Michael J. Sullivan's Blog, page 75

New York Comic Con Schedule for Thursday & Friday

It's that time of year again, soon New York will be inundated with a horde of fans of multiple genres from movies, comics, and books.  I'm going to be a guest and will be in the city on Thursday and Friday so if you want to catch a signature, lift a glass, or just say, "Hi" here is where I'll be.  For times not scheduled, I'm free (or at least inexpensive) so if you want to meet up, just let me know.

Thursday

09:10 - 12:45  Leave Wahshington DC Union Station and arrive at New York's Penn Station01:15 - 02:30  Lunch with fellow author Django Wexler04:30 - 05:30  Audio book introduction recording at Recorded Books05:30 - on       Nothing currently scheduled

Friday
11:00 - 12:00 Epic Fantasy Panel (1A17) w/Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear, Brian Staveley & Drew Karpyshyn12:15 - ??:?? Signing at Table #21 (Comic Con hasn't said how long this will last)02:00 - 03:00  Signing at the Orbit Booth (#2218)06:30 - 08:00  Dinner with readers in Washington Square09:15 - 12:45  Leave Penn Station and arrive in Washington DCHope to see some of you there!
Also, in other news, Hachette has finally gotten the World English ebook rights distribution sorted out and ebooks will be available everywhere VERY soon.  When I get back from NYCC I'll post full details but for those who have been patiently (and not so patiently) waiting for this...there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it'snot a train.

There was some exciting news yesterday about the top rate...

There was some exciting news yesterday about the top rated epic fantasy books, and I'm hijacking Michael's blog to mention it. It's Robin (Michael's wife), because he is busy with the final edits of Rhune (trying to finish it off before going to NYCC on Thursday/Friday). Anyway I'm not as clever or entertaining as Michael, so instead I'll post some good news. Yesterday  Heir of Novron became the #1 Top Rated Epic Fantasy title on Amazon:


We both would like to thank everyone for posting such great reviews. This is great exposure for Michael's books and it should help to get more people to give them a try.  But it's not just Heir of Novron that has been getting good ratings.  Here is another screen shot for the Men's Adventure list.  Actually all five books are on it the other two are in the 20's.


So thanks again, for all the support. It means a great deal to both of us. I guess with some hard work, and the support of others anything is possible.

You're invited...

So we are in the final throws of the mass of activity related to:The release of The Crown TowerThe release of The Rose and the ThornThe distribution of the Hollow World KickstarterSo since we are now winding down it's time to celebrate.
First a virtual invitation.  I've got these really cool t-shirts that you can't buy (only be awarded or win) and I'm having a contest right now.  Here is what they look like:

