Tinkering Under the Hood

With the publication of Avempartha, and all its associated marketing materials out the door, I can at last relax a bit and get back to, well…work. Unless reading this post is the first you’ve heard of me, you know that the six books comprising the Riyria Revelations series are complete. Complete is however, a relative term. The story is all there and I have gone over each volume enough to say they are in better than draft form and yet those who proof and edit for me might not so much agree. In anticipation of a general audience, they delight themselves in crash testing my work, looking for weakness, confusion, inconsistencies, and screw-ups. In this way, they submit to me arguments for adding new sections or hacking out passages.

The whole first chapter of Avempartha, (a scene detailing the attack on the Wood family that led Thrace to journey to Colnora), was cut from the book. The third chapter concerning Arista’s trip to Ervanon, was at first cut, (because of its long-winded historical nature that everyone felt would bore readers to tears), then replaced, (because it was determined that the information was important), then extended for clarity’s sake. Other minor plot-holes led to massive rewrites to patch them—all of which made the book better. Following this comes the detailed and lengthy process of line-editing and proofing—a seemingly never-ending quest. So, story-complete, and print-complete are two very different things.

This leaves me presently working on book 3 of the series entitled: Nyphron Rising. I went over it during the cold winter months then submitted the manuscript to my editors (namely Robin) who, as usual, found fault. She requested two new sections, which in reviewing the book alongside her arguments; I extended to five, much of which has to do with a consistency of presentation and an attempt to maintain the “stand alone” nature of the novels. As the series grows, it becomes harder to keep the reader apprised of previous events. I now realize that I don’t have to—I merely need to provide enough information to make the present book understandable. That’s still tricky to do using a mind that can’t forget that it knows everything about the story.

So, for those of you who’ve already finished Avempartha and are clamoring for the next in the series—book 3 is up on blocks in the garage getting an overhaul. It is already much better than it was and growing a bit in length. (Don’t expect to see a 700 page book coming your way any time soon. The novels do grow longer as the series goes on with book six being more than twice the length of book one, but this is a gradual thing. Some of you may already have noticed that book 2 was a little thicker than its predecessor.) Right now however, Nyphron Rising is covered in a tarp, with parts laying all over the place. The next few months I will be caught up in book signings and general promotions,
but with Avempartha out the door, I can at last get back to work on it.

Now if you excuse me, it’s a nice day so I’m going to prop open the garage door and tinker. Gonna need to tighten the screws on Melengar—where did I leave that three-quarter inch sentence?

Thus Spake Michael...

I was recently interviewed by the Story Institute concerning my books and writing in general. To hear (vaguely) what I sound like, listen to the podcast at: podcast.

Release Day!

With virtual lines of dedicated readers standing in the cold April morning air, the doors have finally opened. At midnight this morning, Avempartha was officially released. What that really means is that I personally have books I am selling directly through my website and Amazon has books in stock that they are selling. The Kindle version is also done and should be live any day now. The last thing is the distribution channel into the brick and mortar stores, but that is the slowest avenue to march down.

Amazon popped the cork early, going live with its sales of Avempartha on Friday. Some of you diligent fans noticed and took advantage of this. Robin put up the sales page on my website on Monday, expecting to announce it today, but once more fans found it and began ordering by mid-morning Monday! So while today is the official launch day, the book has already been selling copies since Friday evening.

My name, not being a household word, is not able to command legions of fans to surround Borders and Barnes, so a real midnight release is not in the foreseeable future, but I wonder if for the next book I could do a virtual midnight release. Perhaps when we are not so harried as we were this time, I might be able to organize some kind of chat event, and maybe all of you can come…and bring a date.

So far sales have been pleasantly brisk, and I want to thank all of you.

The Crown Conspiracy was published through a small press with limited resources, and Avempartha has none at all. Robin and I have worked incredibly hard to make a success of this series, but we simply can’t do it alone. We don’t have the resources or funds to advertise. I have met people who think once you’re published you’re automatically a millionaire. I’m not even a hundredaire. In fact, being a published author is little more than an expensive hobby.

My wife Robin has been a saint. She has worked tirelessly as my publicist trying to get the word out that my book really is worth reading. It isn’t easy. Who’s going to listen to the wife of the author? Still, she strives, and miraculously, she succeeds, but even so, she can only touch so many.

