It's here! The long-awaited publication of The Wheel of Osheim / A Roda de Osheim, final book in the A Guerra da Rainha Vermelha trilogy.
Here's an assessment of the Brazilian fantasy publication scene from a
Brazilian reader:
"Being a fantasy reader in my country is hard. When Game of Thrones released, there was a boom here, where every publisher started bringing fantasy books, a genre very overlooked in our market. As the initial hype died down, publishers were faced with a hard truth: fantasy does not sell well here. I’m not a researcher so I can only give some assumptions on why that happens: price, size and complexity. The sad reality is that (and other people from the third world may understand what I mean) for a country with a broken economy and high inequality, books would be considered by many a luxury and on top of that, fantasy books tend to be larger or part of series, which make them pricier. Also, the lack of funds for our public schools (thanks politicians) leads to generations of people simply receiving a barebones education which reflects on our low reading index (an average of 2 books per year).
Okay, back from that tangent. So what happened is that publishers gave up on fantasy and this led to most series, and even just trilogies, to be abandoned and left incomplete.
That was the case with Red Queen’s War, abandoned after the first two books were released, despite the Broken Empire trilogy actually selling well here."
I've no complaints about my Brazilian publisher, Darkside, they made some lovely hardback editions of my books and sold them in great quantities. Obviously they had to make some tough choices in a difficult economic climate.
Once my contract allowed my to take back the Brazilian rights to The Wheel of Osheim I looked into the possibility of having it translated and releasing it myself in e-book. It turned out to be doable, so I did it!
I felt bad about leaving my Brazilian readers without a conclusion to the trilogy, so now it's there for those sufficiently interested to find it. It seems very unlikely that the sales will make enough to cover the translation costs, but I was in a position to afford it, and wanted to do it as a thank you to the Brazilians who bought The Broken Empire books in such numbers.
A big thanks to cover artist Jason Chan for letting me use the cover art for free for this edition. And thanks to Pen Astridge for designing the cover to be similar in style to the two previous books.
Find the book here, and spread the word to Brazilians whose English isn't strong enough to read my blog/social media:
https://www.amazon.com.br/RODA-OSHEIM-Guerra-Vermellia-English-ebook/dp/B091BD64XD/ref=sr_1_1
Enjoy!
Muito obrigada pelo empenho e carinho.
ReplyDeleteThat is incredibly nice of you to recognize the relationship between the author and his readers (fans) in this manner. You are probably going to take a loss financially on this but I think the dedication to your readers and knowing they will receive a satisfying end to that great series is worth more than dollars. I'm sure that in these dark times, a series on the lighter side is a spot of sunshine to your readers whether they are in U.S. or Brazil.
ReplyDeleteI know reading your books has been that respite of light for me in the darkness. I just finished reading The Book of the Ancestor series for the third time. I had given it to my niece to read for Christmas and I started reading it again. I love the endings to all of your stories. In baseball terms, you would be an ace closer!
My niece asked me about the series when I gave it to her. I told her it was fantasy but at its core, it is a great story of friendship and sacrifice. I hope she enjoys the ending which I shall not name out of respect for your newer readers as much as I did. Bittersweet but with the possibility of a good future for the characters I came to love.
I've read many of your posts and you appear to be a man of conscience and good will. This sacrifice on your part speaks to your character and honor. Acts of good are usually their own return but they also tend to come back to you as well.
I won't name the authors out of respect but I remember reading a series which got as far as about 3-4 books of 300+ pages in length. I kept waiting for the next book and waiting for it. Then after researching, I found out the bad news. The publisher had declined to allow the author to finish the books.
I can only imagine if the series I was referring to was The Red Queen's War. I would have been heartbroken and then I would have been scouring the internet for a translator.
So good for you Mark, great for your Brazilian readers, and may good things come to you!
A loyal fan of both your writing and you as a person,
Dan
As a brazilian reader myself, thank you very much!
ReplyDeleteThe feeling of an unfinished story is horrible, and having an author himself taking care of the last book is something magical for me.
You are already one of my favorite authors just by your books, now you're higher in position, but for the person your are.
Don't give up of your brazilian fans, even if the ebook doesn't have a great return.
Again, thank, thank you!!