Michael J. Sullivan's Blog, page 15

Preview: Kickstarter Video

Tomorrow we launch the Kickstarter for Nolyn.  I'm so excited, and so it seems are some other people.  Currently, 646 people are following the project.  Below is a preview of the video so you can learn more about the project. 

Please keep in mind that the "early bird" specials are ONLY available from noon to 12:15 PM EST, so you have to back early to get them. Here are the specials being offered:

D(EARLY BIRD) - $8 rather than $10 for the eBook only H(EARLY BIRD) - $28 rather than $35 for the eBook + regular hardcoverR(EARLY BIRD) - $60 rather than $75 for the eBook + limited edition faux-leather versionWhile we are still working on the cover designs this is what we have so far. As always, the cover illustration is form the amazing Marc Simonetti who did all of the Legends of the Firs Empire artwork, and a good number of the foreign language versions of the Riyria stories.


























As for what the book is about, here's the back-of-the-book marketing copy:
After more than five hundred years of stagnation, the heir to the empire is suspicious about his sudden reassignment to active duty on the Goblin Wars’ front lines. His first assignment to rescue an outpost leads to a dead-end canyon deep inside enemy territory. Suspicion turns to dread and then sinks to despair when it’s discovered no such stronghold exists. But whoever went to the trouble of making his death look like a casualty of war didn’t know anything about the Seventh Sikaria Auxiliary Squadron to which he had been assigned. In the depths of an unforgiving jungle, a legend is about to be born, and the world of Elan will never be the same.  
If you've not read any of my other books, no worries, you can dive right in with this one. Each series is based in Elan, but they are self-contained.  That being said, if you do read all the books you'll get a wider view of the past, and possibly even the future of my world.

My past Kickstarters have been huge successes. I'm looking forward to this one being equally good.  Hope to see you there.

Nolyn Kickstarter: Launches 02/09 @ 12:00 Noon EST

So, as many of you may know, I have a new series coming out! It's called The Rise and Fall and just as Legends of the First Empire shows the First Great War between men and elves and the founding of The Novronian Empire, this series will focus on three important points in the history of Elan that will give you the inside scoop on how the empire rose and eventually fell.  I sometimes call this my "bridge series" because it fits between the Legends of the First Empire and the Riyria tales.

Unlike most series where you follow the same cast of characters from start to finish, these books will span large amounts of time and each book will be self-contained and focus on one or two important characters from history.

Book #1 - Nolyn - the son of Nyphron and PersephoneBook #2 - Farilane - the historian and author of The Migration of PeoplesBook #3 - Esrahaddon - the origin story of the mysterious wizard from the Riyria booksNolyn will be released through the major retail market on August 3, 2021, but for people who pre-order through the Kickstarter , you'll receive the book 3 or 4 months before everyone else. As for the other books in the series, they will be released at one-year intervals - and each will have its own Kickstarter.
Like all our prior crowd-funding projects, we offer early-bird discounts where several of the most popular reward levels will be discounted by 20%.  Now, in the past, these levels have sold out in mere minutes, even though we increased the number available for each project.  This time, we are doing things a bit differently.  The following reward levels will be open for the first 15 minute
es of the campaign (noon to 12:15 PM).  So, you still have to be quick to nab one, but not nearly as fast as in the past.  Here's a list of them:Digital Early Bird - $8 instead of $10 for ebook onlyHardcover Early Bird - $28 instead of $35 for ebook AND regular hardcoverRare Early Bird - $60 instead of  $75 for ebook AND limited edition faux leather hardcoverReward levels vary from $5 to $100 and this chart explains what is in each level:















While we are still working on the final design of the covers, this is what we currently have.  The regular hardcover will have a dust jacket with artwork from the amazing Marc Simonetti. The rare edition will be faux-leather with one or two color foil stamping.

How many copies of the limited edition will there be? I'm not sure. I'm going to print fifty more than are ordered through Kickstarter (to account for possible damaged books or books lost in the mail).  These will NOT be reprinted, they will be numbered and dated, and they won't be sold through retailers (you'll only be able to get them from the Kickstarter or directly from us (for the leftovers).  I suspect there will be less than 500 copies made.  The hardcovers will be printed in quantities of 10,000 - 15,000 copies and there may be multiple printing of them.