You can enter the contest from this link. Members of the Dark Room (a secret and private group on goodreads) get an extra ballots (one of their perks), but if you want to join The Dark Room here is an invitation for it as well. 
Okay, now for the non-virtual invitations...
Washington DC: Wednesday Sep 25, 2013 (7:00 pm - 8:15 pm)If you are in or around the Washington D.C. Area this Wednesday night at 7:00 pm  then stop by One More Page Books for the official launch party of The Riyria Chronicles. This is a Fall for the Book Event and I'll be signing books, talking a bit about the new release, and there were be raffle giveaways for wine, tshirt and even some Hollow World books that you can't even get until April 15, 2014. We'll probably go out for a drink after the gathering...place to be determined.
Annapolis MD: Saturday Sep 28, 2013 (all day)I and a number of members of the Alexandria Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club will be enjoying the day at the Maryland Renaissance Festival . No I'm not a featured guest or anything like that, but I will be there and will be glad to say hi, shake a hand, or sign a book for those interested.  I'll be checking twitter throughout the day so if you are there as well and want to meet up - just let me know.
New York NY:  Friday Oct 11, 2013 (11:00 - 12:00)I'll be at the Javits Convention Center as part of New York Comic Con participating on a panel about Epic Fantasy. Others on the panel include Scott Lynch, Peter V. Brett, Elizabeth Bear, Brian Staveley, Drew Karpyshyn. The panel will be moderated by Maryelizabeth Hart from Mysterious Galaxy and we'll be in room 1A17.
New York NY:  Friday Oct 11, 2013 (12:15 - 1:00)I'll be at the Javits Convention Center at autograph table #21. Even if you have nothing to sign, come and stop by to say hello.
New York NY:  Friday Oct 11, 2013 (2:00 - 3:00)I'll be at the Javits Convention Center in Orbit's Booth (2218) signing books.  Generally they give away a number of them but if history repeats itself they run out fast - so you might want to get there a little early. Even if all the free books go I'll be at the booth for meet and greet. 
Gaithersburg MD:  Saturday Oct 12, 2013 (7:00 pm - late)I'm going to be dropping by the bar at the Washington Hilton during Capclave 2013 to say hello to some people who will be in town for the weekend.  Again - drop by and say hi or have a drink.
Gaithersburg MD:  Sunday Oct 13, 2013 (late morning - early afternoon)Capclave will be winding down, but I'll be around again just kicking back with people and chatting about fantasy and science fiction. Look for me in the bar at the hotel.
Springfield VA: Sunday Nov 3, 2013 (10: 00 - 12:30 pm)Bookclub discussion: The Crown Tower with the Sci-fi & Fantasy Bookclub of Alexandria we'll be meeting at Houlihan's in the Springfield Hilton. There will be two sessions this is the morning one.
Springfield VA: Sunday Nov 3, 2013 (2:30 pm - 4:00 pm)Bookclub discussion: The Crown Tower with the Sci-fi & Fantasy Bookclub of Alexandria we'll be meeting at Houlihan's in the Springfield Hilton. There will be two sessions this is the afternoon one.
New York NY: Saturday Nov 9, 2013 (9:00 am - 5:00 pm)I'll be a guest panelist at the Self-publishing Book Expo at the Hotel Pennsylvania. While I should be available for questions during the meet and greet in the morning, and between sessions, I'll also be on a panel from 3:30 - 4:30 on how to raise funds and build a publishing team when self-publishing. In particular I'll be talking about my success with Kickstarter and how I used the funds to hire the same professionals that produce my traditionally published titles.
Upper Saddle River NJ: Saturday Nov 9, 2013 (7:00 pm - 11:00 pm)I'll be a guest of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County to discuss writing and publishing. The meeting will be held at the Saddle River Valley Cultural Center. 
Whew.  Well that's all that I'm aware of in the fall book festival and convention season. Schedule for 2014 hasn't been set yet but I'm fairly sure I'll be at Legendary Confusion in Detroit in January and The World Fantasy Convention in Washington DC in November 2014. I hope to see some of you at these various places.

National Book Festival

One of the really nice things about living near Washington D.C. is that the National Book Festival comes each year. This year the weather might not co-operate too well but I'm going to make a trip anyway as there are a lot of people I'm interested in hearing from.  Here is a full list of people coming this year. The ones I'm most interested in seeing/hearing from are:


Paolo BacigalupiMargaret AtwoodJustin CroninKhaled HosseiniBrad MeltzerElizabeth Moon

It's my birthday...and release day...all rolled into one.

Today is my birthday, and when Orbit decided the date for the release of The Rose and the Thorn they probably didn't know about that.  I've received a ton of congratulatory tweets about both and since the release of The Crown Tower a lot of people have been saying how much they are looking forward to The Rose and the Thorn.

Many people are already asking me when the third book in Chronicles will be out.  Well there is no easy answer to that one. For those who haven't read the Author's Note in The Crown Tower, I'm playing the chronicles series very much by ear. If people want more Royce and Hadrian, well then I certainly have some great stories waiting to be told. But if they decide that eight is enough. I've got many non-Riyria tales as well.  If you want to weigh in there is a survey you can answer here.

