Pre-order for The Death of Dulgath by Michael J. Sullivan

Heading for the home stretch
about 9 years ago – Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 11:32:53 PM

Hey all, Robin here. Well, things continue to be busy.  Tomorrow the beta edit will officially end, but even before it does, there are a number of changes that Michael has incorporated and copy editors are already working on the final polish. Yes, there might be a few more tweaks, but those can be incorporated and re-edited as needed. The important thing is to stay on the tight deadline this project has. 

This has been, by far, the most successful beta edit I've run.  How successful?  Well one of the things each beta reader to do is rate each chapter (there are 25 in total) on four metrics: Plot, Character, Pacing, and Overall.  To date I have 4,138 ratings compiled and here are the amazing results:

Having only 45 results as 1 or 2 out of 4,138 is just amazing. But the even better news is 3,877 4's and 5's. Typically beta testers are critical...it's their job to be...and usually the results are no where close to this high. I'm so pleased this book has sailed through remarkably well. I was pretty confident about its strength before I sent it out, but it's good to have so many third party validations (50 people) confirming this. I think you all are going to love it!

In other news, the winner of the short story contest is T.C. Powell's story, "The Methuselah Treatment ." It's a fantastic read and we are proud to have it included with The Death of Dulgath. Both Michael and I have gone over it for structural editing taking what I think is an already great story and making it (hopefully) even better. 

Once I get the book on the press, I'll be turning my attention to other activities including getting you all out various digital rewards and start printing the t-shirts, postcards, coffee mugs and other swag items. More on that as we get to that stage.

Thanks again for supporting this project. I'm so pleased to be providing such a great product in exchange for your trust.

Important Information for those at the CRITICAL CRITIQUE level
about 9 years ago – Thu, Sep 17, 2015 at 11:22:28 AM

Hey all,

I'm now in a position where I can start looking at some of the work for those who pledged at the CRITICAL CRITIQUE level.  So....if you are one of the pledgers this is what you should do.

• Make sure you provide a Microsoft Word document. Be sure to use italics for italics (instead of underlining).
• Mail it to michael(dot)[email protected]
• Important!! Put CRITICAL CRITIQUE in your subject line
• If you need it by a particular date, put that in the comment line as well.
• Attach the word file to the email.

That's it.  I'll also be emailing each of you these instructions but I thought I should post them here in case people don't see their emails.

Michael.

Video Diary #2 - Live from the Cabana
about 9 years ago – Wed, Sep 16, 2015 at 09:47:04 PM

Well the second one was easier than that first. I recorded it at my Writing Cabana in the Shenandoah Valley. It's now Internet enabled and remains "off grid" (powered by solar). This is a project Robin started working on last year and it's moving right along.

In other news....

•  A winner has been selected in the short story contest. I'll announce it in the next update as the emails just went out to the runners-up and I'd rather have them see the news there then here.
• The beta test is winding down.  Robin reports that of all our betas this one had the highest ratings from those in the test. She calls it "quintessential Riyria" and those in the test who have read some of the other books and this one agree.
• The "stamp" did indeed come in and it works really well. Can't wait to have the books in hand and start using it.
• We did a preliminary lay-out of the book and it came in 2 signatures larger than we  first thought it would. That's going to make the printing more expensive - but it also means there is more for you all to love.

I think that's it for now, other than to say things continue to move forward on this end. Oh...just remembered something.  There is one more piece of news but on a different subject.

My publisher reports that the pre-order pages for Age of Myth (book #1 in The First Empire) are going up. Pre-ordering plays a HUGE part in the amount of promotion the publisher does. So, if you think you might be interested in the next series please go to your favorite store and pre-order a copy.  Here are some Amazon links: US | UK | Canada.

I think people must be pre-ordering Death of Dulgath and Age of Myth because I'm showing back up on Amazon's Top 100 Fantasy Authors again. 

