This is a question I’m getting often right now. That’s a good sign, it means people are reading and enjoying Age of War and want more. I recently wrote a pretty detailed email on this subject, and I thought I should share it here as well. It’s not a short answer, but I want to be comprehensive, so bear with me.
So, as you may already know, all the books of the Legends of the First Empire were written before I sought a publisher for the series. At the time, the series was five books and Robin (my wife) declared the first three were in really good shape, but the last book was rushed, and it felt like I was “smooshing” two stories into one volume…and she was right. So, I ended up making six books and the series nicely divided into two closely related trilogies. After reading the revised version, she still had a number of plot problems with “the back half” of the series and submitted me a long list of changes. I’ve hence made fixes to that list, and Robin now proclaims the series “ready for prime time” The first milestone has been reached!
Originally, Del Rey signed me to a four-book contract (the first three books of Legends of the First Empire) and one yet to be named book based in Elan. The intention was to sign the remaining two books to them so that they would release the whole series. Well, when it came time to negotiate the new contract, I had to remind Del Rey that the audiobook rights to the remaining books had already been sold, and this presented a problem. You see, the parent company (Penguin Random House), made a new policy where Del Rey couldn’t sign books where the audiobook rights weren’t available. So, even though the books have sold well (#1 and #2 hit the Washington Post hardcover bestseller list and #3 hit the New York Times audiobook bestseller list), and we’ve enjoyed working together, we can’t continue to publish these books as a team. This was quite disappointing, but also something that Robin thought might happen. Still, the value of the audiobooks is so great that we can’t really afford to split that money 50/50 with a print/ebook publisher.
Becuase the series breaks down neatly into two trilogies, I also didn’t want to make that “yet to be named book” the fourth book of the Legends series if they weren’t also signing the rest of the books, so, instead, I asked if we could end the relationship with Age of War so we could have a clean break there, and Del Rey agreed.
We then went in search of a publisher who would take only the print rights, and we found Kensington Press (the biggest of the independent (non-big five) publishers. We struck a deal and started working on the contracts. A process that always takes a very long time (because Robin has to negotiate a number of things out of the contract before I’ll sign). Much of the changes was revolve around control issues. They wanted a release schedule that matched Del Rey’s (one book a year in the summer June or July). We wanted the books to come out faster (mainly because I’ve already started writing my next trilogy (The Rise and the Fall), and I expect it’ll be done soon. I didn’t want these new books “waiting in the wings” for multiple years. Anyways, after months and months of back and forth, we decided that I’d be happier with self-publishing where I had total control of content, release date, pricing, and a bunch of other issues. So even though Kensington made a lot of concessions, we ultimately couldn’t come up with a contract that we were both happy with so that deal is now dead.
Now that we had the rights to the “second half of the series” in complete control, we could do whatever we want…but what would that be? Ideally, we want the books to come out quickly (but without any sacrifice in quality). So the current plan is to go through the whole last part of the series at once–polishing all three books back to back. What that means is we have a lot of lifting to do, but the books are in good shape so it’s light lifting rather than heavy.
Our current plan is to release the books as follows:
- Age of Legend (April 2019)
- Age of Death (October 2019)
- Age of Empyre (April 2020)
That means all three books will come out in a single year’s time. Now that said, I should note there is a lot left to do.
- Robin has to give me one last list of changes (all of which she claims to be minor)
- The books have to have a line edit pass before going to the beta readers
- We have to run the beta reads
- I’ll have to incorporate changes post beta feedback
- We’ll have to do another pass of line edits
- The books will go to the copyeditors (we’ll use two and would like to do so serially)
- The books have to be laid out for printing
- The books have to go through proofers and gamma readers
- Any last minute errors have to be fixed
- The books have to go to the printers
- The books have to be recorded
- The books have to be formatted for ebooks
That’s a lot to do on three books of over 400,000 words. We may not be able to do all of that by April, but that’s what we are shooting for. Robin’s due date to have the changes to me is by the end of this month (which is fast approaching). And she’s still busy on some other activities. including:
- Proofing Age of Myth Graphic Audio production
- Getting Winter’s Daughter ready for it’s October release
- Arranging for warehousing, distribution and fulfillment for all my books
- Setting up Kickstarters (2 for hardcover editions)
- Coordinating with our accountant for taxes (we filed an extension)
The good news, is if we miss April, we’ll still be able to do the “rapid release” of having all books out in a year. It’s really just “when” that year will start.
Oh, a few other things I should note. The plan is to have the second half of the series “match” the first half. Of course, we are still using Marc Simonetti for the cover designs, and we are doing some “reverse engineering” to determine the same stock as Del Rey used for paper. We’ll also make sure the sizes match (so everything lines up nicely on your bookcases). In order to do this, however, will require a substantial upfront cost for the print run. So we’ll most likely run Kickstarters to help with the printing. The good news…people who participate in the Kickstarter will be able to read the book even before the official release date, so if you’re really anxious you’ll be able to get the book even sooner.
Whew, see, I said it was a long answer. But hopefully, it lets everyone know what to expect.
The Legends of the First Empire Series 
I’m so glad you’re doing it that way and that you found a publisher who would work with you on what you wanted in your contract. For your information, I cried for at least an hour as I read the end of Age of War. You broke my heart. Excellent!
