Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 107

Returns On Ad Spending

It’s the end of the month, so let’s look back and see how my ads performed.

July was a bit weird because my ad account at a Certain Major Social Media Platform got randomly blocked yet again. Every few months the algorithms get tweaked, and then they go berserk and ban everything in sight, which means I have to appeal, and a few days/weeks later it gets fixed, and then we repeat this process a few months later like a time loop in a science fiction novel, but much lamer. It’s really, really annoying, so if a Certain Major Social Media Platform gets fed to the antitrust wolves, I won’t be too upset.

But that’s a digression! Let’s see how the ads did.

FROSTBORN – for every $1 I spent, I got $3.43 back.

THE GHOSTS – for ever $1 I spent, I got $8.17 back. That was really good! Not sure why it was so good, but I’m not going to complain.

CLOAK GAMES/CLOAK MAGE – for every $1 I spent, I got $8.94. Not including CLOAK OF BLADES, it was still $5.22 for every dollar spent.

I think the CLOAK GAMES/CLOAK MAGE results shows that the best thing you can do to promote a series is to write a new book in it.  Even without CLOAK OF BLADES factored it, the return was still $5.22 for every dollar, almost $2 higher than FROSTBORN, and that was the halo effect of CLOAK OF BLADES drawing attention to the other books in the series.

Finally, thanks for reading! I’ve gotten many nice comments about CLOAK OF BLADES, so I’m glad people enjoyed it.

-JM

CLOAK OF DRAGONS reviewed

AudioFile Magazine has a nice review of Hollis McCarthy’s work narrating CLOAK OF DRAGONS. Key quote:

“Her narration transitions from humor to action to tenderness with aplomb. McCarthy is also perfect for the talented and dangerous Nadia while ensuring that the other colorful characters are just as dynamic. Fans of the series and newcomers will fall under the spell of this fantasy.” 

Does this mean you should listen to CLOAK OF DRAGONS right now? Yes it does! You can get it at Audible, Apple, Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon AU, Kobo, Google Play, Scribd, and Chirp.

-JM

What’s next?

Now that CLOAK OF BLADES is out, what’s next?

My next two big projects will be DRAGONSKULL: SWORD OF THE SQUIRE, the first book of the DRAGONSKULL epic fantasy series, and GHOST IN THE SUN, the final book of the GHOST NIGHT series.

However! Before I start on them, I want to clear the decks. I have numerous projects in various stages of completion, and I want to wrap them all up before I start on DRAGONSKULL and GHOST IN THE SUN.

So, here’s what I want to do the next two months:

-First, COVERING FIRE, the sequel to AVENGING FIRE, my mystery novel from earlier in the year. The rough draft is about 80% done, and I’m hoping to have it out sometime in August.

-Immediately after that, SILENT ORDER: ROYAL HAND, which I have been trying to finish since 2018. I keep getting interrupted, so I’ve decided to blame COVID, because I’m going to blame everything that goes wrong on COVID until at least 2027. The rough draft is 90% done, and if all goes well, it should come out shortly after COVERING FIRE.

Additionally, SILENT ORDER will be leaving Kindle Unlimited and returning to wide distribution in the first week of August. I read an article from Written Word Media pointing out that science fiction isn’t in the top fiction genres in KU, so SILENT ORDER and ROYAL HAND will be available wide.

-After that, I was persuaded to write a novella for Kindle Vella, so I will finish that up. The novella is called POSTHUMAN: DARK IRON, and it’s a science fiction novella about the armored bounty hunter idea I was considering earlier in the year. I think it will be about 25,000 words long or so.

I have no idea if Kindle Vella will be worth the effort or not. I’ve tried a lot of new things in the last ten years, and quite a bunch of them didn’t work. But some of the new things worked really well, and the only way to find the ideas that work really well is to keep trying new things.

-Finally, people have been asking for an anthology edition of the SHIELD KNIGHT short stories for a while. I counted and I’ve written seventeen (seventeen!) of them, so it’s time for an anthology. It will be called TALES OF THE SHIELD KNIGHT, and I think I’ll sell it for $3.99 in ebook, though I’ll probably do $0.99 for the first week since I’ve given every single story in it away for free at one point or another. You can see the cover at the bottom of this post. I’m not sure when I’ll do it – I just have to find a few hours to sit down and combine the 17 short stories into one big old ebook, but it will probably be sometime in August.

So, that’s what I’ve got on deck. It sounds like a lot, but most of it is nearly done and just needs a couple of good pushes to wrap it up. Then it will be on to DRAGONSKULL and GHOST IN THE SUN!

-JM

CLOAK OF BLADES now available!

It took longer than I hoped, but the wait is over! CLOAK OF BLADES is now out at all ebook platforms!

Available at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon CA, Amazon AU, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play, Smashwords, and Payhip.

There is no honor among thieves.

My name is Nadia, and I’m a shadow agent of the High Queen of the Elves.

That means I use magic to steal things for her.

Now she wants me to steal a treasure from an Elven lord without him even realizing that it’s missing.

To pull it off, I’ll need a crew.

But there is no honor among thieves, and not even all the magic in the world can protect me from a blade in the back…

-JM

CLOAK OF BLADES: the final push

Right, then! No more posting or blogging until CLOAK OF BLADES is done.

If all goes well it should be out sometime next week.

-JM

CLOAK OF BLADES Table of Contents!

Making good editing progress on CLOAK OF BLADES, so I will share the Table of Contents, which you can see below.

Unless something seriously goes wrong, the book should be ready next week.

