tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33549157899724489152024-03-18T15:58:14.226-04:00Author Michael J. Sullivan's Official WebsiteBlog and Website of Michael J. Sullivan author of The Riyria Revelations, a medieval fantasy lacking ancient evils or orphans destined for greatness. Instead, it focuses on a pair of rogues caught in the wrong place at the right time. Originally self-published, all books became ebook bestsellers (more than 90,000 sold) and are being re-released by Orbit (Hachette Book Group’s fantasy imprint) as a trilogy: Theft of Swords (Nov 2011), Rise of Empire (Dec 2011), Heir of Novron (Jan 2012).Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.comBlogger992125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-47781612347669362172024-03-01T10:56:00.001-05:002024-03-01T10:56:11.185-05:00Drumindor's Kickstarter a big success!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4GtOVDmpas0DkQOi3XLeQN41MK5Z591bcVF0kRr4mPv0todLrFSN-OWNXOGQR24MjpfRi0VZOVPuE8r8oNoyUN3ff45XymrGreyxIj0k4r4_cNPzrJmEbhLtBqpcgRljWYJyEFgPNxxruLLLwAt92uxcKYxhSKnGz9tax4GoX84JIxKguLNxBu8agRVVB/s600/drumindor_main_image_over_low_res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4GtOVDmpas0DkQOi3XLeQN41MK5Z591bcVF0kRr4mPv0todLrFSN-OWNXOGQR24MjpfRi0VZOVPuE8r8oNoyUN3ff45XymrGreyxIj0k4r4_cNPzrJmEbhLtBqpcgRljWYJyEFgPNxxruLLLwAt92uxcKYxhSKnGz9tax4GoX84JIxKguLNxBu8agRVVB/w640-h360/drumindor_main_image_over_low_res.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>The Drumindor Kickstarter is over, and Robin and I would like to thank all the amazing support you gave it. If you missed the Kickstarter, no worries. You can purchase the books from the <a href="https://bit.ly/3UZYu3V" target="_blank"><b>pre-order store.</b></a></p><p>Some highlights of this project</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Fully funded in under 16 minutes</li><li>Reached $100,000 in the first 12 hours</li><li>Became the #1 highest-funded live fiction project at the 3 hour mark, and it remained at the top spot for it's entire 2-week run.</li><li>One of only 61 projects to reach six-figures</li><li>Currently the 20th most-backed fiction Kickstarter of all time</li></ul><p></p><p>And don't forget the Kickstarter for regular and deluxe editions of Books #1 - #4 will be launching on March 12th at 12:00 noon (EST). You can sign up to be notified from the <b><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/michaeljsullivan/riyria-chronicles-deluxe-regular-editions-and-slipcases?ref=discovery">pre-launch page</a></b> (which will turn into the main product page when the Kickstarter begins). </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiEFAACsqoeQ2JwDQrH7DXgQS6wKF9xzzBqHpTXNY_zNXecMb1vB0mpZiPKPBIJROPBpwp0qW0BVhyIuGb8r5Evno0g8nxarMsuE8oIuIisZo0ylh3JjkfzfwcAYZEczrPZXA2y9UjrgwYUugbr4l9aoiZg6I8lJk7luAcKVWHitKofXvoimW8zw9dVT5W/s1024/riyria_chronicle_main_image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiEFAACsqoeQ2JwDQrH7DXgQS6wKF9xzzBqHpTXNY_zNXecMb1vB0mpZiPKPBIJROPBpwp0qW0BVhyIuGb8r5Evno0g8nxarMsuE8oIuIisZo0ylh3JjkfzfwcAYZEczrPZXA2y9UjrgwYUugbr4l9aoiZg6I8lJk7luAcKVWHitKofXvoimW8zw9dVT5W/w640-h360/riyria_chronicle_main_image.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>One last thing. During the run of these two Kickstarters we are selling hardcover and ebooks of my back list at substantial savings (up to 50% off). <b><a href="https://mjs-books.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders" target="_blank">Shop the sale from this link.</a></b></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-16261848788513140652024-02-27T07:21:00.003-05:002024-02-27T07:21:21.286-05:00Ask Me Anything - today on reddit's /r/fantasy site.<p>Reddit can be a toxic environment, but the /r/fantasy site has always been a bastion of civility. With more than 3.6 million members, it's the biggest site I know about for people who love the fantasy genre. Today <b><a href="https://bit.ly/3SW1cor">I'll be holding a AMA</a></b> (Ask Me Anything), whih will be my 8th in 12 years! So if you have questions, I'll try to provide answers. But if you are writing about any spoilers, please use the appropriate tags to hide them from people who haven't read the books. Hope to see you there!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3SW1cor" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="800" height="582" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5WmanJs8rPOL_U2MIk9oPFFhnSLbSR1MdF8YlCojA5GoOyFrltLsrqL-QUaQ_0Qrs9qpXeJOvmEaGdINeDSbDE9R9PODK9r3NJVPMImlzlgkhZrTOw7C1hB4AVcr5-k816Xacyp4XBOlCgm-s7pSsnZmBfmpHEnSp-dlqQZimYOVSMU2gVikqQ-IDuHl8/w640-h582/ama_image.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-42266694737112430302024-02-24T09:38:00.003-05:002024-02-24T09:39:08.162-05:00Save 10% - 50% on my ebooks and hardcovers through May 31<p> <a href="https://mjs-books.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKLqmSfT_-IVvRgDz_yY0G7RtI2IeEe1jrv5_5MTRwv5J13Sah-4WdhhLPXTGKTpmbqVg1wlnQVG11nm1GvBAw251GhaYn69Q_Oochi5yJ1HMuuGThp6GxvkIfG1Uqt2l_-xF7N4OHR_ZYKm2LM-lmjULEPxKaYinCgG-rBqISW1fsrrAcZPCELLTGm36Y/w640-h480/kickstarter_sale.jpg" width="640" /></a></p><br /><p></p><p>During my two Kickstarters (<a href="https://kck.st/3Stk9zV">Drumindor which is running now</a>), and the Riyria Chronicle Hardcovers (running from March 12 - April 4th - no link yet), I'm also <a href="https://mjs-books.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders">running a sale</a> on my other books. Here are some examples of the savings:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>50% of ebooks ($5 rather than $10)</li><li>50% off mildly hurt hardcovers ($14.50 - $16.50 rather than $28 - $33)</li><li>25% off Legends of the First Empire Hardcover Boxset ($156 rather than $208)</li><li>20% off Legends of the First Empire Hardcover Book Set ($134.40 rather than $168)</li><li>21+% off Rise and Fall Hardcover Boxset ($99 rather than $126)</li><li>15% off Rise and Fall Hardcover Book set ($7.35 rather than $91)</li><li>10% off Del Rey Legends Hardcovers: #1 & #3 ($25 rather than $28)</li><li>18% off Other Legends Hardcovers: #2, #4, #5, #6 ($23 rather than $28)</li><li>$5 off Rise and Fall Hardcovers (15%-17%): ($23- $28 rather than $28 - $33)</li><li>$10 off Rise and Fall Deluxe Editions (~13%): ($65 - $70 rather than $75 - $80)</li></ul><div>We have already sold out of the Riyria Revelation slipcases and the Riyria Revelation Hardcovers are going fast - so don't wait too long to order!</div><p></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-8983408970205395412024-02-09T09:58:00.006-05:002024-02-09T10:24:21.033-05:00Exciting times on Kickstarter<p>Hey all, Robin here. I'm taking over Michael's blog (as I sometimes do) because it's a pretty exciting time for Kickstarters. I'm a HUGE fan of this platform. We've backed hundreds of them and even run more than a dozen campaigns, and while each one is a lot of work, it's also a great deal of fun.</p><p>I've been shouting from the mountaintops that more authors should use Kickstarters, and I did get some traction, but even so the <i>Fiction Category</i> remained the sleepy little corner of the Kickstarter world (games being the hot spot). It was such a <i>small pond </i>that at one point Michael had 5 of the top 10 most-funded Kickstarters of all time (across the entire world!) <br /><br />But then Brandon Sanderson's record-breaking 47M campaign happened and that opened a lot of eyes. That project did more than all my evangelizing, and I'm thrilled that so many authors are now using this platform. In my <i>pitch </i>to other authors I told them, "I hope you knock my projects down a few pegs" — and they did! I don't have any projects in the top 10 now (my highest is #12), and I couldn't be happier.</p><p>But there are a lot of misconceptions when I speak to people who aren't familiar with Kickstarters. The most common misconception is it's a form of charity, where you see a project you like and you give the creator some money. There are crowd-funding campaigns like that on other platforms (GoFundMe being the most common). But Kickstarter isn't that. What's the difference? Well let me back up and tell you some of the major aspect of Kickstarters.</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>The creator sets a goal, start date, and end date. These parameters can't be changed once the Kickstarter is launched, and if the project fall short of its goal, no money is collected from the backers, and no money comes to the creator. In other words, it's an all-or-nothing proposal. This allows creators to test the waters as it were. For instance, at one point I wanted a slipcase for our hardcover set of Michael's Legends of the First Empire series. To create one just for us was REALLY expensive, but I thought others might be interested in such a thing so I ran a Kickstarter for it - turns out there were hundreds of people who wanted them, but I wouldn't have known that if it wasn't for Kickstarter.<br /><br /></li><li>You don't "give money" to projects, you <b>purchase</b> <b>something</b>. It may be a physical item like a book or an event like a pre-screening of a movie, but you MUST receive something in exchange for the money you provide. In the case of fiction projects, you are basically pre-ordering just like you would on Amazon or other online stores.