Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 165

sign up for my newsletter and get free short stories!

Whenever one of my books comes out in audiobook format, I usually give away a short story or two via my newsletter to commemorate the occasion. Last week, though, CLOAK OF DRAGONS came out at the exact same time GHOST IN THE STORM was released on audiobook, so there wasn’t time.

But! It’s a new week. And if you sign up for my newsletter, you’ll get two GHOST short stories for free via Smashwords and Bookfunnel later this week.

-JM

The xiatami: Owyllain vs MALISON

A reader asked why the xiatami snakemen act differently in MALISON than they do in the SEVENFOLD SWORD books.

Basically, the xiatami in Owyllain and the xiatami in MALISON come from different religious factions on their original homeworld. When the xiatami homeworld was destroyed and their god Xophiramus was killed, their wizards opened gates to different worlds and fled, and the factions of xiatami were scattered.

The xiatami who ended up in Owyllain and founded Najaris were glad to be rid of Xophiramus. Their priests, the Intercessors, developed elaborate religious rituals all designed to make sure that Xophiramus stayed dead and didn’t bother them. Consequently, the xiatami of Najaris tended to be somewhat isolationist. They submitted to the Sovereign and did what he wanted so he wouldn’t destroy them, but turned against him the minute it looked like Kothlaric Pendragon had a chance of victory. The xiatami of Najaris prefer to get what they want through trade and manipulation rather than bothering with warfare, and it usually works for them.

The xiatami that Tyrcamber Rigamond faced in MALISON: DRAGON FURY, however, think that Xophiramus is still alive and requires blood sacrifice. Consequently, the xiatami on Tyrcamber’s world are much more warlike, since they require a constant supply of sacrificial slaves to appease Xophiramus. Their priests, called the Conciliators, also figured out that magic powered by blood provides something of a “safety buffer” against the Malison, which means they could use much more magic without risking an accidental transformation into a dragon. This dovetailed nicely with their belief that Xophiramus required blood sacrifice. So the Conciliators became very powerful, and were able to fight against Tyrcamber’s Empire and the dark elves on an equal footing.

-JM

When’s Caina coming back?!? and other scheduling questions

Now that CLOAK OF DRAGONS is out, people have been asking 1.) What will my next book be, and 2.) When am I going to get back to Caina already?

My next book will be MALISON: DRAGON UMBRA, and I’ll get back to Caina & the GHOSTS towards the end of the summer. It’s taking me longer than I planned because MALISON is bigger than I expected. When I planned it out, I had the bright idea that I would release the MALISON books at the same time as the SEVENFOLD SWORD books. In retrospect that was a bad idea because it exceeds the limits of my available energy. But I do need to finish MALISON, since it lays the groundwork for my next epic fantasy series.

So, here’s what the next few months of publication will hopefully look like, God willing:

May: MALISON: DRAGON UMBRA.

June: SEVENFOLD SWORD: SOVEREIGN.

July: Final MALISON BOOK.

August: First book of new epic fantasy series.

September: GHOST IN THE VAULT.

Since I’m not going to get there for a few months, what will GHOST IN THE VAULT be about?

Short, pithy answer:

Lord Corbould sues Caina!

Longer answer:

Lord Corbould Maraeus is the most powerful lord in the Empire, and his support has kept the Emperor on the throne during the civil war with the Umbarians. But Lord Corbould still hasn’t forgiven Caina for the events of GHOST IN THE SURGE, and he will take vengeance on her if he can.

But. The ambassador of the Shahenshah of Anshan has disappeared in Malarae. The ambassador is one of the Shahenshah’s numerous bastard sons. And the Empire is locked in a struggle to the death with the Umbarians. This would be a very, very bad time to offer a grievous insult to the powerful Shahenshah. Such as by, for instance, losing the Shahenshah’s ambassador, who also happens to be one of his favorite bastard sons.

So Lord Corbould is willing to forgive and forget…if Caina can work the minor miracle of figuring out just what the devil happened to the ambassador…

-JM

the experience of audiobook production

At The Passive Voice (the best source for news in the indie publishing world), The Passive Guy asks:

“PG is interested in hearing about the experiences of indie authors with the production and sales of their audiobooks. His impression (which may be wrong) is that there isn’t a path to audiobook publication that is nearly as friction-free as ebook publication is.”

This is true. It is a lot easier to create and publish an ebook than an audiobook. Like, if I really wanted to, I could take an ebook from the start of writing to publication (including making the cover) in about two weeks, though it would be really, really tiring. That would be utterly impossible to do with an audiobook.

