Michael J. Sullivan's Blog, page 35

NaNoWriMo AMA with Michael J. Sullivan

The moderators at the /r/fantasy reddit site have asked me to do an AMA on November 8th.  I, of course, said yes. The focus of this AMA will be on writing related questions since this is National Novel Writing Month, but, of course, I'll answer questions on any and all subjects.  I'll make the post early on the 8th and be in the sub at 7:30 PM (EST) to answer them. If you put in your questions earlier in the day I'll have time to work on them before posting come game time.

For those who aren't familiar with the /r/fantasy sub of reddit. Its a fabulous group that has grown at astounding rates. There are over 207,000 members and it includes not only readers, but a good number of fantasy authors drop in as well.  So, if you have questions...I hope to have the answers. Stop by on Wednesday. I hope to see you there.

Winter Is Coming

Michael J. Sullivan & Tim Gerard Reynolds
In October, I had the pleasure of working with Tim Gerard Reynolds recording my new book The Disappearance of Winter’s Daughter. Given that I’m putting out three books in close succession (Age of Swords, Winter’s Daughter, and Age of War) Robin and I were working right up to the deadline. Tim—who is wildly popular these days, and in great demand— scheduled us for a week in October, so we had to meet that. Robin and I were editing on the train to Newark, where some of the Audible Studios are located. Luckily we were not in the quiet car as we also debated various aspects of the text. People might have thought us insane, but hopefully not rude. 
Alex recording Tim whose face is hidden behind the mike's spit guard.
During the day we monitored the live recordings, on hand to explain pronunciations, answer questions, and on occasions request a different emphasis on a given line. At night, Robin and I continued to edit trying to stay ahead of Tim. At times we live edited as Tim was reading. He would make a “mistake” misreading my text—but I liked it. We would then alter the text to reflect the change. 



The biggest problem we encountered was lingering too long at lunch. The cafeteria at Audible Studios was like a really nice high school. Tim, Alex (our engineer), Robin, and I filled our trays and sat at long tables eating and chatting far too long. But this was as much fun for us as it was work. 

So Winter’s Daughter was recorded and is undergoing (audio) edits. And as always, Tim was fantastic. 
Thanks, Tim.

Scrivener - a Writer's Best Friend

If you saw yesterday's post, you probably noticed I write on a Mac. Anyone who knows me is aware that I'm pretty much an Apple fanatic. I read my paper on an iPad in the morning. I've gotten iPhones for myself, my wife, and all but one of my children (no, I don't love her any less, she just doesn't want an iPhone--go figure. At least she's agreed to use the iTouch we bought and replaced a few times). Let's see...what else. Oh, we have two MacBook Air laptops (one for me and one for Robin). I have an iWatch, and I'm trying to convince Robin that she needs the upgraded model for Christmas.

But it's not because of my love for all things Apple that I write on a Mac, I bought it to run exactly one piece of software, and that is Scrivener.  What is Scrivener? Well here's what Wikipedia says:

Scrivener (/ˈskrɪvənər/) is a word-processing program and outliner designed for authors. Scrivener provides a management system for documents, notes and metadata. This allows the user to organize notes, concepts, research and whole documents for easy access and reference (documents including rich text, images, PDF, audio, video, web pages, etc.). Scrivener offers templates for screenplays, fiction, and non-fiction manuscripts. After writing a text, the user may export it for final formatting to a standard word processor, screenwriting software, desktop publishing software, or TeX.

For me, Scrivener helps me write in more ways than I could explain in a short blog post. In fact, it takes up a fair amount of the Making of the Death of Dulgath ebook and if you read that story, you can get the ebook for free by emailing me (michael.sullivan.dc@gmail.com) and putting "Making of The Death of Dulgath in the subject line.

I also wrote an extensive blog post about Scrivener many moons ago which you can read here.

But what does that have to do with my Mac?  Well, there are two versions of Scrivener and while the PC version is great...and something I used for years, the Mac version is even better, and it gave me an excuse to upgrade my writing system to a Mac.