<br /><br /></li><li>Generally there are multiple reward levels. For instance a single Kickstarter might offer a $10 ebook, a $15 audiobook, a $20 trade paperback, a $35 hardcover, and a $75 deluxe edition. That way there is generally something for people of all budget levels. <br /><br /></li><li>Backers have a better experience than when purchasing through stores. Kickstarters are interactive, and oftentimes the item being received gets better based on feedback of backers. For instance someone might say how much they like sprayed edges, so a stretch goal is created and if that new goal is reached all the books get this cool feature. Also you can give readers things that you can't normally do. For instance, books are usually signed, bookmarks are often included, and it's common to get extra "goodies" like stickers or postcards. <br /><br /></li><li>While not specific to Kickstarter, it should be noted that Kickstarters allow readers to buy direct from the author, which means a much higher percentage of the money you pay winds up in the creator's pocket. Why? Kickstarters fees are minor and all the "middlemen" - publishers, agents, distributors, retailers - are cut out of the process. So instead of the author getting 3% - 25% of your money, they generally keep 80% - 90% of what you pay.<br /><br /></li><li>What you are receiving has to be something new. It's meant to provide funding to create something that might not otherwise be produced if the creator had to rely on their own funds. Because of this aspect products generally ship quite some time after the project ends because it has to be made and that can take months and in some cases years. <br /><br /></li><li>I should note that there is a bit of risk when backing a Kickstarter. Despite the creator's best intentions they may fail to produce the item they were trying to create. In that case, there are no refunds, your money is gone. But that is an uncommon occurrence. Generally creators set their goal high enough so a "failed project" is one that doesn't fund. But it can happen. Generally if you are backing projects by people with a good track record, you won't hit that situation.<br /></li></ol>If you've never backed a Kickstarter, I encourage you to do so. We've gotten all kinds of great things from the platform (mostly books but also things like the Ooni Wood-fired Pizza Oven, the Solo Stove, and a great portable desk I use when lying on the couch). All told we've <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/michaeljsullivan" target="_blank">backed 214</a> Kickstarters (173 of which reached their goal and 41 that didn't fund). Here are the Kickstarters that are "Live" that we are currently backing (and I think all of them are funded already)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPSFjFI7SiFwAkRaK2EucvqgwPZFVOXmFE6L00lxxq6wfJJiEMmPc3VYjExiMxuomsdxoG2tLE29ZAGf9wnjUm6RgqKzfEo5mN2mrLi5rP5HN_VCa1XcGAfnUz5IBtfsB66Qc4U-PpDNw3dSZqTfXBxQroQMpLIZsSQYVb74WQJArS02eXFlwUoWGrlwUj/s1062/ks-1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="1062" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPSFjFI7SiFwAkRaK2EucvqgwPZFVOXmFE6L00lxxq6wfJJiEMmPc3VYjExiMxuomsdxoG2tLE29ZAGf9wnjUm6RgqKzfEo5mN2mrLi5rP5HN_VCa1XcGAfnUz5IBtfsB66Qc4U-PpDNw3dSZqTfXBxQroQMpLIZsSQYVb74WQJArS02eXFlwUoWGrlwUj/w640-h242/ks-1.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /><p></p><p>How do we find out about these projects? Well, I spend a fair amount of time just "hunting around" for things to support - and interestingly I'm not the only one who does that because many of the people who have backed our Kickstarters "stumbled upon" them and hadn't read any of Michael's books before.</p><p>I also find projects from others. Kickstarter has a great feature where you can "follow" someone and when they back a project it shows up in your activity feed. So, I generally look at Michael's feed at least once a week and the vast majority of the projects I've backed have been discovered that way. If you would like to do the same, you can follow Michael (<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/michaeljsullivan/created" target="_blank">use the "follow button" from this link)</a> and Kickstarter will add a message in your activity log whenever he backs a project. There are currently 1,841 people who follow him, and we often find comments in various projects that say something like, "I found out about this project because of Michael J. Sullivan."</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">There is another cool feature of Kickstarter where you can look at projects that haven't launched yet but will soon. Here is a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/discover/advanced?state=upcoming&category_id=47&sort=popularity&seed=2845095&next_page_cursor=&page=1" target="_blank">link where you can see upcoming Fiction projects sorted by popularity</a>. Right now there are 237 projects and there is also a "notify me on launch" button, and Kickstarter will let you know when it goes live. Currently Michael and I are setup to be notified about the following:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><ul><li><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/682901669/dawn-of-the-void-deluxe-edition-collectors-omnibus?ref=discovery">Dawn of the Void: Deluxe Edition Collector's Omnibus by Phillip Tucker</a></li><li><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thecreativepenn/spear-of-destiny-an-action-adventure-thriller-novel?ref=discovery" target="_blank">Spear of Destiny. An Action-Adventure Thriller Novel by Joanna (J.F.) Penn</a></li><li><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/starlitpublishing/the-first-step-deluxe?ref=discovery" target="_blank">A Thousand Li: The First Step - Deluxe Collector's Edition by Tao Wong</a></li><li><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/author-ac-cobble/betrayal-wahrheit-book-4-illustrated-epic-fantasy?ref=discovery" target="_blank">Betrayal: Wahrheit Book 4 Illustrated Epic Fantasy by AC Cobble</a></li><li><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amatoauthor/spear-of-the-gods-book-two?ref=discovery" target="_blank">Spear of the Gods Book Two by Gregory Amato</a></li><li><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/403649867/bryant-street?ref=discovery" target="_blank">Bryant Street by Dean Wesley Smith</a></li></ul><div>Okay, so all that is Kickstarter 101 stuff, but what's going on right now that makes it so exciting? </div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Well there are three projects that launched on the same day from our "must back anything they put out" list: <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andypeloquin/thief-of-the-night-guild-deluxe-limited-edition-hardcover?ref=user_menu" target="_blank">Queen of Thieves</a> | <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/emaneska/dead-stars-part-one-illustrated-hardcover?ref=user_menu" target="_blank">Dead Stars</a> | <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wraithmarked/dw1">The Demon Awakens</a>)<br /><br /></li><li>For those that are living in a cave, Will Wight's <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/author-will-wight/animating-cradle-bestselling-fantasy-novels-come-to-life" target="_blank">Cradle Animation</a> project ended up funding (it was looking kinda tight there for awhile, and has just 7 hours to go.<br /><br /></li><li>Our very own <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/michaeljsullivan/drumindor-riyria-chronicles-5-hardcovers-deluxe-and-regular?ref=discovery">Drumindor project</a> will launch in 3 days and 2 hours (noon on February 13th for those that don't want to do the math.<br /><br /></li><li>Our Riyria Chronicle #1 - #4 Hardcover project will launch on March 13th (sorry no link for it yet)<br /><br /></li><li>And the most exciting of all - Brandon Sanderson will be launching his next <a href="https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/dragonsteel/words-of-radiance-leatherbound/launch_party?utm_source=SPKSupdate&utm_medium=SPKSupdate&utm_campaign=SPKSupdate" target="_blank">Kickstarter March 5th!!!</a></li></ul></div><div>I'm sure it's that last item that will be making Kickstarter "blow up," but I'm hoping a few of you will be stoping by the Drumindor project as well.</div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-69871053437298293142024-02-04T07:19:00.004-05:002024-02-04T07:23:38.387-05:00Only a few hours left to save big on audiobooks<p> Ending today at midnight (PT) two full series (Riyria Revelations & The Rise and Fall) and the start of a third series in graphic audio version (Riyria Chronicles) are <a href="https://www.audible.com/author/Michael-J-Sullivan/B002BOJ41O?ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&ref=a_search_c3_lAuthor_1_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=R6RHMHFP2DP3WS35Z3VZ&pageLoadId=TmsDRkpBlSUxEDMP&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c">deeply discounted 72% - 86% off. </a>All titles are just $5.99 or $6.99 meaning you can get a full series for about the same cost of a single credit.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.audible.com/author/Michael-J-Sullivan/B002BOJ41O?ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&ref=a_search_c3_lAuthor_1_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=R6RHMHFP2DP3WS35Z3VZ&pageLoadId=TmsDRkpBlSUxEDMP&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c" https:="" kck.st="" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" tk9zv=""><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR_9u90Dp0-eB0Q6JCiezvUEJPVk-zYvZHBKiuu7kyWr-NhiaCUvEoF93J6sojpw_SuE1oRZCxnfyqbYe16QuQyOphmag73zWyxLq6_LBt04SQB8Cq22uab8StTr-2eobIpFTXTju-INGJX1oFf65bjrCL5spDZo1wfja-xW1mUOTgzpaAHv-Ec8bwrgYC/w640-h640/audible_sale_02-04_low_res.