Signed Blood of Thieves Hardcovers Available for Direct Ordering

I now have copies of Blood of Thieves Hardcover in and ready for order.

This book includes the two books of The Riyria Chronicles:

• The Crown Tower
• The Rose and the Thorn

You can buy signed and dedicated copies from me for $22.95. That's a little expensive but it's because I have to pay full price from sfbc.com and have to pay to have it shipped to me before signing.  Other choices if you want to buy it:

• SFBC.COM - $17.95 - Currently #11 Top Seller
• Amazon.com Marketplace - $19.99 - $24.99

Also just a reminder, I still have a giveaway running for Blood of Thieves and you can enter here. Actually, I have quite a few giveaways running right now. Perhaps tomorrow I'll do a post that collects them all in one spot.

Hollow World Giveaway: Posters, ARCs, and Extended Previews, oh my

The general audience release of Hollow World is fast approaching (April 15, 2014) so it's time for another giveaway! No purchase is necessary and you don't need to be a member of Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, or any other site to enter. All you need is an email address. Here is what I'm giving away...

Posters - 5 winners

 This incredible depiction of Hollow World was created by the incomparable Marc Simonetti. He's the amazing artist that has created works for:

• The French edition copies of my own Riyria Revelations
• The French editions of Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles
• The Mexican version of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones

Just to name a few. This 36" x 24" (91 x 61 cm) poster was previously available only to those who contributed to the Hollow World Kickstarter campaign, and it is beautiful and suitable for framing. Five lucky winners will be chosen.

 

Advanced Reader Copies - 3 winners

Three lucky winners will receive a signed and dedicated advanced reader copy of Hollow World, and the best news is they'll receive it a full month before the official April 15th release date. Most of the advanced reading copies are electronic these days so there are only 100 copies of the ARC's to this is your chance to get your hands on something that will be kind of rare.

Something Just For Entering

Everyone who enters will receive an extended preview copy of Hollow World so they can get a head start on reading. This contains the first four chapters (60 pages) of the book and will be sent in multiple electronic formats, including a print friendly version for those who prefer to read from paper.

Bonus Contest for Goodreads Members

If you are a member of goodreads (and live in the US or Canada) there is another contest where you can enter to win.

 So that's all the details...oh except for the link to enter at. Good luck and early congratulations to the winners.

Hollow World lending a hand

From time to time I'm asked to contribute some writing to a collective work for a good cause. In the past I've provided...

• My short story, Traditions, to an anthology to help victims of Hurricane Sandy
• My short story, Burning Alexandria, to an anthology (The End-Visions of Apocalypse) to highlight some new writing talent from the sffworld forum
• My short story, The Jester, to help Shawn Speakman pay off his medical bills through sales of the Unfettered Anthology

The other day I was asked by the fine folks at Sci-Fi Saturday night if  I could provide something for a bundle they are doing to highlight some of their favorite authors. Since it has a very short duration (just 14 days) I agreed, and so Hollow World is being offered as part of  StoryBundle's Sci-fi Saturday night group. 

The way this works is pretty simple - you can decide your own contribution ($3 and up) 

• Pay at least $3 and you'll receive DRM free copies of the first four books
• Pay at least $10 and you'll receive DRM free copies of all seven, including Hollow World

The really cool thing is you can decide how much of your contribution goes to:

• The authors
• The people who run StoryBundle
• Or to one of two worthy literary-based charities

Since it is still 2 months until Hollow World comes out, this is a chance to get the book early - and hopefully find some other writes that you'll want to read more from. I'm hoping that adding Hollow World to the bundle will help boost the overall sales.

Speaking of sales, unlike the other projects I spoke of, where 100% of the money went to others, I will be receiving a bit of income from this.  (Basically all the authors divvy up the income that is attributed to "the authors" (amount/3 for donations $9.99 or less and amount/7 for those contributing more than $10).  I should note, however, that income wasn't my consideration for being included. In fact, I'll actually make much less per copy than un-bundled copies. As I mentioned, the whole point of being in a collective is to hopefully unite some authors and readers who might not otherwise get together.

While I'm happy to lend a hand for this, I don't want to inadvertently hurt Tachyon Publication's sales by having the ebook available for a short window earlier than their print version. So I'm going to make up for it by offering a pretty sweet deal on print.

If you were planning on buying the print book, but picked up the bundle to get Hollow World early, I'll sell you a copy of the print book at a price lower than you'll find anywhere else. Specifically,  I'll sell you a copy "at cost."  That's 50% off the list price!  Since I buy my copies from Tachyon at the same price bookstores do, this means:

• Tachyon Publications will get their "full cut."
• Readers will get the print copy at a lower price than anywhere else (as all other venues will want to make SOME profit)
• Since the book will come from me, it can be signed and dedicated if you wish.

I can't tell you the "exact" cost of the print book at this time as I have to wait until I get copies so I can calculate shipping costs...but as there is no profit going to me or a retailer it should be a deal that no one else can beat.