At just $45, Scrivener is the best bang for the buck any author. I think it's worth at least 10 and probably 20 times that. But, I know most author are strapped for cash so there's something else you should know: There is a 50% discount for all NaNoWriMo winners.

This is a discount the company has been running for years, and while I don't think $22.50 is a huge  incentive to get you to write 50,000 words written in November, I'll take any added benefit I can to get you to use this program. You'll thank me later.

Goodreads Choice Award 2017

It's that time of year again... voting has started for the Goodreads Choice Award for the Best book of 2017 . When it comes to this prestigious award, I've had more than my fair share of nods. Currently I have 5: 
2010 The Emerald Storm in Fantasy - the only self-published book that year2012 Percepliquis in Fantasy2013 The Crown Tower in Fantasy 2015 Hollow World in Fantasy2016 Age of Myth in FantasyExcept for Hollow World, each one of those nominations came in round one when the people at Goodreads select the top 15 based on (a) publication date eligibility (b) # of people who shelved the book (c) 3 # of review/ratings (d) total overall rating. Here are the nominees for this year: 
TitleAuthor   Shelved    # ratings    Rating  Norse Mythology Neil Gaiman 145,040 47,533 4.11 Fantastic Beasts J. K. Rowling 112,397   45,631   4.40    The Bear and the Nightingale Katerine Arden 79,980 17,527 4.13 A Conjuring of Flight V.E. Scwab 69,334 24,849 4.41 The Fate of Tearling Erika Joansen 46,137 16,452 3.79 Red Sister Mark Lawrence 45,549 7,560 4.32 Feversong   Karen Marie Moning       31,695 9,837 4.36 Assassin's Fate Robin Hobb 25,952 10,903 4.67 The Stone Sky N.K. Jemisin 22,490 7,065 4.45 Etched in Bone Anne Bishop 21,694 9,666 4.31   Eleventh Grave in Moonlight Darynda Jones 19,322 7,237 4.39 One Fell Sweep Ilona Anrews 15,444 9,285 4.52 Sins of Empire Brian McClellan 12,647 3,521 4.48 Kings of the Wyld Nicholas Eames 9,544 3,004 4.42 The Witchwood Crown Tad Williams 7,383 690 4.22
There were a number of notable titles missing form the list. The first two I can "kind of" understand as they were released late in the year and just barely squeaked onto the list (Brandon's is only 2 days shy of the eligibility period cut-off). As for my own title's omission, of course, I'm upset, but I'm also surprised as it beats The Watchword Crown on all three metrics: more shelving, more reviews, and a higher rating.

TitleAuthor   Shelved    # ratings    Rating  Oathbringer Brandon Sanderson 47,262 1,073 4.61 The Core Peter V. Brett 21,130 2,539 4.27  Age of Swords     Michael J. Sullivan   15,819 3,516 4.29
Oh, well, better luck next year, unless of course Age of Swords, gets into round two as a write-in, I'm very confident that the first two books will be. Here's to hoping! In any case, you can vote or write in your choice from this link.

Work In Progress

Being that it is day two of National Novel Writing Month, no aspiring writers should be wasting time reading this blog, but for those who are struggling, I always found it both fascinating and inspiring to see the workspace of other writers. So for those of you interested in such things, here’s my present office. I took this photo today when I was in the middle of work. Believe it or not, and I know it isn’t fun at all, but honestly, this about as messy as it gets for me.  
Where the Magic Happens


STAGES OF WRITING A NOVEL (Written in author-speak)
1. Catching bats at night.2. Making a puzzle with too many pieces and no box to look at.3. The desert of temptation and regret4. Hope5. Crisis6. The Joy of finishing!7. Guilt and depression1. Bats
Good luck all!

I've written a novel. Now what?