As for The Rose and the Thorn, the early reviews are positive:

"An excellent second act in the Riyria Chronicles. Michael J. Sullivan's The Rose and the Thorn manages to be even better than The Crown Tower, making this book, and the duology – one of my favourite reads of 2013." ~ Bane of Kings, The Founding Fields
"So far, all of Sullivan's Riyria books have been very well paced, sword and sorcery style action with strong characters, making them fun and easy to read.  I would recommend them to any fan of fantasy, new or veteran, young or old." ~ Reading Realms
"I have to say, that The Rose and the Thorn was an excellent end to the Riyria Chronicles and is every bit as strong as any one of Sullivan’s other books." ~ Fantasy Faction
"I’d say Sullivan has discovered a gold mine of potential stories that will continue to prove popular for as long as he can keep to this winning mix of the familiar formulas, new perspectives, and untold adventures." ~ 52 Book Reviews
"In sum, this book basically gave me more than I bargained for, and in a
good way." ~ The Bibliosanctum
"I highly recommend this book for fans of light fantasy and caper-type stories.  Sullivan has shown how a prequel should be done" ~ Being a Big Sandwhich
"The Rose and the Thorn is another great story from an author that deserves to be read by every fan of fantasy and adventure." ~ Owlcat Mountain
"There is a timelessness about these novels that really makes you yearn for that era." ~ Koeur's Book Reviews

Time is running out....

I received an update from Shawn Speakman and I'm pleased to announce that the first print run of Unfettered has sold extremely well. Shawn did a 5,000 print run and only 500 copies remain, so if you want to get this extraordinary volume of short stories act soon.  If you aren't aware of Unfettered and what it is let me take a moment to introduce you.  
Shawn Speakman beat cancer not just once but twice. His second time around he did so without health care insurance...as no insurance company would pick him up. He amassed several hundred thousand dollars of debt and instead of filling for medical bankruptcy, he created an anthology with stories from some of the biggest names in fantasy...and he even let me contribute a story.
Who contributed to the anthology? Well here's the list: 
Terry Brooks | Patrick Rothfuss | Tad Williams | Carrie Vaughn | Jacqueline Carey | Peter V. Brett | Peter Orullian | R.A. Salvatore | Todd Lockwood | Blake Charlton | Daniel Abraham | Kevin Hearne | Mark Lawrence | David Anthony Durham | Jennifer Bosworth | Robert V.S. Redick | Eldon Thompson | Naomi Novik | Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson | Michael J. Sullivan | Lev Grossman | Shawn Speakman
For my own part, I wrote a Royce and Hadrian story called "The Jester."  It tells the tales of one of their early adventures, and like any good short story (at least short stories that I like) it has a little moral about the choices we make and the consequences of those choices. 
For those prone to ebook reading...there are copies of that as well, but for those that enjoy paper, and are looking for a collectible item of a very special book for a really great cause...then it just makes sense to pick up a copy before they are gone. The book is sold directly from Shawn's company: Grim Oak Press, and you can get a copy for $35 from here .

Gonna Have a Shindig

At 7pm EST Today, August 20th, I'll to be talking about Riyria and writing in a live Q&A audio/video event on the Internet via Shindig. Everyone is invited. So come along and bring a friend.

What is Shindig? "Imagine a thousand fans gathered in one place for your event. All mingle around engaged in an infinite array of private conversations Imagine you take the stage, make a presentation, conduct an interview, and field questions, joined onstage by different audience members. Now imagine having done this all from your laptop." 

To join the party.

