Today is answer the questions day. We’ve been really getting a lot of email questions, so there will be at least two of these posts this week.
No funnies today. Suffer, dudes. 
Maybe funnies tomorrow. 
UK sales
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Sadly, we’re orphaned in UK. I pretty much suspected so – our UK editor had left the publishing house – and I had asked our agent about it, who is looking for alternative venue. Today, thanks to Susan, we have a semi-official confirmation.
[quote cite="UK Publisher Rights and Digital Executive"]Thank you for your email and I am sorry for the slow reply. I have been speaking with our editorial team here and unfortunately we have not acquired these rights, and it doesn’t appear that we will be doing so in the near future. It is likely that the US publisher will be distributing their own edition in the UK and Australia.[/quote]
This affects Australian rights as well, I believe.
I’ve been asked before, “Why don’t you just self-publish?” It may come to that. If we do self-publish, we would have to resign ourselves to kissing any UK print deal for the series good-bye. It’s not the question of money. (I think we only got $5,000 per book.) It’s the question of availability. The US imports can be purchased in UK and Australia, but they are a pain to find. Having a print deal would make the books more widely available to people who still prefer to read in paper.
One way or the other, we will figure this out. We should know more in September, so you will know when we know.
Letter to the Readers – Fate’s Edge Edition
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Letter to the Readers is available on the Home Page of the website, complete with a small snippet. We’re currently working on the edits which are due on Monday. The edits are surprisingly light, which is kind of awesome.
We got several queries about the next, and possibly final, book of the Edge. Short answer: we have no idea what it will be about and we don’t know if the series will be extended. It’s doing well in sales, and while it’s bad to speculate on the publisher’s intent, I think they would extend the contract. The uncertainty is coming more from our end.
ON THE EDGE was meant to be a stand-alone, so the worldbuilding wasn’t conceived as a background to a series. Each new book forces us to reinvent the setting a little. FATE’S EDGE was a blast to write, but at the same time, unless this book pulls a wild surprise out of the bag and people really love it, I’m not sure I would commit to another 2 or 3 books in this world.
We’re kind of pulling side character stories out of thin air at this point. It’s almost like every successive book is a spin-off and while this last one was really funny, neither Gordon nor I are sure that the readers are following us in our crazy adventures. The picture will be clearer after December.
Release of Kate 6
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We don’t really know when Kate 6 will be released. It’s not written yet, and typically I would say “May of next year,” however we’re hitting a storyline snag. For the timeline to make sense, we need Andrea/Raphael spin-off to happen before Kate 6 takes place.
Commission for oshirigaitai by *Chibi-Challenge02
Ilona Andrews Page on Deviant Art
How this is going to work, I have no idea. That’s a conversation we’ll have after FATE’S EDGE edits are turned in and it’s off on its way to publication.
A lot of hurry up and wait happening. Too bad you can’t just put “WE DON’T KNOW DAMMIT” as the banner for your blog
That would be awesome. But then we’d get fussy emails: “Why don’t you know? What is wrong with you? Are you completely incompetent?”
We could just fly over with a giant suitcase or two and sell copies of the books on the street in Picadilly Circus. Or be like Travelers and just roam about the British countryside in a caravan selling them as we go. Ilona come with me and be a filthy hobo!
UK doesn’t let Travelers roam any more, silly man. But yes, I would totally come with you to Europe. We can travel all around the British Isles and rate towns on the quality of their tea.
That reminds me there is a cute little tea shop in down town Round Rock you should check out it called Friar Tucks Pantry. It’s owned by this cute little British lady, the tea is great and the cakes and such are fantastic!
I am heading to London in Sept. I could take a suitcase full of your books with me and set up a little stand on the street corner selling books and tea! Pay for my trip and satisfy all those poor folks in the UK who have a hard time getting your books.
I’m one of those poor desperate folks in the UK – I should set up a publishing house just so we can sort out the availability problems. I know loads of people over here who will buy everything you write – you’re my absolute faves and I will import from the US if necessary.
What you could do is get your fans over there to rally at one big book store and have a signing over there to get your names and books out to more I know they would love them
I’m from England! I’ll sell your books! Also i-tunes in England has stopped doing your audiobooks. Boo-hoo
I’m moving to America. How does one go about getting a visa hmmm??
The audio books are still on Audible.com.
Ah, but would you come to Australia (and New Zealand)? I hadn’t quite realized that forwarding my email reply from the UK publishers meant breaking completely new ‘news’ to you and Gordon! While I actually have the US versions of your books in DTB format, I’m also greedy enough to want them as ebooks as well! The reason for my email in the first place… (and fellow Aussies – FYI Amazon looks to have bought out theBookDepository so the free postage might be affected!)
