Someone ordering a book from me happened to mention that the book was on back order at Amazon. This seemed strange to me as Amazon always has the book (sometimes it will go "out of stock" for a day or so as books are being transferred from the publisher's warehouse to the Amazon warehouse) but it has never gone to "back order status". So then I looked at Borders - same thing...then Barnes & Noble, and Powells - Ditto. 

So I wrote an email to the publisher asking if something was up and he said "Sales have really accelerated and a few days ago there was less than 100 copies at the warehouse." By estimating sales from Amazon rankings I think those are now gone as well. AMI said they would start a second printing in January, but that will take time...typos found in the first printing have to be fixed, proofing has to be done, then there is the actual printing and shipping. So I anticipate about a 3-month "outage" for Crown.

On the positive side...I previously purchased 500 or so books through my author's discount to have on hand for just such an emergency.  I've sold about 200 of them so still have 300 here that should act as a bridge until the retail chain is "re-stocked". Amazon's current discount is 28% and while I can't match that (their price from the publisher is smaller than my price from the publisher) I will extend a 15% discount for a limited time while the book is out of stock. This discount can be used for any of the books so you can buy them together if you wish. CLICK TO READ MY BLOG ON THIS

*** All three books in Top 20 for Kindle Sales *** Kindle sales have been brisk for all the books recently and at various times one or the other has been pretty high in the rankings.  Received an early Thanksgiving present today when I checked the Kindle Rankings and found all three books in the top 20 for Fantasy (Historical)!! *** Fantasy Book Critic buzz for Emerald Storm & Wintertide  *** It's the time of year when many review sites look ahead to books they are anticipating for the coming year.  I was honored to see that Liviu at Fantasy Book Critic took the time to put both Emerald Storm and Wintertide on his list. CLICK TO READ ARTICLE "The Ryria Revelations series shows why it's good to try small press novels too since from the almost standalone first novel The Crown Conspiracy (FBC Rv) to the superb Avempartha (FBC Rv) that starts dealing with the big picture in a major way, to the very good, though somewhat less satisfying because of being essentially a transition novel, Nyphron Rising (FBC Rv tbp), the series has established itself as a page turning pure fun adventure tale and the 2010 offerings #4 above and #5 below are highly awaited novels." *** Speculative Fiction Junkie Reviews Nyphron Rising *** Speculative Fiction Junkie has now reviewed all three books.  Some notable quotes from the review include: "One of the things I mentioned in my recent interview with Harry over at Temple Library Reviews was that I cannot believe that a major publisher hasn't yet picked up author Michael J. Sullivan." "The second half of the book, however, is amazing and probably constitutes Mr. Sullivan's strongest work yet." "Nyphron Rising is another capable installment in a fantastic series. Fans of the Riyria Revelations will not be disappointed." You can read the full review by clicking here. *** Nyphron Rising Named Notable Release *** If you've been out to Fantasy Book Critic recently you may have noticed that Nyphron Rising has been added as a "Notable Release" along the right hand side of the site. This is a great honor as most "Indie" books are usually overlooked and its the "big boys" that get such distinction. Michael's books have always been well received by FBC and other review sites and it has been integral to the series sucess. *** Great Review on SF Site *** SF Site is one of the "big boys" in the fantasy review business.  So big in fact that I never bothered contacting them with a review copy.  Well, some how or another they found Crown Conspiracy on their own!  Great feature review was just posted.  Here is some of what they said: "The Crown Conspiracy is a well-written and enjoyable novel. I was invested in the characters and their travails. Royce and Hadrian's friendship was particularly fun to read, utilising the banter and familiarity of buddy cop movies but placing it in a fantasy setting...Michael J. Sullivan is an appealing writer and I'll be interested to see where he goes with his writing in the future...Sullivan is a solid writer and, with five more novels in the series to come, he has plenty of time to explore all the elements of his world to my satisfaction." The full review can be found HERE. *** Record Breaking Kindle Sales *** Since its release a few days ago I've been watching the Ranking on Amazon for the Kindle version of Nyphron Rising.  It has been doing respectably well - in the top 25 usually around 16 - 22 in the category of fantasy (historical).  Then a peek saw it at 9 - breaking the top 10!  Imagine my suprise a few hours later when I saw it move to 6 and beating out the classic Princess Bride! *** Fantasy Book Critic Giveaway *** Fantasy Book Critic is giving away 2 sets of the first three books in the Riyria Revelations. To put icing on the cake they had this to say—"This series is a favoriate of ours here at Fantasy Book Critic! " The contest will run through October 25th, and you can enter by clicking HERE. Good luck to everyone who enters!! *** Nyphron Rising is Here!!! *** The original publication was October 1, 2009 and as it approached we modified it to November 1, 2009. It is now October 11 and I can announce that the book is officially out.  I know that a number of you already know that because sales rankings at Amazon for both the paperback and Kindle have been very good!  It will still be awhile before the book is fully processed through the bookstore chains, as soon as they are capable of taking orders I'll post here.  But for now you can buy from either: Direct (save 15%) | Amazon (Print) | Amazon (Kindle). Remember when buying direct from me you can use credit cards or checks and get signed personalized copies.  (Plus I get more cash (even with the discount) as Amazon and bookstores take 40% - 55% off the top - Ouch!) *** A Blogging I will go ***

I've actually had this for sometime (my first post was January 9th, 2009) but a number of people didn't know that I blog as the address is buried (a pun for my wife Robin who put it there) on the contact page.  Anywhere the address for the blog is: www.riyria.blogspot.com and I generally ramble about various aspects of writing, pulishing, and the like.

*** Avempartha Reviews in High Gear***

*** Tweet Tweet Neo***

*** ConCarolinas a huge success***

*** Two days and two great reviews ***

*** 2009 National Indie Excellence Book Award Finalist ***

***  Strange Weird and Wonderful Interview***

***  Radio Interview at Story Institute***

*** 2008 ReaderViews Annual Literary Award Finalist ***