It's NaNoWriMo time. For those that don't know what that means it's National Novel Writing Month. During the 30 days of November aspiring authors are asked to challenge themselves to write a novel. In an effort to help aspiring authors I'm going to try to do two things.
Have some "writing focused" posts on the blog throughout the monthHost an AMA (Ask me Anything) on reddit/r/Fantasy which specifically focuses on writing related questions. It'll be held on November 8th.Early today I received the following email:

"I am currently a college student who just recently finished writing a novel. I'm just beginning the peer review process using some friends of mine for help, and I was just wondering how exactly I should move forward if I want my book to be published. My friends are not the most reliable sources of feedback given their studies and other commitments, so should I seek out a professional editor? Also once the final edits have been made, how do I go about submitting my work to publishers without them simply trashing it before reading a word? Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated."

After responding, I realized it would make a pretty good post for NaNoWriMo. So here's what I told young Ben.

Dear Ben,
Congratulations on finishing your first novel! I don't want to sound too pessimistic but I do want to warn you that first books are rarely "suitable for publication." Think about it, you can't play Carnegie Hall after a few years at the piano, and likewise it takes time to develop a full set of writing skills to crate a work that is fit to share with others. For me, it was my14th novel which was the first published. Now, you are likely not as slow a learner as I am, but here are some metrics to keep in mind. Stephen King says you should consider your first 1,000,000 words as practice, and Malcolm Gladwell says you need 10,000 hours working at a task to become proficient at it. Assuming your novel is 100,000 words or so you're 10% there!

 Okay, with that very sobering preamble out of the way, let me address some of your questions and offer some advice. Here goes.

After finishing a book. You should put it away for 4 - 6 weeks then pick it up and re-read it again. Pay particular attention to how it opens. It's likely that it doesn't start where it should...something you can't tell for sure until the book is finished. As you re-read, polish, polish, polish. In particular make sure your opening line is a great one, and that the first paragraph sets a stage and hooks the reader in. Make ABSOLUTELY sure the first 5 pages are flawless. If an editor or agent can make it through the firsts 5 pages, it's likely they'll request the full manuscript.You need to find writer critique groups. If you live in a fairly populated area, there should be a number that meet face-to-face. Checkout Meetup.com. If you don't find any, then look online there are plenty and most specialize in a given genre. In these groups you'll read and critique other people's work in exchange for them doing the same for you. You'll actually learn a great deal when critiquing others. You'll see things they do wrong and when you are explaining the problem to them, you'll often realize you did something similar in your own work.Once the book is polished and critiqued seek out beta readers. There are groups on Goodreads.com that are dedicated to beta reading. An important part of the beta reading process is to set expectations for the readers. My wife does an excellent beta program and she sends this documen t to anyone who wants to beta read so they know what is expected of them. Feel free to adopt it to your own uses. I suggest 3 - 7 beta readers and keep adding them until you have at least 5 people read the entire book (some beta readers will drop out - either because life gets in the way or they don't like the book. As to a professional editor. They come in three type: structural (sometimes know and content editor), line editors, and copy editors. The first is (a) very expensive and (b) hard to find a qualified person. It's a very subjective process and a bad structural editor can cause more harm then good. Generally I don't recommend paying for structural editing. You can get the equivalent feedback from a few good critique partners and beta readers and I suggest you go that route. As for copy and line editing...these are tasks the publisher is going to do on your behalf, so you shouldn't have to pay for those services. Now, that said, if your work is riddled with errors, it may make reading the submission more trouble than it's worth. In those cases, it is worth paying for someone to fix a manuscript in such a state, but I can't say whether yours will fall into that categoryAs for submitting to publishers. For the most part, you'll want to submit to agents instead. These days mot publishers don't take unsolicited manuscripts, so you get an agent who knows what publishers are looking for what types of books. To get an agent you need to (a) do research to determine who represents your genre of work and (b) write a query letter. This post Writing Query Letters & Where to send them should help you with both.As you can see, you have only taken the first steps on what is a very long road, but it can be a rewarding trip both professionally and personally. I hope some of the above helps you in some way. Once you have your book in good order send me the first five pages ( here is a lin k that provides full instructions on doing that), and I'll take a look at it and let you know whether I feel it is ready for primetime or still needs some polish. But I warn you, I'm a harsh critic because my standards are high.