Okay, so what is this book about?  Well, here is the copy we've come up with for the back of the book:

After more than five hundred years of stagnation, the heir to the empire is suspicious about his sudden reassignment to active duty on the Goblin Wars’ front lines. His first assignment to rescue an outpost leads to a dead-end canyon deep inside enemy territory. Suspicion turns to dread and then sinks to despair when it’s discovered no such stronghold exists. But whoever went to the trouble of making his death look like a casualty of war didn’t know anything about the Seventh Sikaria Auxiliary Squadron to which he had been assigned. In the depths of an unforgiving jungle, a legend is about to be born, and the world of Elan will never be the same. 

Buying through a Kickstarter puts significantly more of your money into my pocket.  When books are bought through retailers 75% - 80% of the money you pay goes to others (our distribution partners and the retailers).  But you also get things that retailers can't provide such as:

Signed physical books.Your name in print (if you so desire) - your name will be listed in the acknowledgment as one of the people who helped bring this project to life.Receiving the story months before the rest of the world.Digital artwork of Marc's illustrations (for screen savers).There will also be various additional bonuses added as the project goes on, assuming we hit various stretch goals.  In the past, some of the things we've done include:Custom created bookmarks (usually signed)Bonus short storiesBehind the scenes insights into the creation processT-shirts, tote bags, and postersEmbossed signature pagesWell, I think that's enough for now. Remember to mark your calendar and show up between noon and 12:15 to get an early-bird discount. Here is the link (which will go live) on 02/09.  If you use it now, you can sign up for an email notification in case you forget.  I hope to see you there!

TBRCON21 - A virtual convention with 85 authors and 16 panels

With COVID-19 still raging, Sci-fi and Fantasy conventions have had to go virtual, which in many ways is good because they are (a) free, (b) don't require travel costs, and (c) can accommodate a lot more visitors than the average hotel or conference hall.  Coming up this week is TBRCON21 (hosted by FanFiAdict). It runs from January 25th to the 30th and features 16 Panels with more than 85 Authors. I'll be on one of the panels (Saturday at 1:00 PM EST).  But here is a rundown of all the programming.

Monday - January 25th

3:00 PM EST: Global SFF - featuring Gautam Bhatia, Yaroslav Barsukov, Deck Matthews, Robert V.S. Redick, Andrea Stewart & Luke Tarzian

5:00 PM EST - World-Building & Your Place In It - featuring Brian D. Anderson, Angela Boord, Dale Lucas, Travis M. Riddle, J. Rushing & Angus Watson

Tuesday - January 26th

11:00 AM EST: Experiential Inspirations - featuring Christian/Miles Cameron, Sebastien de Castel, John Gwynne, Jeannette Ng & Scott Oden

2:00 PM EST: No More Heroes - featuring Graham Austin King, Brian Naslund, Mike Shackle, M.L. Spencer, Mike Shel & Phil Williams

4:00 PM EST: But, What Scares YOU? - featuring M.R. Carey, Lee C. Conley, Andy Davidson, Jonathan Janz, & Tim Meyer

Wednesday - January 27th

11:00 AM EST: Thrills That Pay the Bills - featuring Emily Carpenter, Hank Early, Josh Malerman, John Marrs & C.J. Tudor

1:00 PM EST: Sensory Detail in SFF - featuring Mike Chen, Scott Drakeford, Ryan Van Loan, Marina J. Lostertter, Megan O'Keefe & Gareth Powell

3:00 PM EST: SFF Fight Club - featuring David Dalglish, Alexander Darwin, Sam Hawke, Rob J. Hayes, Michael Mammay & Jeremy Szal

5:00 PM EST - The Joys (or Lack Therof) of Editing - featuring Alicia Wanstall-Burke, Shelly Campbell, Nick Martell, Michael McClung & David Wragg

