Ask the Author

nearly 50,000. You probably didn't really think you would get that far right?
If so comes my question: how far did you think you could go?

When it all started you must have thought: well if I can sell ... (insert number) in the first year and... Then I will be allright and satisfied.
 
To be honest, Scalem, my first thought when the initial print run of fifteen hundred copies of The Forging of the Sword was dumped on my driveway in 66 boxes was 'If I sell all these, I will have done well.' This thought was reinforced when, after the initial surge of sales to friends, family and work colleagues had died away, the sales dropped to a slow trickle. Selling anything without a proper sales strategy is never easy, but I'm glad I persevered and expended the time and energy to learn how to make the most of my time and efforts.
 
If you don't mind me asking, how much money have you made from selling the books?

Also, if you haven't made enough money, maybe you could try and persuade some film producers to make some films of your books! Is this likely?

Threddy
 
Talking about blunt threddy;) .
Yeah if you try, maybe then Mark you could compare the hard editors to the fierce producers:p .
 
Threddy said:
If you don't mind me asking, how much money have you made from selling the books?

Also, if you haven't made enough money, maybe you could try and persuade some film producers to make some films of your books! Is this likely?

Threddy
Click to expand...

I'd rather not answer that question directly on the net, but if you're really that interested, then I would tell you a rough figure by email. The exact figure is a bit nebulous due to the nature of self publishing and the expenses you can claim back from the tax man through being self employed.

As with anything else, when is what you've made ever enough? I will need to make a lot more money to become financially independent of my writing, if that's what you mean. When I reach he point at which I don't need to write any more in order to live from the proceeds, then fine, but until then I will continue to work hard. How many authors ever achieve this? Very very few, I'm sure.

Would I like to have a film made of my books - yes, I would. Am I going to try? Yes, I am. My agent is due to talk again with various companies in the summer time. You can be sure I'll post something on the matter if it ever progresses. :)
 
Wicked, if a film comes out, all my friends will read your books, instead of only two that I have persuaded so far.

As for the profits from your books, if you don't want to post them on the web, then I don't think it's my place to ask via e-mail.
 
Do you know how many words were in each of your books? Could you tell me?

I'd like to know because i'm writing a book, (which I know I should probably ask in aspiring writers but I wanted to ask a published author)
You can't really measure a book on number of pages, as there are different font sizes and page sizes, which is why I want to know number of words.

Thanks, Threddy
 
The first five books were all around 100 000 words each, give or take a couple of thousand. Imperial Assassin was a bit shorter - more like 90 000.

Good luck with writing your story. I look forward to seeing you storming into the bestsellers in a few years. :)
 
Hi Mark,
A friend was telling me of a new game that's coming out where you play as a Muslim Assassin in the 12th century, and I was thinking, when you get the films out, you could ask a game company to make The Guild Of Assassins game to help advertise your books. Maybe a silly idea, I don't know but...
Threddy
 
Not silly at all, Threddy. If there were ever a film made, then I would very much be interested in going after the games companies to make a game - role play or storyline related somehow. I think it would be fantastic to have a game designed around one of my stories. I have actually already attended one of the big gaming fairs in London in order to make some contacts within the industry, but that was some time ago now - before I started writing for Simon & Schuster. I will leave such things to my agent in future.
 
Game, movie= great!
Anyway,

Hi mark (again!)
Um, like threddy i am writing a book! Do you have any particular tips for fantasy writing? How do you think up names?

Thanks, M@

p.s. would you like to read my proplgue if i emailed it to you?
 
Hi, Matt,

Great to see you here again. Tips for fantasy writing - that's really difficult, as everyone likes different things. My best tip is to write the sort of story that you enjoy reading. If you like reading it when it's finished, then there's a good chance that others will too.

Names I get from all over the place. My latest source is a book of 80 000 baby names, but I've utilised maps, names of people I've met, brand names from foreign countries ... the list is pretty long.

By all means email me your prologue. I'll do my best to give you a bit of feedback.

Mark :)
 
Allegra said:
Hi Mark, can Imperial Spy be read as a stand-alone?
Click to expand...

I would have to answer yes to that, Allegra. Originally it was written to be a one off novel, but the publishers wanted me to turn it into a series. As a result I changed the ending to make it a bit more open ended, but I believe it would read all right as a stand alone. After all, no fantasy story ever really ends, does it. "The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began ..." :)
 
Thanks, Mark. Sounds great! Just ordered. It's just that the epics are not for me. I bought The Eye of the World ages ago and still haven't had the courage to start the never ending story. Prefer the type of series that each installment has a complete story, like the discworld or Harry Potter. A little open ending is good, may lure me going further.:)
 
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