Audiobooks: 4 Series, 8 bestsellers, 1 on sale, 2 ownership changes

Hey all, Robin here. Michael and I are fresh back from an extended vacation in Key West (more on that at some point in the future).  But there have been some shuffling of audiobook titles recently, so I was taking a look at one of the fantasy bestsellers lists, and I was happy to see at least one book from each of Michael's 4 series hitting the list, and that there are currently 8 titles in total!

Another surprise is that Age of Myth is currently part of Audible's monthly deal sale so if you don't already have that title in your library - pick it up while it's discounted nearly 70%!!

Okay, so what do I mean about "shuffling of titles." Well, what I'm referring to is that in the past, we have licensed the audiobooks through one of two sources:

• Recorded Books - the largest audiobook distributor
• Audible Studios - the publishing arm of Audible and an Amazon subsidiary

And recently, we added a new distribution strategy to our mix

• Self-publishing through Riyria Enterprises, LLC.

Unlike print and ebook rights (which are sold for the life of copyright (which means 70 years after Michael dies), audiobook contracts expire after a fixed term (usually 7 or 10 years).  As such, these rights become "available" from time to time.  This recently happened with two titles - which you may see in your audible library as "new releases" - even though they aren't new - they have just changed hands.

• Age of War - previously licensed to Recorded Books is now released through Audible Studios
• The Death of Dulgath - previously licensed to Audible Studios is now released through Riyria Enterprises.

In the case of Age of War, Recorded Books wouldn't sub-license the narration, but don't fret, as Tim Gerard Reynolds re-recorded it. Nothing in the book has changed, but the new version may be slightly longer (or shorter) based on how fast or slow he did the reading the second time around.

For The Death of Dulgath, Audible Studios sold us the sub-license to the narration, so that recording is exactly as it has always been. That said, at some future date we plan on making a "10th anniversary version" of this audiobook, and we'll offer a slightly enhanced version through a Kickstarter campaign including a new author's note, an updated afterword by myself, and we'll bundle some bonus material such as a few Royce and Hadrian short stories, and a "behind the scenes" making of the book that some might find interesting.

Michael and I want to thank you for your continued support of his writing. It's great seeing books from all four series making the bestseller list. This is especially encouraging as it's only people who have "read everything" who will truly appreciate The Cycle series (a post-Riyria Revelations set of books which he is writing now).  The fact that all four series are selling well bodes well for a good number of people being eligible to read that when it comes out. More books coming soon!

Unbroken Update

Happy 2026 all!  As you may have heard, Robin, I, and Shawn Speakman are helping Peter Orullian with the Unbroken Anthology. In the same spirit as Unfettered (which was created to relieve Shawn Speakman of medical debt from his second cancer diagnosis), this anthology will (hopefully) do the same for Peter and his wife, neither of which have medical insurance (and both of whom have incurred high debut from cancer). A big part of this situation is  because earning a living wage and healthcare as an author isn't an easy feat.

We were planning on launching the Kickstarter in January, but for a number of reasons, it's been pushed to April 21st.  More than 7,000 people have signed up to be notified about this pre-order and there is a free gift if you back it within the first 48 hours, so if you want to sign up for notification, then you can sign-up from this link.

Since the anthology was originally announced, some authors couldn't participate, and others have been added. Here is the full list:

As you can see, there are some "heavy hitters" on this project including Brandon Sanderson, Terry Brooks, Christopher Paolini, Brent Weeks, Kevin Hearne, Mark Lawrence, and R.A. Salvatore. Some of the most recent adds were a number of notable indie authors such as Matt Dinniman, Will Wight, and Ryan Cahill. This will be a must have anthology, and what's even better is it's for a good cause.

For my own contribution, it'll have a short story from The Cycle: the highly-anticipated post-Riyria Revelations series.  If you are anxiously awaiting those 5 books, then you'll want to nab a copy.

A belated Christmas Gift

Hey all, Robin here. Since the end of November, and continuing for another week or so, Michael and I have been in Key West Florida, soaking up the sun, biking, playing tennis, and really enjoying ourselves.  Being away from the cold and "the kids" has made it an odd holiday - it was weird hearing Christmas songs while sipping on Margaritas and eating shrimp and oysters.

We didn't even exchange gifts!  So I thought I'd give one to all of you instead (albeit a little late).

Unfortunately, I don't have a new story to send your way (although I did just take back control of The Jester audiobook and you can get it free from us from this link).  WhatI have instead is an update on "The Cycle" (shh . . . don't tell Michel, I'm posting this while he's out for a walk).

If you don't know what that is, then you'll want to learn more about it from the link above. This will be Michael's magnum opus, and it is a love letter to his most ardent fans.  In short, it's a 5-book sequel to the Riyria Revelations, and it will utilize characters and tie in plots from EVERY book (and short story) that is based in Elan.

If you are already familiar with The Cycle then you know it won't be released until it's 100% written and Michael has been working on the project for almost 4 years now. A lot of that time was spent just trying to figure out if such a feat was possible, and after a few filed attempts hit the vertical filing system, writing has been going pretty steady with 2.66 books completed - that's over half way!

