The Crown Tower: Book 1 of The Riyria Chronicles

by Michael J. Sullivan

  How would you describe your writing style?

  Which one? It can change depending on the project. I adopt the style that best fits the work. As previously mentioned, my literary piece has very well-crafted prose and vivid characters, but an almost nonexistent plot. I also can write in a strong voice, where the narrator becomes part of the story. Then there are the Riyria books. My goal with them was to keep the writing unadorned and have it fade from the page so that the story played like a movie in the reader’s mind. I didn’t want the reader to notice the words, and I had to kill great sentences to avoid the chance that a reader might pause to consider how good, and subsequently how out of place, a particular passage might be.

  While the style of the prose varies from work to work, I’ve come to settle on a few consistencies. What I choose to write now are those things I enjoy reading. This generally means that the characters will be likable, the pacing brisk, and the story will move readers emotionally. My goal is to make readers laugh, cry, and possibly learn something new. If I can do all three, then I feel that I’ve done my job. I honestly can’t think of anything else a novel can be expected to do.

  What advice would you give to readers looking to find a new favorite author?

  In the old days, the bookstore was the source for discovering authors. You could spend hours roaming the aisles and often find someone new catching your eye. Nowadays, not only are there fewer bookstores but shelf space is also in decline. Room has been made for cafés, nonbook merchandise such as toys or games, and the stores are often stocking only a single copy of many books, which means a title might be out of stock on your visit. They are even forgoing bookshelf presence for new authors or those who have not sold well in the past. Even those who are stocked often have a short amount of time on the shelf. If they don’t find an audience, they are bumped by a newer release.

  For me, I find Amazon a better place to shop for new talent. While I appreciate that some have issues with them, there is no reason not to use their tools for author discoverability. Amazon benefits from the artificial intelligence that is possible by analyzing millions of purchases. Often the easiest way to find a new title is to go to one of your favorite books (or authors) and look at the Also Bought lists. I’ve found this to be particularly good at finding books that are similar to one another.

  But suppose you want something completely different? Some lament that there are too many choices and it is difficult to find the gems in a sea of mediocrity. But here again Amazon can be a huge help. They now have features such as Author Rank, which will show you the top 100 authors in a given category (the lists are compiled by examining sales and ratings across all books by an author). While this will show many of the big names, even new authors like me or top-selling self-published authors appear on the Top Fantasy Author list. For instance, as of this interview ( January 2013), I was on the Top 100 Fantasy Book List for most of December 2012 and all of January 2013. Also, the Kindle store has a Top Rated list for categories such as epic fantasy, contemporary fantasy, or historical fantasy, just to name a few. This shows titles that other readers have given high marks to, and my experience has been that these are indeed the cream that has risen to the top.

  What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

  I think the most inspirational thing I can think of is that the only way to guarantee failure is to stop trying. This is a business that rewards persistence. Many people say you need “luck” to make it, but I think we make our own luck by stacking the odds in our favor. If your first book doesn’t catch fire, write another. Don’t rely on others to get the word out, even if you are published through a large traditional publisher. Take responsibility for building your own audience. Set your sights toward continuous improvement and don’t expect overnight success. Both Stephen King (who considers your first million words as practice) and Malcolm Gladwell (who claims success in any field is achieved by practicing a task for at least ten thousand hours) recognize that it takes time to develop your skills. If you think your first finished novel is a train wreck, you’re right on track. Recognize that it is an investment rather than a waste of time. Think of the time you spend writing as the payment of dues necessary to get your work to a salable level.

  What have you learned about publishing that you didn’t know going in?

  That every time you reach a goal there is always another (or several others) that lie just beyond your reach. In many ways it’s like hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains—just as you reach the top of a ridge, you find a whole series of peaks that stretch out to the horizon. I’ve been able to tick off many of my initial goals: finish a book, complete a series, get published, find an audience, get good reviews, break the Amazon top 20, earn a living, sell more than a hundred thousand copies, and so on. But I still feel there is so much left to do. I still dream that someday I’ll hit one of the major best-seller lists such as the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, or USA Today. I’d love to see a movie based on the books on the big (or small) screen. And my next sales goal is to cross the million mark. I have no complaints about where I am now, but I also think it’s good to have something more to strive toward, and the nature of this business means I’m not likely to run out of brass rings to reach for anytime soon.

  What is the biggest misconception that readers have about publishing?

  I don’t think they realize just how little most average writers make and how few can earn a full-time living from their novels. Most authors I know have day jobs (including those whose names many readers would recognize and even those with multiple titles released). Many debut authors receive advances of just $5,000 to $10,000 per book and those payments can be spread across several years (generally one-third when signed, one-third when the manuscript is accepted, and one-third when the book is published). Also, authors have the additional self-employed tax burden because they have to pay both halves of Social Security and Medicare.

  What is the biggest misconception that writers have about publishing?

