Ask the Author

Hi, Dylan. Yes, I'd like to do more with Femke and Reynik, but it will depend very much now on what the publishers want me to write, rather than what I want. I'm not quite in the JK Rowling position of being able to write what I want and know it will be published.

I will certainly be pitching ideas for a potential follow up series at some point. At the moment, however, I'm having fun writing dragon stories. Two down and two to go on the current series. They will start launching in August. I hope you'll check them out, as I think people who've enjoyed my previous stories will really like these.
 
Question Mark(technically three):

Which in your opinion, is your best series of books(even though you haen't finished writing the dragon orb one?:

Storyline?
Writing Style(presumably your later ones)
Book Covers?

Ed - Threddy
 
Threddy, I think you can probably guess what I'm going to say, but here it is anyway:

Storyline and writing style - definitely Dragon Orb. I think those who have enjoyed my previous stories are in for a treat with Dragon Orb. My writing is still improving - you only have to look at the reviews that are already beginning to appear for Dragon Orb to see this is the case.

Covers is a tricky one. I've been fortunate enough to have a hand in the design of both the Darkweaver covers and the Imperial Covers. I prefer both of these over the Dragon Orb ones because of this, but to pick a favourite set is tricky. I would probably have to say the Imperial Covers are the best so far.
 
Another question (you've probably been asked this many times before, sorry):

Do you know how many of each book you've sold?

Ed - Threddy
 
I don't have up to date figures for the Imperial books, Threddy, but I could work out the Darkweaver figures exactly if I sat down and checked my books. What I can say is that the total sales across both series is now well in excess of 100 000 in the UK alone.

I see from some of the Italian websites that Imperial Spy reached number 3 in their national fantasy bestseller charts last year, and stayed in the top 5 for 4 weeks. I imagine that it's sold a good few copies there. Imperial Assassin is out there as well now, but I won't see hard figures from Italy, Denmark, Germany, France, Romania or Turkey for some time to come. It is actually pretty much impossible to say how many books total you've sold at any one time, but you can normally look back to about a year ago and give totals for that time.
 
Any ideas as to where you'll be galavanting off to over the next few months yet Mark?!
 
not really a question... more a compliment on your superb writing.
I turned 14 today and the only thing that I asked for (I never ask for anything) was Imperial Assassin & Imperial Traitor. Started reading as soon as I got hold of them! I've just got to say that your books are incredible, and I enjoy them more than some of JK Rowling's books. Just thought you'd like to hear how much I enjoyed them x :):D:)
 
Thanks, Coco. :)

Compliments are always received well. It's comments like yours that spur me on with my writing. I've been struggling recently for a number of reasons, but I shall print off your words and stick them to the top of my screen today to remind me why it's good to perservere.
 
cocob3an-xx said:
ok, now a real question...

who's books did you read as a teenager?
Click to expand...

The question is 'who's books didn't I read when I was a teenager?'!

From fantasy I read: Tolkien, Eddings, Gemmell, Julian May, Stephen Donaldson, Anne McCaffrey (though technically I suppose she's more of a SF writer) Louise Cooper, Gene Wolfe, Piers Anthony, Hugh Cook, Freda Warrington and many many more.

From SF I read: Asimov, Heinlein (sp?), Silverberg, Aldiss, Clarke, E.C. Tubb, E.E. Doc Smith, Frank Herbert, ...

From other genres it was: Desmond Bagley, Alistair McClean, Wilbur Smith, Robert Ludlum, Clive Cussler, James Herbert, Stephen King ... to name but a few.

In short - I read a lot!
 
Hi Mark,

I walked past Waterstones Witney today and there was a poster up about a Book Festival at the start of september. I quickly scanned the list for your name and found it, and was just wondering what's going to be happening that week?

Ed - Threddy
 
There's lots happening during the week, Threddy, but my gig is on Saturday 6th September. I, along with Mary Hoffman and about another four or five authors will be signing in the store. I believe I will be speaking in another venue for an hour at some point during the day as well. I'll put up a full list of the other authors involved in the day shortly.
 
Ok Thanks Mark.

I had an idea which was that I'd bring in all my darkweaver books and get them signed 'Mark Robson', then sell them on ebay and buy the new covers cos mine are really old.
 
OK, Threddy, here's the list who will be attending on Saturday 6th Sep 08 at Witney Waterstones:

Mark Robson
Mary Hoffman - Mary Hoffman - Children's writer
Julia Golding - Julia Golding | Books
Sarah Singleton - Sarah Singleton
Rachael Wing - Scholastic Children's Books Author Zone
MG Harris - MG Harris - official author Website
Joanna Kenrick (TBC) - Joanna Kenrick - Home

Apparently I will be giving a talk in the Corn Exchange Gallery Room at 2pm. There's limited seating, but I don't expect hordes of fans to swamp the place, so I imagine getting tickets will be easy enough. You should be able to get them from the Witney Waterstones store.

As for selling the old cover versions on ebay, I have no idea how much you would get for them. If they are first editions you shouldn't have too many problems getting rid of them, but if they are reprints, then you probably won't get much.
 
Mark Robson said:
OK, Threddy, here's the list who will be attending on Saturday 6th Sep 08 at Witney Waterstones:

Julia Golding - Julia Golding | Books


Apparently I will be giving a talk in the Corn Exchange Gallery Room at 2pm. There's limited seating, but I don't expect hordes of fans to swamp the place, so I imagine getting tickets will be easy enough. You should be able to get them from the Witney Waterstones store.

As for selling the old cover versions on ebay, I have no idea how much you would get for them. If they are first editions you shouldn't have too many problems getting rid of them, but if they are reprints, then you probably won't get much.
Click to expand...

I didn't realise Julia Golding was going to be there. Wow, it keeps getting better.

I imagine there will be quite a lot of people at the Corn Exchange waiting for you and if there's not I'll bring my friend who loves the Imperial books but refuses to read the Darkweaver ones (he's a nutcase).

Unfortunately, my books are reprints, but I did buy them when no-one knew you. If you didn't sign so many books they could be worth a lot more!
 
Will I have to book tickets to see you in the Corn Exchange?

Also:

My mum manages North Leigh library and she wants to get an author in. I, of course, suggested you. Would you be able to come to North Leigh for a few hours or something and maybe read a chapter of one of your books, or talk about being an author? How much would it cost?

Thanks,
Ed - Threddy
 
Hi, Threddy. Not sure about tickets to the Corn Exchange. Your best bet will be to ring the Witney Waterstones branch and ask. I don't know what the set up for this talk is going to be yet.

As for fees to visit a library - this is negotiable. Most libraries offer a set fee for authors to visit, but if it's a single talk then I'm sure we'll be able to sort something out. I will be happy to talk to her about it, but availability might be an issue depending on when she's looking for me to come. If she drops me a line through the contact page of my website - Contact then we'll see what I can do. :)
 
Threddy said:
If you didn't sign so many books they could be worth a lot more!
Click to expand...
Yeah mark! Stop signing books, I want to make some money! lol, even if you did I wouldn't sell my books!

Shame I dont live near the corn exchange
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
T Can't remember sci fi book title or author Book Search 0
Cosmic Geoff Amazon author copies Publishing 1
Jubal_Harshaw '80s or '90s - Authors' characters making appearances in other authors' universes Book Search 0
Cosmic Geoff Latest real tech - SF authors take note SFF Lounge 1
G I am searching for a book author and title of a paperback published since 1950 Book Search 9

Similar threads


Back
Top