merlinscribe | Blade of Empire Update

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Blade of Empire Update

As of last week, BLADE OF EMPIRE has gone through *two* editorial revisions and is now in production at Tor! This puts it on schedule for a Fall 2017 release.

I will almost certainly be turning in SCOURGE OF FATE by the end of this year, though what Tor does with it after that, and when, is anybody's guess.

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1. Tor has you on for Scourge and potentially some novellas that they have thus far declined.

2. You are looking into Kickstarter and Patreon for future books as publishing options have opened up.

3. Amazon has Blade of Empire pre-order out late October.

5. Scourge is expected (by you) to be turned in by end of year 2017.

Questions:

1. How do you and Mercedes co-author these books? Do you share in all parts or is one of you responsible for the over world and darkness and the other the light?

2. Do you find it difficult to finish off protagonists? I'm not wanting like a GRR style removal of characters or anything but the life/death ratio seems to be Tolkien or better.

3. We're the Phoenix books HEAVILY edited? They seem anemic between the original trilogy and this one so far.

Gah, phone auto-correct got me, my apologies.

All together now: Curse you, Autocorrect...

1. I am contracted to Tor for the book that was released today and for one other.

1a. Tor has no interest in World of Obsidian novellas so far as I know.

2. I do not yet know whether or not Tor will want any more Obsidian books, and may not know until the beginning of 2019. Regardless of their decision, I will continue the story. Kickstarter and Patreon are both possible ways.

3. Amazon has BLADE being released on 10/24/17, and so far as I know, it has been.

4. I am expecting to turn in SCOURGE by the end of this year. Fingers crossed, everyone.

Questions:

1. In the course of the writing of the last eight books, Ms. Lackey and I have collaborated in every possible way, including plotting the books in GChat. We bounce the short outline back and forth until it's settled, then I do the first draft of the long outline, she amends it, I emend her emendations, and eventually we both agree that we have detailed all the events to occur. Since each scene now has a number, we often write scenes out of order. Once there is a full manuscript, I do the first and third polishes, she does the second.

2. It's hard to kill people, and even when the course of the story is shaping in that direction, I try to talk the story out of it (with limited success). To have everyone survive everything would be unrealistic (especially since this storyline covers a century-long war), but at the same time I don't want so many characters to die that the heroes give up all hope and/or don't win. If Tor had published the original draft of CROWN, you would have seen the deaths of a lot more major characters. As it was, I had to cut both the characters and their deaths.

3. Tor wanted the Phoenix books to be very short. About two-thirds of the first one and half of the second were cut. I don't remember how much of the third one was cut: somewhere between a quarter and a half, to the best of my recollection.

-Kickstarter or Patreon are both ways I would definitely support the continuation of the universe!

-Unfortunately I have little time to read so audiobooks between classes and when eating is a life saver for the book lover in me! I downloaded BLADE this morning and am already so happy to be immersed in the universe once more.

-You've brought it up, I know I have brought it up before, but I would pay good (teetering on far too much) money on an author's preferred edition (a directors cut if you will) if/when Tor may let you (or the rights revert back to you), so don't lose those original uncut copies!

-As much as I do love the Phoenix books, I always felt like they were horribly mutilated in the way only a publisher can manage (being cut far too much). Truthfully though, it did feel like a lot was missing, I know there is only so much you can do when a publisher wants to cut so much but it always felt like they were the weakest story-wise.

Also have you considered the Amazon direct to Kindle/ebook publishing? As much as I love physical books, it might be "easier", though I am not sure what the Amazon self-publishing entails.

Edit: after briefly looking to satisfy my own curiosity it appears you can publish your books physically through amazon too and even make audiobooks

Edited 2017-10-25 00:50 (UTC)

Yes, you can publish physical editions of books through CreateSpace, which is, I believe, an Amazon subsidiary. The problem is that last I looked, they enforce a minimum price (set by number of pages/length) and do not let an author go below it, which I don't really feel to be reader-friendly. Still, it's something to look into if I ever have something to put up there.

::laughing:: Nine TB of storage means an author can keep EVERYTHING, so fear not for the "long version" form of anything. Phoenix #1, for example, was cut by at least half for publication. Unfortunately, there's no telling when TOR will release the rights. On the one hand, them keeping the rights means they have a vested interest in buying more books. On the other hand, it means there won't be an Author's Preferred Edition unless and until reversion occurs. It's a waiting game.

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Blade of Empire Update

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