One way, of course, is to come to a signing! I often do booktours right after a new hard back is published, If you check my schedule, you can see what towns and stores I will be visiting.
If our lives do not intersect, then the next best way is by mail order. There are two sources I can recommend. If you wish to order the book in advance, then you can visit The Signed Page. There you can not only request an autographed first edition, but ask for a specific inscription. The book will be sent to you carefully packaged; if you are a collector, this may be a good choice.

Year round, signed copies of any of my books are available at The University Book Store in Seattle. You can request a hardback or a paperback, just signed or with an inscription, and it will be mailed to you Fourth Class Postage with no additional charge. Go to their website at University Bookstore or call them toll free at 1-800-335-7323. If you wish the book to be shipped by a different method, you will have to pay for it.

While supplies last, in 2010, you will also receive a free copy of the University Book Store’s 110th anniversary booklet, which contains 2 very short stories by me. There are, of course, other wonderful stories in the booklet by lights such as Terry Brooks, Greg Bear, and Tom Robbins. To get the free booklet, type “happy110″ in the promotional code box. That will flag the purchase as one that receives the special book

As of this writing in July, 2010, the next US book will be a collection of short stories by both Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm. The title is The Inheritance, to be published in March, 2011, in the UK and in May 2011 in the US (Not a definite US release date yet.) Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven the two volumes of The Rain Wilds Chronicles are my most currently published workds.

These Rain Wilds Chronicles are set in the Rain Wilds, a familiar locale to readers of the Liveship Traders books. I want to clearly say that these books are not a direct continuation of the stories of any characters from previous books. New cast, and a new situation. I hope you will enjoy returning to this world.

My current work in progress is yet another Rain Wilds book, one that deals with the further experiences of the Tarman Expedition, as well as touching on events in Bingtown and Cassarick. Publication date for this book is not yet set, but I expect to turn in the manuscript by December of 2010.

In different countries and in different languages, my books are published by different publishing houses. They set their own schedules for the publication of the books. If you think about this, you’ll see it makes perfect sense. No one publishes a Christmas book in June, for instance. The publisher picks the date he feels will be best for the book and schedules it to be launched then.

I think it is. Many readers probably recall that at the end of Assassin’s Quest I was certain that I had finished writing about Fitz and the Fool. Then I found out I was wrong. So this time, I’m only saying that I think the story is finished. If a truly compelling plot set in the Farseer universe suddenly came to me, I wouldn’t hesitate to write it. But I don’t want to write another Farseer or Liveship story simply for the sake of writing a Farseer or Liveship story. I don’t want to take a story that could be set anywhere and force it to be a Farseer story simply for the sake of ‘branding’ it. That would be cheating, and my readers, I am sure, would not only know immediately, they’d let me know that they knew. It would be unfair to the readers, to me, and to my characters.

Yes. And it’s incredible, even for those of us who don’t speak French and read only a smattering of that language. I recommend it without reservation. Soleil publishes them. You can see some pages at Assassin Royal

Unfortunately, no, I can’t. The Stone Game is imaginary, a game concept based loosely on Go, Fox and Hounds, and several other old games. I never created a specific set of rules for it, though if I close my eyes, I can see the game cloth in my mind and I know the sort of strategies that I’d want it to have. Someday, when I’m old and retired to a nursing home and have lots of time to myself, I plan to work out all the rules for it. Unfortunately, by that time everyone will consider me a bit barmy and I probably won’t be allowed to have pencils.

I just finished work on a collection of short stories written by both Megan Lindholm and Robin Hobb. The title is The Inheritance. As I only submitted it on Dec. 31, 2009, I do not yet have a publication date for it. And of course I’m already hard at work on The Next Book. I hope to have a better title for it soon.

Bantam did NOT cut the book. The difference in the number of pages is due entirely to choices about font sizes, white space and other production values. The US Bantam edition does have the full text of the book.

