We have no shortage of fantasy books for our readers, and that includes a very popular but fraught (for the author) series of epic fantasy books by Kristine Kathryn Rusch called The Fey series.
The reason these books are fraught for Kris have nothing to do with WMG and everything to do with the publishing world that once was. It is explained very well in the story of our latest Kickstarter, The Return of The Fey, which launched last week and proves just how incredibly popular The Fey series is.
My own history with The Fey began very early in my tenure here at WMG. Kris had gotten back her publishing rights to The Fey books before I started in 2012, and they had already been published in ebook. But the paperbacks fell to me as one of my first tasks with WMG.
Epic fantasy tends to be long, and The Fey is no exception. The first book clocks in at about 220,000 words. So, I had the design challenge of fitting novels that were more twice the size of our average novel into books about the page count as those average novels.
Why? Price. We did not want to charge an arm and a leg for these novels.
(As it would turn out, Kris would write other novels in other series that would rival The Fey, so it was a good task to tackle early.)
But once we published the paperbacks of The Fey, we set the series aside awaiting new novels in the much-anticipated Place of Power, the next story line of The Fey.
And waited. And waited.
Kris is a prolific writer across many genres. She has a huge fan base in every one of her major series.
And so, The Fey kept getting pushed off because of other pressing deadlines.
Then, Kris had an idea.
As Kris explains in her video on the Kickstarter, which you should definitely watch, she needs help from her fans. Her Fey fans. They (you) need to give her a deadline.
That’s what The Return of The Fey Kickstarter is all about.
I suspected her fans would respond. But even I was blown away by the overwhelming response the Kickstarter has received.
The Kickstarter funded in less than an hour. It blew through all of its initial stretch goals in less than a day.
I’m not even going to tell you what stretch goal we’re working on now, because this Kickstarter is moving so fast whatever I say will likely be out of date by the time you read this.
So, let’s just say, there’s a boatload of additional goodies to be had with any reward at the $5 level and above.
In addition to a new Fey novella, rewards include special workshops for writers, deals on fantasy novels for readers, and even a nonfiction book that will chronicle Kris’ experience with writing The Fey—want to get into the head of a writer while they’re writing, this is your chance—that will appeal to both!
You definitely don’t want to miss out on this one, so I’ll stop writing about it and tell you to click here to watch the video, read the story, and check out all the amazing rewards and stretch goals.
But hurry. This, like all Kickstarters, is a limited-time opportunity.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.