How to Avoid Nasty Thoughts

Flickr/striatic
I recently received this tweet: “Would love your thoughts on "info dump" vs character talk/thoughts. Where's the line/difference? In the readers head?”
This was a good enough question that I decided to write a bit on the topic.
There is better and worse ways to do almost anything. Most modern-day writers learn early that showingis better than telling. Hasn’t always been that way, but current readers tend to prefer witnessing events rather than listening to a disembodied narrator explain the story. As I have previously explained there are three basic tools at an author’s disposal to tell a tale. Like the hammer, screwdriver, and wrench in a handyman’s toolbox authors have description, dialog, and thought (or reflection.) Most good stories—particularly in genre fiction—use all of these in fairly equal measure. Too much of one or the other shifts the tone and style. Too much description slows a story down and causes readers to skim to the “good parts,” too little and readers feel they are reading a summary, or are blind and are not immersed in the story. Balancing description and dialog is very important to creating a portal to another world. Done just right, it allows readers to step unimpeded into your world and dwell there.
As with all tools you can use them in the prescribed ways or creative new ones. A screwdriver can be used to pry apart objects, a hammer can beat in a screw, and a palette knife can be used to paint with. Dialog can be used to describe a landscape, or develop character. And description can be used to develop character by how the point of view character interprets what they see.
Thought is a different matter. Thought is the Swiss army knife of literature—it can do everything. A character can recall conversations, sights, experiences and more. Thought is so multipurpose that it can become a crutch and its easy solutions to all problems as addictive as a nasty drug habit. When ever anything is difficult or awkward to covey, thought is the obvious answer. This is why internal-thought is the bright spotlight that attracts the pesky info-dump.
Info-dumps are back-story information delivered in an artless or otherwise awkward manner that has little to do with the story action or plot, but often necessary for the reader to know. The info-dump is a terrible problem and afflicts invented-world fantasy writers more than any other genre because they have so much more to explain. Years ago, fantasy authors included prologues that were nothing more than massive info-dumps designed to get the reader up to speed and get the boring stuff out of the way. Anyone who went to see The Fellowship of the Ring at theaters may recall the long intro voiced by Cate Blanchett. This is a perfect example of the get-you-up-to-speed-style of prologue info-dump. Over time fantasy authors learned to integrate the back-story into the tale they were telling, but the propensity to cheat is always there, and thought is often the temptress that lures many a writer astray.
So fine, just don’t do info-dumps, right? Here’s the problem, all thought is exposition—something writers are supposed to avoid—but you have to include thought to balance a story and provide the necessary insight to a character’s mental state. So how do you allow for a character to think and reflect and yet not slip into info-dumping exposition, and how do you tell the difference between good thoughts and bad?
First, let me explain that there is no hard and fast rule in writing. Authors—like most people—have the tendency to speak in absolutes when it comes to something they are intimately familiar with. A carpenter might tell you never to use a hammer to beat in a screw, and then you’ll see them do just that. Writers are the same way. We will insist one should never do this or that, and then do the very thing we labeled as forbidden. The reason is everything has its place and time—even “ly” adverbs in a dialog tags. That said, allow me to pontificate on what you should endeavor to do, and don’t be at all surprised if you see me contradicting myself self in my books. The key here is knowing you’re breaking an otherwise sensible rule, verses having no idea the rule exists. It is the same as crossing the double yellow line to avoid a deer, verses wandering back and forth between lanes thinking someone did a really cool and gigantic modern art along the “lines” of Barnett Newman.  At least until a tractor-trailer comes along.
The key is keeping to the character’s PoV and not contriving it. For example when a character wakes up, their first thought is usually not where they were born and how they came be living in a boarding house in New Jersey, but rather to wonder what died in their mouth and the need to get to the bathroom. As a result the dividing line between good thoughts and bad is context, and the way to overcome nasty thoughts is most often a simple matter of developing patience.
Authors, especially those who have yet to write their first full-length novel, don’t grasp the size of the playing field. They feel this need to present everything immediately. They are certain the reader will not enjoy the book if they don’t instantly know all the cool stuff that’s planned. The proclivity is similar to a child having a friend over for the first time and pointing out all the nifty things in their room, pushing on to the new game they got for the Wii only seconds after showing off the snake in the aquarium.  
Taking your time, focusing on the story, and allowing back-story to bubble up naturally returns the best results. So let’s look at the difference in good and bad thoughts and their uses.
Harvey walked in and Martha remembered how the two had met all those years ago at the Silver Dollar Diner. That was back in 1993 when he was a law student and she a waitress.
Harvey walked in and Martha thought he looked awful. She hadn’t seen him in twenty years, and those years had not been kind.
Neither of these treatments are terrible, but I hope you can see that the latter is more realistic. It doesn’t explain very much about their pasts, but—and this is the thing—that information isn’t important. If it is, then there will be more appropriate places to deliver it, as in:
“You were such an arrogant ass back then,” Martha said."The big Harvard Law student, all full of himself."
“Of course I was.” Harvey made a show of standing straighter. “But all I knew back then was that you were but a lowly waitress at a diner that didn’t even sell pie.”
Here the exposition becomes part of the plot and adds to their characterization. You learn back-story through events, in this case—a conversation. Keep in mind there is also the problem of dialog-exposition, which is the contrived discussion invented to explain something to the reader. This is often launched with the phrase: “As you know Bob…” which begs the question why are you telling Bob something he already knows? In the above instance Harvey and Martha are telling each other what they both know, but in the context it makes sense.

