Michael’s Comments (group member since Sep 27, 2012)

Michael’s comments from the Michael J. Sullivan hosts a Q&A group.

You wrote The Viscount and the Witch as a marketing move to draw people in to your other books.. or was there some other reason to write such a short story?

I had two reasons for writing The Viscount and the Witch.

1. It was during a time when my self-published books had been pulled, and the new Orbit books were in pre-order but no one could actually read them. So I wrote it to have "something" out there so I wouldn't fall off the Amazon algorithm radar completely.

2. It was indeed for marketing purposes. I made it free and short so that it was and easy way to introduce people to my writing. People like to "try before they buy" but some don't like sample chapters because they are just the start of a story. By doing a piece that has a full arc (beginning, middle, end) it shows your story telling capability. My main goal for that piece was to give "the flavor" of the dynamics between my two main protagonists so that if people liked what they saw, they could read more in the full series.

So yes, I think this is a good idea to do. Be sure and include the first chapter of your longer novel as "bonus material" to the free short. That way if they get done with the short - they are fed right into the first chapter. Also....Make sure you put a "link to your paid book page" at the bottom so that when they get reading it is just a kindle click away.

@Elizabeth - thanks for the congrats.

As to your question about what marketing works best, it depends on where where you are...new author, established author, somewhere in the middle. I answered it for "new authors" here but if you want to learn about other stages just ask another question.

May I ask, what has been most effective for you?

It depends on here you are in your writing career. I sometimes think that authors spend WAY too much time trying to promote their first book. The truth is very few can earn well with just one. And so you spend A LOT of time and can only get one sale. What you want is to spend time and get multiple sales and that comes from having multiple books to buy. My books really didn't start to take off until I had three out there so here is my recommendation when very early in your career.

* With just one book out - spend 90% writing next book and 10% on promotion

* With two books out - spend 85% writing next book and 15% on promotion

* With three books out - spend 60% writing next book and 40% on promotion.

Okay but what do you do with that promotion? Well, again the big problem is sometimes people work to get "eyes to their page" before the book is "ready to be seen." Here's what I mean by that. I've seen people with a brand new book do a free promotion...HUGE MISTAKE!! Why? Because a free promotion will (in general) drive a lot of eyeballs to your book. But when people get there do they find a book with 1 review? Maybe 2 reviews? Even if free they aren't interested.

So...in the early days ALL your marketing should be focused on getting reviews. Here on goodreads it's really easy to find people who highly rank other books that are similar to yours. So let's say you wrote something similar to Mistborn(a fantasy novel). I would join a fantasy group (or several). Carefully follow the rules of the group (READ THEM) and see if there is a place for you to post. If so I would write a post something like...

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Hey guys, I'm a new fantasy author and my book was just released. I'd love to offer free review copies to anyone in exchange for an honest review. Here's a little about my book...

THEY KILLED THE KING. THEY PINNED ON TWO MEN. THEY CHOOSE POORLY
There's no ancient evil to defeat or orphan destined for greatness, just two guys in the wrong place at the wrong time. Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, are running for their lives when they're framed for the death of the king. Trapped in a conspiracy that goes beyond the overthrow of a tiny kingdom, their only hope is unraveling an ancient mystery before it's too late.



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The important things about this post are:

* Don't be too pushy
* Make sure they know there is no obligation to review
* That you are interested in HONEST reviews
* Present your case in the most attractive light as possible.

Then...after people post reviews on goodreads, send them a direct message and ask them if they could do a favor and repost them on Amazon.

Once you get 12 - 15 Amazon reviews then your book "looks credible" and it's time to drive traffic to your page with pricing techniques, etc.

I know you mentioned you don't have much money...I spent no money (well I think I did about $25 - $30 of goodreads ads once) but that was it.

@Brannigan Great questions.


* As to whether you should start with big-six or self-publish, your answer can be found here.

* Answer to about finding an agent can be found here.

Yes, I have some great suggestion on getting an agent. The key to getting an agent, in some respects, really has to do more with the query letter than the book itself. Agents have so many submissions that they really need to get "hooked" and a good query letter does this. Let me give an example from a good query letter I saw....

She's short, round, and pushing forty, but Julia Kalas is a damned good criminal. For seventeen years she renovated historic California buildings as a laundry front for her husband's illegal arms business. Then the Aryan Brotherhood made her a widow, and witness protection shipped her off to the tiny town of Azula, Texas. Also known as the Middle of Nowhere.

This introduction paragraph does so many good things:

* Clearly defines the main character in just one well written sentence
* Provides just enough to pique my interest but doesn't tell me everything
* Is just about the perfect length.

