Released Soon - Michelle Moran's The Heretic Queen

[diamondlil]

Michelle Moran's 2nd book The Heretic Queen is published on 16 September!


We wish you every success with this release Michelle!

[Divia]

Just finished reading it yesterday and its excellent!
Good luck and I hope its a best seller :)

BTW, I think this forum idea is spiffy!

[michellemoran]

Thank you so much Divia and Diamondlil!!!

[donroc]

Best of success with your novel with many printings.

[diamondlil]

BTW, I think this forum idea is spiffy!


It's something that was in mind for a while but not able to do, so it is great to be able to try and do something to support those authors who are active in the forum.

[Divia]

I agree 100%. :)

[pat]

*wonders if I could buy the book for hubbys birthday prezzie (16th Sept) and forget to give it...*

Well done Michelle!

[michellemoran]

Thank you Donroc and Pat! And Pat, if your husband likes history but also nonfiction, I highly recommend The Billionaire's Vinegar or Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea. I've purchased Ship of Gold for nearly every man (and most women) I know and I've never been disappointed by their reaction! It's one of those stay-up-until-two-am sort of books.

[Catherine Delors]

Congratulations, Michelle! I look forward to reading it.

[Vanessa]

It's next on my list to read. Looking forward to it as it's not something I've read about before.

[LCW]

Congratulations! If it's anything like Nefertiti, I'm in for a couple of sleepless nights and tired days thanks to you! :D

[michellemoran]

Thank you Catherine, Vanessa, and Lila!!

[Perdita]

Congratulations :) The TBR list has just got longer!

[diamondlil]

It's Release Day for The Heretic Queen! Wooo-hoooo!

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/ozdiamondlil/kermittheFROG-storytelling.gif

[Alaric]

Congrats on the release Michelle!

[Carine]

Success with the release Michelle, I hope it will be a bestseller !

[boswellbaxter]

Congrats! Headed out to the bookstore for it today!

[Vanessa]

Love the 'smiley', Diamondlil!:D It made me smile.

It's been out in the UK for a while now!:p:p:D

[Divia]

Good luck!

I think the book rocks!

[michellemoran]

Thank you, everyone, for all of your wonderful encouragement!!!!!!!

[Susan]

My copy arrived today! Congrats, Michelle! I can't wait to start reading it!

[diamondlil]

Congrats to Michelle, whose book The Heretic Queen, has gone back for a second printin (http://michellemoran.blogspot.com/2008/09/second-printing.html)g! Way to go Michelle!

[Divia]

That rocks!

How many copies is a first printing?

[michellemoran]

Thank you, Diamondlil! Thank you, Divia!!!!

Divia, I'd love to answer your question, but sales figures and print runs are jealously guarded in the publishing industry. Ask almost any author and they'll tell you that getting numbers out of an editor is like asking a cat to go for a walk. Practically impossible (although with some coaxing and the right feline the possibility does exist)!

My first print run is certainly in the tens of thousands since I sold out my first (and probably most of the second) run for the hardcover of Nefertiti. Sometimes, publishers fib to authors about their print runs, and they almost always fib to the media, inflating the number by as much as 80% if they want to spread buzz! It's a strange, strange industry with its own set of unspoken rules. But the truth eventually comes out, if not to the public, then to to author who gets a royalty statement every six months.

[Carine]

Great news Michelle !!! Congratulations !!! http://www.smilies.be/o/overig/bloemmetje.gif

[Vanessa]

Congratulations, Michelle.

[Divia]

Well I'd like to think the numers arent fibbed about and that your book is burning up the charts :D

[Leyland]

Such great news about your Heretic Queen's second printing already, Michelle. I guess the copy I'm waiting for right now from Amazon is a first run, yay!

btw - cats love to be asked to go for walks, they just politely request that the leash be left behind ;)

[LCW]

Congratulations, Michelle! That's so great! Well deserved too!

[EC2]

Thank you, Diamondlil! Thank you, Divia!!!!

Divia, I'd love to answer your question, but sales figures and print runs are jealously guarded in the publishing industry. Ask almost any author and they'll tell you that getting numbers out of an editor is like asking a cat to go for a walk. Practically impossible (although with some coaxing and the right feline the possibility does exist)!

My first print run is certainly in the tens of thousands since I sold out my first (and probably most of the second) run for the hardcover of Nefertiti. Sometimes, publishers fib to authors about their print runs, and they almost always fib to the media, inflating the number by as much as 80% if they want to spread buzz! It's a strange, strange industry with its own set of unspoken rules. But the truth eventually comes out, if not to the public, then to to author who gets a royalty statement every six months.

That's interesting Michelle. (congrats on reprint btw :) ) In the UK and with my publisher I know exactly what my print runs are and exactly how many copies are sold each week. Around publication time they update me with regular reports as a matter of routine. Copies of sales are shown in the trade papers such as The Bookseller using Nielsen Bookscan POS technology, so there's no getting away with fibbing the figures. Hardcover print runs are much smaller than UK print runs - in fact miniscule in comparison if you are selling hardcovers in the tens of thousands. That just doesn't happen in the UK. Hardcover print runs in the UK start at less than 2,000 and do not go much above 10,000 even for a mega-selling author. I've certainly never reached that figure in hardcover, although paperback is a different animal entirely. 10,000 in paperback would immediately put an author on the skids but 10,000 in hardcover is better than fantastic.
I do think the public tend to receive a skewed idea of the kind of income an author earns though - courtesy of J.K. Rowling and Philippa Gregory and the like!

[michellemoran]

Oh wow, Elizabeth - I wish!! I can't tell you the number of phone calls I've had with other American authors who can't get their sales numbers or even a print run. I understand why the publishers do it, but it really puts the author at a disadvantage when it comes time to promoting and marketing their own work. I have been very lucky in my editors, who have always provided me with sales numbers when I ask (which I don 't try to do too often). But I know of authors whose emails just go unanswered if they request their figures, or who are told over the phone, "I'll have to get back to you," never to hear anything again.

And the UK's system of smaller hardcover runs makes a lot of sense. The paperbacks are where the real sales are. I don't know why my UK publisher even bothers with hardcovers. Possibly for the reviews?

We need to adopt the open UK system.

PS: thank you everyone for the congratulations!

[EC2]

"Oh wow, Elizabeth - I wish!! I can't tell you the number of phone calls I've had with other American authors who can't get their sales numbers or even a print run. I understand why the publishers do it, but it really puts the author at a disadvantage when it comes time to promoting and marketing their own work. I have been very lucky in my editors, who have always provided me with sales numbers when I ask (which I don 't try to do too often). But I know of authors whose emails just go unanswered if they request their figures, or who are told over the phone, "I'll have to get back to you," never to hear anything again.

And the UK's system of smaller hardcover runs makes a lot of sense. The paperbacks are where the real sales are. I don't know why my UK publisher even bothers with hardcovers. Possibly for the reviews?"


I don't know if everyone is as open in the UK as Sphere, but the figures are out there for everyone to see providing they can add up a few weeks' worth of sales from the trade press. The small UK print runs are based on what goes into libraries, collectors editions and the needs of the keen readers, plus some reader who will only buy in paperback. And perhaps a few Christmas present and birthday copies. Yes, and for reviews. Basically that's it and it doesn't add up to a hill of beans. When I was first published in 1990, Bernard Cornwell had recently brought out a new novel - don't remember its title, but it was top of the hardcover bestseller chart with 2,000 copies sold that week. And since most of the sales are in the first month and everyone else had sold less.......