Thursday - January 28th

11:00 AM EST: The Intersection of Neurodivergence & SFF Writing - featuring Elisa A. Bonin, Sunyl Dean, Essa Hansen, Sonora Reyes & Alex White

1:00 PM EST: History in SFF - featuring Katherine Arden, Alina Boyden, Christian/Miles Cameron, Sebastien deCastell, Daniel Kelly, & Evan Winter

3:00 PM EST: Writerly Advice - NOT - featuring Stephen Aryan, R. J. Baker, Nicholas Eames, Anna Stephens, & Adrian Tchaikovsky

Friday - January 29th

1:00 PM EST: Grim, Dark . . . or Just Fantasy - featuring Ben Galley, Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, G. R. Matthews, Peter McLean, Adrian Shelby & Holly Tinsley

3:00 PM EST: The Future of Fantasy - featuring Peter V. Brett, Steven Erikson, R. F. Kuang, Devin Madson, & Evan Winter

5:00 PM EST - SPFBO Finalists - Justin Lee Anderson, Zack Argyle, Alexander Darwin, Robert Fleming, Suzannah Rowntree, Patrick Samphire & Rachel Emma Shaw

Saturday - January 30th

1:00 PM EST: Gods, Goddesses & Demigods OH MY! - featuring Dyrk Ashton, Jusin T. Call, Michael R. Fletcher, Tom Lloyd, Michael J. Sullivan, Jordan Loyal Short & Jonathan Wood

2:30 PM EST: LIVE D&D - featuring Justin Lee Anderson, Gareth Hanraham, G. R. Matthews, Steve McHugh & Anna StephensI hope you find something (or several things) that pique your interest. Enjoy!

Rejected!

In trying to give authors encouragement to keep going after many rejections, people will often cite that Harry Potter was rejected 12 times before it was picked up.  Anyone who would make such a statement doesn't realize the TRUE reality of the publishing business.  I was reminded of this when looking at twitter today when I found this tweet from @findmeediting.















Amanda is right. 12 - 16 rejections is nothing in the life of an aspiring author. But to give Amanada (and others some hope).
In my first attempt at a writing career, I wrote 13 novels, queried 7 (or was it 6 I forget), over the course of 20 years and received about 200 rejections.

When I returned to writing 10 years later, it was only on the condition that I wouldn't seek publication (because that way let to the dark side).  So my wife gave it a try and she received about 100 rejections.

Since this is my blog, I'm not going to cite all my successes since finally publishing in 2008, (if you are here you know that I've done well). So I just wanted to point out that persistence can pay off.  Robin has a saying, "The only way to guarantee failure is to quit trying."  To provide some further incentive, (or maybe some will find it demoralizing) here are some other people who responded to Amanda's post:@cyberwar: Was just on a call with an author who went through three agents and 11 years before finally getting published. Sold 100K books in six printings.

@hcor - Book 1: 15 agents, 5 full requests, 10 rejections, 1 R&R with no response - shelved book.  Book #2 55 agent quiers - 24 requests - 31 rejectiosn, 1 R&R no response - 1 publisher submission >> book deal.

@melisskhavas - I started querying in college and it took me 7 books and 200+ rejections to get signed. Spent a long time feeling embarrassed by it (thinking I really must have been the worst writer ever if it took so long), but I don’t think it’s that unusual, just not talked about.

@sharpegirl - While I did query 6 books over 7 years before my debut (debut was manuscript #16) I’ve gotta admit I never got more than 25 rejections per book because that’s about how many agents I was interested in.

@DianaUrban - *Cracks knuckles* Here are my stats prior to getting a book deal for All Your Twisted Secrets: - 3 agents - 4 times on sub to publishers - 5 editor R&R requests - 120+ editor rejections - 130+ agent rejections -- Never give up

@Heroes_Get_Made - I was rejected more than 100 times by agents and more than 20 times by publishers. I eventually got accepted by a publisher after submitting directly. Then that publisher went out of business. I got a different publisher, which published my entire seven-book series.

@JMCwrites - 290 queries until my first agent. 5 books went on submission to editors before one sold. My debut was the tenth manuscript I wrote. I'm not a bestseller, but hopefully that helps a little.