Not intentionally and not consciously. I never take a person from my acquaintance and say, “She’d make a great heroine,” or “I’m going to model a villain on him.” It just would not work. Characters have to be a product of the story they are in. They have been molded by their cultures and shaped by their circumstance. To take a person I know and try to write him into one of my stories would feel false. The flip side of that coin is, of course, that all the characters in my stories are a product of my experience combined with my imagination. So, undoubtedly some of my characters share traits with people I know. But I never transplant any whole person into a book.

I always think that I do. Sometimes I am wrong. I do rough out an outline of each story, but as I write I find that things change. Characters don’t react as I expect them to, events don’t move as swiftly, or what seemed likely now seems contrived. If at any time a different plot path seems more likely, I allow myself to follow it. So far, I have not regretted it. Oddly enough, books often end just as I expected them to, after taking a very round about path to reach the conclusion.

No. Sorry. For me to do so is a waste of time for you and for me. I’m a writer. I’m neither an editor nor a publisher. In other words, I cannot truly advise you how to fix something to make it publishable, nor can I offer to publish and buy it. All I could tell you was whether or not I liked it, or how I might have written the story, if it were mine. These might be good insights, but the best places to get such information about your work are in a writer’s workshop, or from an editor. If you are working on technique, learning how to write, then feedback from other writers can tell you if you are achieving your goals. If you think you have a saleable story, then you should be sending it off to an editor to see if you can sell it. Please do visit the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America site at for more information on writing. There you can find information on agents and workshops and scams that prey on new writers. I especially recommend a wonderful writing guide on the site called The Turkey City Lexicon. No aspiring writer should be without it.

It isn’t that uncommon in the writing world to have more than one pseudonym, especially if you write in more than one genre. In my case, Megan Lindholm and Robin Hobb both write fantasy, but in very different styles and in different ’slices’ of the genre. By using two different pseudonyms, I am able to let the reader know which voice they are getting in a book. Some readers like both styles. Others most emphatically do not.

The first thing you have to do is write. There is no easy shortcut about that. Having a great agent or your cousin being best friends with an editor won’t change that. First, you have to write the book (or story) beginning to end. Then you have to make it the best story you can possibly create. I’ve always preferred to work alone, not sharing my work with anyone until it goes off to an editor. That’s my quirk. Many professionals attribute a lot of their success to workshops and writers’ clubs. For more information about these, go to the SFWA site or ask your local library, YMCA or bookstore for information. The second thing you have to do to be a writer is to keep on writing. Don’t listen to people who tell you that very few people get published and you won’t be one of them. Don’t listen to your friend who says you are better that Tolkien and don’t have to try any more. Keep writing, keep faith in the idea that you have unique stories to tell, and tell them. I meet far too many people who are going to be writers ’someday.’ When they are out of high school, when they’ve finished college, after the wedding, when the kids are older, after I retire . . . That is such a trap You will never have any more free time than you do right now. So, whether you are 12 or 70, you should sit down today and start being a writer if that is what you want to do. You might have to write on a notebook while your kids are playing on the swings or write in your car on your coffee break. That’s okay. I think we’ve all ‘been there, done that.’ It all starts with the writing.

To become a published writer, you submit what you have written. The best detailed guide that I know about on how to do this is still Writer’s Market. Go to your library and get the latest copy from the reference section. Read the sections on how to submit your manuscript. Then follow the advice about studying your markets and preparing your manuscript. And finally, polish the story and submit it. This is the unartistic, business end of the writing profession. It’s a very necessary part of being a published writer. Again, there are no short cuts that I know about. If you find any, let me know!

As I do not regard myself as an expert in being published on the Internet, I’m not even going to attempt to advise anyone on that. But I’m willing to bet that it still starts out with, First, write the story.

I believe in the old saw, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” I’ve had extraordinary cover art from artists such as Michael Whelan (the cover of Assassin’s Apprentice, US edition still leaves me smiling), the amazing John Howe, Jackie Morris and Stephen Youll. I’ve been very pleased with the cover art I’ve received, and see no reason to try to tell artists how to do something they obviously do very well. I recommend a visit to Whelen’s site at and John Howe’s site at for wonderful art. John’s site has a special section of art that he has done for the books, in his ‘portfolio’ area.

