Rachel Aaron's Blog, page 29

In which I talk... ON THE INTERNET!

First up, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who bought and reviewed THE SPIRIT WAR! You guys rock my world hard core! I've had a lot of requests for a sample of SPIRIT'S END, the final novel, and I'll be putting that up as we get closer to November. Promise! Thank you all again for being so awesome, and remember, if you read a book and have an opinion, please review! Good or bad, every review goes a long long way to helping authors.

Okay, now for writing news!
I've been a busy girl these past few weeks, but two of my favorite projects both just came out at once. First, I did a really awesome podcast interview with the guys from The First Million Words about plotting, going faster, world development, all kinds of stuff! The questions were really insightful and I had a ton of fun. Get under some headphones and listen at work. If your boss asks, tell him/her you're learning about efficiency.
The other thing that just came out is my interview with Verbose Veracity. It was a very good interview where we dug deep into such weighty topics as tropes, keeping the excitement up for your work even when you're really sick of it, and beating writer's block.
Tons of thanks to the guys at First Million words and E.F. Jace at Verbose Veracity for putting up with my incredibly long winded answers. The proved what I've been saying all along: that I can and will talk shop forever.
Thank you to everyone and I really hope you enjoy!
- R

How to buy THE SPIRIT WAR in the UK

This is a blog post specifically for my fans across the waters, so everyone else can go look at cats or something.


So, as we all know, THE SPIRIT WAR is not coming out in print form in the UK until November when it will be released bundled together with SPIRIT'S END in a new omnibus edition called THE REVENGE OF ELI MONPRESS. 
But do not fret! There is still hope! If you don't mind reading with technology instead of with your fingers, THE SPIRIT WAR is out today in the UK in ebook form! Here are the links:
Amazon KindleApple iBookstore
That's it for now, but I'll add more as they come up. I hope this helps people find the book before November!
- Rachel

EDITED TO ADD: If you don't mind reading American, you can also get the American version of THE SPIRIT WAR in print from The Book Depository with free world wide shipping! Only £7.89!

Two Blog Posts

Prepare for ultimate meta, for this is a blog post about blog posts!

It doesn't get more meta than this...First, the lovely Book Smugglers are hosting me for a talk about inspirations for the Eli series and a book give away! So if you ever wondered how I came up with this lunacy (or if you just want to win a free book), head on over and check it out!
And second, I have a new blog over at Orbit Books called "Ten Things I Will Never Do." Here's a sample:

Now that the fourth Eli Monpress book, The Spirit War, is officially out, I feel the time has come to make some commitments. Three books is a long time, but four? That’s an investment. You, gentle reader, have stuck with me through two years, multiple covers, and an omnibus makeover, and for that you deserve something concrete. So, without further ado, here are ten things I swear to you on my still living mother’s grave that I will never do in the Eli series.

1. I will not place all power in an easily losable object

This is a classic, and better writers than I have fallen for its simple charms. But the Eli Monpress books have always been about personal problems on a global scale, and ain’t no one getting out that easily. So, despite the absolutely insane amount of epic magic flying around in the final Eli books, there is no Tesseract, One Ring, Sword of Omens, or Holy Grail. I know I’m killing my merchandising options here, but art requires sacrifice.

2. It will not end in a wedding or an awards ceremony

I couldn’t book John Williams or Hans Zimmer to do the music, so the plot had to be rewritten. Also, Eli refused to wear anything that might make him look respectable. A man has to think of his reputation.

3. Those fed to the Balrog will not come back

If you fall into a black pit beneath the world’s heart with a dark beast of legend to save the lives of your fellows, you’re staying down there. There will be no convenient reappearances later for plot’s sake. Kindly keep party members where you can see them at all times to prevent unnecessary loss.

Go over to Orbit and read the whole thing!

The Spirit War launches today!

So, today is the official launch day for THE SPIRIT WAR! I am very excited. You can buy it at bookstores everywhere or online at Amazon in print here or for Kindle here. And even though the book isn't coming out in the UK until November, you can still find it in ebook here starting June 7.

Of course, it's already been in stores for a few days...

but hey, today it's official. And the few early reviews have been really awesome! Seriously, I am blushing and jumping for glee at the same time. See for yourself:

"All in all an amazing read that I would whole heartedly recommend to anyone." - Watchamacallit Reviews"All in all, you can not afford to miss The Spirit War. If I gave books ratings on a scale of one to ten, this one would go all the way up to eleven." - Stellar FourI'll post more as they come in. If you have a review, please let me know and I'll totally put it up. 
So happy book birthday, Eli! Only one more to go...

A very good weekend!

I spent this weekend at ConCarolinas and it was amazing! Also, I got to meet fans!!