I have some really god resources that will help you write good query letters....

* Noah Lukeman's How to Write a Winning Query Letter (Free PDF)

* Marcus Sakey - How to ensure 75% of agents will request your mateirial

* Jane Friedman's Writer's Digest Series on Writing Queries

* Query Shark

For those that don't know Noah Lukeman is a literary agent and he distilled down (in this little free short) really good do's and don'ts of writing a query letter after reading approximately 10,000 over his career. It is HIGHLY recommended.

Query Shark is a blog where people submit their queries and the literary agent running it critiques them. The example above was from Query Shark and this agent agreed as I do that it was a winner and they would have requested to see a full off of it.

If you are unsure what to do once you have a good query - come back and ask and I'll post some good resources for that as well.

When it comes time to publish my first novel do you suggest I try to get published with the Big-six first or go straight to Self?

You would think that since that is how I found my path to publishing I would immediately say "Yes, self-pubish first," but it really depends.

First let me say that I don't think you can "hurt" yourself by self-publishing. Some say that if you have low sales it will brand you with a stigma. Not so. You can remove the ebook at any time and all rankings, pages, etc disappear so it is as if it never existed.

If you have only modest sales...then you can leave it up and traditional won't think ill or well of you for having it. Basically in such a situation it is as if it doesn't even exist in their eyes.

If you are successful (and that definition changes all the time) then it is a huge bargaining chip. The rule of thumb seems to be if you cal sell 5,000 copies a year then publishers take notice. But...I don't think 5,0000 copies priced at $0.99 will impress, nor probably will 5,000 at $2.99. But if you sell 5,000 at $4.95ish I think they will really want to talk to you.

Now it was awhile ago that I signed my big-six contract and at the time I was shopping my month-to-month had been 1,000 books a month (across 4 titles). Right about the time I released the 5th my sales went to 2,600 (which is what it was at while shopping around). By the time I got to "signing" I was selling 9,500 a month. The key point here is when I got my contract I was doing "good" but not out of this world.

Now the key aspect about whether you should go self-publishing has more to do with your belief in the strength of the quality of the book, and your capability to release it really professionally. I feel that any self-published book should be able to stand toe-to-toe with a book put out by any other publisher. So that means:

* A really good story, that is well executed
* Well edited
* Attractive cover and marketing blurb

If you think you can deliver on those three things then you have the right seeds for success. But they are just that...seeds.

Whether you are self-published or traditional the responsibility for watering and nurturing those seeds fall onto the writer. And yes it can be time consuming. So...you are going to have to weigh that against having time to write other books. While your first one is making its rounds in the "query-go-round"

It's a tough decision and there is no "one size fits all." I would answer it differently for various authors based on their particular situation.

Daniel wrote: "Hi Michael,

What marketing tips, (whether social media or traditional) would you have for a first time author who has self published? I have an ebook out so far, and am going to get my book published..."

Daniel, I've scratched the surface to your question here. Check it out and ask follow-ups as needed.

I concur with your assessment of needing a blog/website. Createspace for print is a great idea - but will be a very small revenue stream (overall). Concentrate on your blog/website first!

What books on marketing do you recommend?

Why did I pick these out of the hundreds of books that exist? Well because I only recommend books by those that with proven track records. I don't listen to people who "say" they know how to do something and have little proof of the matter. All these books are from people who have sold tens of thousands, and sometimes hundred of thousands of books.

* Quit Your Day Job, A Guide for the Self Published Author $5.99 by H.P. Mallory

* How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months! $2.99 by John Locke**

* Smart Self-Publishing: Becoming an Indie Author $4.95 by Zoe Winters

* We Are Not Alone: The Writer's Guide to Social Media by Kristen Lamb

* Write It Forward: From Writer to Successful Author $4.99 by Bob Mayer

* The Definitive Guide to Self-publishing Success $2.99 by Carolyn McCray, Amber & Rachel Thompson

**John Locke recently was revealed to have bought amazon reviews...a practice I don't condone, and not something he mentioned in this book...but there are other things in this that I found worth reading about.

What marketing tips, (whether social media or traditional) would you have for a first time author who has self published?

Thought you would start with an "easy one right?"

Seriously it's hard to get into a lot of details but hers's some short things.

* A website is a must - you have to have a place where you are in 100% control of the content. In the old days that meant hiring a web-designer (or doing it yourself) nowadays I recommend using a blog with tabs so you can have places about your books, or events etc.