I hope this advice helped young Ben, and I hope you found it to be helpful as well. Happy Writing!

Riyria 2 for 1 sale

Hey, all well the Kickstarter is over, and I have updates for it, but we also have a time-sensative sale running right now, so I'm going to bump that other post to the back burner. Here goes...

Two of the Riyria Chronicle books are in the Audible 2 for 1 sale . That means you can get both of them for just 1 credit! Plus there are a lot of other great fantasy titles on sale right now:


Here's some information about the books to help you decide what you might be interested in. But hurry, sale ends October 20th at 11:59 PM PT.

Title Author Narrator Series Rating# reviews The Emperor's Blades Brian Staveley Simon Vance Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne: #1 4.4 5,693 The Providence of Fire Brian Staveley Simon Vance Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne: #2 4.5 4,105 A Warrior's Path Davis Ashura Nick Podehl Castes and the OutCastes: #1 4.3 3,360 A Warrior's Knowledge Davis Ashura Nick Podehl Castes and the OutCastes: #2 4.6 2,391 A Discovery of Witches Deborah Harkness Jennifer Ikeda All Souls: #1 4.3 16,140 Shadow of Night Deborah Harkness Jennifer Ikeda All Souls: #2 4.5 11,651 Furies of Calderon Jim Butcher Kate Reading Codex Alera: #1 4.4 9,150 Academ's Fury Jim Butcher Kate Reading Codex Alera: #2 4.6 7,133 Dreamer's Pool Juliet Marillier Scott AielloNatalie GoldNick Sullivan Blackthorn & Grim: #1 4.4 1,201 Tower of Thorns Juliet Marillier Scott AielloNatalie GoldNick Sullivan Blackthorn & Grim: #2 4.6 672 Den of Wolves Juliet Marillier Natalie GoldNick Sullivan Blackthorn & Grim: #3 4.8 496 The Grace of Kings Ken Liu Michael Kramer Dandelion Dynasty: #1 4.1 760 The Wall of Storms Ken Liu Michael Kramer Dandelion Dynasty: #2 4.6 160 The Crown Tower Michael J. Sullivan Tim Gerard Reynolds Riyria Chronicles: #1 4.7 8,543 The Rose and the Thorn Michael J. Sullivan Tim Gerard Reynolds Riyria Chronicles: #2 4.8 7,055 Fool's Errand Robin Hobb James Langton Tawny Man: #1 4.5 2,850 Golden Fool Robin Hobb James Langton Tawny Man: #2 4.6 2,160 Fool's Fate Robin Hobb James Langton Tawny Man: #3 4.7 2,380 Nightblade Ryan Kirk Andrew Tell Nightblade: #1 4.3 1,858 World's Edge Ryan Kirk Andrew Tell Nightblade: #2 4.5 1,173 The Wind and the Void Ryan Kirk Andrew Tell Nightblade: #3 4.5 938

Final Hours - Kickstarter ends at 7:30 EDT today!

Well, all good things come to an end, and it's been an exciting run doing our third, and most-successful Kickstarter to date.  You still have a few hours to join the fun, just click here, or on the graphic below:



We'll see where things finish out yet, as well as discover who guessed the closest and will be winning the limited edition copies. I think we'll probably fall short of the #1 most-backed project (still need 153 backers and we tend to get around 30 - 70 a day, but who knows, last days can be pretty exciting as people both join in (and leave) the project in the final few hours. Still #2 worldwide of all time isn't so shabby. As of this writing we have 2,025+ backer - which is really quite amazing.


I think we'll end up making the $80,000 stretch goal, which will put us in 4th place as far as highest-funded worldwide projects of all time. Again, as of this writing we had just $246 to jump into 4th place and $1,135 to hit the stretch goal.

Don't forget, there will be a live-streamed AMA (Ask me Anything) starting at 7:30 EDT.


Even if you can't be there - use the link to ask a question, and you can watch the video on your own schedule. I think they stay up 24 or 48 hours or something like that.

Oh, and a few other things about the book.