Me with @NillaCream @KaliArren and @kcawood! They drove a very long way to see me, and I gave them as much free stuff as I could. Lesson learned: Rachel will gladly bribe you to spend time with her! Thank you all so much for coming down!

I got to hang out with some amazing people, picked up some wicked books, and got called the octomom of novels, which I'm considering having engraved on my tombstone. But the best thing might have been when I got to hold a GIANT STUFFED APPA!


Happiness, it was mine. Sadly, Appa belonged to someone else and I could not steal him. I will just have to scour the internet until I find my own.

Again, I had an amazing time. Thanks to everyone who came to see me! 

The Taleist Survey, my thoughts

Image courtesy of Taleist
So if you were paying attention to writing stuff on the internet at all this last weekend, you probably heard about the Taleist Survey of self publishing. I downloaded and read the survey results over the weekend, and I have one word: Wow.

Ok, that's a lie. I have many, many words about this survey, and I have done my best to put them into some kind of order below. Onward!
For those of you who haven't heard, a few months ago, Steven Lewis, who writes the self pub blog/advice site, Taleist, set about a monumental task. He and author Dave Conford decided to lift the veil of self protective secrecy and create a survey that asks authors who self publish their books the big questions about sales, revenue, and marketing (specifically what worked and what didn't). They got over a thousand independent authors to participate, and the results were very eye opening.
As you know, I'm a big fan of information sharing. The gut instinct when you're doing something as self reflective as trying to sell your stories is to hide, especially if you're not do well. Even if you are doing well, sharing your numbers can feel like bragging. This damned if you do, damned if you don't situation has led to a frustrating feeling that publishing is a land of magic and luck when it's not. Publishing is a business, and open information like the Taleist survey can help everyone, self published or traditionally published, figure out how to sell their books more effectively, and we all win when books sell.
Now, of course, I'm not a self published author, but I found the survey enormously helpful none the less, especially when we got to the part about marketing. Marketing is one of the areas where independent publishers smoke traditional authors, especially those midlist authors who don't get a huge push from their publishing houses. I think a big part of that is because people who publish their books themselves can see immediate reactions to marketing efforts in sales numbers and make changes accordingly. If I do a big promotional push on Eli, I don't see if it worked until I get my royalty statement 6 months later, and since that's not broken up by month or any meaningful metric, it's often impossible to separate marketing efforts from luck or just a natural sale upswing. 
We've all heard that publishing houses are shifting the onerous of marketing onto their authors, and while that's not entirely true without caveat (most things aren't), I do a lot of my own marketing as does every other author I know. Unlike independent authors, though, I don't have real time information on my sales. This means I'm marketing in the dark, never a good place to be, especially since it's my career that gets ruined if my sales are bad. 
This slow speed of information is one of the dinosaur parts of traditional publishing that's going to have to change if we're going to survive. I think independent publishing is forging the path out, if only we can learn from those who've already found their way. But... that's another blog post.
Whew, that was a tangent! Back to the survey. Several people have picked out the highlights, such as the whole "10% of authors earn 75% of the money" bit that's been picked up by news sites. To this I say, yes? And? Look, 10% of people get 75% of the good stuff in everything - movies, business, even traditional publishing. We can't all be Nora Roberts. 
Slightly less expected was that the median self published title earns about $500. This is the median, mind, meaning that half the authors surveyed made less than that. $500 is not a lot of money, but it's actually a lot more than I was expecting to see when you think about just how many self pubbed titles there are on Amazon. And the top of the scale, that 10% of super earners, is really eye opening. Amanda Hocking and 50 Shades aside, there are non-phenomenon self publishers out there making very good money. 
This is not to say self publishing is a get rich quick industry. Most of those top earners have about 7 books out, and 7 books published is no one's idea of get rich quick (not even mine!). Still, I can't tell you hope hopeful it makes me to see the universal truth that a good book will sell be proven again and again, with or without a publisher. 
Final Verdict (Alot via the amazing Hyperbole and a Half)
If you care about publishing numbers at all, independent or otherwise, The Taleist Survey is well worth your $5 (or you can check it out for free if you're an Amazon Prime member). I learned a lot, and I'm actually changing several of my marketing strategies right now. If nothing else, it's a fascinating look at how the wild west of ebook independent publishing is shaking out so far, and since this stuff is a big part of publishing's future, staying up to date is a smart career decision for anyone who wants to make or keep making a living off their words. 
My only complaint is that they didn't share their raw data from the survey results, just their findings. I want numbers! *twitchy fingers* If you sell a spreadsheet supplemental, Taleist, I would totally buy that.Also, can we get one of these for traditional publishing? I'd contribute in a heartbeat!  Just saying. 
For more detailed breakdowns on the actual contents of the survey, I found the following links helpful. I hope you will too!Not a Gold Rush – The report of the Taleist Self-Publishing Survey 2012 - the actual report post, with graphs!Writer Beware Blogs, Two Surveys - SFWA's A.C. Crispin gives her amazingly level opinion fantastically, as usual.Wait Until You Hear THIS! The Taleist Self-Publishing Survey - Catherine Ryan Howard, one of the authors who participated in the survey, spills all the good details.Self-Publishing Survey Coming Soon from Taleist - The Book Designer offers up a very good overview, complete with some real head scratching questions about what it all means.