What?!!!!! Oh that just truly sucks ’cause amazon shipping costs to Australia are beyond ridiculous
I live in England and would most definitely make an appearance to purchase your book – releases of your books tend to be a highlight on my calendar!
An Andrea and Raphael spinoff…be still my beating heart. That would be AWESOME!!!
I hope you enjoy TX. We’re leaving Africa soon, and will partake in the glorious ritual of couch surfing and house-sitting until life settles down, but I will get the paperback copies of your books that I missed (there are 4 in total, arg) and haul them from spot to spot with me:)
May of next year ??? *gasp* but…but…but
I may be hit by a falling asteroid, or savaged to death by my psychotic cat (“Nibbles! Put that passing car down right this minute!”). I have a counter proposal – Friday next week. If you write fast you could possibly make it by Monday. That would be better, as it would fit in with me finishing my fourth reading of Kate 5.
Please add more vampires. I am hugely impressed by your vampires, as they are unlikely to turn into sultry masculine hunks if offered the love of a good woman. They would of course devour her on the spot, thus proving the old adage ‘The only good vampire is a dead vampire’.
Errrmmm… wait a minute. That doesn’t really work does it? Perhaps its better in Russian.
On a more serious note, May next year brightened up my day as I had not expected such a quick turnaround. If you and Jim Butcher keep alternating like this you will make a huge fan of both very happy!
The only thing I can think of in the whole world that would make me as giddy as Kate 6 in May of next year would be an Andrea and Raphael spin off first! Also, I don’t know about everyone else but I’m digging the funny. The Kate books have gotten funnier (even while they get darker) and I loved that about Kate 5.
Bayou Moon set up enough bad guy conspiracy to make me hope for more Edge books. I hope y’all can keep going with it
“Andrea/Raphael spin-off”…Oooh, yeaaahhhh. The long-ranger and the render.
And now I have to WAIT for it.
Sigh. Sigh. At least the rereads (for the fans) are going well. More sighing…. How do you get the smilies into the comments?
BTW, that sure is a chubby Raphael in the Chibis.
Ok, first try:
; ) -> wink
: ) -> smile
: D -> laugh/big smile
Ha, it worked
Just type those without the blanks.
There will be short stories, too.
Thanks Yala!!
Ilona: Anything will be wonderful. Please get some rest.
I haven’t read Fate’s Edge yet (obviously), but I’m totally sure from the snippets you posted that it will be awesome. In part that might be due to the fact that I like rogueish heros in general (just so you know how to view my opinion), but I can’t wait to read this book, the snippets sound like so much fun
Concerning following books, what you write, I’ll buy. I have total faith in your storytelling abilities
Oh, and I forgot to mention, while I’d looooove to read Kate6 about now
I totally wouldn’t mind if a spinoff came before that for story reasons.
And if you ever travel Europe, I’d love to meet up
*whispers* yes, yes, come to europe, preciousssssss autorssssssssss. *G*
I would also buy anything y’all write. I have total trust. You always deliver a good story!!
Oh now I’m giddy with thought of both Kate 6 and the spin-off coming out (hopefully?) within the next year.
Of course, a sprinkling of e-books in between would give us the intermediate fixes we need until then (not so subtle hint!).
Loved the snippet — that’s a great substitute for funnies today!
Ship them to me and I’ll be happy to set up a stand of you.
But I find the book depository and amazon.co.uk are good with US books. Spin-off before Kate 6 is not a problem for me as long as you keep them coming! Soooo excited about Fate’s Edge. <3 Kaldar and Audrey! <3
that’s what I thought, too. Even here in Austria I have no problem getting the US-version via amazon or bookdepository.
what sometimes presents a kind of ‘problem’ is, when there is a UK publisher, but it publishes the book months after the US release date. As soon as there is an official UK publisher with a UK release date, it’s hard, if not impossible, to get the US version.
Or look at Patty Briggs…. The Mercy books have the most awesome covers!!! But since there is a separate UK version, I can only get the dead tree with the UK covers, which – IMO – look pretty unspectacular.
yep, I get the US covers because they are way more awesomer
look at Nalini’s books. I work in a book shop in Ireland, you could ship them to me. We also have a halting site near enough, you could live there. haha.