  I often hear writers say that they are avoiding self-publishing because they don’t want to market themselves. This seems to imply that if they are traditionally published that they are somehow absolved of this responsibility. I personally think that the authors who will be the most successful are those who don’t abdicate their role in building an audience. Social networking has made it possible for authors and readers to interact in ways that have never been possible in the past, and this makes it possible for authors to take the reins with respect to getting noticed. I contend that unless you receive a seven-figure contract, then your marketing responsibilities should be the same regardless of whether you are self-published or traditionally published.

  Do you prefer traditional publishing or ­self-­publishing?

  The publishing landscape has become very polarized in recent years, an incredible change considering it wasn’t that long ago that self-publishing was considered the last resort for the desperate or hopeless. There are pundits on both sides who claim their preference is the only “right” choice, but I see advantages and disadvantages in both paths.

  Traditional publishing takes care of production tasks and therefore provides me more time to write. I have a whole team who works on the editing, layout, cover design, and the like, but on the downside it pays a fraction of the amount earned per book when I self-publish. I actually enjoy being in control of aspects such as price, cover design, title, and categorization of the books, but not all authors do. So depending on your perspective, having to take responsibility for these tasks can be a positive or a negative.

  -Self-publishing offers a very attractive income proposition. Not only am I paid monthly (as opposed to twice a year), I can also sell a book for less and earn more. As I mentioned, it’s really hard to earn a full-time living through traditional publishing, and I think in the future the most successful authors will be those who become “hybrids”: who combine the income potential of self-publishing with the credibility and audience expansion
that traditional provides. For me, utilizing both seems to make the most sense.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  While this is my seventh published novel, this is the first time I’ve written an acknowledgment. It’s not that I’m an ungrateful person. It’s just that my other six were self-published, and in that world the author is an army of one, and we’re used to doing everything ourselves. When Orbit signed The Riyria Revelations, we were on an accelerated schedule. The books had been fast-tracked into the next editorial calendar, and we had three volumes (and the contents of six books) to get produced and released in quick succession. There was only a little more than sixty days between the release of Theft of Swords and Heir of Novron. More than a few things fell along the wayside, including an afterword that I had written for the series.

  One of the best things about being traditionally published is you are no longer constrained by the serial efforts of a single person. Instead you have an entire team working on your book’s behalf, and while I’m going to recognize a number of them here, there are many more toiling behind the scenes whose names I don’t even know. They are the proofreaders, layout people, administration assistants, and an entire sales staff that work so hard to get my books in as many places as possible. To each of you I give my thanks.

  As with Revelations, Devi Pillai was my primary editor. For Revelations, Devi inherited a series of books that had already been widely read and had a devoted following. She made many wonderful suggestions, asking for more detail here, some clarification there, and was instrumental in the addition of the new beginning section, but mass changes for the series really weren’t possible. The books were woven from multiple threads, and pulling one could unravel the whole tapestry. With The Crown Tower, no such restrictions existed, and Devi provided many great insights and suggestions that helped improve the story, all while orchestrating the entire publishing process and keeping everything on track.

  There were several readers who also aided me in the editing process. I took advantage of the Internet’s capability to provide a conduit for authors to communicate with readers and started a private and supersecret Goodreads group called the Dark Room. It is a place where lovers of the series can meet and where I can answer questions I could never reply to in the world at large for fear of spoiling the story for those yet to read it. (By the way, if you want an invitation to join, just e-mail me at michael.sullivan.dc@gmail.com.) Several members of the Dark Room volunteered to beta read the novel for me and provide feedback on a very short deadline. Their biggest contributions were in validating that I was accomplishing my goals, but they also gave me keen insights on areas for improvement. To call out the individual contributions would be extremely lengthy, but I do want to mention them by name: Sarah and Nathaniel Kidd, Heather McBride, Melissa Hayden, Robert Aldrich, Jeffrey Carr, Lewis Dix, Sebastian Hidalgo, Lucian Wilhelm, Jonathan Lin, and Jim MacLachlan. I just want to say I love the members of the Dark Room and want to thank you for all your support.

  The cover of The Crown Tower was once again the combined talents of Larry Rostant, photographer and artist, and Lauren Panepinto, creative director. I’ve long preferred not having characters on covers (because I wish readers will develop their own impressions), but there is no arguing with success. I’ve received many positive compliments about the covers for the Revelations series and The Crown Tower follows in the tradition of those original works. Out of all the covers, I think I like Crown’s best. The tower is beautifully done, and the Royce character is the closest I’ve seen to how I imagine him. You both deserve a rousing round of applause. I thank you for your efforts to produce such a beautiful wrapper for my story.

  Having never written an acknowledgment before, I’m not sure about proper etiquette, but I couldn’t write one without extending my thanks to Alex Lencicki, the marketing and publicity director at Orbit. Outside of Devi, he is the person with whom my wife, Robin, and I have the most interaction, and he is hardworking, smart, and just a joy to work with. I can’t even imagine all the demands he gets from the gaggle of authors all competing for his time and that of his team. While I appreciate what Alex has done for my own books, I want to also mention how impressed I am with the treatment of all Orbit’s authors. I’m constantly seeing his invisible hand in all sorts of projects, and I smile secretly at each success, knowing firsthand how much work it takes to produce such results.