I just had my sixth self-published audiobook come out (GHOST IN THE STORM!) and I’ve got six more in various stages of production. So while I’m not the most experienced person at this, I do have more experience than many people.

So, in the hopes of benefiting others, here are my experiences with audiobook production.

Initially, I decided in 2016 not to do any self-published audiobooks. I researched it thoroughly and concluded that it would be too difficult to turn a profit. Even after Tantor picked up the first five FROSTBORN books, I decided not to pursue any self-published audiobooks because it would take them several years to recover the production cost and turn a profit.

Then at the end of 2017, the tax laws changed, and my accountant advised that it would be a really good idea to have more expenses related to my writing business. Upon reflection, I had three options 1.) buying new covers for my older books, 2.) spending more on advertising, and 3.) audiobooks. Buying new covers for my older books would be a lot of hassle (not many cover artists will commit to doing, say, 12 covers at once and I write long series) and might not impact sales, and advertising is always a crapshoot. But an audiobook would create a revenue-generating asset at the end of the process, and the production cost would be a legitimate business expense.

So, I decided to start producing audiobooks through ACX, which is an Amazon website designed to facilitate finding and hiring audiobook narrators. ACX offers two options for paying the narrator – you pay up front once the audiobook is done, or you split the royalties with the narrator for 7 years. Since it fit with my objectives listed above, I went with upfront payment. Also, I’ve noticed that most experienced narrators prefer upfront payment.

I started accepting auditions for CHILD OF THE GHOSTS and FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN in August, and I was frankly shocked by the number of auditions I got – over sixty for each book. And none of them were bad. A few of them were obviously not the right choice because of the narration style or vocal timbre, but all of the auditions were objectively good. I was expecting to get a few auditions that sounded like they were recorded in a shower stall or something, but there were none like that. It was a difficult decision!

Once I choose a narrator, I basically gave them a list of pronunciations and thumbnail character descriptions, answered any questions that came up, and then got out of the way. I’ve heard horror stories of indie authors who go Full Sauron with their narrators (“Your Welsh accent is too Snowdonian!”) and try to control every little thing, but I don’t think that’s a good idea for two reasons:

(And consider how going Full Sauron worked out for the Original Sauron!)

1.) Way back in the Bad Old Days, I was a department manager at a big box retail store, which meant I had to supervise people. I found the best way to get anything done was to find someone competent, tell them what I wanted to happen, and then get out of their way.

2.) It’s important for a writer to realize that the audiobook won’t sound the way it does in your head. An audiobook is an adaptation of your work. The important question isn’t “Does this match the way I heard it in my head?” but “Does it make sense that it sounds that way?” Like, in FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN and GHOST IN THE BLOOD, the characters of The Warden and The Moroaica did not sound that way in my head. But – and this is the important part! – it makes sense that they would sound that way. It works! It’s a good adaptation of the characters. That’s what you should be aiming for, a good adaptation.

To sum up, I got into audiobooks for business reasons, but I’m really happy with how they’ve turned out. All the audiobooks are high-quality productions with excellent narrators, and I can sell them for years to come.

Finally, to quote one of the comments on the Passive Voice post above:

“Good VAs, if you let them have their heads, will find stuff in the text you didn’t know was there, and teach it to you.” 

This is very true! Certainly that has been my experience.

-JM

 

CLOAK OF DRAGONS now available!

I am pleased to report that CLOAK OF DRAGONS is now available at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon CA, Amazon AU, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play, and Smashwords.

My name is Nadia, and I’m an errand girl.

Except my boss is the High Queen of the Elves.

And my errands for her involve spying on people. Or stealing things. Or hunting down monsters. Or, on occasion, killing people.

But this time she wants me to solve a murder.

And unless I find the killer, I’m going to be his next target…because dragons never forgive a murder.

[image error]

-JM

GHOST IN THE STORM now available in audio!

I am very, very pleased to report that GHOST IN THE STORM is now available in audiobook, as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy.

You can get it at Audible, Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon AU, and iTunes.

An author’s opinion of his own work is often suspect, but I have to admit that of the first four GHOSTS books, GHOST IN THE STORM is my favorite. I wrote the first three GHOSTS books back in the bad old days of traditional publishing, when traditional publishing was still the only game in town. Naturally, I never got anywhere with tradpub, and in fact when I wrote CHILD OF THE GHOSTS in 2010, I was so sick of trying to deal with tradpub that I decided CHILD OF THE GHOSTS would be my final novel.