@AnnaLeeJuber - It took me 7 years before I sold my 5th completed manuscript. Probably close to 200 rejections, if not more. But it sure was fun to burn the paper ones (I started querying right at cusp of switching from paper to all electronic) once I had a publishing contract.@KrisRey19 - I queried for 5 yrs (plus sporadically another 7 w/PB's before that) til my 5th novel which got 3 offers & my dream agent. I've send over 500 queries & must have as many R's. This job demands patience & serious guts.@AllieLarkin - I think it took me a full year of rejections to find my first agent. I’m sure it was over 100 rejections, and a few of them were gratuitously mean.

@Kate4Queen  - 5 years of querying, 142 rejections. Finally sold books 4 and 5. Have now been published for 15 years and written around 70 books. :) And I think I'm doing okay :)
@katierus - Saaame! I had over 150. Eek, maybe more, it's been so damn long since then. I submitted for like 2 or 3 years I think. And even after I signed w/ my agent in 09, we got rejections! 

@BritneySlewis - This makes me a little emotional. Goodness. I queried for 10 years before I found the right agent. I don't even wanna share how many queries I sent out or that were rejected. Maybe 300??? Maybe over that? 

@KateQuinnAuthor - I was querying agents from age 17. 9 years of rejections and 7 novels consigned to a drawer before I was picked up, and I wouldn't say that's a huge amount of rejections, either. @SSCav - James Lee Burke's The Lost Get-Back Boogie was rejected 111 times over 9 years. A small press took it on and it was nominated for a Pulitzer. There are many great authors who struggle for years to catch a break. I happens for some.

@brngreenwood - 122 agents passed on my novel that made the NYT bestseller list. And that’s just the rejections for that one book. Prior to that book, I clocked 400+ rejections for 6 books over the course of 9 years.

@laurcunn - I received somewhere around 80-90 rejections over a 10 year period (for Adverse Effects alone; I had at least 50 additional rejections for other books I had written) before I found my agent and subsequently my publisher.

@JasonRLady - I queried for 13 years before finding a publisher. I lost count of the rejections.

@triceretops - 17 straight years--shorts and novels--been rejected 1,500 times at the very least. It took 400 rejections before I got my last agent.

@barbaralongley - Raising my hand! I could've wallpapered my living room with rejection letters. I kept at it. Now I'm hybrid. I have 13 traditionally/agented published books, and 3 self-pubbed.

@sandraruttan - British thriller writer Simon Kernick received hundreds of rejections and he's been very successful.

@AuthorKatM - Querying from 2008. I didn't sign with an agent until 2017, and even then I didn't sign my first book deal until a month ago. I've received more rejections than I can count, but it helps knowing THAT'S NORMAL.

@HopeBolinger - Totally hear you! I think I've gotten somewhere near 1000 rejections for various works. I'm multi-published now in the traditional market, but still get constant rejections

Winter Sale - Save 15% to 70%

This year's shipping season was so crazy that we couldn't guarantee the arrival of packages for holiday gift-giving. So, we've morphed our annual holiday sale into a Winter Sale and added a number of free items.  Also, all physical books are signed (and limited editions are numbered).



















Also, because we had so many issues getting access to sign books at our fulfillment center during COVID-19, we bought a building and brought all shipping in house.  In doing this, we found a number of items that we thought we had sold out long, long ago.  But supplies on these items are extremely limited. Here are some examples:Hardcover First Editions for Age of Myth (remainders), Age of Swords, and Age of Legend, Death of Dulgath, and The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter 

LIMITED EDITION hardcovers for Death of Dulgath and Disappearance of Winter's Daughter

Tote bags (Montemorcy (black) & Legends of the First Empire (white)) - people who have received them as part of the Kickstarters LOVE these large, high-quality bags.

Legends of the First Empire Black T-shirts (both Men's and Women's Styles in various sizes).NOTE: In going through all our stock, we found a few copies whose dust jackets (or covers) are not 100% pristine (no tears but minor signs of wear). We've classified these as "hurt books" and are selling them at a significant discount (50% off) just to free up space. These are not "used books" (no one has owned them before), but due to the minor imperfections on the dust jacket or covers, we don't want them sold at list price.