We attend cons, and do numerous book signings. We exploit the Internet as best we can, but it will never be enough. We simply don’t have the visibility of the big publishers. I can’t afford to put a full color end-cap and reserve shelf space at every Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstore across the country. I don’t have the clout or connections to draw the eyes of major reviewers. My hope of success is doomed to failure despite anything Robin and I can do.

But there is one hope—you.

The only way The Riyria Revelations will ever succeed is through word-of-mouth spread by fans who enjoy it. In my mind, it is like a giant wheel that Robin and I have tried to turn, a pump we have endeavored to prime. It is too large for the two of us to move much, but at some point, we hoped there would be a momentum that would spin the wheel on its own. It’s a long shot, and we knew that going in.

As it happens however, it feels like the wheel is starting to turn.

Robin and I used to struggle to find anyone willing to review my book. Now people are writing to us, asking for the chance to get a review copy. Robin battled to get my novel into the schedules of book clubs. Now members of clubs are nominating my book on their own. Reactions to my work have gone from, “Wow! I have to admit I had my doubts when I was asked to read this…” to “My already high expectations were exceeded.”

The wheel it seems is starting to turn of its own accord. The books are building a life of their own. Interest is sparking an engine that is slowly sputtering to life, and all of this is your doing.

Like I said, Robin and I have worked very hard for a very long time, but none of these most recent developments have been our doing. The wheel is turning now because of your interest, excitement, and kindness. People are spreading the news, sharing the books, posting on websites, nominating it for reviews, for reader’s groups.

Each day I watch the great wheel creak and turn. It moves very slowly, but I don’t think it is my imagination anymore. It is turning, and that is very exciting.

I want all of you out there, those who mentioned my books to someone else, who gave one of my books to a relative, or bought one for a friend; those who did a review on Amazon, or Goodreads, or on a blog, to know how happy you made me.

Royce thanks you, Hadrian thanks you, Robin thanks you… and I thank you.

You’re keeping us all alive.

Happy Release Day!

First Review of Avempartha

Liviu C. Suciu at Fantasy Book Critic has published the first review of Avempartha, and while I could not be more pleased with his write-up, I hesitate to send those of you who haven’t read the book there, as he does give away a few minor spoilers, which to his credit he clearly announces. Mr. Suciu has done very well by me. He was one of the very first to review The Crown Conspiracy, and now is the first to publish a review of Avempartha.

For an author who has few means of publicity, any form of exposure is welcome. Luckily, it would seem Mr. Suciu likes my books. My wife and I were beside ourselves this morning when we read the paragraphs:

I am happy to report that not only did “Avempartha” meet expectations, but it took the series to another level, ensuring that the future installments will be must-reads...

Overall, I really loved “Avempartha”. In fact, I immediately re-read “The Crown Conspiracy” the next day to try and catch any little details I might have missed the first time, and I definitely recommend reading the first book again for added depth. In short, “Avempartha” is highly, highly recommended and a novel that raises Michael Sullivan’s The Riyria Revelations to “major league” status..

This being the very first official response to the novel, I don’t mind saying that I counted the number of times Mr. Suciu used the word “superb” (three.) I am delighted and wish I could thank him with a post on the Fantasy Book Critic site, but that just feels like bad manners—an impolite intrusion. Critics need to be able to post what they feel without the concern that authors will comment on it. The only reason I am brining this one up here is because this is the first, and after so much anticipation, I can’t deny I am very pleased. I may soon face negative reviews, but for now, I can enjoy this one. And while the positive review is wonderful from a marketing standpoint, I am honestly most thrilled right now merely that Mr. Suciu “gets it.” I really didn’t know until now that anyone else would.

Mr. Suciu, you made my day.

It's Coming

I am pleased to report that Avempartha, the second in the Riyria Revelations series, is on time and on schedule to be released April 1st. While you might not find this surprising, after all I promised you it would be, it is in reality just short of a miracle. In fact, Avempartha is reported to be in stock and available from Amazon at this very moment. I will have a “buy page” up and running on my site www.michaelsullivan-author.com this weekend with the anticipation of books shipping out as early as Tuesday night.

