Completed 150,000 words plus change of Tower Lord today which means I’m now firmly on the downward slope and on target to finish the first draft by September (ish). There’ll be a few tidbits – no plot details – about Tower Lord in my Fantasy Book Critic interview due out on Monday 6th August, so watch out for that. And no, I don’t know when it’ll actually come out.
Also, sales of Blood Song passed the 20,000 mark yesterday. I was going to do a whole elaborate ‘The Number 20,000’ post thing again, but frankly (as you might be able to tell), I’m just too damn tired.
July 31st, 2012 at 10:36 pm
Congrats! I’m excited the book is progressing well.
August 1st, 2012 at 3:17 am
ECongratulations! I can’t think of it happening to a better author or a nicer guy than you. After the novel you wrote, you deserve every sale! I hope I had a small part in promoting it, as I still get views on the 3 novellas and the novel ( about 45 each per day) with the novel getting the most view – more like 54 per day. I hoped this, in some way, helped your overall numbers. You surely deserve it. I so look forward to the second book, any chance to get a pre-release kindle copy to help promote your release? I would be happy to give it the works and promote the hell out of it. I promise you, you won’t be disappointed with the results. Please consider it. I will put all my projects on hold just to read, review and promote your novel for its release. Let me know.
Best Regards,
Melinda
http://www.mlbiblio.com
August 1st, 2012 at 7:12 am
Hi Melinda. Your efforts were, of course, highly appreciated. Re. a pre-release kindle copy, all of that stuff is now in the hands of the publisher, but I’ll see what I can do. No promises though.
August 1st, 2012 at 8:48 am
Thank you very much. That is all that I can ask and ask/or hope for. If you can come through, I would be eternally grateful. My list is almost completed for the authors to watch for 2012, and your name is right up there. You, my friend, are going places. Just wait and see. If I have anything to do with it. the traffic keeps rolling in for all three novellas and your novel. From Google and other sites all over the world including South Africa, Japan and Hong Kong. You are popular everywhere. You have quite a following. If you ever want to discuss what languages you need to be translated into, I can pull my stats, and we can see what country goes with what book – but i think that the first language would be German. Interesting huh? Well, I will keep my fingers crossed for the pre-release copy. Cheers, Melinda
August 2nd, 2012 at 2:34 pm
I am simultaneously dismayed and overjoyed that the non-virtual publishers came begging. I hope you were able to make them pay a bit financially for their lagging sense of quality. Dismayed because the other books will come at the normal publishing schedules instead of a digital pace. Overjoyed because I assume you get PAID.
Keep them coming, you are in rare company.
August 2nd, 2012 at 10:46 pm
Anthony, congrats on on getting your deserved recognition from an established publisher. Following is my Shelfari Book Club review of “Blood Song” for your perusal and I hope to be reading the sequel in the not to distant future……
“Blood Song (Raven’s Shadow Trilogy: Book I)” by Anthony Ryan is a wonderful, amazing, and magnificent fantasy/adventure story that will captivate and entertain you. The first words that come to mind when thinking about this epic novel are; wondrous, brilliantly written, enchanting, intense, magical, melifluous pacing, exquisitely atmospheric settings, elegant verbiage, richly devloped characters, comradery, epic storyline, dystopian fantasy, a must read, and soon to be classic in this genre…5+stars
August 3rd, 2012 at 8:34 pm
Many thanks Dave (melifluous has to be one of my favourite words of all time). To be honest, before your comment I didn’t even know I had any reviews Shelfari. Should really sort out my author page over there…
August 4th, 2012 at 6:42 am
Just finished your book and I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it. I am excited maybe even giddy at the quality of work you and a select few other ebook authors are producing. The three best books I’ve read the last year were ebooks (Hugh Howley, B. Justin Shier and you of course). I read a lot of stuff in the genre mainly non ebooks but if I want to read the best material available I have to turn to the kindle. Congrats on the book deal I will buy your hard copy version if they can publish it in one book its gonna be 800 pages. Look forward to book 2 in 2014.
