAILABILITY

Daily Afflictions is in bookstores and on amazon.com NOW !
Woo-hoo, yay!

(The book should be in ALL bookstores. If for some reason it is not in your local store, take direct action: go buy a few copies from some other store that does have them, then secretly put them on the shelves of the store that doesn't have them. That'll show 'em! Or, even more effective, you might suggest to the store manager that s/he actually order it.)

A NO LONGER ACCURATE BUT STILL SLIGHTLY HUMOROUS THING I WROTE UP REGARDING THE BOOK'S UNCERTAIN AVAILABILITY IN THE RECENT PAST:

Daily Afflictions will be "in bookstores soon" -- or so I've been told by my publisher. Outside the publishing industry "soon" may have vague connotations, but inside the industry, it takes on an air of precision. With perfect pitch it captures the exact level of vagueness involved.

Another phrase my publisher seems to favor is "on or there abouts." While the official publication date for Daily Afflictions is January 7, it will be in bookstores "on Dec 14 or there abouts" or so I was told. But it could be quite a bit later, I was also told. The book might physically have arrived in a given bookstore by that date but may not be unpacked. A few days later it might get unpacked but not put on the shelves. Having worked on a few books now with publishers -- people, after all, who are paid well to choose their words carefully -- I sometimes stand back in awe at their impressively reasoned and exacting use of vague terms.

"Sooner" is another favored term. At about the time I was told that Daily Afflictions will be in bookstores soon, I was also told that it will be "on amazon.com sooner." While "sooner" may seem more precise than "soon," (simply because it is more imminent, i.e. sooner), in fact, "sooner" is actually more vague than "soon," since the second-order vagueness of "sooner" is contingent upon the first-order vagueness of "soon."

What this means in practice is that the book is already listed on amazon.com and you can order it now, however, it remains unclear when exactly they will ship it. At the very latest by January 7, but it could be quite a bit sooner. If you absolutely must get your hands on a copy as soon as possible -- in time for Christmas or whatever -- your best bet is to visit several bookstores "on Dec 14 or there abouts" -- one of them is bound to have it.

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