Oops, Obviously Ireland is not part of the UK, but most book deals include us. I suppose I could slip across the border to Northern Ireland and set up a stall next to the fireworks ones (Fireworks are illegal in Ireland).
Have you seen all the other chibis on dA? The latest ones of Dali and Jim are damn cute!
They should lighten your and all the fans’ day! ^.^
spin of you say ^..^ that set my ears to perking. It also explains the whole why the hell i didn’t get my grumpy hyena this last book ( i was SO sure he would show up somewhere)
You know you could do that in segments and pay for the appliances as we all scrabble for our next bit. Kinda like King did with his plant story. You could name the chapters for what we are helping you pay off.
If the chibis keep flowing I’m sure we can all wait… omg Kate and Curran chibi comic…
*fantasizes*
That would be High-lar-ious.
As it is, I can wait. I will wait a long damn time for quality stories, like yours among others, rather than churned out crapola that any idiot can write.
Chibi comic!! That would be awesome.
BTW, Sarah, this may be an odd question, but have you ever gone by the screen-name Flo on Anita Blake related message boards?
kate manga!!! :3
Totally agree about the waiting a long time for quality stories. ^.^
Andrea and Raphael spin-off… *sighs* You say the sweetest things, Ilona.
I would like to add one thing in support of the Edge series. I’m not wedded to you writing about any particular, previously introduced characters. I find the Edge a unique world – neither fish nor fowl and entirely gritty. I just love the setting. There are many people these days just getting by and that’s part of the Edge’s appeal. It’s so real and yet so unreal. But anything that would make your creative process draining to you would be bad… It’s just like like the Edge and the Edgers.
It’s a bummer about the UK, I live there but since I am ocd with book covers matching I have gotten all my Kate Daniels books from amazon.com.
As long as you continue to write books then I will continue to buy them, even if I have to wait an extra month or two from release day to get the book in my hands
Usually pre-order them from Amazon UK so getting hold of them is not really a problem. Actually got Kate 5 before the US readers since Amazon UK decided to send my pre-order early!
awwww no! I live in england and I always have to wait ages for your books to come out
I don’t mind which Kate world book I get next, andrea/raphael sounds good to me, you want to write about mahon’s fleas at war with aunt b’s ticks, pre-order me a copy of that. As for uk people, i live in wales and if i can’t get my copy on exactly the same date over here as you do over there i go on amazon.com and order from the usa, but that will only work with already committed readers i suppose. Absolutely love the pic of raphael being chased by the hellhound, amazing.
The Aussies have always been able to acquire the US editions at reasonable prices from specialist/independent SF bookshops like Galaxy Bookshop in Sydney and Minotaur in Melbourne. They have mail-order service too.
On the UK side there’s Forbidden Planet as well. Not sure if they do imports, though.
Forbidden Planet in the UK does import books but you’re best to go to the shop in Tottenham Court Road in London rather than any of the local ones.
Another uk person who gets the us edition from amazon.co.uk – no way I could wait for the uk edition, the only problem I have is he jumping thru hoops I have to do to buy the us kindle edition as well (yes I do need two copies of the same book!)
For the Kate 6 timeline issue, you could try releasing a novella/anthology thingy, then have it make sense that Kate 6 is timed in May of next year. It would also follow the pattern that you’ve been doing for the past few books (first three went without any novella/anthology thingies, but the next two had one novella, one novel, one novella, one novel; it was cool). Anyway, I’m writing a book right now (not published), and my dad is an author and my mom has gotten a little interested in writing and she knows business and timelines so I’ve heard tons about creativity, writing, timeline, and business tips.
Yeah, Juile would be an awesome one to do. Like her finding her way around the pack and adjusting to being a shapeshifter or something. Or maybe Derek, since he quit some of the duties he had at the Keep to join Kate at Cutting Edge. Lots of possibilities for either of them but those would be the coolest. There are also obviously lots of other characters, but I think that Julie would be the best candidate since her character has changed the most…
I just finished Magic Dreams. It was so awesome! What ever you choose to write, I’ll buy it. However, as much as it pains me, I’d rather wait year knowing that what you write will be excellent rather than have you churn out cookie cutter books. Don’t overwork yourselves, your fans will wait.
