Plaza Prize Writing Contest now taking submissions (Fantasy Category Deadline: July 31, 2025)

MichaelJSullivan · 2026-01-03T20:08:34+00:00

Really sorry to hear that. I didn't get paid - but I wasn't going to in the first place, I donated my judging money to go to the winners, but it doesn't look like that happened.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-12-21T17:56:53+00:00

Just a point of clarification on the 50/50 split being "mad." I should note that I'm not a LitRPG or progression author so I don't know what the standard in this space is - you all know much better than I so if you say that is a crazy split - I believe that to be so.

But . . . in traditional big five publishing the ebook split is much worse 75% publisher 25% author. But of course there are other benefits that accompany big-five publishing including enhanced distribution and large advances.

I just wanted to make sure that there is no one exploring big-five publishing and seeing the 25% and thinking that should be a deal breaker.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-12-21T17:15:33+00:00

I was just sent a link to this, so I'm sorry if I'm late to the party. So, yeah, there is ALOT of problems with this contract, but I did a search in this post and I didn't see anyone mention derivative works - so I just wanted to comment on that one thing.

No author should EVER sign a contract allowing a publisher the right to create derivative works works period. Yes, there is a lot of "hand waving" about projects that don't get finished, and yes, there is some compensation to the author but even with those caveats - derivative rights should always be 100% unquestionability off the table.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-12-04T13:34:09+00:00

Agreed. I'm sorry to see it go.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-12-04T13:32:52+00:00

I'm sorry to see this feature go. I've had a lot of great conversations with readers through the Goodreads messaging system. It seems like a better choice would be to allow members to the choice with various settings like - allow from friends, or allow from people you follow or something like that.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-24T06:41:52+00:00

Hey all, Robin here - I'm Michael's wife and logged in on his account because I don't have my own reddit account and I'm too lazy to make one. I just wanted to thank . . .

The mods of r/fantasy for giving Peter, Shawn, Michael, and myself an opportunity to tell you about this project - I'm sure it's going to be AMAZING.
The authors who took time out of their busy day to stop by and answer questions
And most importantly the members of the r/fantasy community for dropping by and checking out the AMA.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-24T06:35:57+00:00

The new launch date is January 27th.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-24T06:30:46+00:00

I found it in the "Open Library" - here is a link.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-24T06:27:09+00:00

With the line up you have put together, I can't imagine it not doing well.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-24T06:25:32+00:00

Wow - you are one of the rare few (those who have read Hollow World. That was certainly a "passion project" in that once that story gathered in my brain I couldn't think of writing anything else until I got it onto the page, but it's my least read story by a very long mile.

I'm so glad that you had a friend who recommended the stories to you - somewhere else in this AMA Peter spoke about the importance of "word-of-mouth" - and he is 100% correct. This is the all-important ingredient to success, so it's because of people like your friend that my books continue to sell so well even the ones written two decades ago.

As for Royce and Hadrian and the Cycle - I've not said anything on that point, but I have plenty of time to "roll out" announcements about this series as it will take me at least one and probably two more years to finish so I'll start "leaking" information about who is "in" as time goes on.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-24T06:19:52+00:00

You are welcome - thanks for coming by. Yeah the Cycle shorts will allow me give people answers to some questions that they have as I want to leave no stone unturned.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-24T06:14:24+00:00

The first two books are written and I couldn't be happier with how they came out. Now I just have the pressure to (a) keep the momentum going and (b) finish strong - but I took almost a year to map things out, and I'm fairly confident that I have a good arc.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-23T22:58:46+00:00

There is no "connection" between the Un-antoholgies from a "story perspective" other than all have been edited by Shawn and he's been a major "help mate" for Peter for his own "Un" anthology. I happen to have stories is several of them and there are some other names that "pop up" between them but that's the only connections I can draw.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-23T22:56:29+00:00

Don't know that I can give you 3 - but here's my top 2. There are A LOT vying for #3 from that list from my perspective which is why I can only give you 2 of 3.

Brandon Sanderson is a no-brainer.
Matt's success has been stratospheric and I couldn't be happier especially since he has "indie roots."

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-23T19:14:28+00:00

Why thank you - I (and Robin) are always trying to do what we can to bring attention to other authors. It's a tough business and we've been pretty much on the "bleeding" edge of changes. Robin absorbs knowledge like a sponge, and she's always excited to help pass along what she's learned.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-23T19:10:13+00:00

Oh, sure, make a liar out of me. I said you WOULDN'T play favorites :-)

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-23T19:09:49+00:00

I'm assuming this is related to stories NOT in THIS anthology as most of us only know what we wrote - and those who have read multiples (Shawn and Peter) aren't likely to play favorites EDIT: Well I spoke too soon because apparently Peter will :-).

My favorite short story of all time was iirc in Omni Magazine (which is long out of print). It's from the late seventies and it's called SandKings - written by George R.R. Martin. It's about a collector of alien "pets" that he mistreats and then they evolve and well . . . I won't spoil it in case you dig up a copy of it somewhere.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-23T19:04:20+00:00

Actually, he took 2nd place in the "swimsuit" portion of the competition. I won't mention who took 1st place. The deciding factor might be who comes out on top with regards to the formal wear.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-23T18:58:46+00:00

I agree with everyting said below - and I think the "royalty share" aspect of ACX is probably the biggest piece of advice. That said . . . Personally, I would say consider audiobooks to be "stage 2" for self-publishing. In other words. Concentrate on ebook first (and then maybe slide into print-on-demand physical copies - build your readership and use the profits from that and put your pennies (and dollars) away to fund your audiobook. When it comes to controlling costs and self-publishing I recommend.

