An honor to be nominated...goodreads Best Books of 2013 Choice Awards

From time to time fellow authors, or aspiring authors, ask me about what I attribute my success to. The first thing I always mention is, "Write a good book." Where "good" is defined as a book that people love enough (for whatever subjective reasons they have) that they recommend it to others. The second thing I bring up is that getting the word out about the book is just as important (the whole tree falling with no one to hear it thing) and as far as that goes I always bring up (a) goodreads and (b) book bloggers, both of which have been very good to me and my novels.

We are now in the second round of voting for the Goodreads Choice Award, and I'm honored to say that once again I have a nominated title, The Crown Tower (first book in the Riyria Chronicles). Round one which ran from Nov 4 - Nov 9 picked fifteen titles based on the number of people who shelved the books and the ratings and reviews they gave them.  Round two (which runs from Nov 11 - Nov 16) added five titles based on write in ballots.  The third round will limit the field of twenty to a final group of ten. I, of course, am hoping to make that round, but truly it was an honor just to be nominated originally. Especially in such an amazing field.

The full list includes:

• Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb
• Companions, the by R.A. Salvatore
• Crown Tower, the by Michael J. Sullivan
• Daylight War, the by Peter V. Brett
• Firebird, the by Susanna Kearsley
• Ghost Bride, the by Yangsze Choo
• Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
• Forged in Blood by Lindsay Buroker
• Golem and the Jinni, the by Helene Wecker
• Memory of Light, a by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
• Natural History of Dragons, a by Marie Brennan
• Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
• Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
• Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch
• River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay
• River of No Return by Bee Ridgeway
• Seduction by M.J. Rose
• Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic, the by Emily Croy Baker
• Third Kingdom, the by Terry Goodkind
• Vicious by V.E. Schwab

I was fortunate to be nominated two other times:

• 2010 for The Emerald Storm
• 2012 for Percepliquis

I have no illusions (or delusions) of winning, so I'm not even going to ask you for your vote. But please do go here and join the over 1,000,000 people who have already voted.

One last thing that I should mention. That to celebrate the nomination I'm going to be giving away some signed copies of The Crown Tower. There are two contests running, and all you have to do is enter to win.  The books will be signed and dedicated however you wish, and they should be shipping December 6th which will mean they can arrive in time for gift-giving. I'll even gift wrap before mailing if you are giving to a friend or family member. Her are links to the contests:

• Goodreads (US only)
• My Giveaway (all countries)

Because non-US people can't participate in the first one, those outside the US will get an extra ballot when they sign up for the second one - to help even out the odds.

Lastly, I'd just like to thank all the readers of goodreads for shelving and rating my books over the years. Your support is what got me in not just one, or two, but three years worth of nominations. I'm thrilled and surprised and already feel like a winner just for being included.