Now for some Avempartha Trivia tidbits:

Size matters
Avempartha is the same size as Crown, but whereas Crown had 296 pages, Avempartha has 331—a bit longer a bit heavier.

Missing Parts
There are ten “chapters” in Crown, but the publisher decided to present them as “parts” and subdivide these into chapters. Avempartha will be presented as I originally intended. There are fifteen chapters comprised of simple section breaks. Also chapter names will be more prominent than the number of the chapter. In addition, the chapter name will appear at the top of the page opposed to my name. I trust you will still be able to remember who wrote the book.

Mapping success
Thanks to the wary eye of fans, I corrected a misspelling and a few other mistakes, that I don’t even think anyone noticed. The map has also been split into two sections rather than spread over two pages. Now instead of Avryn being lost in the spine of the book, I have included a full world map on one page and a blow-up of Avryn on the other. I also moved the maps away from the dedication page, so I can now autograph in felt tip pen and not ruin the map on the other side. (My apologies, and my thanks to those who pointed that out.)

Tis the Season
Crown was released in the Fall (October 2008.) Avempartha is being released in the Spring (April 1 2009.) Crown took place in the autumn, Avempartha takes place in the Spring. (No I didn’t plan that.)

Artistic Vision
Just as with Crown, I painted the cover for Avempartha. And while I am maintaining the Celtic knot tradition in the book’s design, I created a new book symbol for Avempartha.

Branded for Life
I added a fantasy code to the back to assist bookstores in properly shelving the book. Some of you may have noticed that Crown is often misplaced in general fiction and I have even found it wandering around the mystery and political sections. Even as I, the author, inform them of the mistake, they still don’t listen, maybe if it is printed on the book itself…

Now just one more thing:
Please be considerate while waiting in those lines that wrap around the outside, and weave through the parking lots of the Amazon booksellers. Remember it is only a book and there is no reason to fight your way to the door.

It is still very cold in many regions above the equator so if you plan to spend the night of March 31st in line please dress appropriately. Bring thermoses of hot drinks and use down-filled sleeping bags not the cloth ones, and place mats or even cardboard underneath if you are on cement.

Keep in mind that Amazon is not accustomed to having long lines stretching out their doors so remember to watch for, and avoid blocking traffic. If the lines stretch into busy roads remember to wear bright colored clothing, or better yet, reflecting vests. Police have already announced they will not allow lines to block streets consisting of four lanes or more.

Those who get in first, please don’t taunt the others in line, that is cruel and could lead to violence. For this same reason, Amazon and local law enforcement are requesting that customer do not bring swords or daggers with them. Also, remember the fifty-book-limit policy. It is there so everyone has a chance. How would you feel if you waited eighteen hours in line only to be turned away steps from the counter?

Re-selling on the grounds of the Amazon stores will not be tolerated. Amazon officials—dressed in uniform and undercover—will be patrolling the lines.

I have heard that Amazon does not have a problem with selling places in line.

In the event news crews arrive at your branch of Amazon, please act dignified in your interviews. It not only hurts the fantasy genre, but literary fanatics in general if you act like movie, music or techy geeks.

When you get your books home, keep them in a cool, dry place. It isn’t necessary, or advisable to sleep with them as you might roll over and crush them.

Be thoughtful of spouses, siblings and others residing in your home and don’t stay up all night with the light on reading and nudging them with comments like, “I knew it!” and “Oh my god!”

And remember that Avempartha, like all my books, are best read slowly to savor each word and soak up the moment because the next one won’t be released for six more months.

Putting Commas In and Taking Commas Out

Behold, a preview of the book—a photo of the first ever proof of Avempartha—the only one of its kind in the world.

The last two weeks have been like cramming for finals. After receiving the edited version of Avempartha back from the publisher, Robin and I proofed it ourselves and found a number of errors as well as numerous needed edits. When you are proofing a book you wrote for final publication, this sort of thing drives you nuts. Oscar Wilde once said; "I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out." This about sums up the final proofing stage.