* As to social media...people have to realize the "social" aspect of online interactions. It makes no sense to go out on the Internet and do nothing more than say "buy my book." You have to be a participatory member of the community first and foremost and only bring up your books when appropriate. For instance I ALWAYS try to post on recommendation threads. If the poster is looking for something completely unrelated to my books then I'll still recommend others. For instance someone looking for Steampunk I might mention Boneshaker, Infernal Devices, and Phoenix Rising. But if someone else is asking about a good fantasy series, then I would throw in my titles along with others that fit the bill. I always put a disclaimer on it something like...

* The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks
* Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
* Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan**
* Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

**NOTE: These are my books, but I do think they fit what you are looking for - try my sample chapter here. In case you want to learn more.

Notice there is no "pressure to buy" just a links for them to check it out themselves.

There are a number of books that I think are worth reading on the subject of marketing. (See them all here) I read them all "after I already had success and I really didn't learn much (since I was already doing what they suggested) but it helps to validate my thinking on the subject and saves me from having to write it ;-)

@Jack. Thanks for the questions. You can find your answers here

I'm just curious about your world-building process. How did you dream it up, how long did it take, what's your method? Were you influenced by George R.R. Martin at all? Did you tap into your past as a Dungeons & Dragons role player perhaps?

Back in the 1990's I was writing pretty regularly and producing a novel a year approximately. I started thinking about the story and building it's world back then but I never had time to write it, because I was generally involved in a particular other book that I was writing "for publishing" whereas these stories were just me entertaining myself.

When I didn't find any traction in publishing I quit altogether...but Royce, Hadrian, and various adventures and intrigues in their world kept invading my head. I really was just kind of "filing" it with no expected use.

My hiatus lasted about a decade and by then I had so much squirreled away that the first two books just came out in a flood. I wrote the first in one month and the second in the same amount of time. After that it slowed down a bit but having had more than a decade to "noodle" it over made it pretty easy.

As to influence by George R.R. Martin. I've only read about the first half of Game of Thrones and I did that in late 2011 - so after the books had been published both by myself and Orbit. I actually wasn't very "well read" in the fantasy genre at the time of writing. It was a favorite of mine when younger, but I had been away from it for a long, long time. It's only post revelations that I've started reading.

Which brings me to Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. I hear there are a lot of similarities between them and Royce and Hadrian. I'm a little embarrassed to say that I hadn't even heard of those books until a reader pointed out my "homage" to the series because I named a building "The Grey Mouse Tavern" that naming was purely coincidental and I've never read Lieber's books. One day I will...but at the moment I'm still writing stories with Royce and Hadrian and I don't want to risk reading Lieber and adjusting the dynamic of my pair. In this case ignorance is bliss and I'd prefer not to know. The day people see my "currently reading" to be one of Lieber's books will probably be an indication that I don't plan on writing any more Royce and Hadrian stories.

As to D&D...wow it's been about 30 years since I played it. I was a DM and made up a bunch of campaigns. I'm sure there is stuff from way back then that made it into the books, but it must be on a sub-conscious level, because nothing explicit comes to mind.

I have had a number of people write to me to say they have DM'd games based on my books - an extremely flattering compliment. One guy mentioned that one of the party members was killed when trying to pick-pocket Royce. I'm guessing the chances of success were pretty low. I probably wouldn't put the likelihood of death as high as this DM did...but I found it an amusing story nonetheless.

@Mathias...Great question. You can find your answer here.

It is frequently said that art/poems/movies/stories (insert you choice) is never finished, only abandoned.

Realizing that it is hard to argue with success, here's a question. Looking back on this series, is there anything that you now wished you'd changed and/or done differently with regards to the story itself?

I actually wouldn't change very much at all, but I did get two bites at the apple.

When I originally wrote The Crown Conspiracy, Myron ended up killing a guard out of self-defense. At some point a reader pointed out to me that was very "un Myronlike" and in reflecting I had to agree. When Orbit bought the series I wanted to keep most of it the way it was but I was able to make that adjustment so that Myron doesn't end up killing anyone. I think it makes more sense, and Myron is happy for that.

There are a few VERY minor tweaks that I want to make now that I'm doing the prequel. For instance there are several references in Revelations that mention a job that Royce and Hadrian did. They scaled the Crown Tower, stole something then put it back the next night. I said this in at least two places....

When writing The Crown Tower (which is the full story of that job), I realized that the book would be so much better if I was not constrained by events already mentioned....so...I've rewritten history a bit. In The Crown Tower the first trip up was done by just Royce and the second trip was done by both of them. Also they don't occur one day after the next there is a few days between. So....I would like to go in and adjust those passages to match the Crown Tower.