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>And don't forget. Royce and Hadrian will be returning with Drumindor - the 5th Riyria Chronicle. The Kickstarter for this will <a href="https://kck.st/3Stk9zV">launch February 13th at 12:00 noon (EST).</a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://kck.st/3Stk9zV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="360" src="https://bit.ly/47ZNS86" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-50086656938970452312024-01-22T15:27:00.003-05:002024-01-30T07:48:05.441-05:00Drumindor Kickstarter's pre-launch page is live<p>It's been more than five years since the last Royce and Hadrian adventure - but the Kickstarter launch is almost here. The Kickstarter will launch on March 13th at noon, and the <a href="https://kck.st/3Stk9zV" target="_blank">pre-launch page is live</a>. Use the "notify me on launch" button to get a reminder email when the project is live.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://kck.st/3Stk9zV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="4267" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvFIaiYVXIfLSBahU7iqd2SA7MmBmsTUAHknOusCT2cHjIOeBLMuS0rawzsGkjw2xz8ba0zg7U_8-aM2M8kyMYVQAOW7Q5LXRDQOlX4nUXt3USYFZQ5oUlCHJ9Ye0L-drVsou8DEL7rjB-OS6Gze62vdoQvmjlldBAM6i0OWhpupyy-6UXO3o5-U4UB816/w640-h360/drumindor_main_image_high_res.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Kickstarter will be used to pre-order any of the following formats:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>ebook - $10</li><li>regular hardcover - $28</li><li>deluxe limited edition hardcover - $75</li></ul><div>Writing is completed, although we still need to put the book through beta, copyediting, and gamma reading. Hope to see you there!</div></div><br /><p><br /></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-49114587137914996572023-12-11T07:10:00.001-05:002023-12-11T07:10:14.425-05:00A tiny baby crawls onto the front page of Royal Road<p>More than a decade ago, Robin started doing Kickstarters, and low and behold we found a whole new audience of readers that had never heard about my stories before, and we have been warmly welcomed, and eternally grateful for all the support.</p><p>Four months ago, she started a new experiment, to introduce my stories to the 401,000+ readers on Royal Road, a free serialized fiction site where people can read books for free.</p><p>Because the Riyria Chronicle books are largely standalone (and only the first two books are controlled by traditional publishers), <b><a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/71578/the-riyria-chronicles-witty-banter-bromance-epic">she started there with these three stories:</a></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.imgur.com/Kpcwi4d.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://i.imgur.com/Kpcwi4d.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Uptake has been slow. Many of the most popular books on the site have tens of thousands of followers and millions of views. In comparison, we have only 86,000 views and 758 followers. Even so we hit the coveted "Rising Stars" list for a short while, and that gave the books some exposure.</p><p>Now, I know what you may be thinking - <i>Drumindor</i>? That book hasn't been written yet - well, it has, but it's in its rough first-draft format, and the last chapter posted yesterday. Now, as a rough draft it's riddled with typos and various grammar errors, but it will be on Royal Road and people can read it for free until the end of this month.</p><p>But the cool thing is, that with the posting of this last chapter, the 379,000+ words of these three books changed to "completed" other than "on-going," and because people have been rating the stories so highly it is now the <a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fictions/complete">#6 of the BEST COMPLETED list </a>- and since the top 10 show up on Royal Road's Home Page, it may get some more attention now. Here's hoping!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fictions/complete"><img border="1" data-original-height="1494" data-original-width="1084" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFGk2D9Db85M_L6eZWfmy4hEsiztePHiYvF1yxklXfbjPfQl9Yveb4Wg-tHCzZcnmi1xMh6G5lNO7uM8NIiU5TIEKmj5w6zrQzrwovBpkaDRhTzC4wvgbNqT3BXjRiUB54x7uBD4T0kGYBM3BsbZf35XxNHM3sW9O9pXpH0Sfd9Bf_9Di21mflVZ9356ch/w464-h640/best_completed.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><p>If you have the time, please stop by Royal Road and follow the book, it'll please Robin to no end to see the number of followers rise.</p><p><br /></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-18841512742716312252023-12-07T10:34:00.003-05:002023-12-07T10:34:56.878-05:00What's next<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/72753/the-elan-dossier/chapter/1323886/whats-next" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinXx2VUYPsSk59eLMQStjtCBtuTpAvequn43pITYOzL2MvwMMlnPQCY4cGUtsCJXKg9bf6mTj_9nmZqQ67C6Bns5SukglcEKR6yeKlRdvCuf_Y1gMuNsTNW1d1oI87RJ__9BPf_X6dm1iKSl7mRUnf3jaGfGEWw7OtItU0chUVearbNJD2l6K7-74vOuGq/w640-h640/whats-next.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>It's been busy times at the Sullivan household, but when isn't it? Major activity includes:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Shipping all the Riyria Revelation hardcover orders (<a href="https://riyria-hardcovers-preorders.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders"><b>we still have some copies available</b></a>)<br /><br /></li><li>Preparing for the arrival of the Esrahaddon hardcovers: coming in about 3 - 4 weeks (<a href="https://fantasy-novel-esrahaddon-by-michael-j-sullivan.pledgebox.com/preorder"><b>you can pre-order from here</b>)</a><br /><br /></li><li>Posting the rough draft of Drumindor and getting a feel for what people think of it (<b><a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/71578/the-riyria-chronicles-witty-banter-bromance-epic/chapter/1392890/v3-chapter-1-the-last-berling">you can read it too</a> - but only through the end of this month</b>). </li></ul><br />But what about the next Kickstarter? What's going on with Indie: The movie? When will the Drumindor beta start? What is Michael writing now? When will Tim do his next recording? We field questions like this all day, so it's time to make sure people know about our <a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/72753/the-elan-dossier/chapter/1323886/whats-next">WHAT'S NEXT MASTER PAGE</a>. <br /><br />This page is updated as new milestones are met, and at a minimum either I or Robin will update it once a week. So if you are wondering what is going on - give a click and find out for yourself! <p></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-56521212196911140012023-11-15T05:12:00.002-05:002023-11-15T05:12:29.384-05:00The Rise of The Rise and Fall<p>I love it when an entire series is out and available for sale. I like it even more when the books are selling well. We just noticed that all three books are in the TOP 10 of the bestselling Sword and Sorcery audio books (#1, #3, and #8). That made my day! Our thanks to everyone who is reading and telling others about these books.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/audible/18580627011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_audible" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1012" data-original-width="1788" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU9Wn6j_HvGvKD1RgF7S5nXnRnrgDAZTQA_xb-KKLRHIBgQ4iEavt-uwO7QkGaC5cS1NjX_VAXumlMFRsMeVDV1_AlbnRCSXujycj0sPYvuYi_o_BZJ1GQP-Lgq0myEnwiUH5xGgI7Bufqz-RFi5JQwzBmdn_4HRPeZ35D_MqnmS7HjPnRcGkKrnfY5wJX/w640-h362/rise_and_fall.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-31213131054443131122023-11-06T04:24:00.000-05:002023-11-06T04:24:00.717-05:00Two Documentaries are Green Lit!<p><span face="Inter, sans-serif" style="color: #0b5394; font-size: 32px; text-align: center;">Indie Author: a documentary </span></p><p>As some may know, independent filmmaker Adam Grandy is making a documentary about Indie Publishing and Robin and I will be featured in it.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3SsfoHq" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPgmAfoxx9qU1lpzUkemphsuL7s4dPg1miU3vaDSTMFPh6z393CbgJeyIR8EXAum6fY5ZhYnOIGLB4ikc_7PrywX8vazE7xy8w9fgrGN_eKDdvhAHwkakXzfGiJuDCfKNmok6_4E-F8pSOCxRN3ByefS75tx8HMw8bxRHYvraUBtyCFj0sPfH_FzwzarfU/w640-h360/indie_author_image.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Other authors involved include: Will Wight (Cradle), Bryce O'Conner (Wraithmarked Creative), Delemhach (House Witch), AC Cobble (Merrick Books), Daniel B. Greene (Neon Ghosts), M.L. Wang (The Sword of Kaigen), Phil Tucker (too many books to count), and Travis Baldree (Legends and Lattes).</p><p><b>Here is a little blurb about the project:</b></p><p>Indie Author is a movie for the dreamers of the world. For most authors, writing is their passion, but the odds have always been stacked against them. Enter the underdogs, the people who didn't let anything stand between them and the impossible. They are the daydreamers, the romantics, and the storytellers who found what it takes to earn a full-time living from their craft and have built a community to help others will their fantasies into reality. Through their stories, you might find answers to launch your own writing career. At a minimum, you'll be entertained, inspired, and well-armed with the hard truths and inside facts about "the writer's life."