 Kinda a nice thing to see!  Thanks again all for your support

For those who have been waiting for the audio version...
about 9 years ago – Wed, Sep 09, 2015 at 10:39:25 PM

The pre-order page is up!  You can reserve your copy from this link.  The official release date will be December 15, 2015, and yes Tim Gerard Reynolds will be the narrator. This date was chosen for the following reasons:

• Usually the audio publisher needs at least three months from manuscript delivery to audio release...it takes time to schedule the talent, do the recordings (audio talent can't work 8 hour days because they'll lose their voice), edit and master (adjust levels etc) the recording, then get it out.  Audible is going to do this in just 2 1/2 months and were willing to post the pre-order without a manuscript because they knew it was so far along.

• Audible wants to make a "big splash" with this release, and this date will allow it to get extra "marketing loving" 

Even though most people don't know about the preorder, people are already adding it to their queues.  Currently it's...

• #40 in Coming soon for Fantasy Audiobooks (on Audible)
• #253 in Books > Audible Audiobooks > Fantasy > Epic (on Amazon)

Hopefully we'll see those numbers go up, as that helps with discoverability.

In other news....

• I've reviewed all 176 entries in the short story contest and narrowed it down to 15 candidates. They are: Jillian Lokere, H. L. Fullerton, Kate Smoot, Hannah Dancy, Tyler Powell, Desmond Warzel, Thorn Stratton, N. E. White, Heather Jean Matheson, Steve Williamson, Marina Lobstetter, Terence Kuch, Anthony Lowe, Setsu Uzume, and Zachary Brennan. Congratulations to all!

• The beta process continues to go smoothly.  So far we have feedback on 853 chapters. 39% have finished, 12% are in the last four chapters, and 30% are in chapters 10 - 19 (out of 25). The copy editors have been contacted, and they've cleared their calendars to get the book shortly.

• I've worked on the design for the stamp which will be used on the books. Here is what I've come up with.  It may need to be adjusted once the plate maker takes a look but it's what we have for now.

•  I've laid out the book to see where we are regarding page count. When running all the project estimates Robin based it on 384 pages (24, 16-page signatures).  It looks like we'll likely be moving that up to 26 signatures which will be 412 pages. Depending not the length of the short story it might even go to 432 pages. More to love.

That's all or now, it's getting pretty exciting around here.

Video Diary #1 - Finally live!
about 9 years ago – Wed, Sep 02, 2015 at 10:39:10 PM

Well, it's taken me awhile, but I finally got my first video diary done! If you've watched either of my two videos for the Kickstarters you know how terrible I am on camera, but maybe as I do more of these I'll get better. 

 I had to buy some equipment (the cell phone took great video - but terrible sound...and the iMac had great sound but a terrible camera.  I'm sure there are improvements overtime, but at least I have the equipment, software, and knowledge so I can starting putting these out.

If there is a subject you would like me to discuss, please leave a comment here and I'll certainly do a segment on it. After all these diaries are for you guys.

In other news.....

• The beta reader input has been coming in, and it's very positive. No huge rewrites required (so far).  It actually went out in three segments. And Robin just delivered the last 25% of the novel today.

• With the edits done, I've turned my attention to the short story contest.  I went through 80 submissions and 8 made it into the "read more" category - so about 10%.  I have a definite candidate for inclusion in the book. We'll see if anyone else's submission knocks it off the top of the pile.

• We received edits back from Del Rey for the First Chapter of Age of Myth (Book #1 of the First Empire Series).  Now that it's edited we can provide that as part of the Sneek Peek Rewards.

• Getting some nice feedback from people reading the Hollow World novel  (distributed as a reward last week). Remember if you object to profanity, there are PG-13 versions that you can get. I'm happy people are requesting them as it makes putting the time in worthwhile.

• One last item of update.  Robin's computer hit became a boat anchor yesterday. So she's struggling to use my Mac and some new software. She's "doing it" but it's not easy to learn when under deadline pressure. She's a trooper, she is.