To get the discounted print book, send an email as follows:

To: michael.sullivan.dc@gmail.com

Subject: Story Bundle Discounted Print Copy of Hollow World

Body: Your shipping address - and any instructions regarding signatures - (signed only, dedicated, blank)

Attachment :-Copy of your story bundle receipt

Once I have the books with me and know the shipping costs, we'll make payment arrangements, and I'll send them out. I'll be offering Paypal, Amazon Payments, Credit Cards, and echecks.

So there you go.  For the next 13 1/2 days Hollow World is available early in a bundle with a bunch of other great books.  I hope you take advantage of this amazing offer, and most importantly that you'll discover some new authors to enjoy!

Hollow World Available Now Through NetGalley

Things are progressing nicely toward the April 15th release of Hollow World. I'm very excited. As mentioned in my last post, I was in New York the last few days overseeing the audio book recording. While I was there, I got a notice from Tachyon Publications that Hollow World is now available at NetGalley.

What is NetGalley?  It's a site that publishers use to provide electronic ARC (Advanced Reading Copies) for soon to be released titles. Speaking of ARC's Tachyon is also producing these, and they are currently at the printer. I'm getting a few cases myself, so if you are a blogger and prefer physical copies, they should be here soon.

How does NetGalley work?  Well it's 100% free for book reviewers and bloggers. All you need to do is create an account, then you can look for books that you might want to read and make a request. The publisher makes a determination and if they approve your request the book shows up in your library. From there you can either download it to your kindle, or to your computer to read via an adobe application.

So, if you are a blogger, and are interested in getting an advanced copy of Hollow World here is a link to take you right to the book.  I hope some people take advantage of this, and I look forward to hearing your opinions on the book.

Off to New York for Hollow World's Audio Recording

Robin and I will be off to New York tomorrow and Wednesday to meet the narrator and sit-in on the recording of Hollow World.  I don't want to talk too much about it today because that is a big blog post and I don't have time to write it before setting off. I just wanted to let people know that I'll likely be behind on emails and the like and won't really be getting back into the swing again until late Thursday.

I was only kidding...

when I mentioned my intention to dethrone George R.R. Martin from the #1 spot on Audible for bestselling Science Fiction and Fantasy. So, it was a great surprise when I looked this morning and found that it actually happened.

Somebody, it would appear, has a sense of humor. What does it take to reach number one?  Well I'm not entirely sure, but this is the sales information I have so far.

• 950+ downloads on the first day
• 1,750+ downloads for the first three days

I'm so grateful to Audible for joining with me to make The Jester available for free and that the incomparable Tim Gerard Reynolds added his talent for yet another Royce and Hadrian adventure. 

For those that like The Jester, and haven't yet listened to The Rose and the Thorn, you can join Tim and I with another free audio in the form of The Viscount and the Witch. It's not yet on Audible but you can hear it from my own site.

Thanks to everyone for your show of support, and if you know someone who you've been telling about Riyria here are a few good free ways to get them to give it a try.

Look out G.R..R Martin I'm #2 and gunning for you ;-)

What a surprise to wake up and discover The Jester is the #2 Bestseller for Sci-Fi and fantasy, sandwiched nicely between George R.R. Martin and Brandon Sanderson. Sure mine is free, and the other two require a credit or some cash, but I'm trying to ignore that apples to oranges aspect.

The Jester, as I previously posted, has been released to help promote The Unfettered Anthology which was also recently released and is doing well (current #12 of the bestseller list).  In talking to Shawn about the success of two audio versions, he offered me a download code that I could use for a contest.  And so I shall!!

If you would like to win a copy of the audio version of Unfettered you can Enter here. I'll also throw in one of my short stories just for entering. (Some of these have been (a) seeds that were later incorporated into my larger works, (b) previously included in an anthology (c) self-published as a stand alone, so please read the descriptions closely so you don't chose a story that you've already read elsewhere).

You can chose from:

• The Thieves - A Riyria story in which Royce and Hadrian are set upon by highwaymen (also found in Theft of Swords)
  
• The Viscount - A Riyria short story in which Royce and Hadrian meet the Viscount Albert Winslow (also found in The Rose and the Thorn)
  
• The Jester - A Riyria short story in which Royce and Hadrian escort a candlemaker and pig farmer on a dangerous quest and learn that the choices we make affect our future (Originally published in Unfettered)
  
• Traditions - A traditional fantasy wherein a brave girl dares to define her own future, even if it kills her (Originally published in Triumph Over Tragedy)
  
• Burning Alexandria - A book hoarder ends up with the largest library in existence in this post-apocalyptic homage to Ray Bradbury (originally published in The End-Visions of Apocalypse

• Autumn Mists - A dying man seeks to remember the magic of childhood (not previously published)
  
• Greener Grass - A man travels to the future and is shocked by the changes he finds there (previously self-published)
  
• God Games - A programmer is a little too good at their job, and the results have far reaching implications (not previously published)