“To be continued”—Don’t ya just hate that?

An artical by blogger: PubGuy

Originally posted July 30, 2006

Can you imagine reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring and then having to wait years for The Two Towers to come out? Brian Pratt can, so he hasn’t wasted much time between releasing installments of his Morcyth Saga. He published the first book, The Unsuspecting Mage, in December 2005. The fifth book, The Star of Morcyth, just became available in June 2006.

In between, he’s also published The Fires of Prophecy, Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li and Trail of the Gods.

“Perhaps my main reason for writing the Morcyth Saga was due to the fact that other authors seemed to drag out a series and make the reader wait a long time for the next installment,” Pratt said. “Also, after having read many books over the years, I always wanted to try my hand at it. The series will be seven books, the fifth one is out now.”

Between the five books, Pratt has already sold more than 1,300 copies.

“Tried the newspaper announcement thing but that went nowhere; the one person who responded only put a small blurb in my hometown paper—hardly worth the effort,” Pratt said. “Chat rooms would be the most productive avenue I've tried. Drop your name, that you are an author and people start talking. Once they know you, they want to try your book. It's free advertising, all you spend is your time and I have a lot of that.”

Pratt discovered iUniverse with a simple Internet search after trying traditional publishing first.

“The publishers I've tried have all turned me down as well as the half dozen agents I sent letters to. At first, I was excited, but as the rejections came in, I sort of gave up on that avenue and am simply working word of mouth. The numbers say it's going well.

“Everyone I've dealt with at iUniverse has been most helpful. The publication process goes well and the cover design is great. Very happy all way around.”

Pratt list Raymond E. Feist, Isaac Asimov, Piers Anthony and J.R.R. Tolkien among his biggest influences. You can read more about Pratt and the Morcyth Saga at http://www.briansprattbooks.com/.