Questions About Age of Swords (The Legends of the First Empire, #2)

by Michael J. Sullivan (Goodreads Author)

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Answered Questions (11)

I just need a confirmation that release date is a bad joke. June 30th 2017?!

Michael If you consider a one year wait to be a bad joke then there are some high profile authors you really should avoid

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You said in a reply that publishing date would be June 20th, 2017. Did it change? Because it's showing here and Amazon that it's July 25th. Is this the right one? And if so, will the ebook be released on the same date? Thank you!

Michael Yeah, sorry for the confusion. Originally the publisher set the release date at June 20th - and that was what was indicated in all kinds of places: Go…moreYeah, sorry for the confusion. Originally the publisher set the release date at June 20th - and that was what was indicated in all kinds of places: Goodreads, my website, amazon, etc. After the final manuscript was were turned in my publisher said the production team was a bit behind and they needed to push the release date to July 25th so we went through and changed the dates everywhere. There were one or two pages on my site that still had the wrong date and I got them fixed on June 22nd. So yeah, we have to wait an extra month for the book, but it also meant that the production team wasn't rushed and therefore the quality will be high. Not too much longer to wait.(less)

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Why the release date of Age of war is over one year later? It should be moved up a little I can't wait to read that part.

Michael It's not. It's 9 months later. Age of Swords came out in July 2017 and Age of War is scheduled for April of 2018. part of the problem is I had to spen…moreIt's not. It's 9 months later. Age of Swords came out in July 2017 and Age of War is scheduled for April of 2018. part of the problem is I had to spend a bit over a year reworking the end of the series after I got feedback from my alpha reader. While I was doing that, no forward movement could occur for Age of Swords or Age of War as until I got the ending done, I didn't know what changes would have to be made. As it turned out there were a few. But, now that the "ending rework" is done. We are going to try to accelerate things for the last three books. Current schedule is:

* Apr 2018: Age of War (Book #3)
* Oct 2018: Age of Legends (Book #4)
* Apr 2019: Age of Wonder (Book #5)
* Oct 2019: Age of Empire (Book #6)

What a lot of people don't realize is how much work there is between "written" and "done." Alpha reading, beta reading, line edits, copy edits, layout, proof. All takes time, and is being done by people who have more than one book to worry about. What I won't do is compromise on quality for the sake of speed. Still, even with the books coming out a 9 month's intervals it's still MUCH faster than other authors such as Martin, Rothfuss, Lynch, Brett, or Brent. So, I'm pretty happy about the release schedule overall.

That said, I'm glad you are excited to read what comes next!(less)

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are the books stand alone or more of a "true" series?

Michael While I try to make all my books have a satisfactory read without people reading the others, this one is more of a series than a standalone. I basical…moreWhile I try to make all my books have a satisfactory read without people reading the others, this one is more of a series than a standalone. I basically have two ways of writing books.

A "series" - where I have a long story to tell and break them down into self-contained stories. When writing this type of story, I finish all the books before releasing the first. This allows for me to weave plot threads and also to go back and do some tweaking as cool ideas come up late in the series. This is the way I wrote both this series and Revelations.

The Riyria Chronicles are technically a series, but there isn't this big story arc that goes across them. For those books, they are much more self-contained. The reason? Well, the way I'm dealing with those books is to release one, wait to see if the duo have overstayed their welcome, and if not write another one. Because I can stop at any time I can't do the same "long story" with these books that I can with my other two series.

Not sure if this all makes sense. I hope it does. If not, ask me to clarify and I'll do my best.(less)

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How can I get hardcover copies of this book?

Michael As of August 2018, the hardcover edition of this book is out of print. As such the only way to get the books have been through Amazon marketplace rese…moreAs of August 2018, the hardcover edition of this book is out of print. As such the only way to get the books have been through Amazon marketplace resellers, and, unfortunately, they have jacked up the prices ($88 - $191).

The good news is I've bought a bunch of copies of the books and you get them from my site (http://riyria.blogspot.com/p/store.html) for the cover price of $28.

I'm also in the process of running a crowdfunding campaign to buy ALL of the remaining copies from Del Rey. (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/st...) Once I have copies in hand, I'll make them available on Amazon as a marketplace reseller.(less)

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