Well, it's out there, and that's great to see. Strange to watch it go live online, to be able to monitor the sales as they come in via real time reporting, and then to have that all rounded out with comments, emails and Facebook posts from readers who'd just bought it. Strange, but also exciting.

Afterwards, I had some messages from readers who weren't in the US and didn't want to buy it from Amazon.com (because of the shipping charges), which means they'll just have to wait a few more weeks for other online retailers to pick the book up. Likewise, I also had messages from people wanting the ebook (the Kindle format is only weeks away) and then there were the messages from my Australian readers asking where they could get it from locally. Sorry cobbers and cobettes, the Australian retail release is still a few months away (in September). Hang in there, please.

My readership is split almost evenly (at the moment) between Australia and the rest of the reading world, though the ebook editions will change that, and probably fairly quickly. For the record, we'll be trying for a more closely co-ordinated release of book 3. That's right, we'll be aiming for something global – or as global as our small outfit can manage.

So, back to the matter at hand; I guess you want to know how book 2 went?

Well, the answer is pretty good.

Books sold. Quite a few of them, in fact. Not that Ossard's Hope will be gracing the bestseller lists for May on Amazon.com, but for a couple of days there it climbed the ladder, and for a couple of hours or more it sold enough to even make the top 10 of the Epic Fantasy bestseller list. To make such a list for such a length of time sounds better than it is. In truth, we're talking about a sub-list of the fantasy list, which is a sub-list of the bestseller list. As you can see, while it might sound impressive on the surface, it's not a wild and huge achievement, but it's still something. And that's okay by me.

I'm pleased to have the book out there and now looking forward to the Australian release and what signings and appearances can be arranged for that. The face to face stuff is the best part of a new release. Meeting readers, chatting to people and seeing your book so blatantly displayed is energising.

Oh, glory to the gods of good merchandising!

These days it's fashionable to talk about the death of the bookshop or the ebook revolution. While both topics are built around healthy seeds of truth, I still very much enjoy the 'traditional' end of publishing - and hope to for a few more trilogies. For me, the best part of a new book's launch is the opportunity to go to bookshops and do signings.

For those who helped make this online launch a success, I thank you for your support. For those still waiting, whether it's for the book to list on a rival online retailer, or to become available as an ebook, or to see it on the shelves of an Australian bookshop, I thank you for your patience.

As for me; I'll now be dealing with the promotional side of the second Ossard release for a while, but also gearing up for book 3. In the coming months, as the Australian release comes and goes, I'm also hoping to have some announcements about other releases. If all goes well 2012 will be a big year.

Good reading!