News!

So, I have been sick with the crud all week, but now I am back, and I have NEWS!

First up, some sad news for Eli fans across the pond. I've just heard from my UK editor that THE SPIRIT WAR will not be coming to the UK in print form. It will instead be bundled with SPIRIT'S END into a new omnibus edition called THE REVENGE OF ELI MONPRESS. This means you'll be getting both books cheaper, but the combined version won't be out until November.

However! There is hope! The ebook version of SPIRIT WAR will still be released in the UK on June 5. I realize this is less than idea for those of you without an ereader, and I'm really sorry. No one is more bummed about the way this turned out than I am. I hope you'll stick with the series, I swear that the final two books will be worth the wait.

On to better news! German publisher Dromer has picked up the rights to publish Spirit Thief and Spirit Rebellion in German. However, there's been some funny translation difficulties with the titles. Turns out, the translation for "spirit" in German is "geist," meaning ghost, and "The Ghost Thief" is not a very fitting title for Eli. So, the German editions of Spirit Thief and Spirit Rebellion are being re-titled to "Meister der Stimmen" and “Herr des Windes,” or "Master of Voices" and "Master of the Winds" respectively, which are just about the coolest titles ever. I am very pleased! No pub date or covers yet, but have no fear. I'll post word as soon as I get it.

In other good news, I've just heard that Orbit France will be publishing Spirit Rebellion in French! Oo la la! I've been very happy with Le voleur aux esprits and I'm sure they'll do just as good a job with Spirit Rebellion. Again, no pub date or cover, but I'll post as soon as I get something.


Thank you all for reading, and I hope those of you who already have your copies of THE SPIRIT WAR are enjoying it! And if you've read the book already, won't you please consider posting a review? There is absolutely nothing out on the internet yet, and I need something to link!
<3s forever,Rachel

THE SPIRIT WAR Give Away - Grand Prize Winner!!

Wow, what a great week it's been! First off, super mega congrats to all our winners so far, and thank you all SO SO SO much for helping me get the word out about THE SPIRIT WAR! If I ever meet any of you in real life, I will sign anything you put in front of me and buy you a drink :D.

(image borrowed from nJoo)
And now, without further ado, your grand prize winner is... Edea Baldwin! CONGRATULATIONS! You get a signed copy of both the omnibus AND The Spirit War, plus a $50 Amazon.com gift card! If you could please send me your address and whom you would like the book made out to, I'll get it off pronto!
I will be mailing all the prizes off tomorrow! Thank you again to everyone who participated. And if you didn't win this time, keep watching the blog. I've got several other give away all throughout the internet happening over the next few weeks and I'll be sure to let everyone know where they can win copies!


Again, thank you so much for all the support. It really means a lot to me, and I hope you all enjoy THE SPIRIT WAR when it comes out June 5! And to anyone around Charlotte, NC, I'll be at ConCarolinas on June 1-3. Please drop me a line if you'd like to meet up!
Yours always,Rachel

SPIRIT WAR RAFFLE - Day 6 Winner!

All new entries have been added in, and the winner for Day 6 is... Hisham El-Far! OH YEAH!



So,  Hisham El-Far, if you would please contact me with all your details like where you live, whom you want the book made out to, and which book, omnibus or Spirit War, you would prefer, I'll get you shipped off!

For everyone else, we're getting down to the wire! There is only 1 days left to go! And please don't forget to tell people about the contest! The more word we spread, the better it is for everyone. Post your entries on the original thread (rules are there too) to make sure they get counted!

Congrats again, and thanks so much for spreading the word! See you all tomorrow for the next winner!

SPIRIT WAR RAFFLE - Day 5 Winner!

All new entries have been added in, and the winner for Day 3 is...Eric C!


FEAR NOT,  Eric C, it is real! If you would please contact me with all your details like where you live, whom you want the book made out to, and which book, omnibus or Spirit War, you would prefer, I'll get you shipped off!

For everyone else, we're getting down to the wire! There are only 2 days left to go! And please don't forget to tell people about the contest! The more word we spread, the better it is for everyone. Post your entries on the original thread (rules are there too) to make sure they get counted!

Congrats again, and thanks so much for spreading the word! See you all tomorrow for the next winner!