</p><p>The plan was to fund through the project through Kickstarter, and their were funding levels for a digital copy of the movie along with a Blu-ray disc version, and boxset (with tons of bonus material). There were even pledge levels to attend the premier and after party (held in Luray and at Robin and mine's house). A really cool reward was a way to be included in the movie!</p><p>Well, as the project neared its end, it looked like it might fall a few thousand short, so we added a second documentary - this was focused on readers of my book.</p><p><span face="Inter, sans-serif" style="color: #0b5394; font-size: 32px; text-align: center;">Elan Unveiled: secrets of the creation process</span></p><div><p>This will be a spoiler-filled discussion between Robin and myself on all things related to my books. Here are some of the things we have planned to talk about.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>What was the seed that started the story, and how did it grow to 20+ books<br /><br /></li><li>Changes made as a result of alpha or beta reader input<br /><br /></li><li>Why certain change requests weren't implemented<br /><br /></li><li>What died on the cutting room floor and why<br /><br /></li><li>Red herrings and misdirection - if it looks like a mistake it probably isn't - find out what is REALLY going on.<br /><br /></li><li>Robin's favorite Easter eggs and the implications to the story as a whole<br /><br /></li><li>Story details that Michael and Robin argued about, and who won each battle (Hint: It's usually Michael, but Robin got a few things in).<br /><br /></li><li>Most commonly asked inquiries and the answers that might just surprise you. You'll even be able to pose your own questions before filming starts so the answers can be provided as part of this bonus content. </li></ul><p></p><p>If you've read my books and find yourself (a) combing the pages for Easter eggs or (b) arguing with others about the meaning of something in particular or (c) just speculating on your own about various plot elements, then you won't want to miss out on this bonus reward (which is available to anyone who pledges $25 or more to the Indie Author project). Even if you consider yourself to be an expert on Elan or think you know what Michael has up his sleeve, you probably don't know the half of it - but you will after getting access to this bonus content!</p></div><div><p><span face="Inter, sans-serif" style="color: #0b5394; font-size: 32px; text-align: center;">My fans rallied</span></p></div><div><div><p>Robin put the word out and additional pledges poured in. Within a matter of minutes the project went from $5,000 short to fully funded and it ended up at 146% and raised more than $58,000 from 717 backers.</p><div><p><span face="Inter, sans-serif" style="color: #0b5394; font-size: 32px; text-align: center;">Missed out? No worries</span></p></div><div><p>If any of this sounds like something you'd be interested in, but you are just learning about it now, you can still join in the fun. There is a backdoor known as a "manual add" - which essentially lets you become a backer even though the project is over. <a href="https://bit.ly/3SsfoHq">Just head over to this link</a>. </p><p>We hope you'll join in the fun. We think these will be two great documentaries, and we hope others are as excited about the project as we are.</p><p><br /></p></div><p><br /></p></div><div></div></div><p> </p><p><br /></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-63839947242836332112023-10-19T13:27:00.001-04:002023-10-19T13:27:16.275-04:00Free Royce Short Story<p> A number of people have asked for a pre-Hadrian story about Royce, and for the the most part, I've not "gone there" because Royce was a less than "happy camper" during those days. But when Wraithmarked Creative wanted a short story for their "When Swords Fall Silent Anthology" I made an exception. It's called "May Luck Be with You" and the story explains the origin of Royce's name.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Q-7Wr7kgL._SY445_SX342_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="296" height="445" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Q-7Wr7kgL._SY445_SX342_.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.audible.com/pd/When-Swords-Fall-Silent-Audiobook/B0BQ7Q38G5" target="_blank">You can listen to it on audible.com by the amazing as always Tim Gerard Reynolds</a></li><li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/When-Swords-Fall-Silent-Assassination-ebook/dp/B0BS1Q8FRJ" target="_blank">Or pickup the entire anthology through theKindle Unlimited </a></li><li><a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/71257/riyria-short-stories/chapter/1364172/may-luck-be-with-you" target="_blank">Or read it for free on Royal Road</a></li></ul><div>If you take the Royal Road route, please follow, favorite, and rate the story - or drop a review to let me know what you think.</div><p></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-38652902421112544382023-10-07T13:12:00.003-04:002023-10-07T13:15:57.347-04:00Theft of Swords is a Daily Deal - get it for just $2.99<br /><div align="center"><table><tbody><tr><td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfbARC0I7VGDCcBghMc3oO8zTQT0_22-4IXg3f-461jcXk_GyzvhZsSK22_a01SWvrUxLPt5mdM-O_ZVTC8gziI62LpdeqGLj6rwNAWERo6A0UFkEJXDXRCqTgKR7KEFc61E7hHPuwxgAeHefDfiNyuNdmIyCV5JZmP8e_NRS4pqhw1ZVl10HRRZjGa7Gv/s2600/tos_cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2600" data-original-width="1766" height="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfbARC0I7VGDCcBghMc3oO8zTQT0_22-4IXg3f-461jcXk_GyzvhZsSK22_a01SWvrUxLPt5mdM-O_ZVTC8gziI62LpdeqGLj6rwNAWERo6A0UFkEJXDXRCqTgKR7KEFc61E7hHPuwxgAeHefDfiNyuNdmIyCV5JZmP8e_NRS4pqhw1ZVl10HRRZjGa7Gv/w284-h419/tos_cover.jpg" width="284" /></a></div><br /><br /></td><td style="text-align: center;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: red; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>THEY KILLED THE KING. THEY PINNED IT ON TWO MEN. THEY CHOSE POORLY.</b></span><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: #e7e9ea; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">
</span>Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles-until they are hired to pilfer a famed sword. What appears to be just a simple job finds them framed for the murder of the king and trapped in a conspiracy that uncovers a plot far greater than the mere overthrow of a tiny kingdom.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />From the <i>New York Time</i>s, <i>USA Today,</i> and <i>Washington Post </i> bestselling author comes a tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="a-text-italic" face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; text-align: start;">Theft of Swords</span><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"> was originally published as: </span><span class="a-text-italic" face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; text-align: start;">The Crown Conspiracy</span><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"> and </span><span class="a-text-italic" face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; text-align: start;">Avempartha</span><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #0f1111; font-size: 14px;">.</span><br /><br /><b><span style="color: red; font-size: medium;">Just $2.99 - Today Only<br /></span></b><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Theft-Swords-Riyria-Revelations-Book-ebook/dp/B004XWBUKK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1696697583&sr=1-1">Amazon</a> | <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/theft-of-swords-michael-j-sullivan/1100745113?ean=9780316200714">B&N</a> | <a href="https://books.apple.com/us/book/theft-of-swords/id432997806">apple Books</a> | <a href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/theft-of-swords">Kobo</a> | <a href="http://eBooks.com">ebooks</a><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: #e7e9ea; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">
</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-12323793671716711742023-10-06T06:50:00.030-04:002023-10-10T14:26:14.894-04:00Indie Author: a documentary for all who dare to dream<p><br />Okay, so here's something I never thought I'd be talking about. I "might" be in a movie. Here's the deal.</p><p>One day we got an email from "some guy" who wanted to talk to us about a film project. Usually these requests are from companies shopping for "an option" on one or more of my books. That's kinda like a reservation. Someone gives the author some money, and the producer gets a certain amount of time to try and put the project together.</p><p><b>This request was not that.</b></p><p>"This guy" — I'll call him Adam from now on because that's his name — had seen Robin and I on someone's YouTube channel being interviewed about something — I think it might have been about Kickstarters. Anyway, he found our publishing history, and our partnership, to be quite compelling. So what Adam was actually approaching us about was making a documentary about us and my publishing journey.</p><p>To say that both Robin and I had the same response would be an understatement. We had to suppress our laughs. We didn't want to make Adam feel foolish, even though what he said sounded (at least to us) as the dumbest idea ever. "Who in their right mind would want to see that," we replied. Adam tried to convince us there were people who would be interested. We had our doubts. But if he wanted to waste his time on this pipe dream, who were we to stop him.