First, thank you so much for all the show of support on the delay post. Gordon and I really appreciate it. We read every comment and it’s so nice to hear that you guys don;t think we’re totally nuts.
Just to clarify things, when I wrote of the delay, I was referring to MAGIC BLEEDS being moved several months ago from its usual spot in late March to late May.
Several publishing questions sprung up from that discussion, so he and I will be putting together a big post answering them. We have several questions already and if you’re curious about publishing process or details of promo or finance, now is the chance to ask it in the comments. 
Or you can email it to us.
PS. For all of the anonymous people on lj, just in case, we do have a non-lj blog: http://www.ilona-andrews.com/blog/ so if you would prefer to comment here or there, it’s all the same.
Good things are worth waiting for! x
alrighty… as you know I’m writing too, but at the moment, am not aspiring to get published… but, in the name of all other as of yet unpublished authors:
thank you – again – for the opportunity.
my only question would be: do you get per-book royalties for books on other markets… (e.g. for the German translations… is there the contract sum and that’s it or is there a per book-amount you get paid, too?)… because if there is, I will bookpush even more.
I already bought two sets of the and gave them to a friend of mine and my h2b’s sis as christmas present. 
I am curious about deadlines, as I’ve read a lot of complaint/comment on them by authors. Mostly about missing them.
So, first, when you’re doing a contract, do you normally have deadlines for when a book is supposed to be complete? and what happens if you miss it?
…some authors seems to not have deadlines for series, and come out with other books instead, even when they say they have, say a 5 book contract or something…so how does that work?
Also, whats the general timeline from when you start working on a book to the time its published?
And on the earlier post you mentioned how much you make on a average book. Do you know the general breakdown of costs? like how much goes to the publisher, the bookstore, etc. And using a coupon or buying the book for cheaper doesn’t take away money from the authors does it?
Second on the question of discounts for a book. Does buying a book cheaper, ie amazon or something as opposed to in a store, take away money from the author?
I’m interested in how much self-promoting you do, and how that affects the rest of the equation. I know maintaining the forum must help you keep old fans interested in your work (it works on me
), so how much do you do to increase fan loyalty or attract new ones?
What is a copyedit?
I was just wondering if a book agent is necessary and when you are trying to find one are there any up front fees or are they only paid after a book is published? On the other side of the publishing industry I was wondering if you had any idea how one gets a position as a book editor? I am almost done with my MA but not in English and there are a lot of internships for editing but they are primarily for undergrads in the English field and they are mostly in NY and I am living in MO for the foreseeable future…very frustrating…any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.
I’m curious about how drafts work when you’re published. I know when you’re unpublished, the general rule of thumb is 3+ drafts before subbing it out. How many drafts do you guys generally go through before you hand the manuscript in? Also, do you do a lot of editing while you write or do you wait to make changes and corrections to the story during copy-edits?
Is doing a short story for an anthology much different publishing-wise for an author or group of authors? Is it worth doing a short story for an author financially or is one of those things that is more for helping to boost your reputation and your fan base?
Is plagiarism a big worry for you, that you are unconsciously plagiarising someone else’s work or that someone is plagiarising yours. It’s a pretty big issue for writers, so I’m curious as to your take on it.
When you contract with a publisher for a specified number of books, do you worry that the book/character/world simply don’t have that long of a story to reach the number of books you are contacted for, e.g. say if you had decided that Kate’s story would finish with book 4 even though you are contacted for more? Would you try and stretch the story out, even if the quality of it would suffer as a result, or let the story end early despite the contractual obligation?
What percentage of books actually earn out their advance?
For those books that don’t, do publishers take it as a cost of doing business and keep working with the author for the duration of the contract, or do they actually break the contract?
I posted part of this on your other blog page but I wanted to repost it here as it is a writing question.
I actually wonder how you write two series a year so well, Ilona. I’ve seen how that impacts other author’s work *cough-LKH-cough* and I’ve not seen the slip in quality that so often accompanies that sort of writing schedule. Do you think the fact that you and Gordon write the series together helps with this? Do you help keep each other “honest” when it comes to the stories rather than just rushing through to meet the deadline?
lol TK, about LKH, coz I’ve been thinking that writing a second series for her is improving the original one. The issue with the AB series was that it was overrun by sex by the 10th book, so writing the MG series to focus on sex left the AB series alone. The absolute latest novels of AB lead away from sex and back towards decency. Although when I say they got better, I still only mean relatively better.
:shakes the “Don’t get me in trouble with other authors flag”:
LKH was one of the pioneers of the genre and we’re very grateful to her.
Sorry, ma’am – I don’t want to get you into trouble. I’m just a bit of a rabble-rouser at times. It’s cold here…what else do we have to do??
The question about collaborating on two series still stands – do you think that you help keep each other “honest” during the process?