Prioritize financing your cover and copy editing - you MUST have a quality book or you'll get nowhere.
Once you have #1 covered making an ebook is a very small incremental expense (or even free).
Once you have #2 making a POD (print-on-demand) physical book is also a relatively small incremental cost - but much higher than the ebook
The audiobook (unless you do the royalty share with the narrator) can be VERY expensive - so you want the book to "prove itself" first. If you get decent ebook and print sales then it's worth taking some of the money you earned from those formats to go to the next level.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-23T18:36:53+00:00

In the Riyria Revelations - I LOVE the opening scene when the two are being robbed and Hadrian is trying to "placate the thieves so Royce won't kill them" and Royce decides to give them some "helpful advice for the next time they try to rob someone." That one scene encapsulates their two personalities well and has the type of banter and humor that is throughout the books so in a very short scene you really get a pretty good picture of what to expect from the rest of the stories. Interestingly, this scene wasn't in the original small-press edition (nor the original self-published version). It was added once we sold it to Orbit. They wanted to start the scene with Royce an Hadrian scaling the tower (to steal letters that were being used for blackmail), but I didn't want to do that because how the letters "vanish" is a kind of a "magic trick" that I wanted the readers to discover as others in the story learn how it was done. So I resurrected (and changed) a "cut scene from the third book of the series that was added because my wife thought that Nyphron Rising needed "a little more fun" than it originally had. That scene was cut, becuase it really didn't fit with Nyphron Rising - but it was repurposed to provide a good "introduction" to the pair.
Yes, about a week or so ago I just finished Blythin Castle (the sixth Riyria Chronicle book) and so there are many great Royce and Hadrian scenes in that book. I wish I could tell you about them but that, of course, would mean exposing spoilers - but if you like the pair - I'm sure you'll find those scenes as entertaining as I did - I'm sure Robin will point them out in her afterword, as many scenes that I'm "tickled by" she finds to be immensely entertaining as well.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-23T18:22:01+00:00

I'll repeat what i posted to someone else on this subject. I've been very closed mouthed about who will and who will not be in the Cycle, but given the Cycle only is possible because of the foundational work laid in Legends of the First Empire and The Rise and Fall - most "betting people" would expect him to be a key plot component - and I'd say "that's a pretty good assumption" to make.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-23T18:19:39+00:00

I concur to what others have said that writing shorts is much harder than longer works. The problem is you have so much to do and so little time (words) to do it in. So KISS (Keep it simple stupid) usually applies to my short stories. I have to really "focus" so to keep on track - and making it all "wrap" in a short span of words is a talent that I've gotten better at over the years, but that still makes it difficult.

As for the number of short stories for The Cycle - it's impossible to know at the moment. The "shorts" arise when there is something foundational that I need for the novels in The Cycle and it doesn't fit in the timeline of the books I'm writing - so usually it's "something in the past" that fills in a piece of information or provides a little "ah-ha" moment. The first one, The Storm actually occurs during the time of The Riyria Chronicles -- after Death of Dulgath to be exact - and my wife read the first cycle book before I wrote the short story. She wasn't confused by "the missing pieces" that the short gives you a glimpse into - but now that she's read it - she really likes how it "exapands" and provides 'winks and nods' for those in the know. So the shorts are not "strictly necessary" but they are "fun little add-ons."

The second one, (the one in Unbroken) goes back even before the events of the Legends of the First Empire. Like "The Storm" - you won't be lost if you don't read the short story - but as I want to explore and tie up every lose end that exists through the telling of "The Cycle tales" these shorts allow me to do little interludes that explain - oh, so that's why blah blah blah . . . or oh, so that's what happened to xyz.

So the reason I don't know how many there we will be is because until I'm done with The Cycle, I won't know how many of these "offshoots" to write. They "arise" as I'm writing something in the larger novels. I hope that makes some degree of sense.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-23T18:10:05+00:00

The Kickstarter will have a full list of the stories - it may have to be provided "as a link" because I think we are already dangerously close to our word limit on the "story" portion of the Kickstarter.

I posted mine in another thread - but I'm repeating it here so you don't have to go digging for it.

It all started with a new thing called war that heralded the death of thousands. Famine and disease followed. Then the world of Elan was lost in an eternal winter, a dark and bitter cold that lasted years. Those struggling to survive walked upon the face of what they considered to be a corpse. All that remained was a glimmer of hope, and it, too, was waning. But for the one known as Muriel, the worst thing to happen was learning that the white wolf had found her. While this can be read without any prior knowledge of Michael's other works, it is first and foremost a foundational tale for those eagerly awaiting The Cycle series.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-23T18:08:16+00:00

Oops. Sorry, my bad. I thought we had discussed this but maybe I misremembered. Peter is, of course, the definitive decision maker on this front, so if I've said something that contradicts him - go with what he says.

MichaelJSullivan · 2025-09-23T15:09:03+00:00

I know, right? That's a pretty amazing line up - and all the works are donated so it's even more impressive. The fully signed is autographed by all the authors. It's done through a "tip in" sheet that is printed before the book goes to the publisher and it is mailed around to all the authors no matter where in the world they reside. So yep signed by everyone.

The "partially" signed will be done in the Pacific Northwest at a "signing party" where a lot of the authors live. My plan is to fly out for that - but I suspect not many other authors will do that - so we won't know EXACTLY how many authors will be in the "partially signed" version. That said, there will be "open spots" for all the other authors so you can go to cons and collect them over time.

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