</p><p>BTW: For anyone not familiar with the term, a pipe dream is a hope or plan that you know will never happen. Its origins come from the hallucinations produced when smoking opium. Originally these hallucinations were called opium dreams, opium pipe dreams, or pipe dreams. In the 1870s, the term pipe dream became the dominate phrase used to describe the hallucinations a person experienced while under the influence of opium. But I digress . . .</p><p>Anyway, after that first call, we didn't think much more about it. We often get "crazy people" with "bit ideas" regarding all kinds of "unrealistic ventures." In almost all cases, it's a single phone call then we never hear from them again, which is fine by us. <br /><br /><b>But Adam called back a little while later.</b><br /></p><p>He talked about various ideas he had come up with which led to some other discussions where he learned about my mentoring work to help a small group of aspiring authors develop their craft, and Robin's endeavors to help authors earn more by learning the ins and outs of publishing. After that, Adam got even more excited. We still thought his idea was crazy, and again we didn't think anything else would come of it.</p><p> B<b>ut it didn't end there. </b></p><p>To be honest, I'm not sure how many total calls there were, but the more Adam talked the more we liked him. In many ways we saw ourselves...a creative person with a story to tell and a dream of telling it. His medium was just a big different. And I liked his passion and tenacity. We still thought it wasn't going to work, but <i>we wanted to make it work</i> - not for ourselves but for Adam's sake. </p><p>That's when lightning struck Robin. Now a bolt of lightning is generally considered to be one of two things:<br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>a sudden illumination and the destruction of ignorance</li><li>or punishment of humans by the gods from the skies, most commonly attributed to Zeus</li></ul><div>This bolt might be both. I don't know exactly what Robin said but it was something along the lines of, "Look, I really like your passion, but I can't see how this will succeed, but if you're really serious about it I can think of something that 'might' work."<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>That's when she went on to talk about all the various indie authors we know and how successful they have become. Each of us has had our own varied path to success, and we all learned a lot along the way. In general, the "indie publishing community" is quite cooperative (much more so than traditional published authors) and we're always sharing information and strategies. So Robin's idea was while "we" weren't enough to make such a project compelling, if we expanded it and included "others," <b>then, </b>there might be something that people <b>would</b> be interested in.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Adam LOVED the idea.</b></div><div><br /></div><div>To be honest, we still weren't sure if Adam was goign to actually "do something" or just be a guy with a dream that never quite got it over the finish line. But the next phone call was to setup a weekend where he and his cinematographer could come out to shoot some initial footage. <br /><br /><b>Okay, so we finally understood Adam was serious.</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Robin got on the computer and reached out to some authors who she thought would be a good fit for this. She even was able to convince a few of them to drop what they were doing and head to our house to join us for the weekend's shoot.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Since that original weekend, Robin (and our friend Bryce O'Conner - CEO of Wraithmarked Creative) convinced other authors to sign on to the project. Here's a list of some of them: Will Wight, Travis Baldree, Daniel B. Greene, Bryce O'Conner, M.L. Wang, delmach (author of House Witch series), A.C. Cobble, and Phil Tucker. </div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>There's just one small problem.</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Money. Film production is MUCH more expensive than writing a book. Adam isn't rich, and he didn't have the funds, and while we <i>could</i> finance the project, neither Robin or I were convinced of making enough to earn back what we would have to pay out. If Adam and his crew took no income whatsoever, they would still need $40,000 for equipment rental, travel expenses, post production editing, blu-ray production, and paying for a venue to hold a premier. That is a lot to risk when we still didn't know how to judge the interest in such a project. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Luckily there's a solution for people in that predicament.</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Kickstarter. It's the bastion for dreamers and people with crazy ideas. The concept is simple - tell people what you are going to make, and if they are interested, they pre-order it. If the project has legs, it funds and the thing is made. If it's a dud, then it dies on the vine, no money is transferred, and there's no harm and no foul. To be clear, if this project funds, Robin and I won't be taking any money. Our hope is that Adam won't have to volunteer his time and talents. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, since that filming weekend Adam has been working on setting up the Kickstarter and making an introductory video. The project will launch October 10th, and if you have any interest in backing it, you can <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1529652146/indie-author-a-documentary-for-all-who-dare-to-dream?ref=4s9cd6">sign up to be notified when it goes live.</a> While still a work in progress, here is what Adam has come up with so far.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OdPjcpdGklc" width="320" youtube-src-id="OdPjcpdGklc"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>I do hope (for Adam's sake) that some of you will be interested in this project. You'll hear A LOT about Robin and I - our background - how we do things - all stuff that people seem to be interested in based on feedback from our Author's Notes and Afterwords. Plus, you'll get the same from a bunch of other authors. And especially if you dream of writing your own book someday, you'll learn a ton about what it takes to go from a blank page to earning a full-time living. But even if you aren't a writer, we think you'll be entertained and inspired by these people who did the impossible and made their dreams a reality - and hopefully, if we all pull together, we can do the same for Adam.</div>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-37375547896849680012023-09-29T11:01:00.002-04:002023-09-29T11:01:17.101-04:00Esrahadddon ARC's have come in!<p> Are you a book reviewer (website, podcast, YouTube) or BookTok influencer? Would you like <b><a href="https://michaeljsullivan.survey.fm/esrahaddon-arc-sign-up" target="_blank">to receive an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy)</a></b> of the last book in the Rise and Fall series? Here are some details:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://michaeljsullivan.survey.fm/esrahaddon-arc-sign-up" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1667" data-original-width="2500" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYITiIcrbTdfX-REX489c-mHSJNazwqVLzguAv2odFcvuXajXEnlrwxR6P3HoR5weiuSJn2mChzukTRxU7mW7YIsx_bOotb76nnA_1mB6scslmzBxN8I5UYY8vI5Tx5P_Glk93Cd0ZCze5AorYU41DuEkvM5zuVwzO5WaVMZiK_IQCFUoipS3FTdLu_V1u/w640-h426/esra_add.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>For US Reviewers: </b>You can receive a paperback advanced reading copy. It's a monster at 736 pages and 2 1/2 pounds, or you can get an ebook version, or both.<br /><br /></li><li><b>For Non US Reviewers:</b> No physical book is available but you can get an ebook of your choice.</li></ul><p></p><p>NOTE: Review copies are sent "in the hopes of" not in "exchange for" a review. Receiving a copy does not obligate you to writing a review, although we would certainly welcome one.</p><p>Books will be sent out daily and while the current hardcover release date is in December, it's likely to shift to January based on current print schedules.</p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-64228775834035586032023-09-15T07:37:00.005-04:002023-09-15T07:37:58.032-04:00On Sale: Nolyn & Farilane - 63% off<p>August was the launch month for <i>Esrahaddon</i> (the final book in the Rise and Fall Trilogy). So,Audible couldn't have picked a better time to put the <a href="https://www.audible.com/series/The-Rise-and-Fall-Audiobook/B089YX3TDF"><b>first two book of the series on sale:</b></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.audible.com/series/The-Rise-and-Fall-Audiobook/B089YX3TDF" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="2459" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZglVLs7VWEEVuKGuK_M5NVT4bAVZqiYWBlmxsNXw0_PNgcLfmM1vRWTns4e1Uiy8_iQ6Ohj-68-3zXZx2buKI-PCkKHvDJuyU9MHskaQngKumDaEXFDgvv-H9HnkBslxpcOni6r6rBwL_V63JJztNJhvw-9_17lE5G20KcptMOOsBbW6XeiEkgkPZ6Rkt/w640-h136/monthly%20sale.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>For the next 15 days, you can get either title at a 63% savings <b><span style="color: red;">(just $7.99</span></b>). That's almost like getting both books for the cost of a single credit. Listen to them and fall in love with the incredible narration of Tim Gerard Reynolds, and when your done, pick-up the new and shiny Esrahaddon. It's a great deal at 29 1/2 hours for a single credit.