Genghis Khan rides again!
It's been a tough year for many people, and things were pretty tough in publishing even before the dreaded virus and its associated emergency rules locked down half the world. The latest casualty of this summer is the small but passionate UK publisher of historical fiction, Greystones Press, which has sadly now closed its doors, taking my YA Genghis Khan novel Bone Music out of print, along with all the other books published by them. Readers might gain briefly from this, since you can still get these books from third party sellers at a reasonable price - but be quick if you want one, because there won't be any more printed!
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| BONE MUSIC (Greystones Press 2018 edition) |
As someone whose debut novel was published back in 1999, I'm no stranger to my books going out of print. Books have their season and publishers move on - unless the book happens to be Harry Potter, of course, when publishers cling on to the rights and issue new editions for decades, but unfortunately for my bank manager I didn't write that one. So I'm doing what I always do these days when a book I've spent several years researching and writing goes out of print. I revert the rights (if the publisher closes down like Greystones did, these should revert automatically) and start reformatting my text as an ebook and print-on-demand paperback with Amazon's KDP. I also need to design a new cover for my book, since publishers own the copyright in theirs - rather sadly in this case, since I loved the dramatic Greystones Bone Music cover with its black war banner and the Khan's warriors riding against the red moon.
Or how about three new covers?
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| paperback cover for book 1: Prince of Wolves (all three cover images can be seen on the back panel - spot the differences?) |
No, I haven't totally lost the plot. My version of the Genghis Khan legend has an innovative structure, being told in three parts by the three main characters: the young khan Temujin, his first wife Borta, and his blood brother Jamukha. Since all three narratives cover the same twelve years on the steppes of 12th century Mongolia, I decided to return to my original concept of three linked novellas for the digital versions. This also meant I could resurrect the Mongolian-style portraits I painted for the original Kindle editions of these books back in 2015, before Greystones took on the project. You could probably read them in any order you fancy, but the story works best if you follow the trilogy as it was written and start with Book 1.
The Legend of Genghis Khan 1: Prince of Wolves Kindle edition is on special offer for half term at just 99p / 99c.
Paperback also available.
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| Book 1: PRINCE OF WOLVES Kindle paperback |
Books 2 and 3 will follow just as soon as I've persuaded my unicorn to do the formatting for me.