I just wanted to voice agreement with those above that I love love love the Edge and the Edgers. Love them. Bayou Moon is my favorite of all of your books and I love them all so that’s saying something! I am so dying to learn more about them all! What happens with Georgie and Jack? With Lark? Does Jack move in with William and Cerise? Do Jack and Lark grow up together? Become a couple? What kind of missions are William and Cerise being sent on? Do they have to do with the changlings that are in prison schools? Who stayed behind on their land in the Edge? What happened to the ropie Nellie? Since they moved to the Weird, did other Edgers try to take over their land? You have written such a harsh/beautiful world, it makes me want to know more more more! Which is such a testament to your writing ability!
there is nothing wrong with a short story for Andrea/ Raphael. You did one for Dali and Jim. In fact that would totally work, and we could get it sooner!
Hmm. Based on physique, I am obviously a chibi.
Susan, I laughed out loud at your comment on your physique and being a chibli. You sidetracked me.
I was going to suggest that all your UK readers write to one of the likely publishers (everyone to the same publisher) to let them know there is an audience for your books.
However, the suggestion of having you do a book signing in the UK, that your fans will know about and come to, would also send the message. Only you’d would have to arrange for the book store to get a share of the proceeds, or why would they do it (many fan requests?), and you’d have to time it so that people could get to the store, so you’d be able to show them you really do have the readership. THAT’S why you have to travel around the UK to various bookstores. To reach folks in different areas. Tax deductible in the US? In the UK, is doing book signings (and selling books) considered work that is allowed to happen without permits or something?
I like your Edge books, but I’m not sorry there might not be more after this last one, because I’m hopeful that’ll free up your time to focus on Alphaz. (I cannot tell you how much I’m looking forward to that novella, and I really hope you’ll continue to explore that world!)
I was sad to hear about the Kate 6 delay, but then I got to the Andrea/Raphael spin-off part and my heart leaped — yay, that’s awesome!
Sounds to me like you should have andrea/raphael book as your spring release and substitute kate 6 as the sept book…then you can see how you feel about the edge books! But since I’ve loved everything by you guys, as long as I’m getting yearly supplements of ilona andrews I’m ok wether its kate/alpha/fate/…or new series
Love love love the chibis.
I love all the Edge books also and have them in print and audio just like I have with the Kate books
You guys ROCK, write whatever you want to because we love it all 
Just to reinforce what others have said about the UK situation. The book depository and Amazon.co.uk both deliver to the UK without having to wait. Magic Slays was available for pre-order. Also, the book depository delivers worldwide for free. Ideal for me, cause I’m in Spain! Keep up the good work guys!
Oh, and thank you for the sneak peek! Great stuff, as always…
Also one of the people in Australia. I order from bookdespository.com/co.uk whichever has the cheapest price. And as someone said, Galaxy Bookshop is really good for US books.
Also, can’t wait for KD6. ^^
Love (LOVE) the comment for Andrea/Raphael spin-off & short stories. If it means getting a spin-off w/ Andrea & Raphael, I’m happy to wait however long it may take. It’ll hurt, but I’ll wait!
On Twitter you mentioned MS Word headaches… I haven’t used Word in a while (I use OpenOffice) but you might try turning off auto correct. I don’t know if it’ll work, it’s just a thought.
I love the Edge series. I’d love to see more of them, honestly, but of course, all up to the writers. As always, impatient to see more of Kate, but always happy to see more of Andrea, especially if she gets to do the get back together thing with Raphael. We’re at your mercy, just glad you two write faster than some authors!
Do what you gotta do with your writing, I’ll be happy just to keep reading your stuff! I love the Edge and would love to see it contonue, but if that doesn’t work out then I’ll live with it. I love Kate, but I’m cool reading about Andrea & Raphael first.
So far, I have enjoyed all of your work so much that the only way I can decide which of your books to re-read is my mood at the time.
Short stories?
could we have one of Derek?
That would be SWELL!
Another reason why living in the UK can suck…
There’s always buying from USA, I’ve done that before.
Hope it all sorts itself out for the best.
But we *NEED* easy access to your books in the UK, *NEED* it I say!!! The demand is there so I don’t understand why they aren’t reaching out with grabby hands???
I actually read Bayou Moon before the first Edge book (it was only my second of your books too after Magic Bites) and it’s still my favorite Edge book, I’m insanely looking forward to Fate’s Edge, fangirling over Kaldar anyone?
Although I don’t know how long I can wait til Kate 6, after getting both of my parents into the book they might attack me if a new one isn’t forthcoming
. Andrea/Raphael would be awesome too though, they’re so cute.
you want us to wait! *gasp* the horror!
Spinoff you said? Well, alright then, I guess =) Mmm more Raphael/Andrea would be awesome!
I have no complaints about a spin-off first. I love Kate and Curran, but really I’m devoted to the whole pie. I’ll take any slice you want to give us.
Bummer!