</p><p>As always, Robin and I thank you for your support.</p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-15250974936174222822023-09-14T11:39:00.006-04:002023-09-14T11:41:24.313-04:00Update on the Free Novel Experiment<p> So some of you may know that Robin has been doing an experiment on Royal Road. She's basically posted two of the my novels for free in the hopes of finding new readers. So far, it's working well.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>It hit the "Rising Star" list (albeit near the bottom), and stayed there for several weeks.</li><li>It's currently in the Top 100 for Best Rated books (#92 to be precise).</li><li>It's just a bit behind one of the most popular books on the site (Dungeon Crawler Carl)!</li></ul><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhormtV8zEGcAdbRVY3vpwNlarrZi494JR-fxv0LSKMzH_VwVDTrW49tQfq3ON0BXC5EVyApN0btrehZ4uEIeLpb_Jkr2ypg1xNYvJpufpruJx8obvSgcnLV2rFFsEzTJdHStKjBkR7OT8JCGmEW2EMOtnXkKWIWzUdxk0-K8ZJmpEw5HRdVLpCl54N3Xap/s2524/top_100.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1380" data-original-width="2524" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhormtV8zEGcAdbRVY3vpwNlarrZi494JR-fxv0LSKMzH_VwVDTrW49tQfq3ON0BXC5EVyApN0btrehZ4uEIeLpb_Jkr2ypg1xNYvJpufpruJx8obvSgcnLV2rFFsEzTJdHStKjBkR7OT8JCGmEW2EMOtnXkKWIWzUdxk0-K8ZJmpEw5HRdVLpCl54N3Xap/w640-h350/top_100.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Not bad considering this site is mainly LitRPG and Progression Fantasy readers, and Riyria is neither of those.</div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h2><h1 style="text-align: left;">Do you want to help?</h1><div>There are several ways to do this.</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Tell your friends that haven't read any Riyria books that they <b><a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/71578/the-riyria-chronicles">can read two of the novels for free from this link.</a><br /><br /></b></li><li>If you've already read the books - <b><a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/71578/the-riyria-chronicles">go out to the site </a></b>and rank it, follow it, or favorite it. A review is also always appreciated.<br /><br /></li><li>If you haven't <b><a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/71578/the-riyria-chronicles">read the books yet, do so from Royal Road </a></b>- it won't cost you a dime, and more views means better chances of hitting the Rising Star list again where more people will see the books! </li></ul></div><p></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-86002887858911620062023-08-25T08:51:00.004-04:002023-08-25T08:51:39.405-04:00Release Day +10 Esrahaddon<p>It's been 10 days since the release of Esrahaddon (in audiobook and ebook), and the reviews are coming in. I'm pleased that peole seem to be liking the book so much. The audio version received more than 100 ratings and is running at a 4.8 average. Out of the 42 books released on August 15th, only one has more ratings than Esrahaddon. Here are some of the things people are saying:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="bit.ly/3KKjyX7" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIXd6SN0u0SIdADAjCRUGL4FTVeBeIlsjeWLaD3svTOA376NT6JhIu9bHnceRgQeamDymhEXyj3a-9Ej5pFV3TlIgA6n-Q4VGN35jKwIGcmk6k_sAc3FP8HDbvTscKhimpcnEvGcWUmtqhxLux0kOOSYT79vdGdoI29MMjgrrLVtLfLB-dG4kgJCHfCQj4/w640-h480/ad_quote.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>This is my longest single book so it's a great credit to lisening hours ratio (more than 29 and a half hours!) And as always, it's narrated by the exceptional Tim Gerard Reynolds. If you haven't gotten a copy yet, <b><a href="http://bit.ly/3KKjyX7">you can get yours here.</a></b></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-35881048289067116192023-08-17T04:38:00.004-04:002023-08-17T09:27:23.000-04:00Release Day+1 - Esrahaddon!<p> </p><p>Hey all, yesterday we launched Esrahaddon, the 19th book in the world of Elan. I should not this is ONLY for the ebook and audiobook versions. The printed books (both limited editions and regular hardcovers) are with the printer, and it will still be a few months before those are in our hand,</p><p>Even so, we ended up with just a tad over 15,000 books sold in pre-order (either through Amazon, Audible, our private store, or the Kickstarter. That's pretty good! Long ago we learned that most mid-list books are lucky to sell 5,000 copies so we are way ahead of that.</p><p>We also hit a number of the bestseller lists on Amazon (37 total, and 7 of them where #1)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_fY1DEko9HZ90E16JxPAT93SuZm_KMnr5oCfKj5hYFQOPNYBnyulJg3GvgZfjVzP9OX0CtGYEBRAhx1AVZ6Kk0xQf8bPAJ-AZwZyFzSlOBLFchxqJrx7LfcYjhARLANpMDknxBpI1UqJXgeEVUv2rvtHUtX9nftSGfbr9HTsDCbEH1Ez2_hDrheGsWXA/s4167/launch-day-graphic3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4167" data-original-width="4167" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_fY1DEko9HZ90E16JxPAT93SuZm_KMnr5oCfKj5hYFQOPNYBnyulJg3GvgZfjVzP9OX0CtGYEBRAhx1AVZ6Kk0xQf8bPAJ-AZwZyFzSlOBLFchxqJrx7LfcYjhARLANpMDknxBpI1UqJXgeEVUv2rvtHUtX9nftSGfbr9HTsDCbEH1Ez2_hDrheGsWXA/w640-h640/launch-day-graphic3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p>If you would like to <b><a href="https://fantasy-novel-esrahaddon-by-michael-j-sullivan.pledgebox.com/preorder">pre-order a signed hardcover (</a></b>regular or limited edition), you'll get it before the December 5th release date (basically as soon as we receive copies.</p><p>Thanks to the Kickstarter, nearly 4,000 people received the gamma version of <i>Esrahaddon</i> starting in May. If you are one of those people who have already read the book, please consider posting a review on Goodreads or Amazon. When it comes to a newly released title, no one wants to be the "guinea pig," and pick up a copy without hearing if others have liked it, so that would be a great help.</p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-47803128881790467102023-08-03T07:48:00.004-04:002023-08-03T07:49:53.807-04:00The free story experiment begins!<p>When I first started writing the Riyria Revelations, my plan was to post the stories on the Internet for free. You see, I didn't want to publish (that way just led to the dark side), and I had no clue how to self-publish (this was before the kindle, after all). At the time, there was no good place to do this so I think I had about three or five readers. Well, these days there's a great site for free stories, and it's called <a href="https://www.royalroad.com/profile/359028/fictions">Royal Road</a>. There are hundreds of thousands of readers out there, many reading early works by unknown authors, but Robin thought it might be a good place to help people discover Royce and Hadrian as well. She was right about using Kickstarters, so maybe she can pull this rabbit out of her hat, too.</p><p>Right now I have 50,000+ words posted and only 4 - 6 followers per title. That's not so good, but at this point there's no place to go but up. Here's what's out there so far.</p><p></p><ul><li>4 Riyria short stories (25,888 words)</li><li>2 non-Riyria shorts (13,280 words)</li><li>3 chapters of The Death of Dulgath (12,690 words and new chapters posting daily)</li></ul><div>The plan is to release my two indie standalone Royce and Hadrian novels (<i>The Death of Dulgath</i> and <i>The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter) </i>a chapter at a time - each day at 12:00 noon Eastern Time. When completed, that will be 215,000+ words.</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Already a fan? I need your help!</h1><p>Perhaps you've already read these shorts and novels. And if so - great! I thank you for your support, and I hope you loved them. And if you did, would you care to help others find these stories? </p><p>You see, Royal Road has hundreds of thousands of readers, but there are millions of words on the site, and it's almost impossible for those throngs to find a new title. The solution is the "Rising Stars" list where books that are gaining momentum (as evidenced by followers and favorites), get a spotlight shown on them. So, if you could go <a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/71578/the-riyria-chronicles" target="_blank">to the site (it's 100% free) and click <b>follow</b> and <b>favorite</b>,</a> that would help a great deal. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.royalroad.com/profile/359028/fictions" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="996" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZLdr2sU4WAbHoMmorqoTDV1ZS9OckFryw8ExSZXG_Lf81IBDqlsZCLnOmgRM_BdunbVO1ZemGNWRQPHbh7-iywAiYpfbR_UNiuNWLYLkbmBd2aLkYq4JYGkPkKkv7Huc6EHiOHY_h-M-d_AmjWiIBBUYx7flR6bJKtrmIs_R7bUESpzr8q0dfbjU_fHIi/w640-h384/ad2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><h1>Haven't read the Riyria Chronicles?</h1><p>Maybe you've only read the Riyria Revelations. Or perhaps you've come to my writing through Legends of the First Empire or the Rise and Fall books. If that's the case, then there's an even better reason for you to visit <a href="https://www.royalroad.com/profile/359028/fictions">Royal Road</a>. Free stories! The way this site works, is authors regularly publish chapters (usually as they write them), but because these books are already written and published, I'm going to post a chapter a day (that's what the Royal Road experts suggest you do in order to gain a following). <br /><br />By the time this experiment is over, I'll have posted two complete full-length novels (that's 215,000+ words). Below is a bit about each book, to see if you might be interested in taking a peek.</p>