• Book 1: 33 chapters (152,667 words) 
• Book 2: 40 chapters (178,045 words) 

As for the current book, Michael's at 89,608 words and he started it on 09/09/25.  The plan is to get it completed before May 1st, and he's well on track for that.

• Book #1 took about 9 months of writing
• Book #2 took just a bit over 10 months
• Book #3 is presently at 3.75 months and if the pace continues he should be done by March 1st which would make it the "fastest one yet" - just 5.7 months!

I've read the first two books and they are nothing short of amazing. I hope you are as excited about this project as I am, but I should warn you, it'll be best if experienced by people who have read all four series. So, if you've not done that yet, well you'll have some time to catch up.

Happy 2026 all!

Less than 6 days to get Nolyn Audibook at 68% off

 New York Times Audio best seller | Amazon Editor's pick | Audible Editor's pick

December is almost over and Nolyn has been on sale on Audible for just $7.99. That's 68% off the list price and about half the price as a subscription based credit.

This is the first book in the Rise and Fall series, and if you've already read the Legends of the First Empire series, this is an excellent place to continue your journey through the adventures based in Elan. More than 110,000 audiobooks of this title have been sold since it's release and it's well loved:

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season, and here's hoping for a fabulous New Year!

Going Indie with audiobooks - The Jester (short story) #4 Bestseller

Hey all, Robin here. Most are probably aware that Michael is a hybrid author (meaning some of his titles are released with big-five publishers like Penguin Random House (Del Rey) and Hachette Book Group (Orbit) while others are 100% controlled by us).  When it comes to audiobooks, we have never done any self-publishing. All our titles have been released by either Recorded Books Media (the largest non-big five audio book producer) or Audible Studios (the audio production arm of Audible.com). Until now . . .

And yes, of course, it's narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds - in fact, we purchased the original recordings from Audible Studios and reposted them using Amazon's ACX platform which is what is used for self-publishing.  Considering we didn't "announce" this, we were quite surprised by it's reception. 342 copies have been purchased in the first few days which has driven it to #4 on the bestselling charts:

For more than 10 years this title was an "Audible Exclusive" meaning that it could only be obtained on that single platform, but now that we control the distribution, we are "going wide" which means it can be distributed by oher platforms.  As such, we're using the amazing BookFunnel to distribute the audiobook for free for those who sign-up to my email list.  You can, of course, opt-out of the email list after signing up, but typically we email infrequently - in fact, it's been more than a year since our last newsletter.

Cyber Monday Sale

Because our warehouse is being used to ship out a huge number of books for a fellow author's Kickstarter, our store is presently closed.  But we have moved a bunch of books to our secondary storage facility and we are running a Holiday sale.  A few things to note:

• All orders that come in before December 9th will be shipped by December 12th which should ensure delivery for the Christmas season.
• All orders over $50 will have free US shipping.
• All orders over $50 will have 50% subsidized non-US shipping
• Selection is limited

The books involved in the sale include:

Savings includes:

• $80 off Deluxe Riyria Chronicle boxset (5 books) - including Drumindor
• $60 off Deluxe Riyria Chronicle boxset (4 books)
• $30 off Regular Riyria Chronicle hardcover box set (5 books) - including Drumindor
• $20 off Regular Riyria Chronicle hardcover box set (4 books)
• Most out of print Legends Hardcovers just $10 each (N/A for Age of Myth and Age of War)
  
  

  Shop the sale from this link

Drumindor 2025 Earphone Award Winner - and on sale this month only!

Hey all, Robin here. Things have been more than incredibly busy at the Sullivan household, but I wanted to take a moment to announce that Drumindor won an earphone award! And if you don't yet have a copy of the audiobook, you can get it through the end of this month for just $6.99 that's 82% off the regular price, and remember . . . even if you leave Audible's membership any books purchased for credits or cash are yours to keep forever!

 

Here is what the exceptionally intelligent people at Audiofile Magazine had to say about the book:

Tim Gerard Reynolds gorgeously narrates this Elan world novel, the fifth in the Riyria Chronicles. In this prequel, a disgruntled dwarf has been fired and threatens to wreak havoc on the towers of Drumindor, thus destroying the lavish town of Tur Del Fur. Royce and Hadrian, friends who together form Riyria, are hired to find the dwarf and stop him. Reynolds brings depth that adds texture to the story: Dwarves have Scottish brogues and raspy voices; evil leaders have deep, slow voices; and the most evil character has a whispery, low voice that is sure to give listeners nightmares. Reynolds manages to make the heroes human as they experience fear and courage in equal measure. L.M.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2025

A big congratulations to Tim!  And in other news, the next book in the Riyria Chronicle series (Blythin Castle) is already written! Unfortunately, we don't have a release date for it yet. Why? Well we are trying to "fill the void" between this year's Drumindor and the release of The first book in The Cycle series. For those who aren't familiar with this "post Revelation's sequel, you can learn more about it from here.

As for next release dates,  Tim will be recording Out of the Ashes, the first book in the After of the Fall series in June of 2026 so we are hoping to have the release of that title soon after that.