We also picked up (on the cheap) a number of remainders (books that are new but have a small dot on the edge of the pages (indicating they have been returned for credit by a bookstore and can't be sold at full price).  All of these, are deeply discounted (40% for first printings, 50% for all others). We'll only make $1 or $2 dollars on them, but it's high time we started clearing them out for more space.A few other things I should note:Although we have a fair number in stock, the Ingram warehouses (the place that distributes to large bookstores both online and brick and mortar) are essentially out of the hardcover editions of Age of Death and Age of Empyre. This means we are near the end of their print runs, and once they are gone, only mass-market paperbacks will be available. So, if you want to ensure a full collection of the hardcovers, now is the best time to pick those up.

When ordering books from the Ingram warehouse, we received some "hurt books" from the Grim Oak Press product line. It's too expensive to ship these back, and our other choice is to burn them (which we absolutely don't want to do), but they are taking up A LOT of space, and we have to get rid of them somehow. So we have hardcover copies of Unfettered III for just $9 (70% off the list price).  This is an amazing anthology of 700+ pages with 27 short stories by the likes of Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson, Terry Brooks, Robin Hobb, Naomi Novik, Mark Lawerence, and many more. There really isn't a better hardcover anthology deal than this one!

All ebooks that I've self-produced are on sale at 50% off.

Over the years, I've created a number of bonus materials as part of Kickstarters and to introduce people to my stories.  I'm making every short story (and a full-length "making of" ebook) available for free as part of this sale.

One last thing. We also received a few hurt copies of Terry Brook's Sci-fi novel Street Freaks (some of them signed). And to get them out of our new space, we're offering a FREE HARDCOVER COPY(while supplies last), for anyone who purchases at least one other book from the sale.I hope you'll check out the sale, and if you want to see more before you do, a full list of the items and their discounts/prices are below.




All told, there are 64 items on sale. Here is a complete list:

Editing Rant

Hey all, Robin here. So we have received the edits back from Laura Jorstad, for Nolyn. She is one of the two copyeditors we've worked with over the years because she (a) really knows her stuff (b) is familiar with some of the common mistakes that Michael makes, and (c) is a great Goldilock's editor - meaning she "is just right" - not too heavy-handed or to light on the touch. 

One of the things I do for Michael is handle the bulk of the "heavy lifting" on copyediting reviews.  Generally, it's a bunch of hitting accept or reject and anything that requires rewriting I highlight and send his way.  Now, as some may know, I'm an ex-engineer (my degree is in Electrical Engineering), and as such, I'm very analytical. Also, I have a high attention to detail -- which is good when editing.

One thing I've learned over the years is there is a lot of disagreement within the grammar community when it comes to (a) compound words and (b) hyphenation.  That's why you establish a set of references that you adhere to. One of the important tasks when going over edits is to stay consistent with your selected benchmarks.  For us, we use the Merriam Webster Dictionary, and because it depends on what edition you are working with, we use the on-line version because it's the most up to date.  

In going through some of the edits, I found something that enrages my "analytic mind."  Notice the following use of hyphens: (a) back-to-back (b) hand-to-hand (c) face-to-face, Makes sense, right?  But imagine my frustration to learn that shoulder-to-shoulder is WRONG based on Merrian's. In this case, there shouldn't be any hyphens and it is written as "shoulder to shoulder." The engineer in me resits breaking the "pattern," but my belief in adhering to the "bible" tells me I must.  It doesn't mean I can't be mad about the fact. 

NOTE: For those who are interested, I think it's because shoulder to shoulder is considered an idiom while the others can be an adverb or an adjective.

Maybe only I stress over such things.  But I found it interesting.

Good Riddance to 2020!

Well, we've just about made it.  Less than 12 hours from where I sit until 2021 rings in. It's been a terrible 2020 but hope springs eternal to a better New Year.  I hope all of you had a great holiday season, and that we can all see a return to normalcy in the new year!