Yes. Fictionwise has them, and of course they are available for the Kindle, too. Mobipocket, ebookmall . . . Actually, a quick search under Robin Hobb e-books will bring up a wide variety of sources for them.

As of this writing in January, 2010, the next US book will be The Dragon Keeper, to be published on January 26th. Dragon Keeper is already available in the UK. The next book there will be Dragon Haven in March of 2010. In the US, Dragon Haven is scheduled for May of 2010.

These books are set in the Rain Wilds, a familiar locale to readers of the Liveship Traders books. I want to clearly say that these books are not a direct continuation of the stories of any characters from previous books. New cast, and a new situation. I hope you will enjoy returning to this world.

No. I am sorry to be so definite on this, but I simply can’t. Tacoma is a rainy place. Packages left outside my door get wet, especially when I’m away for a weekend. And to send an autographed book back to you, I now have to go stand in line at the post office, even if the postage is on the package already, because of the new postal security rules. I’ve also begun to get boxes of books from people, who say, “These are for gifts. Would you please just autograph each one, no personalized inscriptions, and return them all to me?” I feel that’s taking advantage of my time. I will occasionally make exceptions, such as books for charity auctions, if you get prior permission from me. But if you send me a book without getting my permission to do so first, be warned that it will simply come back to you.

The best way to be sure of getting a hardback copy of the book is to buy it as soon as it comes out. The hardbacks are allowed to go out of print when the paperback copies come out approximately one year later. If you are looking for hardbacks of the older books, then you may find them in used book stores, on Amazon, on E-bay or on Addall.com. If you are looking for hardbacks of the US editions of the Farseer Trilogy, they simply do not exist. In the US, the first two books (Assassin’s Apprentice and Royal Assassin) were only issued as Trade Paperbacks (those are the oversized ones.) Only Assassin’s Quest appeared in hardback. In the UK, the entire trilogy came out in hardback, but they are difficult to find now.

Please discuss purchase of these rights with my agent.

Please discuss purchase of these rights with my agent.

No. I do not permit fan-fiction.

Yes.

Fan art can never be confused with my writing. Art is pictures (or sculptures, etc.) It isn’t words on a page. No one will look at a picture of a wolf and say, “That is Robin Hobb’s work.” Even if you Google for Robin Hobb and Nighteyes, and that image comes up, no one will think it is a page of text from my book. It’s that simple.

No. But thank you for thinking of me.

No. I’m much worse.

Rights are a rather tricky thing for a writer. You simply want to set up an RP or make a little movie and have some fun. You are not expecting to market a game or to profit from a movie.


It probably seems like it would be fun and simple if I simply said, “Sure, go ahead.”



But if the writer gives official permission, it can have unintended consequences in the future. If a game developer approaches the writer and wants to purchase the rights to make a game based on the books, the writer has to say, “I already gave someone else permission to do an RP of that.” Then the game developer may simply end the negotiation.



Or if the game developer purchases the rights and markets the game, the game developer may later take issue with someone else doing for free what he has paid for. The game developer may see it as a copyright infringement on the rights he has purchased. Or the person who has made the RP may look at the game developer and say, “You took a lot of the ideas that I first came up with for my RP and used them in your game that you sold for money. That’s not fair!”



Often, when an author sells a publisher the right to publish a book, the contract will specify that the publisher can sell ’sub rights’ as in movie rights or merchandise rights or gaming rights. If the publisher does sell those rights, then the author and the publisher share in the income from those rights. The publisher might not be happy to discover that the author had already given someone those rights for free.



This is why all rights permissions have to go through my agent. The agent keeps track of what rights have been purchased and by whom. If a writer gives someone permission to make a comic or an audio book version and at the same time the agent is negotiating a sale of those rights, things can get very messy for everyone, with possible law suits.



This is a long answer to what was probably seen as a fairly simple question. But often a writer is seen as stingy or selfish if he or she simply says, “No, you can’t do that, even if you are not planning on making money from it.”