-JM

Opinions IN SPACE!

A very persistent reader emailed to ask my opinion as science fiction writer on 1.) the US government’s report on UFO sightings, and 2.) billionaires like Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos launching themselves into space.

Granted, I myself would not come to a science fiction writer for a reliable opinion on anything.

But here’s what I think.

UFO SIGHTINGS: The US government recently released a report on UAF (unidentified aerial phenomenon) that basically said the US military has been seeing weird flying things it can’t explain. People have proposed explanations ranging from space aliens, to secret Russian aircraft, to angels as they are described in the Book of Ezekiel.

While I concede it is possible that the UAF are space aliens or angels heralding the Second Coming (especially after the last two years), I think it is more likely that they are a natural phenomenon we currently don’t yet have the instruments or the mental models to understand. A good example of this process is the “canals” of Mars. Early astronomers observed what they believed to be canals on Mars’ surface. Later generations of astronomers had better instruments, which later revealed that the canals were in fact optical illusions caused by the weaker telescopes of the 19th century. Or the aurora borealis – in ancient times, people had dozens of potential religious and natural explanations for them, but thanks to modern tools, we know that they’re caused by charged particles hitting Earth’s magnetosphere. Another example would be the Ptolemaic view of the universe, which states at the Earth is the fixed center of the cosmos and everything revolves around it. That explanation makes perfect sense using information gathered by the naked eye, but the people of the ancient world didn’t have the tools or the mental models to get closer to the truth.

I suspect something similar is underway with the UAF. Probably they are a natural phenomenon that has always existed, but it is only within the last 80 years that humans have had aircraft that can fly high enough to see them. Perhaps in another hundred years people will have instruments and theories that can explain UAF, and they will be no more mysterious than the aurora borealis.

BILLIONAIRE SPACEFLIGHT: I don’t have a strong opinion one way or another, but I don’t really have a problem with this. Of course, there’s some criticism that the money spent on private spaceflight could instead be used for more humanitarian projects, and there’s some truth in that. On the other hand, the cynical part of me points out that while humanitarian projects are a worthy goal, “this money should have been spent on the poor!” has nonetheless been a rallying cry for con men and thieves since the time of Judas Iscariot. And I admit that the sneering “tall poppy” reaction to what is a fairly remarkable achievement – the increasing privatization of spaceflight – makes me more sympathetic to it than I would be otherwise.

That said, I think the biggest long-term improvements in the human condition have come from better tools and better technology. Even a very poor person in many countries today has access to luxuries and goods that would have seemed unimaginable to a Roman emperor or a Bronze Age god-king.  That didn’t happen because we’re smarter or more moral than our ancestors, but because we have better technology, tools, and systems. I don’t think the value in space exploration comes from seeking out aliens or trying to build space colonies or any sort of Star Trek stuff, but in finding a way to tap the vast resources available in the solar system – practically limitless fresh water, minerals, and potential power generation. Think of all the problems that could be solved with an endless supply of fresh water or solar electricity, or if mining was done on asteroids instead of the Earth. Bezos also pointed out that it could be possible to move polluting industries into space, thereby eliminating a lot of environmental damage to Earth.

All this would, of course, only be possible with the democratization of space technology. Right now only powerful governments and billionaires can go to space. But that used to be true of air travel as well. Computers used to cost millions of dollars and have their own buildings, and recently I saw a teenager gazing slackly at a handheld computer (ie, a smartphone) as he went past on his skateboard. If he faceplanted and broke his phone, he could get another without much trouble, and his new phone would be infinitely more powerful than the old mainframe computers with their own buildings.

Overall, I think private spaceflight is a worthwhile experiment, though probably those of us reading this won’t see the benefits in our lifetimes. Obviously, this is all the first step in a long process, but I doubt the British scientists & technicians working on the Ultra project in World War II had any idea that their work was one of the first steps in the process that would lead to the Internet and the computer/tablet you are now reading this on.

So that’s what I think. However, given the historical reliability of science fiction writers’ predictions, it’s entirely possible that I am wrong.

-JM

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 86: Four Tips For Dealing With Artistic Frustration

In this week’s episode, I share four tips for dealing with artistic frustration, or when your creative project doesn’t match what you see in your head.

I also discuss direct sales a bit more.

As always, you can listen to the show on Libsyn, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Amazon Music.

-JM

CLOAK OF ASHES now in audiobook!

CLOAK OF BLADES is almost done, and one of my goals for 2021 was to get the first three CLOAK MAGE books in audio and hardcover before CLOAK OF BLADES comes out.

I am pleased to report that CLOAK OF ASHES is now available in audiobook, as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy! You can get it at Audible, Amazon, Amazon UK, Amazon AU, iTunes, Kobo Books, Google Play, Scribd, and direct from the author at Payhip (the cheapest option, with delivery via Bookfunnel!).

Meanwhile, CLOAK OF BLADES is on track for the last week of July if all goes well.

-JM

CLOAK OF BLADES book description!

I’m going to be busy with Real Life projects until Monday or Tuesday, so no more posting until then.

Meanwhile, let’s have the book description for CLOAK OF BLADES!

###

There is no honor among thieves.

My name is Nadia, and I’m a shadow agent of the High Queen of the Elves.

That means I use magic to steal things for her.

Now she wants me to steal a treasure from an Elven lord without him even realizing that it’s missing.

To pull it off, I’ll need a crew.

But there is no honor among thieves, and not even all the magic in the world can protect me from a blade in the back…

-JM