The English language, while governed by rules, is often vague and capricious about those rules. As a living language, it is based on what is most commonly spoken and as such, the rules can change. What is written also alters the language-scape as well. Shakespeare invented scores of new words that became part of the common language such as: antipathy, critical, frugal, dwindle, extract, horrid, hereditary, excellent, eventful, barefaced, assassination, lonely, leapfrog, indistinguishable, and zany, not to mention a host of words that never before had the prefix “un” in front of them such as unmask. More recently J.K. Rowling’s “muggle” and “Quiditch” entered the dictionary. Writers frequently and intentionally break the rules of grammar as well. Most authors consider the “complete sentence” rule more of a guideline. Cormac McCarthy refused to even use quotes and commas in his prize-winning novel, The Road.

All this leaves fiction writing far more an art than a science and like art, the results are often subjective. What this means is that a lot of completely random decisions are made. Does that “had” really need to be there? Sure, it makes the sentence clearer, but it doesn’t sound as good and interrupts the overall flow. Technically, I should put a comma between those two adjectives, but commas form roadblocks for readers and the pace will be wrong. The outcome of all this is that a writer can spend the rest of his life dinking with the words—taking out commas just to put them back. Meanwhile, fans are beating on the door like villagers after Frankenstein. It has to go out—but oh no! How did that “surly” get in there, it’s supposed to be “surely!”

I’ve read Avempartha three times in two weeks, and I’m not a fast reader. The house looks like a dorm room with empty pizza boxes and dead cans of soda. With both Robin and I killing ourselves to get this release out as close to on-time as possible we’ve done nothing but work on it. I edit text in my dreams now. I edit my own thoughts. I have actually edited other people’s verbal speech. “You know you don’t need to use the word ‘and’ twice in that sentence.” People look at you strangely when you do that.

So what am I doing wasting time writing this blog? The final proof of Avempartha was approved and released for printing yesterday. Now comes the hush before the storm. The nervous waiting. The period of anxiety before the first reviews. Nothing to do now but cross my fingers and hope.

April Fools, Not So Funny

The economic downturn has thrown up a last minute hurdle in the release of Avempartha. My publisher recently announced the shocking news that economic downturns and tightening credit lines put them in a difficult cash flow situation. Despite having already invested thousands in the production of the book, they would not be able to print Avempartha.

You can imagine my dismay considering that I was also informed that Avempartha already had a large number of pre-orders. Just when my books looked to be picking up momentum, I would have to tell my readers that the series I promised them was going on an indefinite hold. The publisher was very apologetic, but there was nothing they could do.

By the terms of the contract I signed, AMI had until October to put the book into print before they were in violation of the terms. So I would have to wait until this fall to begin the process of getting the rights to Avempartha back and who knows how long it would take to put the book out then. All the pre-orders would be canceled, all the reviews that Robin was able to line up would vanish, all the book clubs who scheduled to read Avempartha would take the novel off their line-ups, and all the bookstores who had signings scheduled would cancel. And who knows how many of my fledging fan-base I would disappoint—I would fail to deliver on my very first promise to them.

Avempartha had been scheduled to be released on April Fool's Day, and the joke wasn’t funny.

Over the last few weeks Robin and I negotiated with our publisher to find a way to re-gain the rights to Avempartha immediately. The publisher has already invested substantial money into the book for editors, proofers, layout, advertising, and distribution, and so was unwilling to merely cancel the contract.

I am now happy to report that I have reached an agreement with AMI allowing me to regain the rights and release Avempartha immediately. I am even more pleased to report that Avempartha will be released on schedule (or at least darn close) under the Ridan Publishing brand.

Aside from a month of stress and long hours getting the book out the door, the only other hiccup is that those of you who pre-ordered Avempartha will have your orders canceled because the book’s ISBN number has changed. The good news is you can still pre-order, but need to use the new ISBN. So use this link and just re-order.

If you prefer, you can still order signed copies directly from me. I'll have a link established just as soon as I have books in my hand. We are doing some "rush printing" and even driving to Pennsylvania to pick them up to avoid shipping delays, so the second I have books ready I'll let you know how you can get them from us. (This by the way saves us money because 50% of the price doesn't go to the distribution channel.)

At this time, I think we will hit April 1, if not then very close to it—only delayed by a week or so.

I regret the inconvenience, but am happy the book is still coming out. So for now I will be printing/selling the books myself, but I'm actively looking for a new publisher though this may take some time. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.