ROBIN HOBB

If you have visited here before, you may note some changes we've made.  Some may seem unfriendly, but they are certainly not intended that way! And if you follow me on other social media, you've definitely seen some changes.

Being a writer these days creates a lot of tasks.  Answer email.  Have a lively social media presence.  Promote you own books. Attend conventions, conference and comic cons.  Review the books you are reading or listening to.  Be clever on twitter.  Post almost daily on Facebook.  Have an interesting blog.

Whew!

It used to be that 'being a writer' just meant that I had to try to write at least one book a year!  If I received a letter from a reader, usually via the publisher's mailing address, it was a remarkable occurrence!  Now an average day brings a dozen emails of various kinds.  

I've been trying to establish a regular writing schedule for myself, after slacking off for a number of months.  One of the things I used to do was open my email first and try to answer it all before moving on to other tasks.  It's nice to be in touch with readers, to hear stories of where they read the books or what parts they enjoyed.  Keeping in touch with readers and reaching back when they write to me is a big part of being a writer.

Unfortunately, these days, by the time I reached the end of the emails, checked Facebook, skimmed through Twitter, and glanced at Insttagram  the key presses in my fingers had been used up, and as a result the stories I've been working on have not moved forward. Nor have I blogged here at all lately!

So, I am trying a new pattern.  Kat and I have disabled the 'contact Robin Hobb' button. If you have 'official' business, you can still reach me via The Lotts Agency for literary stuff, and Rand Holston at Paradigm agency for everything else.

As I mentioned, this may seem unfriendly. It's not intended that way.  It's my way of pushing myself to get back to writing, rather than spending my writing hours 'being a writer.'   So you have seen less of me on social media and you will see even less now.  And while I've already said I'll be at Emerald City Comic Con, I only plan to drive up, stay one day, and then head for home, and the keyboard.

I think the vast majority of my readers would rather have a new book sometime in 2021 than see me dithering on line.

I hope I'm right about that.

I will try to do regular updates here at robinhobbcom   I hope you'll take the time to drop by.

Thank you!

Robin

Several months ago, I began hearing from readers that they could not order the audio books of Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven, the first two books in the Rain Wilds Chronicles. Audio books for book three, City of Dragons remain available, as does book four, Blood of Dragons.  But I certainly understand that readers don't want to skip the first two books in a set and jump into the middle of a story.

The issue seems to be that there was a lapse in the contract for the audio rights for those two books.  I think most readers understand that the creation of an audio book is outside the realm of my being a writer.  How it works is that an audio book company requests to buy the rights to create the audio book.  The audio book company creates the version using their readers and equipment and distribution system.  It's something that most writers have little control over once the contract is signed. 

The news I have right now is what you may already have seen on Amazon.com   The new versions of the audio books will be available in June of 2020.  That's an eight month wait, and I can do little except apologize. 

What I can recommend in the meantime is that readers check with their local libraries.  My library uses a wonderful app called Libby.  Using my card, and from anywhere with wifi, I can check out ebooks and audio books.  It is my hope that you can check out the older versions of Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven from your local libraries and enjoy them as audio books that way. 

Thanks for your understanding!

Once upon a time, Science Fiction and Fantasy conventions and comic book conventions were places where a few hundred folk gathered to talk about the genre they loved.  

They became more popular, and included more slices of the fandom. Costuming, films, television series, illustrators, editors, agents, musicians, actors and of course more and more merchants.  Soon the hundreds of attendees had become thousands, and then hundreds of thousands!  The big conventions were expensive and sold out fast.  You might want to attend with your friends, but you couldn't be sure that all of you would be lucky enough to get tickets.

Gone were the days of leaning on a table and chatting with an illustrator, one on one.  Even  old friends seemed to have less and less time to chat as they had to hurry off to one of the multiple track programming events. Sometimes it's hard to see the displays past the shoulder to shoulder people.

But smaller gatherings still do exist.  Jet City Comic Show, at the Convention Center in Tacoma, Washington is one of them.  It's a two day show, on October 26 adn27th.  It's affordable, not sold out, and one can either bus there or find good parking!    And once you are there, there are both wonderful things to do and see, and still time to meet people and have a real conversation.  You can discuss how a piece of jewelry was made, or compare the styles of favorite illustrators.  It's a place to meet up with old friends and find new ones.  It's family friendly, so even the youngest (or oldest!) fans are welcome.

Who might you meet?  Gil Gerard.  Or Felix Silla. A  Bumblebee Transformer Car. Jim Valentino. Ben Templesmith.  Well, the list is actually too long for here, so try this link: Jet City Guests

I will be there for both Saturday and Sunday.  I'll be presenting a panel on Write Here, Right Now, about why you should, indeed, start your story writing right now.

I hope you'll be able to join us.  Please feel free to bring any of my books that you would like signed.