But, this demonstrates exactly why I wrote all six books of Revelations before releasing any. When I was writing late in the series I could go back and adjust things to make sure there were no inconsistencies.

So all in all I'm VERY happy with the story and how all the pieces fell. I get people saying they saw this-or-that coming and others saying they were totally surprised so that makes me think that I walked the tightrope pretty good.

All that being said...I think polishing the actual sentences is something you can do forever. There's rarely a time when I pickup my book and read a page where I don't think ... ah I should have taken out that word...or I should have used a different word.

I'm not one who obsesses too much. I've got so many stories to tell that I would rather write another one than do a third of fourth pass on one that really is "done." It's the old 80/20 rule. You can spend huge amounts of time making very minor incremental changes at some point, so it is best to call it done and move on to something else.

Also, how did you go about building the magic in the books? Like, did you write out a magic system, or just kind of wing it as it was needed?

Great question. Magic and fantasy is very tricky thing...at least I think so. Because it can really upset the balance of things. There are many writers who construct great "magic systems," Like Brandon Sanderson did with metals in his Mistborn series or Brent Weeks with colors in his Lightbringer series.

I'm not really as sophisticated as them by any stretch of the imagination. I wanted there to be very little magic in my world so most of it has been lost to mankind when the first empire was destroyed. There are other races that have magic. In Calais the Tenkin have what can best be described as witch doctors and seers. And the elven empire has always been very adapt at magic. So the approach I took was to have very little interactions with those cultures.

In the series, the Tenkin show up primarily in The Emerald Storm (book 4 - which is the second story in Rise of Empire). As to the elves, that all happens in the last book, Percepliquis (book 6 - which is the second story in Heir of Novron).

As to mankind there are only a few people in my book who know magic. Esrahaddon - who is an ancient wizard of the original empire. The only reason he is alive is he was locked in a prison that suspended time for 1,000 years. He was very powerful "in his day" but I limited his magical abilities by having his hands cut off after his capture.

The only other magic user is Arista, who was a student of Esrahaddon's. Through most of the book she doesn't know how to do magic, and much of what she does is trial and error. Fear for "screwing up" keeps her from "trying to use it." For instance, during a battle she's afraid that she could loose as many men in her army as the enemies. Later she starts figuring it out more and then she could upset the balance...so again I had to put in checks and balances. In Arista's case it is the seduction of the power is very overwhelming so she only uses it when absolutely necessary, because each time she does there is a risk she may loose herself in the process.

@Benjamin, Great questions...

The answer to your question on research is answered here..

The answer to your question on magic is here.

Hey, Michael. I was wondering about what kind of research you do before writing? There's so much detail in the series. With everything that goes on in the Riyria Revelations, you must be a fencer, thief, sailor, wizard, and chef.

I've always been a big history buff and so to me "entertainment" reading can include things like Societies of the Bronze Age. A lot of my knowledge has come from just this type of pleasure reading.

For some things, in particular The Emerald Storm. It's a mixture of thingn. For instance, I've always been a fan of C.S.Forrester's Horatio Hornblower books. As well as Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana. But most of my research, like what type of food is served shipboard came from a great reference book, which unfortunately I lent to my daughter and forgot it's name. When she gets home from work tonight I'll try to find it out and post.

I know nothing about swordsplay, though I must be getting something right because a lot of people write me who are fencers and they think that I'm one as well. I think writing "fighting" scenes can be boring if you just give blow-by-blow accounts, so I try to structure them as little "mini-stories" with their own climax.

On September 26th, Orbit and I announce a new series coming out from me called: The Riyria Chronicles. The first book in that series will be The Crown Tower to be released in August 2013. This series gives me the opportunity to revisit with several of my favorite characters, including Royce and Hadrian. The books take place 12 years before the events of Theft of Swords and provides some details in how Riyria was formed from two unlikely rogues who originally didn't like each other very much.

Many people are probably wondering why I created a prequel...so here is your chance to find that out, or anything else you might be interested in regarding the new series.

It's a crazy time right now in publishing. So much has changed even in the last year. There are so many more options available, but with those choices also comes confusion, fear, and doubt. As one of the few authors who have traveled each path: Self, Traditional, and Big-six I've seen publishing from all sides. I'd be glad to share my experience or opinions with new or aspiring authors about any number of subjects...so ask me anything.

It's been almost a year since the release of The Riyria Revelations. The series has been well received and tens of thousands have enjoyed the twists and turns of the adventures of Hadrian, Royce, Arista, and Modina.



If you have any questions, please feel free to mark them here - but please be sure to mark your spoilers.