Yesterday we did a remote "sit in" on the last recording session. Alex (the engineer) and Tim (the narrator) were in New Jersey and we spent 7 hours on a conference call as the last 4 chapters were recorded. (We had listened in on the other 5 sessions while up in New York last week).  So much fun - you guys are going to LOVE the audiobook - Both of those gentlemen did an exceptional job and we were able to step in from time to time to smooth something or make our own final adjustments. If the book wins and Audie, I want directorial credit!!Also yesterday, Robin poured over the printer's proofs.  They were in mostly good shape - the "big things" you worry about is color and that all turned out fine. They weren't perfect though, as she needed to nudge a bit here or there, and we did change a few words during the last recording. But al those are easy to fix and the proofs will be over-nighted and presses should roll next week. Our hope is to get the books out to people before Christmas. It'll probably be tight, but we'll do our best.Okay, that's it. Fun times, but also exhausting, too. Can't wait to have this book in the can and get aback to writing/editing some of the other projects. Age of War is with the copyeditors and due back to us in just a few days. And Robin is compiling changes for book #4 -- currently it's titled Age of Legends but we are thinking of changing it Age of Despair.  We'll need to make a decision on that really really soon! Marc Simonetti is already working on the cover design for it.
That's all for now, hope to "see" some of you tonight - at least virtually for the AMA.

Live Stream October 26th 7:30 PM EDT - Ask Me Anything

Hey all, as we wind down to the final few hours of The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter Kickstarer we have schemed a live-streamed AMA (ask me anything). It'll start an hour before the close of the Kickstarter and will continue through it's end and until all the questions are answered.


To participate in the live-stream AMA here's a link . From there you can ask questions, see our lovely faces, and we might even give you a tour of my office, and a bit of the cabin.  Hope to see you there!

Final 4 days for the Kickstarter

The Death of Dulgath Kickstarter was a huge success, and I admit that while I hoped for similar results from The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter, I wasn't expecting similar results. We had a huge day yesterday: More than 190 backers came in and pledged over $5,300.  That pushed us to the #2 most-backed US Fiction Kickstarter project, surpassing The Death of Dulgath by more than 50 people so far.

That's pretty incredible when you consider the new Kickstarter has only been running for 18 days and it took 43 days for the previous one. Given we have 4 days left (and end of Kickstarters tend to have increased traffic: The Death of Dulgath brought in more than $11,000 in its final day), I think we'll be able to raise the remaining $1,393 to surpass it in total pledges in addition to the number of backers.

For those who haven't been following the Kickstarter, here are some of the bonus items brought in by stretch goals:
$50,000 UNLOCKED! - Online, searchable glossary of terms and names. I love glossaries, but they are time consuming to produce. With a few more dollars we can justify taking the time to produce one. $55,000 UNLOCKED!- Inclusion of a backer's list in the ebook listing the names of all the people who made the project possible (you can, of course, choose to opt out) if you wish to remain anonymous. The name to be inserted will be collected during the survey process$60,000 - UNLOCKED Bookmarks! We'll design up a bookmark that matches the book and provide them to every person who buys a physical copy.$65,000 - UNLOCKED Digital Version of the The Jester Comic and Jester short story. This is a standalone Riyria adventure that exists in both short-story form and also beautifully adapted to a comic. You can see a small excerpt of the comic at this link. This stretch goal will be given to every backer and you can access it from the BackerKit self-service portal after the project ends.$70,000 - UNLOCKED: Screen savers! We'll take Marc Simonetti's amazing artwork and create screen savers that you can use for your phones, computers, and tablets.We still have two more stretch goals, and depending on how the final days go we may be adding some more.
$75,000 - Posters! If we reach this level we'll add 2 posters to the list of add-ons that people can buy: Hollow World, and The Death of Dulgath. Both are 24" x 36" and suitable for framing. $80,000 - Making of the Disappearance of Winter's Daughter ebook: Get a look behind the process of writing and editing the book and learn about how the book changed from first manuscript, through beta testing, to the final product.