<table><tbody><tr><td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV0Ixde_2Em2-K6jTP7uj5qN4DSdEzjw1z-imcU_uRo3NpiPSWnruUdKcLHObl0X-LbxBxeEZyyZuxb7Pqh9Zx7ndfqXgO6IX83NR7iheaPlW07kNXLrNYKS27Jp-PGwzzHAq2ihdYZXFE8pJ2IvDRmJiUqnVY955ZRr3TUXwZwTXJRWuVxZIJYsrafoyA/s600/dod_rr_cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV0Ixde_2Em2-K6jTP7uj5qN4DSdEzjw1z-imcU_uRo3NpiPSWnruUdKcLHObl0X-LbxBxeEZyyZuxb7Pqh9Zx7ndfqXgO6IX83NR7iheaPlW07kNXLrNYKS27Jp-PGwzzHAq2ihdYZXFE8pJ2IvDRmJiUqnVY955ZRr3TUXwZwTXJRWuVxZIJYsrafoyA/w133-h200/dod_rr_cover.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></td><td><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Three times they tried to kill her. Then a professional was hired.<br />So was Riyria.</b></div><br />When the last member of the oldest noble family in Avryn is targeted for assassination, Riyria is hired to foil the plot. Three years have passed since the war-weary mercenary and the cynical ex-assassin joined forces to start life as rogues-for-hire. Things have gone well enough until they're asked to help prevent a murder. Now they must venture into an ancient corner of the world to save a mysterious woman who knows more about Royce than is safe and cares less about herself than is sane.</td></tr><tr><td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfwuRTV_VlXeJkNtKUwta2A95h7g_e3hZ3V11jbDLPI31Yjqtu5toFREvO6fYWP7C0snSqNGr-QsupU0npGZyOZoWJgNikDa6TLYtvgYKhktDwYWYFpZ6SqpA7H2gHK6AvVgLSVPillNeJqydH3-2Yn55giEE9D7jszNc6rkBoxDRRcBrWkfGeCnel2HIh/s2600/wd_cover-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2600" data-original-width="1707" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfwuRTV_VlXeJkNtKUwta2A95h7g_e3hZ3V11jbDLPI31Yjqtu5toFREvO6fYWP7C0snSqNGr-QsupU0npGZyOZoWJgNikDa6TLYtvgYKhktDwYWYFpZ6SqpA7H2gHK6AvVgLSVPillNeJqydH3-2Yn55giEE9D7jszNc6rkBoxDRRcBrWkfGeCnel2HIh/w131-h200/wd_cover-1.jpg" width="131" /></a></div></div></td><td><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><b><a a="" are="" b="" daughter="" fortune="" paid="" rogues="" two="" vanishes.=""><br /></a></b><a a="" are="" b="" daughter="" fortune="" paid="" rogues="" style="font-weight: bold;" two="" vanishes.=""><b><span face=""\22 arial\22 " , sans-serif" style="font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><div style="display: inline; font-size: 14.85px;">A daughter vanishes. Two rogues are paid a fortune<br /></div></span></b></a><a a="" are="" b="" daughter="" fortune="" paid="" rogues="" style="font-weight: bold;" two="" vanishes.=""><b><span face=""\22 arial\22 " , sans-serif" style="font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><div style="display: inline; font-size: 14.85px;">to find her. It isn't enough.</div></span></b></a><b><a a="" are="" b="" daughter="" fortune="" paid="" rogues="" two="" vanishes.=""><br /><br /></a></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">When Gabriel Winter's daughter mysteriously disappears and is presumed dead, the wealthy whiskey baron seeks revenge. Having lived in Colnora during the infamous Year of Fear, he hires the one man he knows can deliver a bloody retribution - the notorious Duster. Riyria's job appears easy: discover what happened to the missing duchess and, if she lives, bring her home . . . if not, punish those responsible. But nothing is simple in the crowded, narrow, mist-filled streets of Rochelle where more than one ancient legend lurks.</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><h1>
As always, I'm eternally grateful</h1><div>I must say, that I feel a bit embarrassed to make this request. After all, you've already helped to make my dreams a reality, and now I am asking for more. But I truly think these books are a great deal of fun and I would like more people to read them. And since, they can do so without giving me a dime, I think it's might be worth asking for a helping hand. I'll keep writing and hopefully others will keep reading.</div>
Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-37030795506109344252023-07-31T08:37:00.004-04:002023-07-31T08:52:03.347-04:00Don't Miss the Orconomics Kickstarter!<p>Of all the indie books I've read and loved (and there have been many). The one that stand head and shoulders above the rest is Orconomics. Zachary isn't a fast writer, but he's an excellent one and his trilogy (The Dark Profit Saga), is finally done, and he's launching the final book with a <b><a href="https://bit.ly/45438jm" target="_blank">Kickstarter for the full set. </a></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://bit.ly/45438jm" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7yUbMxIbaz5Ds2yYmMHvZFXUn6N3b5sEcpJxvluYxTUabRNdCp8GwVqqrdhSdAe9Ay5U6EdpBKlLiFJb4W36ps99kkOdPANkBroRJK8rLcywUtKPx_YRR5HAkFo97tVcZyBurEygujt3E68TuoDhsKEweckNbzxgHzEjYK24oB6h58ALGMqRYJJP47-I0/w640-h360/dark_profit_saga.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Why do I love it so much? Well, it's so damn fun, and addictive, and original, and just plain wonderful.What's it about? Well, here's the back of the book marketing copy: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">High comedy meets high fantasy in this award-winning, bestselling satire</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Fight, kill, loot, get credit. Repeat until you're dead.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">The adventuring industry drives the economy of Arth, where professional heroes are hired to risk their lives to slay fantastic creatures. After said slaying, the loot gets hauled back and divided among investors, banks, plunder funds, adventurers, and the Heroes' Guild. This works out well for everyone except the Shadowkin—o</span><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">rcs, goblins, kobolds and the like—who must apply to become Noncombatant Paper Carriers (or NPCs) to avoid being killed and looted by heroes.</span><div><br /></div><div>When Gorm Ingerson, a disgraced and drunken Dwarven ex-hero with a checkered past, stands up for an undocumented Goblin, he is forced to accept a suicidal quest to save himself and his new friend from certain death. With one shot at redemption, Gorm must get his party of eccentric misfits to stop fighting each other long enough to recover a stolen treasure and stay one step ahead of the powerful organizations showing an unusual interest in their progress. Through a series of unfortunate choices and with the guiding hand of an insane goddess, Gorm inadvertently sets off a chain of events that will change his life<span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">—</span>and the world<span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;">—</span>forever.<div><p></p></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><br /><br /></div><div>Oh and you don't have to take my word about how good of a book it is. Orconomics won the SPFBO (self-publishing Fantasy Blog Off), and it was the highest rated book (out of 1,200 entries) over the first four years of that competition). I think it's still tied for first place after 9 years of that competition started by Mark Lawrence.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm an enthusiastic backer of this project, and I hope you will be, too. It's currently just shy ($9,000) of becoming one of the six-figure elite, and never was there a project that deserved it more. So, what say you? Do you want to be part of something truly special? <b><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jzacharypike/the-dark-profit-saga" target="_blank">Then head over to the Kickstarter and back it.</a></b> You can thank me later - it truly has my highest possible recommendation.</div>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-70565577392514680892023-07-13T06:30:00.003-04:002023-07-13T06:30:35.657-04:00Author Interview - The Fantasy Review<p>I had a great interview with the folks over at <b><a href="https://thefantasyreviews.com/2023/07/10/an-interview-with-michael-j-sullivan/">The Fantasy Review.</a> </b>There were a lot of great questions, but the one that is probably most interesting to people here is:<br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"> "<span style="background-color: white; color: #2c2d2e; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Are you working on any new books or other projects at the moment?" </span></div><p></p><p>Please check it out. The Fantasy Review is a great resource for people reading in the genre.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://thefantasyreviews.com/2023/07/10/an-interview-with-michael-j-sullivan/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="1200" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglq-KFJqXS2iIQjGhvSegNii-AVysPnczhXKnaZ1GqHgD-wjqrFb-JRKeR0GDkUO33I4HgbySLb0BN-t2gj_Oqb6VqfrldYUK93FS_PnPIAQWPv5W1UTA2wuv-MLiyG3SglAV3FEIDVaRNH5fIlZxpWvdrmeO1w0IXLXUeDwQKsQLIEXQrCz3I_WiYmeef/w640-h442/author_interview.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-47130070620209504282023-07-10T09:50:00.006-04:002023-07-10T23:33:10.711-04:00Starting From Scratch<p><br />So, back in the day, once I returned to writing after a ten-year hiatus, I vowed not to publish because riding the query-go-round and receiving nothing but rejections was just too painful. My plan at that time was to just publish the books online for free, and hopefully, a few friends would read them.</p><p>That didn't go well. At the time, they were on a website that few people knew of, and I think I only had three or four people take a look.