Welcome!
My name is Michael J. Sullivan and I’m a full-time novelist. To speak (or type) these words is kind of surreal to me. For those that don't know, writing isn't a career that most can make a living at, and I’m still amazed to count myself one of the fortunate few. Not only that, but my wife, who supported our family for years while I banged on the computer keys, has now left her day job so her family can stop complaining about me leaching off her.
Like many, my road has not been an easy one, I wrote books in a variety of genres for over ten years and after finding no traction in getting published…I quit…vowing never to write creatively again. Well, never turned out to be ten years as I couldn’t suppress the itch. This time I decided to write something just to please myself (and my family) I had no plans to publish I put my books out to a few friends and at the urging of my wife and daughter I finally relented to give publishing another try.
That project became my debut novels that most are probably familiar with: the Riyria Revelation fantasy series. I wrote all six books before publishing the first one (yeah crazy I know), so that I could intertwine plot threads throughout. I approached the project like a television series, where each episode has its own conflict and resolution, but taken as a whole, there are sub-plots that span multiple books. The first book of the series, The Crown Conspiracy, was published through a small indie press called Aspirations Media. While well intentioned, they struggled financially, and when I sold out the initial printing in the first fourteen months, they couldn’t afford the reprint. So the rights reverted to me.
Prior to AMI I had had an agent that shopped the series around, but she didn’t get any nibbles so I felt my only choice was to self-publish. At the time, self-publishing had a huge stigma associated with it but I was determined to prove it could be done. From April 2009 to October 2010 I put out five of the six books in the series through Ridan Publishing, a small press started by my wife.
Prior to October 2010, I was selling modestly well, averaging 800-1,000 books a month. Unlike most self-published or indie authors (who price their books at $0.99 or $2.99) I sold mine for $4.95 and at that price so I was finally contributing to the household income. By that time my books were showing up on a number of the Amazon Bestsellers lists such as: Historical Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Action & Adventure, and Men’s Adventure. In addition, my name was appearing on author’s pages such as: Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, Ken Scholes, Robert V.S. Reddick, and dozens of others as my books were cross selling well with them.
When we released my fifth book, Wintertide for $6.95 my sales skyrocketed and my wife thought it might be reasonable to approach New York publishers again. We both thought it would take months, or more likely years, IF anything ever became of it, but having been turned down in the past we fully expected further rejection. My foreign rights agent, put together a package and sent it to seventeen fantasy publishers. Immediately she interest from seven of them and within three weeks we decided on Orbit (the fantasy imprint of Hachette Book Group). I was shocked that they were not only offering a six-figure advanced, but were going to fast-track the series and put the books out as a trilogy in three consecutive months.
The next part of my story is really surreal as starting in November 2011 my sales increased ten-fold such that I was selling more than 10,000 a month! I was part of an indie freshman class who all saw significant readership at that time. Some of the names you probably know more than mine: Amanda Hocking, John Locke, and Joe Konrath. Unlike my peers, I never hit the Amazon top 100 (though I got close at 102) but I still sold more than 70,000 books between Apr 2008 - Aug 2011.
It's been about a year since the re-release of The Riyria Revelations from Orbit and the English versions have sold more than 180,000 copies topping my total sales to a cool quarter million. The books are being translated into 14 different languages.
My second series, The Riyria Chronicles is a prequel to the Revelations books and will also be published by Orbit (The Crown Tower - Aug 1, 2013 & The Rose and the Thorn Sep 5, 2013). I'm also going to return to my self-publishing roots with a novel called Antithesis anticipated release date is March 2013. I've also completed a time-travel science fiction novel, Hollow World but no determination as to publishing route or release date has been set.
For those interested in my shorter works. I have a free Riyria Short: The Viscount and the Witch as well as a $0.99 science fiction short story Greener Grass. I also have stories in several anthologies, see the list below.
So, that’s a bit about me and what I’m up to from a writing perspective. If you want to reach me, contact information follows. I love hearing from readers (what author doesn’t?) so don’t be afraid to drop me a line.
Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you’ll become a follower as that’s how I know whether people are interested in what I have to say.
Michael.
AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
The Crown Tower
2013 BestFantasyBooks.com's Most Anticipated Fantasy
2013 Fantasy Faction's Top 10 Most Anticipated Books
2013 A Fantasy Reader's Eager Meter Nominee
Theft of Swords
2012 Audible's 5-star The Best of Everything
2012 Audible's Best of 2012 Editor's Picks (Michael)
2013 Audible's 5-star Sci-fi & Fantasy
2011 Dribble of Ink's Favorite Novels
2011 Drying Ink's Best Epic Fantasy
2011 Graeme's Fantasy Book Review Favourite Reads
2011 Only the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy's Top 10 (#2)
2011 Best Fantasy Releases by Barnes and Noble Blog
2011 Library Journal's Best Books for Fantasy/Sci-Fi
2011 Civilian Reader's 5 Most Anticipated Reads for Nov
2011 Library Journal's Fantasy/Sci-Fi Debut For Sep
Rise of Empire
2011 Civilian Reader's 6 Most Anticipated Reads for Dec
Heir of Novron
2012 Audible's August Customer Favorites
2012 Angels of Retribution's Best of the Best Part 1
2012 Fantasy Book Critic's Top 5 Anticipated Releases
2012 Civilian Reader's 6 Most Anticipated Reads
2012 Staffer's Review's Books I Most Want to Read in Early 2012
The Crown Conspiracy
2011 Lost Entwive's Top Ten Underrated Books
2010 Only the Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Top 10 Read
2009 Speculative Fiction Junkie's Top 5 Close Contender
2009 National Indie Book Award Finalist
2008 ReaderViews Annual Literary Award Finalist
2007 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Finalist
Avempartha
2010 Iceberg Ink Award Best Read
2010 Bookworm Blues Overall Best Reads of 2010
2010 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Finalist
2009 Winner of Book Spot Central's Fantasy Tournament of Books
Nyphron Rising
2010 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Finalist
The Emerald Storm
2010 Fantasy Book Critic #1 Indie Fantasy
2010 Fantasy Book Critic Top 25 Novels
2010 Fantasy Book Critic: Cindy's Anticipated Reads
2010 Fantasy Book Critic Top Independent Novels for
2010 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fantasy
2010 Fantasy Book Critic Top 12 Novels as of First Quarter
Wintertide
2010 Fantasy Book Critic #1 Indie Fantasy
2010 Fantasy Book Critic Top 25 Novels
2010 Fantasy Book Critic: Cindy's Anticipated Reads
2010 Fantasy Book Critic Top Independent Novels
2010 Fantasy Book Critic Top 5 Novels of Second Half of 2010
Percepliquis
2012 goodreads Choice Award Nominee
2012 Bane of King's Best Novels of First Half of Year
2012 Angels of Retribution's Reading Award for February
The Riyria Revelations
2009 Top 10 Books by Dark Wolf Fantasy Reviews
BIBLIOGRAPHY
THE RIYRIA REVELATIONS (Omnibus Editions)
Theft of Swords (Nov 2011): contains The Crown Tower & Avempartha
Rise of Empire (Dec 2011): contains Nyphron Rising & The Emerald Storm
Heir of Novron (Jan 2012): contains Wintertide & Percepliquis
THE RIYRIA CHRONICLES
The Crown Tower (Aug 1, 2013)
The Rose and the Thorn (Sep 5, 2013)
WORKS IN PROGRESS
Antithesis (modern day fantasy)
Hollow World (science fiction)
Untitled 3-book fantasy series
ORIGINAL BOOKS OF THE RIYRIA REVELATIONS
The Crown Conspiracy (October 2008) - out of print
Avempartha (April 2009) - out of print
Nyphron Rising (October 2009) - out of print
The Emerald Storm (April 2010) - out of print
Wintertide (October 2010) - out of print
Percepliquis (January 2012)
SHORT STORIES
The Viscount and the Witch (Riyria Chronicles)
Greener Grass (time-travel science fiction)
Traditions (Triumph Over Tragedy Anthology Jan 2013) - to benefit relief for victims of hurricane Sandy)
The Jester (Unfettered Anthology May 2013) - to help pay medical bills of author Sean Speakman
Autumn Mists (The Fantasy Faction Anthology Dec 2012)
Burning Alexandria (The End Anthology Dec 2012)
HOW TO CONTACT:
email: michael.sullivan.dc@gmail.com
twitter: @author_sullivan
website/blog: www.riyria.com
facebook (personal): www.facebook.com/michael.james.sullivan
facebook (author):www.facebook.com/author.michael.sullivan
facebook (riyria): www.facebook.com/riyria