  Jenni Hill is an editor for the UK branch of Orbit who I’d like to thank for her role as a commissioning editor for the UK market. She has picked up all five books across the two series, and Revelation’s sales from “across the pond” (and elsewhere in the English-speaking world), have greatly exceeded my expectations. No doubt this is directly related to her work on the book’s behalf, and one day I hope to get overseas and thank her face-to-face.

  I’d also like to thank Tim Holman. If you look up his title online, it reads “Publisher” and I’m sure that has a great deal of significance in the industry, but to translate for those who aren’t plugged in, what that really means is he’s the big cheese. I know there is a lot of bashing on traditional publishing these days (much of it by people who have found success in self-publishing), but there is something to be said about “traditional publishing done right.” Orbit exemplifies this and is a standard by which other publishers should be judged. Such things do not occur through accident or happenstance. It’s generally the result of a leader with vision, and the ability to trust well-chosen people. So I just wanted to say thank you, Tim, and tell you to keep fighting the good fight.

  My agent is Teri Tobias, for whom I want to publicly acknowledge my appreciation. In a profession that is often filled with “hard people” with “cutthroat ambition,” I feel truly blessed to have Teri by my side. Like me, she’s a maverick. Breaking away from larger agencies, she has free rein to do business the way she wants—a trait I both recognize and value. Teri’s business savvy is what keeps my family fed. Not only has she negotiated some very lucrative deals in the United States, but she has also augmented my income with contracts in twelve countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Poland, and even markets in Brazil and Japan. I’m sure there will be many more doors opened in the future and can’t thank her enough for being the conduit to me living my dream as a full-time writer.

  Besides this being my first book with an acknowledgment, it is also the first one that is not dedicated to my wife. So I would feel remiss if I didn’t mention her here. I don’t think anyone but she and I know how great her contributions have been to both my career and the final outcome of the books. She is my first reader, collaborator on changes, and the only one who can go toe-to-toe with me when advocating for revisions. Our discussions have been so heated that my daughter has come downstairs to discover what the heck was going on. And the books wouldn’t be half as good without her efforts. Beyond all that, they probably wouldn’t exist at all, as it is the gratification I get from her reading enjoyment that spurs me to the keyboard each day.

  Speaking of dedications, you’ll notice that this book is dedicated to my readers. For those who don’t know, I once quit writing for over a decade and in that time I never thought I would have anyone other than friends and family read my stories. That thought was more than a little depressing. Even when I couldn’t stay away any longer and started writing again, I never intended to publish. It was a dream that I had considered out of my reach. I just mentioned how rewarding it is to see my wife enjoy my books; imagine getting similar reactions by people whom I have never met. I’m a storyteller, but telling stories in the echo chamber of your own room isn’t much fun. Sharing the tales and discovering people like them is the greatest gift I could ever receive. People online often thank me for being so “interactive with my fans.” I find this almost laughable. Don’t you know that my actions are selfish? That I get just as much (and probably more) out of the exchanges as you do? I’m amazed to find that people have enjoyed my tales so much that they have been compelled to write me. I’m eternally gr
ateful for those who love the books so much.

  Recently, my wife and I were discussing why J. K. Rowling came out with another book. Robin asked, “She obviously has more money than she could spend in a hundred lifetimes, so why write anymore?” I had no trouble understanding it, but maybe it’s hard to explain to someone who doesn’t write. It’s not work. It’s not something I force myself to do when I’d rather be doing something else. I should have the bumper sticker “I’d rather be writing,” because if I was independently wealthy, I would still write, and I would still want people to read my books. You see, I’m one of the rare people privileged enough to wake every day faced with the prospect of doing what I love the most. I’ve spent a lifetime writing and a decade of abstinence trying to break the addiction that I thought was a time-consuming dead end. I failed. Even if I never make another cent or find another reader, I’ll still write. Can’t help it really. But it’s because of people like you who support my efforts that I don’t have to go to a day job and count the minutes until I can race back to the keyboard. So most of all, I thank you for the one gift that no one else can give: time. More time to create worlds, more time to breathe life into characters, more time to do what I love the most. To you I extend my most humble thanks.

  If you enjoyed

  THE CROWN TOWER,

  look out for

  THE ROSE AND THE THORN

  Book Two of the Riyria Chronicles

  also by

  Michael J. Sullivan

  Two thieves want answers. Riyria is born.

  For more than a year, Royce Melborn has tried to forget Gwen DeLancy, the woman who had saved him and his partner, Hadrian Blackwater, from certain death. Unable to get her out of his mind, the two return to Medford and are met with an unexpected ­reception—­she refuses to see them. The victim of abuse by a powerful noble, she suspects that Royce will ignore any danger in his desire for revenge. By turning the thieves away, Gwen hopes to protect them once more. What she doesn’t realize is what the two are capable ­of—­she’s about to find out.