Third Riyria Chronicle planned for 2015 - Welcome back Royce and Hadrian!

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, as I've talked about in other posts and various forums (goodreads, reddit), but I'm making an "official" announcement.  There WILL be a third Riyria Chronicle book, and if all goes to plan, it will be released in 2015.

Let me back up a bit and discuss the existence of a third book. When I wrote the first two books in the Riyria Chronicles, I did so knowing there was a very real possibility that they would be the only books in this prequel series. The reason is simple...I didn't want Royce and Hadrian to overstay their welcome and be "that guy," the one who doesn't know when to stop and winds up ruining something that was once enjoyable.

So, my plan then, as now, is to release a book, and then put my ear to the ground and see if there is still interest in more. If there is, then I have plenty more stories that I would love to share. If not, then I'm grateful for the time we've all had with these lovable rogues. It didn't take long after the release of The Rose and Thorn to determine that the readers still wanted more, but the question was when and how.

As most know from other recent announcements, I've been busy with The First Empire. Writing this series turned out to be a longer project than I anticipated (growing from 3 books to 5).  Now that I have the publishing details of that project determined (sold to Del Rey for release in the summer of 2016), I can turn my attention to the release of this third book.
One thing that I think is very important to an author's career is frequent book releases.  So far, I've been successful at that.  My releases have been:

• Oct 2008: The Crown Conspiracy released through AMI  
• Apr 2009: Avempartha was released through self-publishing
• Oct 2009: Nyphron Rising released through self-publishing
• Jan 2010: The Crown Conspiracy rights revert and it is re-released through self-publishing
• Apr 2010: The Emerald Storm released through self-publishing
• Oct 2010: Wintertide released through self-publishing
• Nov 2011: Theft of Swords released through Orbit
• Dec 2011: Rise of Empire released by Orbit
• Jan 2012: Heir of Novron released by Orbit
• Aug 2013: The Crown Tower released by Orbit
• Sep 2013: The Rose and the Thorn released by Orbit
• Apr 2014: Hollow World released via self (ebook) and Tachyon Publications (print)

Since Rhune's release won't be until the summer of 2016, that left a big gap (more than two years) between it and my last book. Releasing the third Chronicle between during that time becomes the obvious choice.

Because this book is not yet written, there is no way I could use  traditional publishing and have it released in 2015.  So, I've decide to self-publish this release, and shoot to have it out later this year. While I'm making this announcement, I should also discuss the audio book version. I'll make a more detailed post tomorrow, but for now let me just say two things.  First, the audio rights for this title have been sold, and the intention is to release it simultaneously with the print/ebook.  And secondly, Tim Gerard Reynolds has been attached to the project, and he will be doing the narration.

Oh, and two last things I should mention...I do plan on having various pre-sales promotions for this book: giveaways, signed copies, bookmarks, bookplates, sample chapters, short stories, etc. If you want to be notified of such things, then you can sign up at this link.

Also, if you are on goodreads, you can  already add the book to your shelf by clicking on this link.  There are two very good reasons for doing so.  First, goodreads will notify you when the book is officially published, so you won't have to keep checking back with me on that date.  And second, some of the promotional giveaways I mentioned above will have "extra" entries for "early adopters."  For instance, those that shelf the book in February may have five entries in drawings while those in March might get four and those in April three, and so on.   Well, that's about all for now.

As you can see, it's been a very busy time for me...and Robin (who handles all this "business stuff"). But I'm trying to keep everyone updated as soon as possible. Tomorrow I'm going to dig a little deeper into the audio side of things.  Until then, I hope you are as excited as I am about more Royce and Hadrian.