Hey Susan, sorry for the broken heart…hopefully it will mend by the time Age of Legend comes around. Kensington made a lot of concessions, but at the end of the day we just couldn’t get a contract that we both could be happy with. But no worries, we have a long history of quality self-published works and we’ll get the book out as soon as we can. If you want to sign up for early notification, you can do so here: https://michaeljsullivan.polldaddy.com/s/age-of-legend-pre-order
I have absolutely loved this series thus far which then got me into Riyeria (I have listened to the first two books of Revelations so far). I think your writing is fantastic and how in depth the world is over a huge time span. I really do feel emerged inside the world. Also, you seem to have a great partner in Robin! I hope everything goes well with the self-publishing too!
Hey Matt, glad you are enjoying the tales…and I’m thrilled you are checking out Riyria as well. Robin is a great partner to be sure. I think I’ll keep her! I’m sure the self-publishing will go smoothly, we’ve done A LOT of this in the past. Age of Legend will be our 9th self-published book.
Will there be a kickstarter for Age of Legend? I just preordered but don’t know how that would work if there is a kickstarter.
Really? What link did you use to pre-order from? Because, I’m not aware of any pre-order pages existing for this book, and if there are some, I need to find out what is going on with that. Oh, or do you mean you signed up for early notification (added your email to a list)? Because that’s a bit different 😉 and maybe our form doesn’t say the right thing ;-). If that’s the case, I’ll fix the form.
Yes, there will be a Kickstarter for Age of Legend because we want to match the existing books and that will require a print run. It will probably launch early next year and people who back via the Kickstarter will get to read the book before anyone else.
If you did indeed sign up for early notificaiton, then you will get an email from me when we are ready to launch so you’ll have an opportunity to get items that are limited in quantity and also get the early-bird discounts.
Thanks for the detailed update, Michael! I’ve always appreciated your openness about the process, and as a writer it’s fascinating to see all the pieces moving. Looking forward to the books! (And also The Rise and the Fall!)
Jesse.
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You are very welcome, Jesse. We’ll keep the books coming!
“We’ll also make sure the sizes match (so everything lines up nicely on your bookcases).”
This thoughtfulness and attention to the details you know readers care about is just one of the hundreds of reasons why you are my favorite author! Am I sure? Pretty sure. 😉
Haha – Thanks!
The audiobooks (which are necessary for my long drives to work) are still set to publish at the same time the print books are, right? I do intend at some point to purchase all your books in print, because I do believe they are stories worth owning, and rereading, however my current needs focus around the audio versions.
I did respond on your previous page explaining my current situation and of course fawned oodles of praise and adulation of your work. Thank you for Raith and his world ……… it makes my 4 hour commute each day worth getting into the drivers seat for.
Stacey T
Veneta Or
Hey Stacey,
Yes, although a number of people have received the ebook early (for being Kickstarter backers), the print, hardcover, and audiobook are being simultaneously released July 9th through the retail chains. The pre-order page for the audiobook is already up (https://www.audible.com/pd/Age-of-Legend-Audiobook/1490656243). So if you place an order now, it’ll show up on release day.
Greetings,
This might be the wrong place to ask such a question so feel free to remove it if you want to.
I am currently looking into the topics of royalty payments for independent authors and those under contract. As far as i can tell, most authors (who work with publishers) receive around 15% royalties from printed books. I however could not find a number for publisher ebooks, i would imagine they are, if at all, only slightly higher than those of the printed books due to the “only print and ebook rights” kind of contracts.
So out of curiosity, considering the involved costs, how much more of a sold printed book will go to authors directly? And with those numbers (and the according ebook price) in mind, will / can trade paperbacks be a thing?
You’ve thrown me off a bit when you say “independent authors under contract” because usually “independent” means self-published (and there is no contract).
But if we are talking about traditional publishing (where there are contracts) royalties for “print books” are based on “list price” and depend on the format of the book. Generally speaking it is 10% for the first 5,000 HARDCOVERS, 12.5% for the next 5,000 HARDCOVERS and 15% for all above 10,000. For trade paperbacks, it’s 7.5%. For Mass market paperbacks, it can be 6% – 8% — and it often has an escalator at 100,000 copies that go up 2%.
For ebooks released through publishers, the amount is 25% of net…where net depends on the contract that the publisher has with Amazon. In the past 70% of list price was common – So that would mean 25% of 70% and when you take into account the 15% that the agent receives that means 14.9%.
As for “how much more” we get from a sold printed book – it depends on whether it is bought from a store or from the author’s website. Generally, the store gets 50% – 60% of list price. So buying directly from an author cuts out that very big %.
I’m not sure what you are asking about whether “trade paperbacks” being “a thing” but yes, it is a format often used by both self and traditional publishers.
I loved the last three books. Unfortunatly I started reading in German. So when will be Age of Legend bei released in German? Can’t wait.
You know, I don’t know the schedule for the release of the other books. But I suspect they won’t take too long for the translations.
I read the first three books in rapid succession. Sadly, when I went to purchase the 4th, I discovered there is no ebook available. I only purchase ebooks for ease of storage and travel, so will have to wait. Any idea when the expected release of the ebook will be? I’m greatly looking forward to it.
Age of Legend is available at all ebook retailers (and also available for purchase from our online store). Where were you TRYING to buy it from?
From Barnes and Noble. It only lists hardcover and paperback. But I did find it on Amazon. I usually shop through Barnes and Noble, but their loss. Thanks!