August 4th, 2012 at 2:27 pm
I agree wholeheartedly with Kom about the publishers who have come begging – make them PAY! Through the nose if possible. You are on the fast track now, no more messing around – now there will be book tours and marketing obligations that you will have to fulfill for your publisher. They get quite pushy about these things. Being a former Executroid – I know that I used to. Good Luck with the new publisher! Ever need any advice dealing with those corporate types – just shoot an email over here. I know how to handle them – I was one of them for years, before becoming fully human again in 2003. Now, I am back to life as I like it – out in the wild’s of Texas, where the cows and the horses and my hound dog all make strange noises at night. It’s the truth – I swear. Cheers, Melinda
August 7th, 2012 at 10:16 pm
Not sure about the business end of being an Author but if I were a publisher and were in a supervisory position over the guy who read this book and didn’t bring it to my attention, I would promptly feed him to my dog Scratch. Great book, THANK YOU!
August 9th, 2012 at 8:25 pm
I had to travel to France a couple weeks ago on business and decided to find a book to read during the flight on my Kindle. I did a quick search on Amazon for something that was inexpensive and had high review ratings, and Blood Song came up. I pulled the trigger (as we say in Texas) and have to say it was one of the very best books I have read in ages. I am anxiously awaiting Part Two (and will be happy to pay more for it). As a side note, I have never sought out a writer to give them feedback on their book, but enjoyed your book so much that I had to leave a note. You truly have a gift, Sir!
August 15th, 2012 at 5:17 pm
Just wanted to let you know that I’m half-way through the second reading of your outstanding book. I read it on my kindle about half a ear ago, but something just drove me to read it again.
Can’t wait for vol. 2 – but don’t rush, good work does take time1
Thanks!
August 16th, 2012 at 12:01 am
I just finished part one of blood song And loved it.I downloaded it looking to fill the void of waiting for the next book in the Game of thrones series.I was blown away with your book!I cant wait for the next one.I got the wife hooked also. Great job1
August 20th, 2012 at 5:47 am
As a general rule I don’t like fantasy. Much of it seems to fall into two categories. Faintly masochistic female sexual musings on being ravished by a tall barbarian swordsman who is ultimately revealed to be a sensitive new age guy. Category two – Regular Jo is suddenly endowed with special powers allowing him to kick sand in the faces of all who did the same to him when the powers were absent.
Raven’s Shadow is better by far than either of my two stereotypes – The character’s have depths, have conflicts to resolve, the world is believable. What I especially like is the protagonist himself being uncertain of where things are heading leaving the reader wanting to turn the page to learn more.
I bought the book on amazon by chance in the absence of a hard sci fi alternative – I am glad I did – as soon as I can pre-order volume 2 – I will
Congratulations – I suspect volume 2 will sell 200,000
Good Luck
August 20th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
I think 200K copies is low. With the proper marketing, the entire series will be a major hit. My review even says so. I put it in black and white because I believe that Anthony Ryan ( real name Fflloyd McPherson – just an evil rumor) is going to be the next big thing in fantasy, along with a few other authors I know. Just get ready for his prices to skyrocket. You can say I knew him when he had a novella for free and a novel for $2.99- thoses were the days!
August 21st, 2012 at 5:37 am
I travel a lot for work and I downloaded this on a whim. I’m sitting 40% into book one. It’s 12:30 AM and I don’t seem to be able to sleep because I can’t put your book down. I’ve read just about every bit of fantasy out there, this puts you easily into top 3 writers.
Charge more, you earned it! The first is easily worth $15.00
September 15th, 2012 at 11:50 pm
I had to ‘surf’ around and find you Mr. Ryan and you should know I’ve never done that before with an author. I just finished the book Blood Song. When I began reading, I never imagined I would forget what world I live in! I became so immersed in the storyline and characters. It’s a stunning, imaginative, wildly engrossing story. I thoroughly enjoyed it, every single last page of it, and can not wait for the next to come along. Congrats on your success, it is indeed very well earned. You have also earned a new fan in me. This is by far the best book I’ve read in since Game of Thrones (and I read ALOT!). Again, congrats and enjoy 🙂