</p><p>These days, there are much better sites for making stories available for free, one of them is Royal Road. It's mainly a place for people to serialize their novels, but for now, I'm going to post some of my short stories out there. The hope is I get some "eyeballs" on it, and then I can post some of my novels in the hope that some new readers will discover my work.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/71158/the-game8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="4167" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtY2sc5nzqPadlqzlA7BC1VFn7ovciXCdBMJaWJX6LKpAPeSrCWespmtPB8cXuOUAELP8OQtjwvp2ieb5WVXjdXG5ll1w1-nGJuc_sYMObdJhXstcaFW8rgoMUJCkaLV780ipvmtl7EKPwwyJZp8CEZDxaG34tVUa20PWVuyr_k3Rb8nE7sx2jO5qxpoXv/w640-h384/thegame_ad.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>As with most sites of this kind, discoverability is difficult, but I'm hoping that maybe more than three of four of you will read, rate, and comment on my stories, and if you do, others will start to find them. </p><p>Royal Road is free, and there are many stories to be found there. (Mother of Learning - a serial novel that has been doing amazingly well, had a Kickstarter done by Wraitemarked Creative that I backed and I'm enjoying the story quite a bit.</p><p><b><a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/71158/the-game">So please go here, checkout my tale, and please comment or rate it so others might find my work.</a></b></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-611106271836058642023-07-08T10:42:00.003-04:002023-07-08T10:42:59.417-04:00Farilane Trailer<p> It's been over a year since I posted this video, but it was buried in a larger post and so some people might not have seen it so I'm sharing again. If you haven't read Farilane (and you should since Esrhaddon is just a bit more than a month away), this may get you to give it a try.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MrAhXc02GUk" width="320" youtube-src-id="MrAhXc02GUk"></iframe></div><br /><p>My eternal thanks to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@riyriaexplained">@RiyriaExplained</a>, a massive fan on YouTube.</p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-6150686533259352232023-07-06T05:30:00.001-04:002023-07-06T05:30:44.700-04:00Fantasy Review's Six Fantasy Books That Will Make You Believe in the Power of Hope<p>I'm often asked by readers about other books that are like my own. In many ways, there aren't that many because I tend to see the world through rose-colored glasses, and much of fantasy prefers grim-dark spectacles. But I recently ran across a list from The Fantasy Review that focused on the more positive aspects of fantasy. So I thought I would take a moment and shine a spotlight on the books they picked. So here are their <b><a href="https://thefantasyreviews.com/2023/04/01/6-fantasy-books-that-will-make-you-believe-in-the-power-of-hope/">Six Fantasy Books That Will Make You Believe in the Power of Hope</a>.</b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://thefantasyreviews.com/2023/04/01/6-fantasy-books-that-will-make-you-believe-in-the-power-of-hope/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="470" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4seti_Bz87WdWga1pp7ZNzSc-SRwfaRwOYd23cC3qKMVhcoHZVeOYVrdK-kd9K8DLt3BCUpLWDqbBdUHg9ZFv89E8xOq4rTGHhxnr-2nGbcW2VnK0vOlM-YZtrs82nD-gdY3rv6x3rjJLVZ6d_ca2UAAykr0845Jik69pW9lMZec4MzogDdMRMTYxBBIc/w638-h640/6%20hope.jpg" width="638" /></a></div><p>I hope you find this list helpful, and I have my fingers crossed that you'll find more books to love. Oh, and thanks again to Robin, who did all the hard work of putting the montage of covers together and compiling data from Goodreads for the following chart.</p><div align="center"><table border="1">
<tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><b> Title </b></td><td style="text-align: center;"><b> Author </b></td><td style="text-align: center;"><b> Publisher </b></td><td style="text-align: center;"><b> Ratings </b></td><td style="text-align: center;"><b> Reviews </b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61242426-legends-lattes?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=XwQDSc5wHO&rank=1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="228" data-original-width="150" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLB1L38ELMEgRiWs2yRJIo-mxMgellGEFMW7vEC_QSrRClgKiyTcACXzmi7284zrO9OGjaOI9Se6fIOehPnZ-bj3r6jY_lkIZeHY1kWkVY2LzZbFlOCgi_59jYitaGp8wzmiYySaLDLKjhFVDRyqauUrSOiKQ09hJ_0l6i_1CvQj7I6GGpx9tdkSEsD7S/s1600/latte.jpg" width="150" /></a></td><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22182916.Travis_Baldree" target="_blank">Travis Baldree</a></td><td style="text-align: center;">Tor</td><td style="text-align: center;">92,501</td><td style="text-align: center;">19,302</td>
</tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45047384-the-house-in-the-cerulean-sea" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="228" data-original-width="150" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuj4WkpKWei2-iAejtQmBO1m5I_RAJIae73I71Rlaviegx2J8C08jx8c4MhHaB7YIQ7rxQ97fB-pIixGPfevGK7-WwYUpp59FAP1IU3mYMBiz5hO6-fv8U1f51G71AfBwp4es78wOO9fFp6qK9rxKmCrvlT9llyY23xGG2x3JDx_jMG8CDTAdiF2OTGlS/s1600/house.jpg" width="150" /></a></div></td><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5073330.T_J_Klune">T. J. Klune</a></td><td style="text-align: center;">Tor</td><td style="text-align: center;"> 486,459 </td><td align="center">80,996</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13812.Magician?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=XqF1tsRC7b&rank=4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="228" data-original-width="150" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXF4qF9sfhFvHNoUyq6Og5pAIb3ZeAfIDyGMn99RZslK-y27_5PNO9XElkbhEuF7pGzysTTf0xR_gp_O6CeXLdYBncalpjkEmQD0p-VEB8NiNQRngfNY40OH_Fv6ISAHQp5vndUatL_1fjdzuy79_GnyUt-EKuYUGl2RwwTLa4xdJeROaRW_aO2UprU8hx/s1600/apprent.jpg" width="150" /></a></div></td><td style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8588.Raymond_E_Feist" target="_blank">Raymond E. Fiest</a> <br /></td><td style="text-align: center;"> Bantam Spectra </td><td style="text-align: center;">92,472</td><td style="text-align: center;">2,327</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN9ci12sw7uvImdmsF5yMdAIg_6nuDMFtELdP59EySgYJchoNUAI4_Zo3W9cGbo8mCrpYbzA5vYXnchIcnTqsUC4epoo2cwyME3KET_1dKWo6eIavpkJi4HmM0pK1c6hqRBzFIf4Adw7XcDVL4LJ8WvXwid45C7tA6dijdBN9v-flG-DNLob7tGpkRZ6K_/s228/sword.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="228" data-original-width="150" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN9ci12sw7uvImdmsF5yMdAIg_6nuDMFtELdP59EySgYJchoNUAI4_Zo3W9cGbo8mCrpYbzA5vYXnchIcnTqsUC4epoo2cwyME3KET_1dKWo6eIavpkJi4HmM0pK1c6hqRBzFIf4Adw7XcDVL4LJ8WvXwid45C7tA6dijdBN9v-flG-DNLob7tGpkRZ6K_/s1600/sword.jpg" width="150" /></a></div></td><td style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9629.Terry_Brooks">Terry Brooks</a> </td><td style="text-align: center;">Del Rey</td><td style="text-align: center;">94,303</td><td style="text-align: center;">4,662</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43459657-silver-in-the-wood" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="228" data-original-width="150" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizRibTAAzauli5bVpxYtULArZiB8HPJtU2zG7JeXEMbgP_1-m_7njV-ub3_RF-FzGzfwDBz1j-OD-fwK4BSYQ5gZkHZkB4xEFsKVPlhe8UspPeTpA3W7rCnVhaMKROnF5UAgUMkn0VCGLYxFb6oYIGX5zPkAGNP7SCb7HBOoyaRlk9ukQ1U7D_l1pROtBY/s1600/silver.jpg" width="150" /></a></div></td><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18758567.Emily_Tesh">Emly Tesh</a></td><td style="text-align: center;">TorDotCom</td><td style="text-align: center;">16,171</td><td style="text-align: center;">3,126</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10790290-theft-of-swords" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="228" data-original-width="150" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbnhLmF0IaE0swjPxEPB5FEmyT2Uv2DXl4OBCLAjunEwKKBZxyCGH3coXeHQ8T58Wg20NtR8zlV7SWqL2Gaa8AQ3P-z-I8d1u4l1feUlguT7s5t9lzkZfIZ6p5bAoHMJIo19A3NJjud1mzn6xs5nT_KEAa1ojzs8lTBfELbGpBkTe2FtkJwLdKHCR8keuP/s1600/swords.jpg" width="150" /></a></div></td><td style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2063919.Michael_J_Sullivan" target="_blank">Michael J. Sullivan</a> </td><td style="text-align: center;">Orbit</td><td style="text-align: center;"> 64,926 </td><td style="text-align: center;">4,668</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354915789972448915.post-41274029922659445182023-07-05T04:01:00.003-04:002023-07-05T04:01:25.804-04:00SAVE 80% - Age of War Audiobook<p><br />There's another great opportunity to save big on a Legends of the First Empire audiobook. As part of the monthly deals, <i>Age of War</i> is just $6.99 (less than half a credit). This was my first New York Times Bestseller, and it has a 4.8 / 5.0 rating on Audible with more than 11,900 ratings. If you haven't picked it up yet, this would be an excellent opportunity to do so. <a href="https://bit.ly/3pDRSLt"><b>Get your copy here.</b></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3pDRSLt" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="4167" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjurCd4rG1BUKZk6CnDsICUvxXI79UxarBNp3NncpdK8Z3sgIo71Frlem7vA9SH-RXfX3UA7cckdk2jy9xFZygEHxzh66OlX32eDjMNlU23H0r6lFkcmYDD_FIZzH911UXGnvHm7YYpupnDB4vpea2HZDl8sj8fi6fw6Z5DJczgDyyQSLzEf9rshqbFzwy/w640-h384/AOW-SALE.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Michael J. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.com0