Joyce
asked
Michael J. Sullivan:
Michael, I loved book three, so how long must I wait for book four?!
Michael J. Sullivan
Hey, Joyce, thanks for reading. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. The response to it has been nothing short of amazing and I'm so glad people are already chomping at the bit for the next installments.
Here is the whole run down...it's kind long but bear with me.
So, originally books #4 - #6 were slated to be published by Del Rey, but there was a corporate change from their parent company, Penguin Random House, such that any new contracts would require print, ebook, AND audio. Seeing as how we already sold the audio rights to the whole series, that took them out of the picture -- a shame because we LOVE them and they LOVE us.
Okay, so this "need audio" requirement is now a thing with all of the big five so we went looking for a non-big five publisher. We entered into negotiations with the largest non-big five press and we were planning on doing a "print-only" deal. We disagreed on a few things (they wanted final control over content - something neither Del Rey or Orbit had) and they conceded that. They also wanted to keep the release schedule on one per year (we conceded that), and there was a bunch of other issues that we went back and forth on. Ultimately, we couldn't agree so that avenue is off the table (a very recent development).
So, now we've decided to self-publish them. In many ways book #4, #5, and #6 is like Lord of the Rings - part of a larger tale that breaks at some key points into three books. So we want to have the released between each one close. We are shooting for our "old" self-publishing schedule which is one every 6 months. To hit this, we really need to work on all three at one time, and that may mean a bit longer between #4 and #3. At the present time we are shooting for 9 months which means the books will release...
* April 2019 - Age of Legend
* October 2019 - Age of Death
* April 2020 - Age of Empyre
So, that's the plan. Right now I'm waiting on a few minor pieces of feedback from Robin for the last three books, but they won't take long to implement then we want to send all of the books through to the beta readers.
Whew, that was long...as I knew it would be, but I wanted to be as complete as I could about where we are, and more importantly where we are going.
Here is the whole run down...it's kind long but bear with me.
So, originally books #4 - #6 were slated to be published by Del Rey, but there was a corporate change from their parent company, Penguin Random House, such that any new contracts would require print, ebook, AND audio. Seeing as how we already sold the audio rights to the whole series, that took them out of the picture -- a shame because we LOVE them and they LOVE us.
Okay, so this "need audio" requirement is now a thing with all of the big five so we went looking for a non-big five publisher. We entered into negotiations with the largest non-big five press and we were planning on doing a "print-only" deal. We disagreed on a few things (they wanted final control over content - something neither Del Rey or Orbit had) and they conceded that. They also wanted to keep the release schedule on one per year (we conceded that), and there was a bunch of other issues that we went back and forth on. Ultimately, we couldn't agree so that avenue is off the table (a very recent development).
So, now we've decided to self-publish them. In many ways book #4, #5, and #6 is like Lord of the Rings - part of a larger tale that breaks at some key points into three books. So we want to have the released between each one close. We are shooting for our "old" self-publishing schedule which is one every 6 months. To hit this, we really need to work on all three at one time, and that may mean a bit longer between #4 and #3. At the present time we are shooting for 9 months which means the books will release...
* April 2019 - Age of Legend
* October 2019 - Age of Death
* April 2020 - Age of Empyre
So, that's the plan. Right now I'm waiting on a few minor pieces of feedback from Robin for the last three books, but they won't take long to implement then we want to send all of the books through to the beta readers.
Whew, that was long...as I knew it would be, but I wanted to be as complete as I could about where we are, and more importantly where we are going.
More Answered Questions
Joanell Serra
asked
Michael J. Sullivan:
Thanks! I've been pulled towards marketing my first book so much this week (launch week), and I'm missing the time writing book #2. You're answer up top just gave me permission! 10% of my time seems about right for the marketing. Besides, I know what I'm doing as a writer....marketing is a whole other ball game. I may need to outsource? Any thoughts on that?
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