Age of Legend and Audible 2 for 1 sale

Are you an Audible member and want to stretch your credits? Right now (and for the next 6 days) Audible has put a number of titles on sale in their annual 2-for-1 post-holiday sale.   I'm pleased to find that one of my titles (Age of Legend) has been included:




















That book has been very well received (6,407 ratings with an average of 4.7), and the good news the last two books of the series are already released, so there is no long wait to finish up The Legends of the First Empire tales.

As to other works in the sales, there are only 68 titles in the Sci-fi and Fantasy category, and authors that are featured include George R. R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, John Scalzi, Andrzej Sapkowski, R.A. Salvatore, N. K. Jemisin, Gene Wolfe, Anthony Ryan, Miles Cameron, Seanan McGuire, Sarah J. Maas and many more.

In the Fiction category, there is even a selected set of short stories read by Neil Gaiman. If you've never heard Neil narrate, it's well worth 1/2 a credit to pick it up. I did.




















Here are some of the titles that caught my eye that you might enjoy as well.

I hope you do pickup some titles during this great sale, and if one of them is Age of Legend , thank you for the support, and be sure to let me know what you think of it.

9th Goodreads Choice Nominee!!

Our thanks go out to everyone who did a write-in for Age of Empyre for the Goodreads Choice Awards. Due to your efforts, I'm pleased to say we received our 5th nomination in a row and our 9th since 2010!

The full list of the semi-final round includes the following titles:

Here's a bit about each.

Age of Empyre by Michel J. Sullivan | 15,086 shelvings | 3,857 reviews | 4.42 rating
Battle Ground by Jim Butcher | 40,832 shelving | 12,885 reviews | 4.50 rating
Black Sun  by Rebecca Roanhorse | 45,525 shelving | 1,642 reviews | 4.37 rating
Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart | 34,032 shelvings | 1,659 reviews | 4.26rating
Burning God by R. F. Kuang | 28,363 shelvings | 470 reviews | 4.49 rating
City We Became by N.K. Jemisin| 114,394 shelvings | 19,278 reviews | 4.03 rating
Deadly Education bt Naomi Novik |114,868 shelvings | 46,258 reviews | 4.40 rating
Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty | 46,295 ratings | 10,630 reviews | 4.54 rating
 Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo | 30,550 ratings | 4,241 reviews | 4.09 rating
Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence | 32,868 shelvings | 3,753 reviews | 3.91 rating
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas | 262,2888 shelvings | 3,193 reviews | 4.43 rating
House of the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune | 109,827 shelvings | 23,994 reviews | 4.53 rating
Invisible LIfe of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab | 240,642 shelvings | 26,363 reviews | 4.10 rating
Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow | 71,988 shelvings | 2,631 reviews | 4.21 rating
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke | 84,017 shelvings | 12,198 reviews | 4.38 raging
Peace Talks by Jim Butcher | 71,6742 shelvings | 2,302 reviews | 4.21 rating
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson | 49,707 shelvings | 552 reviews | 4.56 rating
Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs | 37,596 shelvings | 17,301 rieveies | 4.43 rating
Trouble with Peace bt Joe Abercrombie | 13,558 shelvings | 4,099 reviews | 4.69 rating
Wintersteel by Will Wight | 10,118 shelvings | 4,929 reviews | 4.81 rating


You can vote in the semifinal round here.

Goodreads Choice Award 2020

It's time to vote!  No, I'm not talking about the 2020 Presidential Election, we've already done our civic duty there. I'm talking about the Goodreads Choice Award!  I have two books eligible this year:

Age of Death (Book #5 of Legends of the First Empire) Age of Empyre (Book #6 of Legends of the First Empire)Neither made the first round, booo!  But due to my amazing fanbase, a number of my past titles have made it into the second round through the write-in process. Having two books eligible means that they might split the vote making neither one eligible, so if you are thinking of writing one in, please choose Age of Empyre as I think that will be the one that most people will be selecting (since it is the last in the series.  

But if you are going to try to help to get it to round #2, you have to hurry - today is the last day for voting! As always, you help would be greatly appreciated!