I dun a(nother) book!

[Sly Boots]

So I've just published a new book, went live on Amazon over the weekend but I've been waiting for them to link the ebook and paperback versions to the same store page (other news, I have a paperback this time! )

This one is a prequel to the rest of the series, written to be standalone but fills in part of the past of one of the main protagonists so can be read before, during or after the series as well. It's a bit shorter than the others as well. It started out as a novella, but, well...



https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ravens-Edge-Ta ... 402&sr=1-1

That is all.

[Wrathbone]

Bravo!

I've bought your first book but I've embarrassingly not had chance to read it yet. I do aim to make it a priority.

With your new book being a prequel, would you recommend starting with that instead or should I read the original books first?

[Sly Boots]

Thanks man!

I've thought about this, and the honest answer is I think either way is equally fine, the intention was that it would be a bit of an introduction to the series and maybe pull in some more readers who might be put off jumping straight into a trilogy.

It covers events that I hint at ever so slightly in both other books (mainly as when I wrote them I knew something had happened but was still unclear on the precise details), and so I think it's quite cool to have read those and then come to this and go 'ah, so that's where so-and-so met thingy and that was the thing they did', but it's not essential by any means and hopefully works just as well as the starting point.

It's also shorter, about a quarter of the length of my first one, so if you read it and hate it you've just saved yourself a bunch of time

[Mantis]

Nice one mate, how'd you manage to get it printed? Self funded or with a little indie publisher of some sort?

I must confess that I got a third of the way into your second book and haven't been back since. Nothing wrong with it, I'm just crap at finishing books and tend to always have at least eight on the go at any given time.

[Sly Boots]

Nice one mate, how'd you manage to get it printed? Self funded or with a little indie publisher of some sort?

I must confess that I got a third of the way into your second book and haven't been back since. Nothing wrong with it, I'm just crap at finishing books and tend to always have at least eight on the go at any given time.

It's actually through Amazon, like a print on demand thing I think. It means a big print cost being deducted from every sale - at that price my royalty is about 60p per paperback - and while I noticed most indies price their paperbacks quite high as a result, because I wanted this book to act as a bit of promotion as well I set it low to try to attract more interest. I've had some proof copies delivered though and am actually really pleased with the quality.

Before realising quite how that worked out I'd intended to one day bring out the rest of the series in paperback, but given their size I can't see me being able to sell it at a price anyone would be willing to pay, plus there was a considerable amount of work to be done on the manuscript to get the paperback formatting right... the thought of going back and doing it not once but twice for books four times the size as this... I couldn't quite face it right now.

But now that I've done this one, for future books beyond this series I think if I set out from the beginning with that intention it will be doable, plus I think I'll aim to keep the wordcounts down lower.

[Wrathbone]

Thanks man!

I've thought about this, and the honest answer is I think either way is equally fine, the intention was that it would be a bit of an introduction to the series and maybe pull in some more readers who might be put off jumping straight into a trilogy.

It covers events that I hint at ever so slightly in both other books (mainly as when I wrote them I knew something had happened but was still unclear on the precise details), and so I think it's quite cool to have read those and them come to this and go 'ah, so that's where so-and-so met thingy and that was the thing they did', but it's not essential by any means and hopefully works just as well as the starting point.

It's also shorter, about a quarter of the length of my first one, so if you read it and hate it you've just saved yourself a bunch of time

Cool, nice insight from the author himself! I think I’ll read them in release order based on that.

Mantis, I’m exactly the same with reading multiple books at once and being terrible at finishing them. I don’t do new year resolutions, but if there’s anything I want to focus on improving this year it’s discipline with finishing books. I’ll admit that GRRRRR Martin’s Fire and Blood - while occasionally great - is mostly testing my endurance.

[Mantis]

Oh boy, I was listening to Fire and Blood on Audible before Christmas and doing fairly well because I could multi task (mostly driving with work whilst listening) but then my sister bought me a copy for Christmas and when I tried to read the hardback it just killed it for me entirely. Can't even be bothered to go back to the audiobook, I'm so sick of being bombard with hundreds of pointless names with zero personalities and stilted dialogue! Wish he'd just crack on with Winds of Winter instead.

[Sly Boots]

I hate it when authors bring out other books when they're partway through a series they've yet to finish.

But yeah, how long has it been since ADWD? *googles* Over 7 years (2011)!

Yeah, that's... that's getting a bit silly now.

[Wrathbone]

My hope is that he’s secretly rolling the final two books into one, which is why it’s taking so long, but in all likelihood it’s simply because he’s struggling with it. He’s said many times how it’s logistically and creatively difficult, how the expectation and pressure is impacting him and how he has other projects he wants to work on too. I do wonder if the TV series hadn’t been such a success and brought the series to global attention, would he have almost finished book seven by now?

[Rusty]

And bought. Still only on the first chapter on book 2 though...

[Sly Boots]

Thanks man, hope you like it

[[ NG ]]

Bought a kindle copy. Haven't started the second book, been very busy, but I do remember much of the first. Any thought on having your books done in audiobook format as an alternative to doing the previous books in paperbook format?

[Sly Boots]

Bought a kindle copy. Haven't started the second book, been very busy, but I do remember much of the first. Any thought on having your books done in audiobook format as an alternative to doing the previous books in paperbook format?

Ah man, it basically comes down to expense I'm afraid... barely even covering the cost of my cover art at the moment, let alone paying for studio time and an actor to spend several hours reading each book

[Sly Boots]

Bought a kindle copy. Haven't started the second book, been very busy, but I do remember much of the first. Any thought on having your books done in audiobook format as an alternative to doing the previous books in paperbook format?

So, coincidentally, over the weekend I was contacted by a voice actor who does audiobook narrations. I asked for a quote and given the length of my book it came back as £6,250 (basically £250 for every 10,000 words narrated)

So, yeah, will be putting that on the back-burner for now -_-

[Medicine Man]

Six grand?! Who was it? Fry? Attenborough?

Comedy gold. I'll do it for a cup of tea and a thank you.