Imperial Spy

[pyan]

This should give sales a boost, Mark - I was in Borders tonight, and Imperial Spy is in their "Buy one and get another at half-price" offer at the front of the store.

But do you get the same royalties regardless of the amount that the stores sell your books for?

[Mark Robson]

Originally Posted by pyan

This should give sales a boost, Mark - I was in Borders tonight, and Imperial Spy is in their "Buy one and get another at half-price" offer at the front of the store.

But do you get the same royalties regardless of the amount that the stores sell your books for?

Sadly, no. If the books have been discounted to the retailer at more than a certain rate (which I suspect will be the case in this promotion) then the author gets an even smaller than usual royalty. However, the boost in numbers of sales is normally enough in these promotions to compensate ... and I gain more readers who will hopefully go on to read the rest of the series.

All sales are good sales in my mind.

[pyan]

Hmm...but given the particular nature of this offer, it must be difficult to work out...I mean, if two books are brought to the till, both priced at £6.99, and one of them is the full-price, and t'other is ½-price - how do they decide which author gets less? or do both of them get ¾?

[Mark Robson]

Originally Posted by pyan

Hmm...but given the particular nature of this offer, it must be difficult to work out...I mean, if two books are brought to the till, both priced at £6.99, and one of them is the full-price, and t'other is ½-price - how do they decide which author gets less? or do both of them get ¾?

It's not based on the till price, Pyan. Books that are included in these sort of offers are often discounted to the retailers at a particularly favourable rate. It doesn't matter which one is discounted at the till, because the store will have received both books at the higher discount. Therefore, both authors get the reduced royalty rate, regardless of what price goes through the till.

[pyan]

Ah..all is revealed!
Thanks, Mark.

[silvarbullet1]

Originally Posted by Threddy

So would I.

And Me! Length is a load of codswollop. Look at Harry Potter!! JK can do what she likes, so she does. As my sister and I have said (I'm 19, she's 17) the only bad thing about HP is when it ends. They're huge books, but we wade through them. Granted, we're about 8 years older than the target audience, but that doesn't stop the 10 year olds reading HP, does it??

Is there any way you can release two books closer together, which tie together much closer, so as to effectively be having one story spread over tow books, in order to get more in there? I guess that's a publishing no-no. You should self-publish again ;-P
I'll help run off a few thousand

[Mark Robson]

Hi, Silvarbullet1. Nice to see you here.

You'll be no doubt pleased to know that the next 4 books will all launch in the space of just over 1 year! It's hell to write this fast, but I accept that you guys want books fast. I'm doing my best to keep up!

[Threddy]

4 books in just over a year?!
That's incredible. You see, that's why your my favourite author.

[Joel007]

That sounds an unusual way to pick favourites

[cocob3an-xx]

just finished Imperial Spy.
thought it was fantastic - am getting Imperial Assassin for my birthday, can't wait!
the blurb was great - hooked me straight away.

the disaster at school with the heating has been fixed... it was broken when you came (im at St Edward's). not that that's a problem now, we're having lovely weather

[Mark Robson]

Thanks for the feedback, Cocob3an-xx. It's always nice to hear from people who have enjoyed reading my work. Glad to hear that the state of disaster has been rectified! It was an interesting day at your school. After watching Dr Who at the weekend, I'm not sure I would have liked to walk your corridors in the state they were in last time I was there!

I hope you enjoy Assassin. I'm fairly confident that you will.

[Patrick Mahon]

Mark,

I hope you'll be pleased to hear how popular your books are getting: I was on the London Underground last night, following some meetings in London, and as I was chatting to the colleague I was travellin with, I noticed that the woman behind him was reading a copy of Imperial Spy! The front cover is very recognisable...

I think that means you're now officially famous!

[M@.Price]

lol!
I'm hooked once again by your books! I read darkweaver again, and I just have to read the Imperial Trilogy!
And I noticed a review on Amazon comparing the books to the Alex Rider ones...that is good!

[Threddy]

Originally Posted by M@.Price

And I noticed a review on Amazon comparing the books to the Alex Rider ones...that is good!

That's not good, Mark's books are much better.
Ed - Threddy

[Joel007]

I think the implication there is that comparison with a similar author will encourage readers of Alex Rider to take a look at Mark's (unarguably superior) books.