Colin Offenbacker
asked
Michael J. Sullivan:
T.G. Reynolds is such a perfect fit for your books in my opinion! As an author with a publisher, do you have much "say" in the choosing of the audiobook narrator for your books or is that mostly in the hands of your current publisher?
Michael J. Sullivan
Hey Collin,
Thanks so much for asking. Tim is THE BEST. These days I have 100% say about many aspects of my audiobooks, including who the narrator will be. in fact, for the Legends of the First Empire series, I had three publishers wooing me for those rights and for each one I made them write into the deal that Tim would be the narrator.
Tim is and will always be the voice of my Elan novels (both Riyria and Legends of the First Empire). in fact, I'm getting on a train tomorrow to go e with Tim while he records Age of Swords. I'm also taking him out to dinner (as I do each time we release a book and he does the narration). My wife and I enjoy his company both professionally and personally.
To give you a complete picture of the situation, I will say that when I started out I had NO SAY whatsoever. My Riyria Revelations contract gave Orbit the audiobook rights and they sold them as a subsidiary contract to Recorded Books. All that means I had no say. Not about whether audio books would be made, who the producer would be, who the narrator would be, nothing...well the only one thing I did have a say over is they couldn't do an abridged version without me approving the cuts - but since it was unabridged I had no say. I didn't like the terms of that contract, but being a first-time published author I had to take what I could get. Now that I have a track record, I have a lot more clout and in fact I sell my audio rights BEFORE I sell the print/ebook rights so I'm 100% sure I'll be in control of them.
Thanks again for asking!
Thanks so much for asking. Tim is THE BEST. These days I have 100% say about many aspects of my audiobooks, including who the narrator will be. in fact, for the Legends of the First Empire series, I had three publishers wooing me for those rights and for each one I made them write into the deal that Tim would be the narrator.
Tim is and will always be the voice of my Elan novels (both Riyria and Legends of the First Empire). in fact, I'm getting on a train tomorrow to go e with Tim while he records Age of Swords. I'm also taking him out to dinner (as I do each time we release a book and he does the narration). My wife and I enjoy his company both professionally and personally.
To give you a complete picture of the situation, I will say that when I started out I had NO SAY whatsoever. My Riyria Revelations contract gave Orbit the audiobook rights and they sold them as a subsidiary contract to Recorded Books. All that means I had no say. Not about whether audio books would be made, who the producer would be, who the narrator would be, nothing...well the only one thing I did have a say over is they couldn't do an abridged version without me approving the cuts - but since it was unabridged I had no say. I didn't like the terms of that contract, but being a first-time published author I had to take what I could get. Now that I have a track record, I have a lot more clout and in fact I sell my audio rights BEFORE I sell the print/ebook rights so I'm 100% sure I'll be in control of them.
Thanks again for asking!
More Answered Questions
Jonathon Mcdougall
asked
Michael J. Sullivan:
Hey Michael - I've been tracking the Death of Dulgath kickstarter and now the Paypal options you have for backers. I love all the stuff that you have there, but my format of choice is definitely Audiobooks these days. I haven't jumped in so far because I didn't see and Audio version. Is this due to contracts (you posts on the subject have been very enlightening) or another reason?
Christian
asked
Michael J. Sullivan:
Just finished Age of Sword, great book again. Cant wait for the next one in the series, and I really can't wait for the next Riryia Novel, been way to long since journeying with Royce and Hadrian lol. Thanks for the good reads every time. I know there is another Riryia novel coming out as mentioned above, but is there any plans to do a whole other Riryia series, like after the Revelations series?
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