Often the difference between telling and showing in dialog and thought is a matter of the author’s skill in hiding the body.
The problem with info-dumps are that they are often very boring, and artificial. The boredom causes a reader to skip ahead or worse put the book down, and any unnaturalness destroys the all-important suspension of disbelief. The solution is to focus only on what a character would actually think, and what a person thinks about is almost always what they just did, are doing, or are about to do. Then, in order to convey the necessary bits of info, you merely line their path with issues that force them to think about those things you need to reveal. Let’s say you wanted to let the reader know your main character hated cats…
Martha lay on the hammock thinking how she loved summer days, hated cats, and was indifferent to butterflies.
The first thing Martha saw when she returned home was the ripped arm of her new couch and remembered why it was she hated cats.
The first sentence lacks context and feels odd. Not only that, but it will be instantly forgotten by the reader as it is simply too fleeting to take note of. In the second, an event is created to support the causality for the thought to pop up. On the other hand if the goal is to show how Martha is scatter-brained, then the first is a far superior manner to achieve this than say…
Martha who was always scatter-brained thought all sorts of things while lying in the hammock.
Thoughts are then best used to develop a character first and provide description or back story second. Doing two things at once is a fine way to write in general, but also a lovely way to hide exposition.
What kind of man took a cat for a walk? Martha studied the Persian Long-hair in his arms and not for the first time wondered if cats might be demons in disguise. The owner with his bright yellow smiley-face t-shirt looked the sort to kidnap preschoolers from playgrounds.
Here Martha’s phobia of cats is integrated within descriptions of the cat, and the man, as well as a good deal about Martha’s character, based on how she sees the world. The subtext here is that Martha hates cats, and is generally cynical about people. With all that is going on the “info-dump” about her hatred of cats, is near invisible to the reader, but memorable nevertheless.
Info-dumps are bad things but often necessary particularly in fantasy novels where so much needs to be explained. What should be understood is that a lot can be left unexplained. Readers don’t need to know everything. I never explained the term “By Mar” in any of my novels, even though it was used often. I trusted that readers would figure it out, and I wasn’t concerned if they didn’t. In real life, people often say things we don’t understand, or make references to people or places we know nothing about, but we don’t always stop them and ask for clarification unless that point is crucial to the story.
“I went to see a Leon Hern concert last night and while I was there I met this guy who was selling his car. It was perfect, just what I was looking for.”
No one knows who Leon Hern is (because I just made him—or them—up,) but it doesn’t matter. The focus is on the car, not the concert. The reader doesn’t need to know who Leon Hern is—at least not at this point. If old Leon is important, then you can make a few more references to him later on, sprinkled in the story, and eventually the reader will get a general idea.
Another pop song came on the radio—this one by Leon Hern—and he switched the station.
Spreading ideas out, not lumping them, avoids dumps. Disguising them in actions and dialog sweeps them under the prose rug. Not bothering to explain everything grants a sense of a wider world and a familiar reality. And giving characters a legit reason for thinking about something provides you with the ability to write good thoughts that keep the plot moving and feel true.
It should also be noted that there are times when characters—like real people—really will sit down and discuss/recap/explain/think about something at length. This does happen, just make sure the scene has its foundation and motivation in the plot and isn’t artificially tacked on.
Hope this has been helpful.

On August 6th The Crown Tower will be released. I'll also...

On August 6th The Crown Tower will be released. I'll also be holding an AMA (Ask me Anything) on the Fantasy sub of reddit. If you've never been to /r/Fantasy, or an AMA I highly recommend you attend one, and if you are going to attend one it might as well be mine ;-).