However, this all paid off 2011 when I started self publishing, because the first three GHOSTS books were free of any publisher claims and I could publish them myself without any hassle.

By the time I wrote GHOST IN THE STORM in 2012, I had discovered the Kindle, and STORM was the first Caina book I wrote intending to self-publish it from the beginning.

Which meant I finally felt free to do whatever I wanted in GHOST IN THE STORM rather than writing it with an eye for submission guidelines. And it paid off! STORM was the first book where Kylon of House Kardamnos, Rezir Shahan, Lord Corbould, Sicarion, and numerous other characters showed up, all of whom would return again. Sometimes, like in the case of Kylon, I would get emails actively asking when certain characters would return once more. And the legacy of Rezir Shahan and the Battle of Marsis were still a problem for Caina in GHOST IN THE TOWER, eighteen books later.

In some ways, the 1st three books were kind of Caina’s extended origin story, and GHOST IN THE STORM is when the series really got going, because I was finally able to write it with the intent of making it into a long series. But, as I said, an author’s opinion of his own work is often suspect.

So, thanks for reading, and for listening! There wouldn’t be twenty-two GHOSTS books if you didn’t keep reading them.

Jonathan Moeller Novel Excerpt Tuesday: CLOAK GAMES: REBEL FIST

It’s Jonathan Moeller Novel Excerpt Tuesday! This week we have an excerpt from CLOAK GAMES: REBEL FIST.

Since we announced the CLOAK GAMES audiobooks yesterday, this seems like a good time to have an excerpt from REBEL FIST.

REBEL FIST really ties the first three CLOAK GAMES books together into a neat little trilogy. It’s also the first one where Russell is an active participant in the plot. Saving Russell’s life from his illness is basically Nadia’s MacGuffin for the entire series, but Russell wasn’t going to passively await his fate. As Nadia would find out in greater detail a very long time in the future.

CLOAK GAMES audiobooks coming this year

I am pleased to report that the first three books of CLOAK GAMES – CLOAK GAMES: THIEF TRAP, CLOAK GAMES: FROST FEVER, and CLOAK GAMES: REBEL FIST will be coming to audiobook later this year, as narrated by Meghan Kelly.

They’ll be available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes, and unlike some of my previous audiobooks, they’ll also be available on Kobo & Google Play and a bunch of other places.

Watch this site for further updates!

-JM

Interesting Links #31: Warcraft, Illness, & Crooks

This week’s Interesting Links talks about Warcraft & writing.

–The original Warcraft and Warcraft 2 are now for sale on GOG.com.

-I think about book marketing a LOT, and this is a good roundup of the topic for 2019: How To Sell Books In 2019.

-Microsoft is giving up on selling ebooks through the Windows Store: Microsoft stops selling ebooks and will refund customers for previous purchases.

-Counterfeit products have been a problem on Amazon for a while, and Amazon is starting to crack down: What Does Amazon’s “Project Zero” Anti-Counterfeiting Plan Mean for You?

-A good pep talk for newer writers: Beat the Author Blues: How to Manage Writer’s Doubt.

-Speaking of self-doubt, this is another good pep talk for newer writers. Author Mindset: Do You Struggle With These Five Common Writing Fears?

-This article was for writers, but some of this is good advice for anyone who works from home: 13 Tips For The Work At Home Author.

–Apropos of my earlier post about the dangers of envy: Don’t Let Comparison Steal Your Joy.

-Literary agents are very often crooks. Television and film agents are much worse: David Simon: But I’m Not A Lawyer, I’m An Agent.

-I’m not really a fan of GAME OF THRONES, but this was nonetheless a good article to read. A rich, successful actress with the world at her feet – but all the while she’s in terrible pain from her illness and certain she will die. The proverb about being kind to everyone since we’re all fighting a hard battle comes to mind. A Battle For My Life.

-I like this post from Nora Roberts detailing her work methods. I definitely understand this quote: “I don’t have ‘staff’, which just sound so pretentious to me. I don’t knock anyone for having staff, but I don’t want staff. They would annoy me, want to talk to me at some point. They’d be in my space which includes my entire house. And the land around it. The air.”

-JM

CLOAK OF DRAGONS Table of Contents!

I am far enough along to share the Table of Contents for CLOAK OF DRAGONS below.

Barring unexpected developments, look for the book sometime next week!

[image error]

-JM