I've done these in the past, and really enjoyed them. Basically sometime early in the day on the 6th I'll make a post.  Then throughout the day you can stop in and ask me questions about well anything.  It could be about my books that are coming out, a question you've had about a previous work (there are ways to post spoilers so those who haven't read the work you are talking about won't see the question or answer) or even talk about publishing and the changes going on in it. Pretty much as the name implies you can ask virtually anything.

Most people who participate on AMAs are very open and generous with their responses. The ones who don't are often chastised for not participating in the manner that they were intended for. I really don't need the confines of an AMA to act this way, it's pretty much who I am. The "official start" of the AMA is usually 7:00 PM CST but I sometimes will stop in earlier, and almost always stay later as questions come in.

So if you have a burning question, please drop by the AMA so I'm not there listening to the chirp of crickets. Part of what makes an author so fun in today's technological age, is the ability to share between the writers and readers so I'm looking forward to hearing what you have pressing on your mind, and answering your burning (or not so burning) questions.

First Week's Sales

Hello all, Robin again, stealing Michael's blog to make some announcements. We are just two weeks from the release of The Crown Tower, which is pretty darn exciting. Since signing with Orbit, Michael and I have learned a lot about the ins and outs of traditional publishing. Going into this second launch through a major press we know much more than we did the first time around.




One of the differences between self-publishing and traditional is the length of the runway.Traditional published books generally have a "big first week" and then sales fall off sharply. Here is a graph I took from data from a recent release of a well known author (and this particular data came from a book that hit the New York Times in its first week).





I've looked at a lot of Bookscan data (that's a service from Nielsen that tracks actual print books sold, week by week), and most show similar curves.

Self-publishing books have a different curve. They generally start out modest, grow in momentum, then level off for a long while, and then can slowly decay if the author isn't putting out more books.  It wasn't too surprising then, that Michael's Bookscan data for Riyria Revelations didn't mimic most books.



Notice how Theft of Swords took seven weeks to build it's momentum, and it's fall off wasn't nearly as bad as most traditional books experience.  Plus it saw a good upsurge when Heir of Novron was released (these graphs show weeks from release - and as such Rise and Heir are pushed backward.  Heir of Novron actually started out with higher sales, and again the fall off wasn't as steep as most traditional books.

All in all, Michael's books have held up well.  We are more than a year and a half since the books came out and while the sales aren't blockbuster level they have been strong and steady.

With the approach of "The Riyria Chronicles," we are more focused on the all important "first week sales." It is this first week where a book has its best chance at hitting a bestseller list, and while we have no illusions that the remoteness of that possibility, it's still worth putting an extra effort into.

Orbit, as always, has been great with their support, and the head of marketing came up with a great idea to encourage pre-orders (which count as "first week sales).  Since there was a feeling that some current Riyria Revelations readers might be anxious for the new books, they are offering some incentives for those that pre-order.  Here's what you can get:

Because pre-ordering is so important, Orbit is rewarding our early supporters with a number of perks including:


Signed (and dedicated if desired) bookplates to put in your print copies*
Signed bookmarks (1 for you and 2 to share with your friends)*
Entry for a drawing of a signed copy of The Crown Tower - keep it for yourself and give your pre-order to a friend ;-)
Free copy of The Jester a Royce and Hadrian short story made possible with the permission of Shawn Speakman, editor of the Unfettered Anthology where the story was first published (Limited to the first 500 entries)


*Because of the high cost of shipping, the bookmarks and bookplates are only available in the US and Canada, but all locations are eligible for the signed book and the free short story.






So, if you were planning on getting The Crown Tower at some point, consider pre-ordering in the next few weeks.  The perks will end once the books go "live" on Amazon. All you need to do is fill out a quick survey so we know what perks you want, and where to send them to. If you want more details here is a link .
Also, I'd like you know there are a few other things going on that you might be interested in:

Goodreads giveaway (open to US & UK) hosted by Orbit
A parallel giveaway for signed copies and open to all countries hosted by Michael
A free extended preview - which gives you the first 5 chapters of the book now.  It is available on many venues such as: Kindle | Nook | Kobo


That's it for now.  I hope that you are as excited as we are.